Vintage Napkin Rings How to...

Hello dear hearts.. 

Here we are on another Monday.. 

How fast the month of January is passing by.. 

Here in  Eastern Canada we are having what we refer to as a January thaw.. 

The temps are very mild and it rained and the wind roared all night long.. 

This morning the snow seems to have disappeared.. Not to worry, though, it will be back.. smile.. 

This afternoon Terry and I packed a wee treat, bought a couple of coffees and along with my trusty camera we took a little rural tour.. 

I love driving in the rain and wind.. 

The brooks and rivers were very full and the hollows were full of fog.. 

I will share those pics with you next time.. 

Tonight..

Thanks to inspiration from Shonda's rings I attempted these..  

I will show you a simple way to make little vintage napkin rings.. 

OK? 

This is all you need. 

4 napkin rings..(or however many you want)

 I had these but you could sew them up in a heartbeat.. 

Or buy wood or plastic ones at a thrift shop..

Some old jewellery pieces and buttons.. (thrift stores)

I collected this stuff for several years when I did Victorian crafts several years ago.. 

ribbon and lace 

wire to tie bows with

tweezers to place jewellery under other pieces.. 

glue gun and glue..

wire snippers..   

I have a little cache of country style pins from years ago like the little angel head there.. 

I think Terry gave me that about 10 years ago.. 

I used my snipers and snipped the pin back off.. 

Made a bow from some old ribbon and glued it on first and then the angel head.. 

Took some green rhinestones off an old necklace and glued them around ...

This was another old broach.. 

Took the back off and then used a piece of vintage lace tied in a knot.. Glued it in place and covered it with the broach.. 

Then just added some pieces from other necklaces and such.. 

This was a piece of an old bracelet.. 

Ribbon and other pieces all glued about.. 

Same thing here except I glued some rhinestones around the old broach... 

So, my friends you just need to use your imagination.. 

Send me some pics if you make them.. 

These are kind of pink to go with my china.. 

Winsome... 

That is the name of my china.. 

I am still working on my bed runner.. 

It is a bit more work then I thought.. smile.. 

I think this is going to be a busy week.. 

I am trying to do a pantry challenge which I am thinking needs to get done next... 

And I am expecting some dear old friends for lunch one day this week .. smile.. 

Take care my friends.. 

Thanks for stopping by and your sweet comments.. 

And a big welcome to the lovely new followers and the ones who are helping with the Face Book page...

Hugs...

Linked to The Enchanting Rose ...

Daughter's Winter Decor and such..

Happy Weekend everyone.. 

Hope you have a great one.. 

We are supposed to have a pretty cold night here in New Brunswick and then after the weekend perhaps some rain.. 

I hope not.. 

It just makes such a mess when we have this much snow but we have no control over the weather, eh? 

Just thankful to live here in the North.. 

We are used to snow storms, rain storms, slush and cold temps.. 

There are a lot of pluses, though, that is for sure.. 

Pure crisp air, beautiful scenery, winter sports and so much more.. 

It is great to love where you live and I certainly do.. 

Actually, I am quite a spoil sport in the fact that I do not desire to even visit elsewhere.. 

The love of travel just did a flyby when I was being created.. grin.. 

Then it landed safe and sound in our daughter.. 

She loves to travel as do our sons, really..

Mentioning Winter and our daughter... smile.. 

I am posting some pics of her Winter decor of her Foyer.. 

As you can see, we have two different styles..  

Shonda is very creative and made these mason jar lamps.. 

I think you just put paint inside the bottles and swirl it around.. 

Then fill with fairy lights as the English call them.. smile.. 

Winter in Canada means a more natural decor.. 

Pine cones, birch bark and moss are there for the picking.. 

Some greenery you can use are Pine, Firs and Cedars just for a few.. 

Shonda is using pine.. 

She also made the pillow from Burlap and painted on black cloth.. 

The Crazy Quilt was part of the Homespun Christmas present her mama gave her.. grin.. 

It is mostly satins and I found it at a Thrift store.. 

Actually, I almost kept it but I do not need it.. 

Right? 

This is another wall in her foyer.. 

Our grandsons have had their photos drawn several times as they have grown up.. 

Sweet young men, now.. 

Anyway.. 

Dave bought Shonda this old trunk at the Antique Flee Market many years ago.. 

Shonda made the chalk board and all of the snowballs you see here.. 

Aren't they perfect for Winter decor.. 

Here is the Pinterest link for making the snowballs.. 

Just click HERE..

A few months ago I went shopping with her to buy some new table settings, napkins, table runner and such.. 

It was so much fun.. 

Spending Dave's money.. grin.. 

I especially love the napkin rings.. 

I decided that day that I would try and make some for myself.. 

I was in the craft business for over 20 years and had collected a lot of old jewellery, buttons and such and figured I could do a few much cheaper then Shonda's lovely ones..  

