ChoColATe LoVeRs GiFt BaG homemade yumminess

I put together a chocolate lovers gift bag and listed it on my etsy shoppe this am. It's full of my homemade goodies: 2 gourmet dipped graham crackers, 3 asst dipped pretzels, a pkg of choc almond toffee pieces, chunky peanut brittle, a pkg of single serv vanilla cappacino mix, my raspberry carmel choc pecan clusters, and a cute little snowman tag on the outside. $13.95 plus travel expenses. You can order a special one if you like full of cookies instead of candies.

Here are what my boys did last night!! I had a nice roaring fire goin and it was 70 degrees so they were super lazy~~ LOL Barney lays on top of Buster all the time and Bubba is usually under his blankie in bed but since it was so warm in living room he was out there sleeping.

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

So hve a wonderful monday I got wood to bring in today to get ready for the big winter storm expected to start tomorrow night! they say 50 mile an hour winds coming, lots of snow and rain and 0 degrees windchills!! BRRRRRRRRRRRR hopefully it will be cleaned up in time for the weekend. I have my last show sat in Ionia at the North Pointe Elementary School so dont really want it to be snowed out.

Hugs

Darlene

SANTA and 3 dogs!!

We took the boys to see SANTA yesterday in Douglas!! He is such a great guy and a super wonderful SANTA!! The boys told him they have been very very good and I am sure they will get LOTS of xmas pressies to open~~ They all were so good!!
Dogs by Design is a store in a nearby town and every year now they have a fundraiser for a local organization called Wishbone!! a great organization that helps dogs in need!! In fact Sunday december 13 th they are havin a bake sale and WE WILL BE DONATING SOME GREAT BAKED GOODS!! I will post on here and twitter as soon as I get the info!!
We have them emailing us a pic of the boys and will post it on here as soon as I get it!! IT WAS A GRREAT PIC TOO!! all 3 boys looked so happy and my Buster is smiling!! as usual he is always happy happy happy!!

Hope yall have a great night!! I am off to finish a nice big special dinner for my special hubby!! Baked ham, sweet taters, green beans and mushrooms and some homemade bread!! It is gonna be a busy week with the Kalamazoo Bronson Hospital market starting up on on friday!! and a show on sat wont leave me much time to make nice suppers so tonight it is!! LOL leftovers the rest of the week dont ya know!!
Talk more soon!!
~~HUGS~~
Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

show pics

Well the christmas at newtons woods was a great success!! We had alot of new customers and some repeat ones from last year stop by and almost everyone bought something!!

I sold almost all of my altered scrapbooks I took with, all my signs, skates, and lots of sweet treats~~along with most of the snowman things I painted and alot of lamps. All in all it was a really great weekend and we already booked the hall for next year!! Thanksgiving weekend again!! Each year we are trying to bring new things and more things and my friend Laura did an amazing job with her garden stones and fountains and birdfeeders. They are made of hypertofia?spelling? and they are all awesome, those pics turned out way too dark and you cant make out what u are looking at!! sorry!!

Hope you have a great night!!

Did u watch Biggest Loser last night?? What a touching emotional show!! Love watching it!

They all look just amazing!~~ CONGRATS to them all!! WTG

Here are a few of the pics that actually turned out ok and you can see them!!

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Cookie Recipe

These are such good cookies I just have to post this recipe~~

Lemon Cream Filled Cranberry Pecan Sandwich Cookies!!! whew what a mouth full!! Can U say that ten times fast??LOL
Cranberry Lemon Sandwich Cookies
2 cups butter
2 cups shortening
2 cups sugar
2 cup powdered sugar
4 eggs
4 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cream of tartar
3 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chopped dried cranberries

1 1/2 cups chopped pecan pieces

filling: 3/4 cup soft butter, 5 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup 1/2 and 1/2 cream, 2 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest, 1/2 tsp lemon extract

cream butter and shortening with sugars, until light and fluffy. add eggs one at a time, beat well after each egg. Beat in van. Combine dry ingredients and mix well, gradually add to butter mix, mix well. Stir in cranberries. Cover and refrigerate until easy to handle.
Roll into 1 in balls (i used a small cookie scoop and used a shot glass bottom dipped in sugar to smoosh down a bit) place 2 in apart on baking sheets, use parchment paper or grease on sheets. Bake 350 for 12-14 min or until edges are lightly browned. In small bowl comine filling ingredients beat until smooth. Spread a dollop onto bottoms of cookies, top with remaining cookies.

