Christmas Cookies

First of all let me just say that,  I LOVE to make cookies!!! 

 Making them for Christmas is so much fun because I can bake as many as I want,

 knowing that I am giving MOST of them away!!! 

People are  always so happy to receive fresh baked cookies!! 

When I was a little girl, we would receive a special package from my Grama, 4 states away and it would always have gifts for all, a special gift from somewhere she had traveled,

fruitcake (always JUST for DAD), and mexican wedding cookies.....always my favorite.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies 

 Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

rolled in green sugar for Christmas ♥

Then of course Chocolate Chip Cookies,

some rolled in red sugar just to be festive ☺

Merry Christmas Everyone 

I chose to many different kinds of cookies this year, 

 three requests from my youngest and one that I just HAD to make,

like the ones my Grama makes ☺

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Norwegian Delights by Stephen

My brother-in-law is visiting from Norway,

where he has been living for the past two years. 

Before that he was living in Denmark. 

 He has picked up many trades along the way and when he arrived this time to visit he had become an experienced baker. 

Here is what he accomplished while he was here,  he made these not only once but TWICE in 3 days,  I am in desperate need of a workout!!!

 The most interesting thing to me was him trying to translate measurements and ingredients.  He was searching for a block of yeast instead of the powder kind...I had not ever heard of such, have you?!

I was amazed at what he accomplished and I will be attempting to make the cinnamon twists sometime after I work off the ones I already had,

 by running and doing ZUMBA!!!!!

 So DELICIOUS!!!!!

Small Purse and Wrapping Paper

Last month I made some handbags for a friend out of her old 80's Prom Dresses, as seen here!!

After she received them she asked me to make a small purse for her mother,

I showed her what fabric was left and we came up with this design, and she LOVED it!!!

I love that she helped me design it, 

 it is so special to me to make something for someone that has so much meaning and sentimental value ♥

On another note, 

the kids and I painted wrapping paper for Christmas!!

Most of them were very simple,  stripes, polka dots, then my 8 year old painted this...

I could barely bring myself to wrap with it, 

but he insisted,

so I took a picture and wrapped away!!!

 Merry Christmas everyone, may you be blessed!!

80's Prom Dress Creations

Recently, a friend of mine asked me if I could turn her 80's prom dresses into something beautiful and useful for her. She also mentioned that her mother LOVED these dresses and had fond memories of her wearing them ☺ Her mom would not enjoy hearing of them being destroyed, but none the less they were just a memory and had just become closet clutter...who needs more of that?!!

We talked for a while about what to make

and came up with something for her AND her mom ♥

Now the dresses will be cherished and remembered often.

Here are the dresses as remembered by my friend and her mother,

before I got a hold of them.

Lots of beautiful fabrics, don't ya think?!!!!!

What can you imagine doing with this lace?! 

I decided to use it with a piece of the dark blue fabric from the long stripey dress.

 Layered with each other it turned out beautifully!!!

 I then made two large bags out of the layered fabrics,

 one for my friend and one for her mother ♥

 These two bags have pieces from most of the dresses, 

the outer shell is made up of the light green, navy blue striped and lace dress. 

The liners of both bags have different pieces that were pieced together as needed while I was making them.

Each bag pictured next to itself inside out ☺

Then I made a tree skirt!!!!!

I used a lot of fabric on this skirt, I think it turned out very luxurious!!

What a special Christmas this will be for my dear sweet friend ♥ 

  

Email me if you have a prom dress request ☺ 

Oven Barbecued Chicken & Oven Barbecued Chicken Enchiladas

 I don't know about you but I have always LOVED enchiladas! 

My mom used to make them with chicken and beef,

but chicken was always my favorite. 

 Recently I decided to try something new and boy am I glad I did ☺ 

 I was trying to save money at the store by not buying the chicken breast pack, priced at $9.00. I decided to buy the package with the WHOLE legs, it was $5.00 cheaper...5 DOLLARS!!!!! 

The only difference is that you have to actually skin the legs yourself and clean it up a little,  kinda icky if you ask me,
but my daughter had a great time watching me and that was well worth it!!!

SO, I got a recipe out of my Better Homes and Garden cookbook and made the

barbecue chicken...

Oven Barbecue Chicken

4 Whole Chicken legs, skinned

(you can use 4 chicken breast halves, thighs, or drumsticks if you'd like)

1/2 onion chopped, medium or large

1 clove Garlic, minced

1 tablespoon cooking oil

3/4 cup bottled chili sauce*

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1/4 crushed red pepper

*I use Valentina chili sauce,

if you don't have this in your fridge I HIGHLY recommend that you do, it is a GREAT marinade for chicken, slightly spicy so watch out with the little ones ☺

1. Skin chicken. Arrange chicken, bone sides up, in a 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.

2. For the sauce. In a saucepan cook onion and garlic in hot oil until tender but not brown.

Stir in chili sauce, honey, soy sauce, mustard, and crushed red pepper: heat through.

3.Turn chicken bone sides down. Brush half of the sauce over the chicken. Bake for 20 or 30 minutes more or until chicken is cooked thoroughly.

At this point you could either serve your chicken with a nice side dish or two,

or you could do what I did...and turn it into.....

Oven Barbecued Chicken Enchiladas

First, Prepare chicken as directed above.

Let the chicken legs cool.

You will need : Monterey Jack Cheese,

refried beans, corn tortillas 

and remaining barbecue sauce from chicken recipe above.

Then, cut the drumsticks off the legs, we are not using these.

My kids LOVE them, so we serve them with the meal!!!

