The Snowman

~ I'm in LOVE!!! This was the most fun I've had with a project in a while. He is made from felted wool fabric. His mittens, hat, nose & heart are hand felted wool roving. Look out, I'm definitely going to be making more of these guys!! :) ~

Christmas Garland

~ the garland I made for The Small Town Living Christmas Garland Swap ~

~ I used painted salt dough stars and gingerbread men, red wooden beads, cinnamon sticks, greenery, and fabric cutout angels backed with felt ~

~ it was fun painting glitter over the ornies and angels so they sparkle & shine :) ~

Thanksgiving Recipes

These are some of my family holiday recipes. When my children were young, Thanksgiving was always at our home. I would make 2-3 batches of Sweet Potato Rolls because it became a tradition for everyone to go home with care packages of turkey, sweet potato rolls and my cranberry sauce.
Although the process of making these rolls is long, they are not hard to make!!
At fact, you can have them done and out of your way before the big cooking day begins! Just make the dough on Tuesday, then on Wednesday morning take it out of the refrigerator and by the afternoon the rolls are baked and out of the way of the oven, which by now is in full demand!
The long cool rise of the dough is what makes the incredible flavor of these yeasty rolls, especially when they are served with Spiced Honey Butter!
And they are even tastier when they are reheated :)

Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Rolls
This recipe requires 2 days, please read the entire recipe before you start!!

4 medium sweet potatoes ~ about 1 #
2 eggs, beaten
4 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. sea salt
2 Tbsp. dry yeast ~ I use SAF
2 cups whole wheat flour
about 4 cups unbleached white flour

Wash, but don't peel the sweet potatoes. Simmer them in large saucepan on the stove for about 30 minutes until fork tender. Remove to cool and reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Skin the potatoes. In a bowl, mash them with the butter, honey and salt.
When cooled completely mix in the eggs.
In saucepan heat the reserved cooking liquid to 105 - 115 degrees. (just warm) Pour into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast into it, stir to dissolve. Add the potato mixture, the 2 cups of whole wheat flour, and enough additional white flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured counter and knead for 10 minutes, adding flour as needed.
Place in a large buttered bowl, turning dough over to butter the top surface well.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, remove the dough and let sit on the counter for about 2-3 hours until it has come to room temperature. Turn out onto a floured counter and knead for 1 minute. Cover with a clean towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
Divide the dough into 24 pieces and shape into roll style of your choice. My family's favorite is twisted knots. Let rise on cookie sheets for about an hour until doubled. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, bake rolls until golden brown about 15-20 minutes.

Spiced Honey Butter

1/2 cup butter, very soft
4 Tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cloves
Mix all ingredients well (I use my KitchenAid )
Spoon into a covered bowl, serve with rolls at room temperature.

Cathy's Cranberries

9 cups fresh cranberries ~ preferably from Wisconsin!! :)
3-1/2 to 4 cups raw honey~ again preferably from Wisconsin ~ I'm not prejudice, am I ?? :)
2 cups of fresh juiced orange juice
juice of 2 lemons and 4-5 Tbsp. grated lemon peel
3 (4") cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves

In a large heavy bottomed stainless steel pot, combine all ingredients and slowly heat to boiling, stirring constantly, about 7-9 minutes. Boil until the cranberries pop. Remove from heat and discard the cinnamon sticks. Cool, sauce thickens when cooled.
~ To Can Cranberry Sauce ~
Pour cranberry sauce into hot, sterilized pint jars, leaving 1/2" head space. Cap with prepared sterilized and process in water-bath canner for 10 minutes. Makes 5-1/2 pints.

Kindlelight Blessings

~ My order of yummy candle tarts from
Linda at Kindlelight Blessings, Hazelnut Delite, Fudgie Coconut Bars, Pumpkin~Praline & Cream Crunch, and new for the holidays, Cranberry Peppermint. If only there was a "smell button"!! :)
Once you've used Linda's wonderful candles and tarts, you are hooked! ~

~ Isn't he the cutest gingerbread man? He is also a heavenly smelling air freshener - yumm! I couldn't wait, he's hanging around my kitchen already! :) ~

Pumpkin Tablerunner Giveaway

Linda from Prairie Flower Farm
is having another fun giveaway. This time it's this wonderful Pumpkin Tablerunner.
This is a quick giveaway ~ so the winner will be able to enjoy this sweet prize for the Thanksgiving holiday. The drawing is only open until November 18th, so hurry on over and sign up!

Giveaway Winner

The winner of my "I'm Thankful For" Giveaway is ~
Alpicks Treasures!!!
Congrats to you! I will be emailing you for your address.
Thanks to everyone who left a comment. If you did not the read comments, please take a moment and go back to do so ~ HERE. I know you will be blessed to read the list of blessings from many grateful hearts.
Now that we are one week into this month of thanksgiving, how is your Blessings List coming? I'm still working on remembering to write in my journal every night. Good habits are hard to make, aren't they? I have had a few events in this last few weeks where I mindfully chose a grateful heart attitude over my normal whining, self-pity party (lol!!) and honestly I have to say it was hard, but the more I chose to focus on the good in my life the better I feel!
If you too are working on a new and improved "attitude of gratitude" this month,
I'd love to hear how it's going. :)

Decorating For Thanksgiving