And so... 

This afternoon I dug out a few napkin rings that I had picked up at the Christmas Tree Shop when we were in Bangor.. 

And hidden away in my craft room were a bottle of jewels.. 

  and a basket full of old beads and such... 

Along with my trusty old glue gun I made a few.. 

The thing is that this post is too long so you will have to come back next time to see how they turned out.. 

I must say that I do like them.. 

Friday night at our house means either go out for supper or make something we love.. 

Hence.. 

Home made Tomato Basil Sauce and Pasta.. 

A few of you asked last post for the Pumpkin Preserves Recipe.. 

Here it is.. 

Pumpkin Preserves resembles Marmalade but has a vastly different flavor.. 

Quite sweet though so I do cut the sugar back a bit.. 

That is up to you.. 

Old Fashioned Pumpkin Preserves...

5 pounds of pumpkin... peeled and cut into small pieces..

3/4 pound of root ginger..peeled and cut into small pieces..

3 lemons cut up fine.. I use the whole lemon..

5 pounds of sugar  (I use 4 pounds)

Cut pumpkin into small pieces and add the sugar..

Let stand for 24 hours..

Put in a large pot along with ginger and lemon...Bring to a boil.. Simmer on top of stove until pumpkin is clear...

Take out pumpkin with a slotted spoon and let the juice simmer until quite thick..

Add pumpkin mixture and bring back to a boil..

Bottle and seal... 

Thanks so much for dropping by, sweet ladies.. 

And a big welcome to the new followers.. 

Love having you.. 

Also, I appreciate that you have filled out the questionnaire and I will try to use it to better the blog.. 

Oh,  thanks so much for linking onto the Face Book page of the Blessed Hearth.. 

You do not need to be a member of FB to read this page.. 

I hope to randomly add some ideas and recipes that won't be here so make sure to check it out.. 

There is a link at the top of my sidebar.. 

God bless you all.. 

Another cold day....

Good Evening, my dears.. 

A very cold day here in Eastern Canada .. 

The sun was shining, though and very beautiful with the snow and all.. 

Speaking of snow.. 

I hung my little garland of snowmen that I made out of Shonda's gift bag to me.. 

There is not a lot of blue here but in the back hall it looked fine and I needed something for a change.. 

I would like to make a couple of wee valances for the doors, too.. 

Soon.. smile... 

I have been working at rearranging the Sun Room... 

Most of my plants are in the there but I need to get them distributed about the house a bit more.. 

Besides which, I have been trying to grow some different from the usual ones.. 

If you live near me and have the plant called 

A String of Pearls then I would love to have a slip.. 

I cannot find one anywhere.. 

Do you have lots of plants?.. 

I have lots of geraniums as I bring them in from the Summer and keep them over the Winter  and then just put them out again in the Spring..

The benefit is that you save money but mostly that you have all that lovely color through all these snowy months.. 

I find they lift my spirits.. smile.. 

My sister-in-law gave me a small pumpkin before Christmas.. 

It was still good so yesterday I made a small batch of old fashioned pumpkin preserves...

I had saved a huge pumpkin to do these preserves but it started rotting before I had a chance to make them.. 

Today we had our town day.. smile.. 

I found this little cloth and bowls with violets on them.. 

Nice for Spring..

Also a book by Thomas Kincade.. 

Home Song.. 

I have not read his writing before.. 

Have any of you?  

It sounds interesting and my friend used to collect his work.. 

We stopped by to visit my Mom and her husband as she is quite sick with the cold but doing a bit better.. 

Bless her heart.. 

We came home and Terry made a fire.. 

After it warmed up a bit I made a fish chowder for our supper.. 

Such a cozy evening.. 

Eating chowder on a tray with a mohair throw over my lap.. 

Just like an old lady... grin.. 

I did make a couple of  Raisin Tea Breads, too.. 

Looking forward to having a slice with a nice hot cup of tea.. 

The breads were made with Earl Grey tea.. 

Should be interesting.. 

I am also trying to learn to do a bit of creative photo work ... 

Yup... 

The lights of home on a cold winter's night.. 

We are nice and snug in there.. smile.. 

This is not much of a post, I am afraid; but just wanted to keep in touch with you all..

I have put the Blessed Hearth on Face Book and need to find the time to put a button on the sidebar.. 

But if you are on FB please put the Blessed Hearth in the search engine and like the page.. 

If you don't mind, that is.. 

Well, good night for now, my dears and hopefully I will have something a little more interesting next time.. 

Keep warm and God bless... 

Linked TO... A TRAY OF BLISS FOR A FRUGAL LINKY PARTY... 

Domestic Bliss...

Hi everyone.. 

Here we are beginning another new week and halfway through the month of January already..

I am enjoying these Winter evenings.. 

Are you? 

