New Items in the Shop, Savannah Bee Honey, Jeanne Oliver's Creatively Made E-Course

Hello!

We made it back from our quick road trip to Montana....

I haven't had much of a chance to be on the computer lately,

I wanted to do a quick post today....

I loaded a few new items to my shop this weekend, and will be adding more this evening....

I added some vintage french bread baskets, that come with vintage french linen towels...

I also added this 19th century ironstone transferware compote dish....

I will be adding more transferware this evening....

I also bought some of this Savannah Bee honeycomb at Andrae's Bakery over the weekend....

It is truly the best honey I have ever tasted......

I also bought a bottle of the tupelo honey, it is the best!....

If you are ever in Amador County be sure and check Andrae's Bakery...

You can read more about Savannah Bee Honey by visiting their website...

On another note.....

I wanted to let you know about Jeanne Oliver's Creatively Made E-Course

she is now offering, it starts on Monday.....

If you would like to sign up for Jeanne's E-Course, there is still time....

You can do so by visiting Jeanne's website...

If you would like to read more about it, you can do so by visiting Jeanne's blog....

or you can watch Jeanne's vimeo, where she tells you more about the e-course....

Jeanne Oliver Designs....

I will be back with my Christmas post...

I am a little embarrassed that I still haven't gotten a chance to post about 

what little bit of Christmas decorating I did....

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Take Care,

Maria

Dreamy Whites Shop

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Last Minute Gift Ideas and a Favorite Hot Apple Cider Recipe

Hello!

I am sorry I wasn't able to post yesterday....

I am a little short on time, so I will have to post about the one room in the house I decorated after Christmas.....

I thought I would do a quick post, and share some last minute gift ideas with you....

These were our favorite gifts to make and give out this year....

1. An antique european grain sack wine and or beverage bag along with a bottle of wine and or sparkling cider.....

2, Homemade marshmallows and hot cocoa mix....

You can read more about making homemade marshmallows here....

(an image of cookies the kids and I made last year)

3. Sugar Cookies...

We used our favorite recipe,

a Martha Stewart Sugar Cookie Recipe and

for the frosting we used a Penzey Spice Recipe....

Martha Stewart's Sugar Cookie Recipe

Penzey Spices Vanilla Frosting Recipe...

I also wanted to share a family favorite hot apple cider recipe with you....

We make this every year during the holidays....

Not only does it taste good, it will also make your entire house smell good : )

Hot Apple Cider

6 cups apple cider 

(our favorite is the 365 Organic Apple Juice)

6 cups of pear juice

a pinch of ginger

3 whole cinnamon sticks

1/4 tsp. of nutmeg

10 cloves

1 TBLSP of fennel seeds

Bring all the above ingredients to a boil and let simmer for 25 minutes....

Then enjoy!

Before I go I want to remind you that Jeanne Oliver's camera bag giveaway is still open on my blog....

If you would like to enter you can do so by clicking here.....

The giveaway ends December 28th.

Thank you Jeanne!

I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop in and read my blog.

Merry Christmas to you and your families!

Take Care,

Maria

Dreamy Whites Shop

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Decorating for Christmas.... and a Jeanne Oliver Camera Bag Giveaway

Hello!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend.

I finally got one area of the house partially decorated for Christmas over the weekend and have a couple pictures to share with you today....

We finally got our tree up as well...

It just isn't decorated yet...

I have a lot more pictures to share with you....

I will be back soon with a few more images and details about the room and our Christmas tree : )

On another note...

I wanted to share with you Jeanne Oliver's beautiful new clothing line, The Coming Home Collection, Jeanne recently released.

I hope you enjoy a preview of Jeanne's new line, I love it.

Jeanne is also giving away the Natalie Camera Bag to one lucky reader today.....

So be sure and read the giveaway information at the bottom of the post.

THANK YOU JEANNE!

Natalie Camera Bag

Gracie Little Messenger Bag

Anne Ruffle Messenger Bag

Elaine Knit dress

Audrey French Tunic

Lila Peasant Dress

Louise Dress

Open publication - Free publishing - More camera bag

Jeanne also published the above lookbook.  Be sure and check it out.

Don't you just love Jeanne's work.

Jeanne is truly an inspiration to me....

Last spring I interviewed Jeanne, if you missed the interview, I hope you get a chance to read it.

You can read it by clicking here.....

I also posted about Jeanne's Ruffle Messenger bag she so kindly sent my daughter Bethany here....

Bethany LOVES her bag and uses it everyday to pack her art supplies around....

THANKS JEANNE!

Now onto the giveaway information!

One lucky person will receive one Natalie Camera Bag!

The giveaway ends December 28th at midnight.

1. All you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave me a comment on this post.

If you would like additional entries you can do the following.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.....

2. Post about the giveaway on any of your social networking sites, such as twitter, facebook, blogger, and or pinterest.

I hope you get a chance to visit Jeanne's shop and blog.

Jeanne Oliver Designs

Jeanne Oliver's Blog

THANK YOU JEANNE!!!!

I will be back with more holiday decorating.
Take Care,
Maria


Dreamy Whites Shop
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Homemade Marshmallows, Gift Ideas, and Serving Hot Cocoa during the Holidays

Hello!

I first want to thank all of you who left such kind comments about my daughter's 

peppermint wreath....

Nicole appreciates every comment.

Today I wanted to share a fun recipe and a quick gift giving idea.....

I come from a large family and all of us girls learned how to bake....

A lot of times for Christmas my favorite gift to give is baked goods or homemade candies.

The fun part is finding something fun to put the baked goods in....

I thought I would share a gift idea I have done in the past....

Homemade Marshmallows and Hot Cocoa Mix

They are both so simple to make.

Nicole made the marshmallows and Bethany made the hot chocolate....

I made the grain sack stocking ornament : )

Just a warning on the the marshmallows...

They have to set up for a couple of hours, however it is hard to not eat all the marshmallow cream while it is in the process of setting.

The nice part about making these marshmallows, there is hardly any stirring involved.

Throw in a few peppermint sticks to make your gift more festive....

These are the best peppermint sticks, you can find them at Sur la Table

I thought it would be fun to put a bag of hot chocolate and a bag of marshmallows in an antique french

cafe au lait bowl....

You can also find new cafe au lait bowls at Anthropologie....

And or a french enamelware canister....

For the hot chocolate my favorite type of chocolate to use is Penzey's Dutch Cocoa.

I found these cute red and white checked food bags at Sur La Table......

That way your food is safe if you are using vintage canisters to put your baked goods in....

(I will be listing these french canisters in my shop today....)

I also wanted to share a fun way to serve hot cocoa during the holidays using a french cheese board.....

I have a bit of an obsession with these antique French cheese boards....

I think they would work great for entertaining purposes.

I put the cookies on a french ironstone platter....

I love to use my antique ironstone on a daily basis, if you would like to read more about caring for your ironstone dishes you can do so by clicking here.....

(cookies came from Andrae's Bakery)

 I used a red striped grain sack runner on the table....

I tried to make the table seem more festive by adding the peppermint sticks and the red and white ribbon......

I hope you get a chance to try the homemade marshmallows.....

You can find the recipe for the marshmallows here....

You can find the recipe for the homemade cocoa here....

If you don't want to use vintage tins for your homemade gifts,

my other favorite option is to use Martha Stewart's boxes from Michaels...

They also have a great selection of ribbon to choose from.

What is your favorite thing to put your baked goods in when giving them as gifts?

Take Care,

Maria

Dreamy Whites Shop

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