Celebrating Thanksgiving with our Neighbors...

Hello Everyone... 

Just wanted to wish Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends.. 

Each year Terry and I try to celebrate along with them.. 

I am thankful for the many friendships we have made with this blog and they have blessed our daily life.. 

It is amazing that in the stats for the blog the Americans who follow the Blessed Hearth are triple the Canadians.. 

Hmmmm.. I wonder why.. smile.. 

But for whatever reason we have met some wonderful people wherever they live... 

So... 

We already had our Thanksgiving in October with turkey and  will be having another one or two at Christmas .. 

Therefore, as it was just the two of us we had chicken.. 

Chicken, mashed potatoes, dressing, carrots, gravy, coleslaw and pickles.. 

It was lovely and we were thinking of you all and hoping you were having a blessed day.. 

My sister-in-law gave me a small pumpkin yesterday so that was great for a little decor.. smile..

Most of my Fall decorating has been put away and hopefully next week I can get my Christmas started.. 

Well, this is short and sweet tonight.. 

Two nights in a row is pretty good for me to post, eh?  grin.. 

Take care, dear hearts and may God bless and keep you in the coming year.. 

Sending love from the New Brunswick on the Eastern coast of Canada.. 

Hugs.. 

That time of year..

Good evening, everyone.. 

Thanks for dropping by .. 

How is your weather? 

We are beginning what is supposed to be a HUGE storm tonight and tomorrow... 

Lots and lots of snow.. 

Kind of puts us all in the mood for Christmas, though.. smile.. 

I spent a lovely day last Friday with several dear friends visiting an old train station a couple of hours from here.. 

Each room was decorated by a score of different decorators and was truly beautiful.. 

I have posted a few pics that was taken.. 

We are having a Keepers meeting this Friday night.. 

My sister-in-law is coming to help me show them how to make 100 egg rolls for freezing for the Winter months.. 

Also, we will be sharing some Christmas ideas for frugal gifts and decor.. 

If you live in our area and would like to join us then just email me at houseofhenry@hotmail.com... 

OK?

I am planning on making some of the little orange and fruit garlands above.. 

Also, the cranberry and popcorn one is so simple and appeals to me.. 

How about you?

I would like to do a more simple type of decor this year with natural boughs and such.. 

I also wanted to wish our American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving and pray it will be blessed with family love and joy.. 

Oh and that is my special breakfast that I enjoy once a week.. 

Soft cooked eggs and Soldiers.. 

I know it is a British breakfast although I believe they use boiled eggs which I do sometimes.. 

Just cut your buttered toast which has been salt and peppered and stick your soldiers into the soft yolk.. 

So good. 

Do you ever have this for breakfast?.. 

Well, must get to bed as there is so much to do tomorrow.. 

Praying the power stays on.. 

Putting some water into thermoses just in case, though.. smile.. 

Gotta have my coffee.. grin.. 

God bless you my friends and Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends.. xo

A Vintage Packaging Post..

Good Evening, dear hearts.. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the month of November thus far.. 

Especially our friends who live in New York state.. 

Oh my, it reminds me of our last Winter..

 I just pray that this one will be much easier on us all and not as long.. 

I think I know how Laura Wilder felt when she wrote the Long Winter book.. 

Well, not really.. 

We had plenty of food and all the necessities and actually we are quite used to it here in Eastern Canada.. 

Last Winter, though, it just would not go away.. smile.. 

Only time will tell, eh? 

Anyway...  

I promised that I would do a little post on packaging little homemades.. 

Such as soaps, bath salts, foot soaks, foot powder, etc.. 

As you can see in the pictures all I did was use stickers or little pictures of ladies cut from gift wrap and such.. 

A glue stick comes in handy for this and sticks onto glass well.. 

I buy the bottles from Thrift stores or Dollar stores.. 

Then I use old laces, pearls, ribbons and different types of strings.. 

The little picture of 2 little girls is of my sister and myself .. 

Just scanned the photo and then copied lots of wee ones.. 

Cellophane bags come in handy and you can find them at dollar or bulk stores.. 

I found rolls of colored tapes at the Dollar store and just put it around the cover.. 

Whenever, I see little silk or fake lavender I will buy it and add it to a Lavender Soap.. 