Our weather thus far has not been too bad and usually the evenings  are nice and cozy.. 

Cups of lovely tea and reading or searching the web for wonderful creative ideas.. 

We are hoping to have a Keepers meeting in a week or so and I find myself looking for ideas that will be interesting to the girls.. 

Now .. 

To change the subject. smile. 

I had asked this question in the questionnaire.. 

10.. Have you heard about the talk of the new trend  called "the New Domesticity?

No one seemed to have heard of it.. 

In my reading I came across this and found it kind of interesting and thought perhaps you would, too.. 

What they are saying is that in this scary world that seems to have lost it's way with the economy, environment and wars that there is a growing movement of smart young women and some men who are embracing what they call the new domesticity.. 

It seems they are getting back to basics like cooking, crafts, gardening and other domestic tasks.. 

They are enjoying learning to make jams and jellies, preserving green beans and crocheting or knitting hats and mittens.. 

I have noticed a change in the blog world where there are so many blogs now written by young mamas who are kind of  hippie like in their goals of creating homesteads and home schooling their kids.. 

They are making home made everything from yogurts, home cleaning products and even their toiletries... 

They may have decided to change from the traditional careers to writing blogs, growing their own veggies and starting Etsy shops on the Internet to sell their crafty goods or earning money by writing .. 

They are saying that there seems to be a trend of leaving fancy jobs and finding substitutes in traditional home making and selling wares on the Internet and having home businesses.. 

People are writing books about it and wondering how this is going to affect the future generation of young women who have during the past culture had goals of being corporate workers but are now putting home and hearth first.. 

They are wondering what role the media and blog culture are playing in making domesticity look very appealing.. 

They wonder how this has happened and if it bodes ill for gender equality.. 

They are calling it the New Domesticity and are discussing whether women can or should have it all.. 

So.. 

This is basically what I have read and took notes from a couple of sites so I could share it with you.. 

I found it all  a bit heart warming to tell you the truth..

I think it is a wonderful move and I think that families will be enriched.. 

Personally, I am not a bit worried about gender equality and whether women can have it all or not.. 

How about you?

I think children will be blessed to have their mothers there in the morning when they get up and still there when they come home from school if it is possible to do.. 

Husbands who come home to find their wives running home businesses and home schooling their children will no doubt be much happier with the end result..(Just my opinion) smile

I know that with the world's economy women need to work sometimes but just maybe with foresight and frugality there is a way for some to stay home and raise families..   

What do you think? 

Have you noticed this going on?  

I am happy if there is a move to place home, hearth and family first.. 

Of course, that is not always possible and I did read that lots of girls don't really want to give up their careers but spend their free time reading blogs about the ones who are doing this but as for themselves they just want to read about it.. 

Anyway..

All in all as far as I am concerned the main thing is that the home is Christ centred and by putting Him first in lives and hearts then whether the lady of the house works outside or not then it will be a happier home.. 

What say you...

I hope you will comment and perhaps we can have a little discussion going on.. eh?  

I do have a couple of recipes for you that are very simple and good.. 

I made this simple salad dressing tonight and loved it.. 

Of all the dressings I have made I don't know how I have missed this one. 

My new fave..  

Homemade French Dressing.. 

6 T. canola oil

2 T. wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. sugar 

1 tsp. Dijon Mustard 

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.. 

Whisk all together and pour over a mixed salad. 

We had this for supper, too.. 

I am not a meat eater so we always share a chicken breast.. 

That is my piece.. grin.. 

Lemon Oregano Chicken Breasts..

2 chicken breasts (I used the bone in and 1 big one)

1 lemon .. 

1 T. olive or canola oil 

pinch of dried oregano 

sea salt and pepper.. 

Rinse and dry chicken breasts.. 

With a sharp knife make a couple of slits across the tops and place on a plate.. 

Mix the marinade and pour over the chicken.. 

I let this sit for an hour and turned the chicken over halfway through.. 

Heat a frying pan on medium heat and when hot add the chicken and marinade.. 

Cook on each side 6 minutes or until done.. 

This would be good with something besides mashed potatoes but I made my husband eat an all veggie soup for lunch and was not happy that there were no potatoes in it.. grin.. 

Hence.. 

Mashed potatoes for supper.. 

Thank you, dear hearts.. 

So glad you dropped by and please leave a comment.. 

God bless.. 

Cold weather projects and gingerbread spoons...

Happy Weekend, everyone.. 

We are having a lovely cool sunny one here in New Brunswick.. 

Terry and I went for a little drive up to our old farm a couple of days ago just to check on the place as it was so cold and he wanted to make sure the heat was still going.. 

The drive there is very beautiful and part of it is along the brook which is where the place gets it's name.. 

Prosser Brook.. 

It was still flowing which surprised me as it was so cold.. 

What a lovely shade of green, eh?  

I could not even begin to get a photo of how beautiful it was.. 

