A Colourful Christmas, paint party Friday!

Paint Party Friday

Here is the tutorial for this last minute bow I made!

So exciting to be able to scribble on a piece of paper and come

up with a last minute bow on a host  gift for my Brother who

hosted Christmas dinner on the 23rd!

My Brother and Niece

My niece helped her dad  cook  a spectacular dinner, 

we brought baking and  the raspberry dessert!

I snitched one of Cupcakes photos off instagram!

Dinner at my Brothers

My Niece and her beau together six years today!

Cupcake and Beardo at his parents home Christmas eve! They draw names!

We are  such colourful people that it's no surprise

we brought a  colourful   mango salad and raspberry

 desert  to Beardos parents house on  Christmas Day!

Cupcakes sister-in-law  had a friend bring these 

cookies all the way from New York and they were

AMAZING!! Also colourful!!

Even though we don't exchange gifts Cupcake saw this awesome 

 "You can draw it all"

 book 

before Christmas and thought it would be perfect for me! 

It was twenty two dollars and she wanted to see

if the price would drop after Christmas!

Browsing in a completely different  store 

  she  saw the book  laying alone on a table 

waiting to be picked up! Only $7.99!

I LOVE it, there are so many tips and ideas of 

things to draw! We were very excited!!

Christmas night taking  ussies!

I'll be back to wish you all a Happy New Year!

For now enjoy the holiday, be safe and don't drink and drive! 

I can't wait to dig into my new book!! 

Was there anything colourful about your holiday?

No place like Home for the Holidays Paint Party Friday

 

 Paint Party Friday

Revamped advent Calendar in the style of a box. Still needs some finishing touches!

As I thumbed through my address book  I realized how different this era is than when I was raised.  So few people  stay in one place for a lifetime. There's something to be said for living in the same house most of your childhood, getting married then returning home during the holidays.  Sauntering through the old rooms, eying familiar items from  childhood, opening the fridge to the same condiments and traditional Christmas foods from holidays past! It seems people made more sacrifices to stay put  during my parents era than they do  today! 

When you open the doors there are 24 little drawers to pull out. The original is too ugly to show!

With a  fifty percent divorce rate and a few dips in the economy things have gone awry. There is just not the same stability that past generations enjoyed with  their families, where grandpa and grandma lived in the same house until they died and all the  aunts and uncles did the same! Back then  home was the same place for decades! 

People seem to want bigger and better, or they split and can't afford the family home. Only a hand full of the people I know have lived in their homes ten years or longer! The majority of my  old neighbors living in elite homes  are all now divorced and moved on. It seems the ones who struggled to hang on to their modest homes during tough  times, ones who have renovated from the sweat of their brow, or raised several children, are still in their homes twenty odd years later!

Save a few addresses, sadly my address book is now defunct. Some people are only in our lives for a season, I guess  it's the ones that count  that stay a lifetime.  Even though things get  old and overlooked, renovations are put on hold, there is something so comforting about being in the same familiar place for years! 

Beardos parents have been in their three bedroom basement  home over fourty years. They  raised ten children and even though certain rooms have been renovated there is one  room  that still has the same curtains from the seventies. Curtains my mom once owned too! All the children come home for Christmas with their families.There is something so loving and comfortable about being there! It's a feeling that can't be bottled into words!

Digital Color edit

When I was young I wanted things to look perfect, surround myself in beauty, to stay current. When I was married the  longest we stayed in a home was nine years. There was always a reason to move.  Having been in my home sixteen years now I realize for me there is truer value in  permanence and stability. I am a homebody, some people have more of a gypsy spirit and need change often, others are economically forced to move whether they want to or not!

Life is ever changing, with technology, morals, and attitudes. Still  there is something to be said for going home and knowing things might be a little tattered here and there, but it's filled with love,  good memories and comfort that fill your heart with joy like no other!

Do you love your home as much as I do mine?

 Didn't get cards out in time this year. Inside its says Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!
Click on the photo for a better affect!

Wishing all my blog friends a  Holiday filled with Love, Peace

and snippets of Joy where possible!

To those suffering loss, or illness, be kind to yourself and remember 

the season is short and a New Year is around the bend.

In that, there is always HOPE!

May you ALL be blessed with good things!

Christmas Baking, Lights and some Action

Paint Party Friday

Beardo landed in a Music Trade Magazine.

You can read more about it here!

photo Courtesy of Pepper

Cupcake ended up in an article on the popularity of the Ugly Christmas sweater here!

Cupcake is in all red!

Beardo, Cupcake and I spent the day baking as a labour of love!

With mobility issues I sat at the table doing what I do best,

cutting out several double batches of cookies,

Cupcake added the sprinkles.

Photo courtesy of Pepper

First we made our traditional Shortbreads passed through the generations!

The secret is to knead the dough for twenty minutes

You can make them ahead so they shorten up before Christmas.

They get way better with age!!

They freeze well too!

One pound of real butter

One Cup of Light BROWN sugar

Four cups of  all purpose flour

Knead for twenty minutes, put the timer on.

They can be cut into shapes or used with a cookie press

Bake at 275 degrees Fahrenheit  for 45 minutes or until golden brown

We like them a little overdone rather than underdone!

Even though we use the metric system in Canada.....I still bake using the imperial system

 Photo Courtesy of Pepper

 These are ginger molasses ones I rolled in balls then dipped in sugar!