Also, fresh rosemary and dried rosebuds are useful.. 

Perhaps, even put the rosebuds or petals inside the bag or in your bath salts or soaps.. 

Tie some rosemary onto your package and it will dry fine.. 

You can buy a package at the grocers.. 

I love using old cards and cutting them into tags and then use brown ink to make the edges look old.. 

The dollar store also has lots of tags and you can glue wee pics onto the tag for a vintage look..

Lots of times I will wrap soaps in old book pages and tie up with string or lace... 

Or make an envelope out of book pages for potpourri or such.. 

On my Pinterest board for Book Pages are a few ideas..HERE 

Another thing I like to use is Kraft tape.. 

You can put it on like a wrapper and use a Sharpie pen to mark with.. 

One last thing is to use dried apples, oranges or pears along with your tags.. 

Just using your imagination is really all it takes.. 

And collect little things you think you might need.. 

Unique bottle, papers, laces and such.. 

Hope this has been helpful.. 

Enjoy getting ready for gift giving and there is just 

something special about homemade.. 

eh?  

Thanks for visiting and love your comments. 

Hugs..

Craft Show and Apple Potpourri Recipe..

Hello my dears... 

Well, Winter has arrived in the Maritimes.. 

Snow is here and to stay by the looks of things.. 

I wish I loved snow but alas I do not.. 

Oh well.. 

I don't want to live in Florida, either so I guess I will just have to like it, eh? 

Last week I prepared for the little craft show with our daughter.. 

I made some Patchouli, Lavender and Rosemary soaps.. 

And Apple Potpourri.. 

You can make your own.. 

It is very easy and so perfect to have for yourself or to include in some Christmas gifts.. 

On a good day try to gather some pine or spruce cones or such.. 

There is all kinds of things growing that you can collect even if there is snow on the ground.. 

Anything you can find that would dry and go in a potpourri.. 

Gather some rose hips and dry them in a dehydrator or even in your oven on a low temp for several hours.. 

You can put your cones in the oven, too.. 

Add some bay leaves from the Bulk store.. 

A handful of whole cloves and allspice and even anise.. 

Dry some apple slices and add them all together in a large bowl.. 

Break up several cinnamon sticks, too.. 

Purchase some apple oil from Walmart or a health food store.. 

I used one called Macintosh from Winterwood in Sussex.. 

Add some orrisroot if you can or some other kind of carrier... 

Cover with plastic wrap for a week or so and then stir it all together.. 

 I posted a recipe for a Winter Potpourri HERE...

Anyway.. 

We got up at 5 am and headed to St. John for the sale.. 

We were early for once in our lives and arrived even before our daughter.. grin.. 

Here was her booth when we walked in.. 

Her father is standing there trying to take it all in.. 

We were very happy to see how creative she is.. smile.. 

This was the church table... 

A lot of ladies donated a lot of beautiful things.. 

This was all for Missions... 

The money for the table rentals and these lovely crafts all went towards the cause.. 

Here is one of the Keepers of the Home who attends our church.. 

She along with her children do beautiful work.. 

Painted signs, decorated trees, toffee and such.. 

And I guess that is me behind this table.. 

With my potpourri.. 

Soaps..

Peppermint Lemon Foot Soaks and Peppermint Foot Powders..

Between the Sheets Lavender Powder, pickles, burlap bags and such.. 

Our sweet girl...  

She kind of hinted that she would like this for purse for Christmas..

smile

We are doing our Homespun Christmas and as this was a purse that was not new but done by Martha so it fit the bill.. 

Lovely, eh? 

And this is one of my customers who has been buying from me for twenty some years.. 

Needless to say, she is now a treasured friend.. 

Judy.. 

She is so pretty... 

All in all it was a lovely lovely day.. 

So much fun doing this with our daughter and so seeing so many friends and even my cousin... 

Shonda is a nurse who has retired for a while and I don't think she can believe how much she enjoyed doing her creative thing.. 

Everyone was saying she was so much like someone else they knew.. grin.. 

Afterwards we went to our cottage where Terry did a few more chores.. 

The Bay was beautiful.. 

And that was that.. 

Shonda gave me this gorgeous pillow she made.. 

JINGLE... 

She said it was payback time.. grin.. 

I love it..

I know one thing ..