This was actually almost like a small falls but I could not capture it with my camera.. 

Just imagine this old brook has run here for hundreds of years, probably.. 

I remember my uncle telling me that his Papa had moved to Prosser Brook and built the farm in 1907.. 

We checked everything out and Terry made a fire while I read since we were not staying.. 

Soon we headed home but stopped on our way at bee keepers who lives in a house which is tucked into a hollow...

Terry goes up to the door to knock and left the car door wide open.. 

Ok.... I am thinking ... 

He will only be a minute.. 

A lady comes to the door and tries her best to hold two big German Shepherds in the house.. 

One of them gets out and starts barking ... 

OK... the door is still wide open..

They are going to come out here and get right into the car, I am thinking..  

A man now comes to the door and tells Terry to come in out of the cold and he pushes the two dogs out and closes the house door.. 

The dogs look around and decide to come over and check out the car.. 

Ok... the door is still open.. 

They don't really stop but go back to the house and wait for them to open the door again.. 

Well... that is good...

Meanwhile..

 It is one of the coldest days we have had and my car door is still open.. 

I know .. I know.. 

Just reach over and close it.. 

Right?  

So.. 

I take off my seatbelt and kind of quietly lean over to try to reach the door and yes the dogs hear me and come to the car door and both of them try to get in at the same time and barking at me.. 

With huge teeth only about a foot from my face... 

Yup... just like I pictured it.... 

Lord help me.. 

Get out.. get out... I am saying.. sort of.. 

Then the lady comes running out and pushing at them to get them out and she is wiping off Terry's seat and apologizing.. 

She doesn't think they would hurt me.. 

No... No... that is ok.... 

I am fine .. no really.... I am fine.. 

My feet are numb and I might be literally shaking with terror but no... 

I am fine.. 

Out comes the dear man with a large bottle of honey... 

Oh honey.. are you ok?????

Oh sure... 

I am fine.. no really.. I am fine.. 

Gotta love him.. 

When we got back I made this for his supper.. 

Honey Glazed Ribs...  grin.. 

Some fried rice, egg rolls and our homemade dill pickles.. 

I love dill pickles with rice.. 

I do not know why.. 

Remember..  

I was making bread.. 

It turned out lovely and is so good.. 

We won't have it often but it was good until the last bite, believe me.. 

Michelle asked me if our flour is the same as the USA and the all purpose flour is the same.. 

As far as I know, anyway.. 

This is the bag that a Christmas present from our daughter came in.. 

The present was big and the bag ended up ripping.. 

I always recycle my bags so I couldn't bear to throw this one out.. 

Recycle, reuse and relove is my motto.. 

So while Terry was watching a movie (old cowboy ones) I cut the snowmen out.. 

Used my glue stick and pasted them onto a cereal box or such.. 

Cut them out and punched a hole in the top.. 

Tied a string for little hangers and then ran another piece of string through the loops.. 

Voila.. 

A winter garland.. 

Now I have to find a place to hang it.. 

Winter around here is for another 3 months abouts... 

And... 

I am working on my felted bed skirt.. 

I bought a beautiful red coat at the thrift store... 

When we were at the farm I found this old wool blanket and cut it up.. 

Terry brought up my big canning pot and into the boiling water they went. 

First the red then when they were boiled I changed the water and did the white one... 

While the white one boiled I put the red pieces into the washer and washed them more in hot water and then rinsed in cold and spun them out.. 

Placed them all on a rack in the guest bathroom to dry.. 

Next week, Lord willing, I will tell you the rest of the story... grin. 

And here is a pretty poor pic of my finished valance.. 

The colors are much prettier.. 

But you get the drift, eh?  

Now.. 

Quite a few girls commented on the gingerbread spoons on my last post.. 

They are wonderful dipped in tea or coffee and very easy to make.. 

(Or so my friend Dawn was telling me) heehee..

Here is the link for the recipe right Here..

To make the cookies you just roll out as usual.. 

Place a spoon face side up and with a sharp knife (you may have to try a couple to find the one that works the best) and cut around it.. 

Using a frosting spatula or long thin one put each cookie on a sheet.. 

I then just pressed the spoon area down with my finger and put about a half of a teaspoon of turbinado sugar on top.. 

I bought the sugar at the bulk barn and use it for my cider mix and such.. 

So, dear girls that is all for tonight.. 

Thank you so much for answering my questionnaire.. 

You guys rock !! 

If you have not done it and would not mind then just go HERE..

I appreciate all your help.. 

Tomorrow is the Lord's Day.. 

Looking forward to worshipping our God with some dear folks.. 

I look forward to reading your comments and if you have any questions then I will answer in the comment section.. 

Welcome to all the new followers.. 

Love having you all with us.. 

xo

Joining Stephanie at the Enchanted Rose HERE..

Come and join in..