Cupcake has an egg allergy so we used an egg substitute
 and they turned out beautifully!

Soft and yummy! 

Ginger Molasses Cookies

3/4 cup margarine melted
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
 1/2 tsp ginger
mix 1/2 Cup sugar with the margarine and egg add molasses
Then mix in dry  ingredients
secret is to cover and chill for one hour
preheat to 375 degrees
 roll into small balls
Dip into the other 1/2 cup of sugar.
Cook 8 to 10 minutes...ours took 12 minutes!

Photo Courtesy of Pepper

 Amazing Almond Roca

1 cup of  Real Butter
1 cup of sugar
2 tables of corn syrup
2 tablespoons of water
1 cup of  toasted (until golden brown) slivered almonds
2 of your favorite plain dark chocolate bars
(we use purdys chocolate because I'm a bit of a chocolate snob)

Add butter, sugar, corn syrup and water to a large pot
(it needs room to foam up a bit, non stick is best)
turn on medium heat  
  stir only until  melts....then leave it to rise to
290 degrees Fahrenheit with a candy thermometer

then quickly stir in 3/4 cup of the toasted slivered almonds 
into the mix and dump it onto a cookie sheet!
Break the chocolate bar into small pieces and drop it onto
the hot candy mix. Spread evenly  as it melts
Then crush the remaining 1/4 cup of toasted almonds
and sprinkle on the the top while chocolate is still warm
place in fridge to cool

later crack it with a knife and place in a container
Makes a wonderful gift too!

Photo Courtesy of Pepper

While they made the almond Roca which I have done
 traditionally each Christmas and Valentines day for years!
I made Perogies!! Oh yes I did.... They made the potato, 
cheddar cheese and onion mixture while  I made the dough 
and rolled and pinched them all. Then  Beardo boiled 
them up! I've randomly made them only on a rare occasion 
since I was a kid....they are so much work!

They were the best I have ever made them too!!

Courtesy of Pepperpf instagram

I made them unconventionally bigger than normal,  
 not one opened up while boiling! A rare occurrence.
We fried them as left overs the next day! So yummy!

In the meantime I have been working on revamping

 an event calendar.These are small boxes 

of Christmas trees

 They are difficult because I don't like working small.

This is a superficial post only because lately there has
 been so much sadness of late! Cooking with my kids 
all day brought so much joy, and you can always 
be sure fits of laughter will ensue!

Here are a few photos of the lights Beardo and Cupcake 
saw at Vancouver Stanley Park this year. 
The Firemen put it together as a fundraiser for burn victims! 
So many good people in this world doing wonderful
 things for others!! 
We need to stay focused on that!

You can click on the photos to get a better feel for 
the lights! All photos Courtesy of Pepper

Enjoy!

Can you imagine the joy of seeing this through a childs eyes!

I took cupcake here when she was little, it was such a long lineup

with half as many lights! We had roasted chestnuts.... 
which are way overrated...

I don't remember liking them! 
They're much better in the Nat King Coles Christmas Song!

 What is your favorite Christmas recipe?

Art by others paint party friday

Paint Party Friday

Pretty sure you must be sick of my tiny piano, however I thought you might enjoy seeing the lineup of other ones in their artful glory! One was sent back east to be done by a fairly renowned Canadian artist but hasn't arrived back yet. I'm very curious to see that one as well!

Beardo Captured  all these photos for the silent auction! This is unquestionably mine!

Other than mine do you have a favorite?

I did a full post that  completely disappeared! I surmise  the subject was  not fitting to go with these lovely pieces of artwork. So I will heed the universal message shorten it up and post again!

This Leopard one is done by a tattoo artist! It's gorgeous in person! I am so in awe of it! 
You can feel the heart that went into this piece when you see it in person!

This week a young  thirty year old male acquaintance of my daughter passed away! Messages on his facebook allude to despair. Cupcake was devastated and cried most of her work day.  In the past she had  talked him through a heartbreak, illness of his mother and a few other dilemmas. In return he gave her his old android phone and fixed her antique one when it crashed a few times!

This one is done by a band, the stencils was computer generated  then all the details were cut 

  with an x-acto knife and pasted to the piano! It took hours and hours to get this perfection~

They had a lovely  comradery and she baked him banana bread   and made a huge basket for his  former girlfriend a few Christmases ago as a thank-you!

This one is marbled with a counter top material...

He was well loved by everyone who knew him! People are  
shocked and  devastated by his demise

A  very large acrylic painting almost the same comes with this one! 
Mine was chosen with this one by a reporter to be in the News Paper.
Sadly the photographer did not do it justice!

A last message, " I'd rather die a winner, than live as a loser" with the horrible image of a heart punctured by swords was posted on his instagram.

 

The next two are done in Acrylic

Even though I never met the young man I knew who he was and felt 
deeply affected for everyone who loved him. Especially his mother and sisters!

These are all  painted ukuleles

Life is a roller coast ride of deep dips of sadness and equally wonderful highs of glory!
I wish he could have navigated the sorrow with a better ending.

This one is completely wood burned...his work is amazing in person. The photo doesn't do it justice!

May he rest in peace.

Turned horizontal this one is a mountain scene sanded to
look like the natural wear old musicians had on their instruments!

 

I am working on this project this week, it's will be revealed next week in completion!

Throwback Thursday my Cupcake at four, twenty five years ago!

What would you say to  a young person wrestling with the idea of suicide?