 I am very glad to be retired and not doing craft shows .. 

This old gal cannot cut the mustard anymore.. 

I have been exhausted for two days..

Thanks so much for visiting the Blessed Hearth tonight.. 

I need to apologize to you for not posting about the sale.. 

I did it on Face Book and just didn't get to my blog.. 

I think I thought that I had done it when I hadn't.. 

My mind is not what it was, either.. 

Sorry, Ann.. 

May God bless you all.. 

xo 

Gingerbread Post....

Good Evening my dears.. 

Hope all is well with you in your part of the world.. 

I am posting the recipe and how to for the Gingerbread Boys and cake that we shared at Keepers of the Home on Saturday.. 

I had a bit of the gingerbread left over so have been busy making them up for the craft show .. 

Chickens, reindeer and such.. 

So here is the recipe....

GINGERBREAD BOYS RECIPE

For Crafts... 

Betty Crocker

1 cup shortening or margarine

1 cup white sugar

1 cup molasses 

1/2 cup water

5 cups of flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt ... heaping for crafts

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. ginger...  heaping for crafts..

1/2 tsp. nutmeg.. heaping for crafts

1/2 tsp. allspice... heaping for crafts.. 

Cream shorting and sugar. Blend in the rest of ingredients.. 

Chill 2 hours and then roll out.. 

Bake in 375 degrees F. oven for 15 minutes..  

Now... 

I used cloves and cinnamon and heaped the teaspoons full as I wanted them to smell good.. 

Not taste good.. smile. 

I also heaped the salt to help them stick together.. 

Roll them a bit thicker then you would for an edible cookie.

Use a gingerbread cookie cutter and press out and place on a cookie sheet.. 

Put your currents, cloves, allspice or peppercorns on for eyes or whatever.. 

You can use a tiny wee cookie cutter to leave imprint if you like.. 

Use a straw to place holes where you would like to put your string.. Then bake until well done .. 

We found 15 minutes a good time.. 

Bring them out and cool...

Meantime... 

I use a coffee can full of candles and placed this in an old pot with about 1/3 full of water to melt your wax.. 

If you don't want to use your stove then we used an electric fry pan with a bit of water in it to keep the wax hot after it had melted.. 

You can buy smelly squares at Walmart and they give a lovely scent to your wax.. (picture above)

Dip one at a time and use a wire to pull it back out and place on waxed paper to dry.. 

You can tie a little homespun tie on them..

Then string them together as garlands or separate as ornaments..  

I wanted to tell you that I had made these years ago for myself and they kept for at least 3 years.. 

Just tuck them into some tissue and store in a plastic box.. 

OK?  

I'm sorry I don't have a garland picture yet.. 

Perhaps tomorrow when I get my stuff put together.. 

Today I just worked on making stuff and tomorrow I hope to start packaging and putting it together.. 

Hopefully, I will do a little post to advertise the fair.. 

Here is the link also for the SOUP HERB BAGS that we shared the recipe on Saturday, too.. 

HERE..

And finally, the recipe for...

 Carmen's Chocolate Cake.. 

100 ml water

100 grams white sugar

30 grams cocoa

Place in a small pot and heat just until sugar is melted.. 

Cool.. 

Add...

2 T. grated walnuts

1 tsp. cardamon powder

Blend well and then 1 yolk at a time and mix well each time add 3 eggs... 

Whisk together the whites until frothy and fold in carefully.. 

Pour into a round cake tin and bake at 375 degrees F. for 45 minutes.. 

Keep the cake in the oven and leave the door ajar for 10 more minutes.. 

It was a delicious cake..

So light and fluffy.. 

Thanks for dropping by and your lovely comments and emails.. I so enjoy them all..

Let me know how you make out and if you have any questions please just ask and I will try to reply to your comment on the posting.. xo 

I hope you all have a great evening and may God bless... 

Hugs.. 

Keepers of the Home for November...

Hello everyone.. 

Hope you are all having a blessed day.. 

Yesterday, we had a Keepers of the Home meeting in our fellowship hall of our little church in Salisbury.. 

It had snowed through the night but we still had a great turnout,.. 

Thankful for that.. 

We began as usual by cooking breakfast together.. 

We had a lovely meal with lots of great coffee and our friend, Carmen brought a gluten free, no fat and no dairy chocolate cake which was simply delicious,. 