The rest of the chicken should be removed from the bones and placed into a bowl.

Cut the chicken up into small pieces using two knives in a scissor motion.

Preheat oven to 350.

Place chicken in skillet on low heat, 

Add a can of refried beans, or a bean of your choice

1/2 cup monterey jack cheese,

and a little less than 1/4 cup of the barbecue sauce saved from the chicken.

Heat until cheese is melted and all is combined well.

Divide the mixture into 10 even and spoon onto corn tortillas.

Roll them up as best you can, you will get a little messy ☺

Place them seam side down on a cookie sheet lined with foil.

Then once you have them all lined up,
 drizzle with remaining barbecue sauce and shred monterey jack cheese on top!!! 

Bake at 350 degress farenheit for 30 minutes
 or until cheese and edges are turning brown. 

ENJOY!!!

On another note our Cereus Cactus bloomed!!

 It only blooms for one night per bloom ☺

It's so beautiful ♥

and our pink roses.....

Bracelets by Jamie Leigh

Recently I was inspired to make some more bracelets!

  I love sitting down and picking through the beads..... 

all the beautiful shapes and sizes,  the colors and textures, some are iridescent, while others are see through.

I like to use dark and light beads to create a beautiful contrast,

so that each bead stands out on it's own!!

Here are my most recent bracelets, 

please let me know if you are interested in owning one of your very own ♥

Hematite Center

 

Jade, and Sodalite

I made two of the same here,

 for two beautiful little girls that are turning 6 tomorrow ♥

I hope they like it!!!

  

Desk Chair Paint Removal ~ part 1

 I used to have this chair in my bedroom when I was a young girl, but since getting married and having kids of my own it was left at my parents house.

Over the years they were split up, 

Mom had the chair and

my sister has had the desk in her home for over 10 years!

 Recently, I was able to retrieve the desk by offering a trade.

Now, I have begun the long process of stripping away the years of paint from the desk and chair and giving them a new home, reunited!!!

Here is the chair before I started,

 it has been used as so many things over the years...and it had so many layers of paint to remove...

This is what I used to strip the paint, 

I painted a thin layer over the area I wanted to strip

and waited about 10 minutes, then I scraped away the paint...

Here is is after the first coat of paint has been stripped away...

 Ready for the next coat to be stripped...

This is what it looks like as it is being lifted and stripped off the wood...

My next step will be sanding the seat and stripping the rest of the chair,

 I will post the complete project when it is complete.

Here is the desk I retrieved from my sister,  she has already started the sanding process for me...

Stay tuned for the completed desk and chair ☺

Corn Hole Game

Have you ever played corn hole?!

Sounds kinds funny doesn't it!! 

It's a really fun game for the whole family!!!

We first played it years ago with some friends,

then we were re-introduced to it again last September,
while visiting family in Utah.

Not only that, but my lovely family up north has it as well,

we were totally missing out, until now ☺

Between taking care of our three kids,
visiting family, going to Florida, getting started with school and the endless list that comes with owning a home,
making the game was added to the bottom of the list.....

but alas we have finally finished it,
here it is!!!

The family has had so much FUN playing this outside ☼

After my husband built the game,

I had the lovely job of painting it. 

I chose to use our house paint because it is for outdoor purposes, in case we leave it out in the rain.

Then I used the shutter paint for the stripes. 

 Now it matches our home ♥

I then had the job of making the throw bags.

I needed 8, 6x6 inch bags,
 each filled with a pound of whole kernel corn feed.

I cut 16, 7x7 inch squares of canvas fabric or (duck cloth). 

I sewed them together making the 8, 6x6 inch squares,

then I filled them with some corn feed from the local feed and supply store ☺ What a neat place. We had sooooo much extra corn, we will probably be feeding deer all summer...

Each team has different bags, 4  bags each.

I had to re-sew all of the bags as they split open on the first few rounds of playing!!!

  I emptied them of their corn, sewed around the seams three more times, leaving a space for re-filling, then turned them right side out again and filled them up...

I also had to sew them about three times again to keep them closed at the closing seam.

~~☼~~ Enjoy the beautiful Fall weather we sure are ~~☼~~

Purple Flower ~ Yard Art Repaint

Here is a piece of Yard Art that needed a little repainting!

So, I painted it purple, 

 my FAVORITE color.

♥

And this is how it looks after being outside during the last month. 

The rust has found it's way through the paint, 

 but it still has it's purple color! 

 I just love it!

It seems to look slightly real, 

the hummingbirds keep flying to it trying to find the nectar ☺

Water Tower Creation

My husband recently started making water towers.

If you haven't ever seen one, it's a barrel that collects the water from the gutters, for yard and garden watering. It saves a lot on the water bills and is...

VERY GREEN

We have one in our yard that we have used for about a year. 

He was then requested to build one for a customer. 

He did a great job building the stand out of recycled wood and nails.
Then he attached the parts to the tower that it would need to function properly. 

A spout to pour the water and a drain on the side near the top for overflow, and screens on the top holes to keep the water clear of debris.

He then had me paint the stand...my favorite part of ANY project ☺

He sold his first one this weekend!

Here it is at it's new home!! 

The customer is VERY happy to have this new addition.

☺

She sent me a pic from her phone after she painted it.

It looks GREAT!!!

If you live in the Atlanta area,

and are interested in a water tower and rain barrel for your yard. 

Please email me @ jamieleigh5@yahoo.com

Prices are as follows:

Rain Barrel ~ $75

18 inch stand ~ $25

36 inch Stand ~ $40