This was my favo thing I painted for the show this past weekend!! Which by the way was EXCELLENT!! we had such a great turnout!! and actually did about 1/3 more than last year!!

We were setting up friday and had quite a few customers wander thru we opened from 3pm to 7pm I sold quite a bit of painted things and all my almond toffee and pecan brittle.

The snowmean are painted on a cabinet door I bought and it was the first sale!! Now I am goin to have to paint this week for my show sat and then one more next weekend! YEAH!! plus we are suppossed to get *S*N*O*W* this weeek!!! YEEHAW!!!

Have a super duper monday yall!!

HUGS

Darlene

I painted these snowmen on a big ol block and made them into a cute little lamp. Love those snowmen!! LOL

ENJOY~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Happy Tuesday

Wow it is almost TURKEY DAY~~ cant believe how fast things are moving these days! Today will be all about making cookies and lots of chocolate treats

peanut brittle, more chocolate almond tofee, a couple kinds of barks,

chocolate turtles, fudge, truffles, more pretzels and then cakes for on orders for the holiday.

I probably wont be on too much til after this weekend pretty busy gettin thing ready so I want to wish all my bloggin friends and their families a most Blessed Thanksgiving Day!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Primitive EYE CANDY

Here are some pics from last years show my friends and I put on.

NEWTONS WOODS old town hall was the home to our

CHRISTMAS AT NEWTONS WOODS primitive/country show and guess what??? IT IS THE COMING WEEKEND~~ we had such a great turn out we are doing it FRIDAY SAT SUN

Friday November 26 will be for early buying from 3pm to 7pm Sat open 9-4 and sunday from 10-3. I will be hosting a homemade luncheon featuring homemade soups, hot dogs, polish sausage and lots of deserts~~ ALONG with plenty of goodies to take home and yes SAMPLES of some of my goodies.

My friends have garden accessories, candles, potpourri, homemade soaps and body lotions, essential oils, outdoor stone accents, and the list goes on. STOP ON BY!!

Just minutes from Decatur which has their big school show this sat also!!

Any questions please either leave a comment here or call me 269-543-4658

So the show was really nice yesterday LOTS of people stopped by and it was almost 60 degrees outside PERFECT for the festival!! I sold all my painted signs so have 7 more basecoated outside and I will cut more out for this weekend.

I did sell alot of pretzels and if anyone wants to order some please contact me!! they will arrive packaged individually and also I will wrap them up pretty if they are for a gift. Which they make perfect gifts!! who doesnt love chocolate dressed up!!??LOL

I have the following toppings:

choc covered cherry (pretzel dipped in choc then rolled in chopped andes cherry candies)

german choc (pretzel dipped in choc then rolled in coconut and toasted pecan pieces)

asst sprinkles, honey roasted chopped peanuts, homemade toffee pieces, crushed oreo cookies, and also hershey mint kisses.

Also I have some listed on my etsy shoppe too.

Have a blessed sunday I am off to paint more!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Lowell Craft Show MI

White chocolate pistachio raspberry bark !! YUMMY

Getting ready for the Christmas thru Lowell show tomorrow. There are over 200 booths of treasures for yall!! IT should be a very pleasant day outside too!! YEAH!!

Another snowman and crow sign done!! Love it!!

Some of the pretzels I did up for show. Love the red with the white choc.

SO IF YALL ARE NEAR LOWELL MI STOP ON BY THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH ON MAIN STREET!! That's where I will be !!

HAVE A GREAT EVENING!!

**HUGS**

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~