Thank you, dear.. 

I will hopefully share the recipe with you soon... 

After the breakfast was over and we were on our second cups of coffee there was a small lesson.. 

It was called.. 

I Wish You.. 

I read them this lovely article that I had found awhile ago..

 WISH YOU ENOUGH...

Recently I overheard a Father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.

Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the Father said, 'I love you, and I wish you enough.'

The daughter replied, 'Dad, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.'

They kissed and the daughter left. The Father walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'

'Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'..

'I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' he said.

'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?'

He began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone...' He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.' Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how grey the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

He then began to cry and walked away.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them; but then an entire life to forget them

Li

It has lovely sentiments and rings so true, eh? Even in this crazy extravagant world we live in today.. 

Actually, it would be the things I would wish for my children and our family ... 

As I was preparing this lesson I was thinking about how the world has changed even since we had met last ...

Major things are taking place in our world that even affect good old New Brunswick.. 

They are on our doorsteps and we don't need to talk about them because we all hear the news one way or another.. 

So, as the Keeper of my Home the welfare of my children still loom large in my heart and mind whether they are grown and gone or still under our roof...

The concern remains the same except now there are many more of them with children -in-law and grandchildren.. 

We as Keepers love Proverbs 31 the Proverbs Woman.. 

We look up to her and aspire to be like her.. smile.. 

In verse 28... her children and husband rise up and call her blessed.. 

Their welfare must have loomed large in her mind, too.. 

So with all of that in mind and with the current world situation the way it is now... 

So what do I wish and pray for my family today at this point in history.. 

Certainly, all the good things in life.. 

I wish them homes, jobs and healthy children.. 

I pray that they have a roof over their heads, food on their table and shoes on their feet.. 

I wish them restaurant meals, lovely vacations and stuff for their kids.. 

I am thankful that they can do all that.. 

I pray everyday that God will cover them with His divine protection against accidents and diseases... 

I wish them favor in their workplaces.. 

I pray that they have lots of love and affection in their families and that they have genuine romance with their spouses.. 

I am thankful for their relationship with us as their parents.. For the love, loyalty and respect despite our old fashioned ways and ideas.. 

And of course, I wish them laughter and that they see the humor in everyday.. 

And I pray they have compassion, humility and generosity.. 

All these things I pray for and am thankful for.. 

But this day in history with WWIII knocking at our doors, diseases that are too scary to talk about and weather that seems to have lost it's way... 

What can I pray for them... .

It must be something solid and timeless that they can depend upon.. 

Something that they can find no matter what storm they may go through and find hope...

Even when bad things happen to them because sometimes they do..

Here it is...

Ephesians 3:16-20New International Version (NIV)

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

LiEphesians 3:16-2016 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of Go

If they are rooted and established in the love of Christ and are filled to the measure of the fullness of God then they will have everything they need.. 

They will get through every storm and trial knowing that He loves them .. 

In Psalms 91 

14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

Oh, the faithfulness of God.. 

When you place your trust (and your family) into His hands then a mother knows all will be well.. 

The storms and trials of life will come for sure because we live in this old world but I can as a Keeper of the Home place my babies in His hands and know nothing will happen that He does not allow.. 

This Keeper of the Home could wish no more for her family.. 

With the lesson done we dug out some gingerbread making stuff.. 

Waxed Dipped Gingerbread... 

You can hang these as ornaments or string them together and make garlands.. 

We have different ages in our group... 

From 13 up.. 

These young ladies are learning things that will bless their future homes.. smile.. 

And making new friends, too.. 

And a Keeper brought 2 big boxes of books and magazines to share with all of us.. 

So much fun finding a lovely recipe book, Christian novel or an informative magazine.. 

Such sweet blessings.. 

They received the gingerbread recipe, soup herb bag recipes and such.. 

All in all a very blessed day, I think.

So thankful to the Lord for these sweet girls and for their precious friendship.. 

We learn so much from each other.. 

We have several new ones coming and they add so much to our little group.. 

Thank you, Lord.. 

If you read this and would like any of this info or recipes please email me at keepersofthehome@hotmail.com or just leave your email in your comment,.

Thank you for your visit and love love your comments... 

Take care, dear hearts.. 

Faye...xo