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Holiday
a slice of life

parker house rolls

Have you tried the “Parker House Rolls” recipe by Half Baked Harvest?  You can find the printable recipe and all of the details HERE.  I made them last year for the first time and they were so delicious.  My family talked about them as Thanksgiving approached this year.  “…and you’re making those rolls, right?”   “Mom, why can’t you make bread like this for just a normal day.”  And, I must admit, as someone who loves bread and butter, I was looking forward to these at Thanksgiving as well.  I’ll be making them again for Christmas along with some cinnamon buns for Christmas eve. English Scullery Chopper | French rolling pin Last year, I tried making the Parker House rolls recipe a day ahead and putting them in the fridge overnight between rises, but they didn’t turn out quite as well as just making them the same day.  While they aren’t

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December 23, 2021 11 Comments
crafts

mini advent stocking tutorial | Christmas crafts

Disclosure: This mini advent stocking tutorial is sponsored by Walmart.  As always, all words and opinions shared are honest and my own. When I shared my mini advent stockings just a few weeks ago, several people asked me for measurements and more information so they could make their own.  I already have a full set and some extras, but I measured the ones I have, made a template, and made one so I could share a mini advent stocking tutorial.  It’s a little close to Christmas to try to whip out advent stockings, but it would be a fun project to work on over the year with fabric scraps. My set of stockings was originally made by Ann of On Sutton Place and she did a beautiful job on them.  She is so much more precise than I am!  As I was cutting custom tags using the Cricut and other

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December 21, 2021 5 Comments
crafts

polymer clay ornaments & tags | christmas crafts

Are you ready for another Christmas craft?  I have just a couple more to share this week leading up to Christmas.  I have been wanting to play with polymer clay for a while and after enjoying the salt dough projects, I decided this was the year I would make polymer clay ornaments.  And I definitely enjoyed it!  I have vague memories of working with polymer clay in the past, but it’s been a very long time…long enough for me to say I was starting completely from scratch.  So, I might’ve gone rogue and done things completely wrong, but I just followed the instructions on the clay package and tried not to overthink things. I’m often asked how I get so much done and I think that one of the answers is I worry about doing things, not doing them right.  I have low expectations for my first time doing something

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December 20, 2021 18 Comments
crafts

custom cut gift tags | Christmas crafts

Disclosure: This post on custom-cut gift tags is sponsored by Walmart.  As always, all words and opinions are honest and my own. I’m squeezing in as much Christmas crafting this year as I can!  Craftiness might even happen right up through Christmas Eve.  We’ll see how long this momentum carries me!  Today, I’m sharing a new crafting toy with you along with some custom-cut gift tags I made to match my wrapping paper designs… I got a Cricut from Walmart! I also bought that beautiful pair of scissors when I was shopping for the grazing platter I shared last week.  (As a side note, my favorite scissors for fabric & paper are forged scissors, but at just under $14, they are half the price and still make a nice crisp cut through fabric and paper.  They’d be a great stocking stuffer for crafters/sewers.)  As I’ve shared before, I’m always impressed

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December 15, 2021 27 Comments
crafts

salt dough gingerbread houses | Christmas crafts

This is the Christmas craft that sent me down the salt dough rabbit trail this year.  (You can read about my salt dough ornaments HERE and HERE.)  Instead of making my little Christmas houses out of gingerbread this year, I wanted to try making salt dough “gingerbread” houses to see how they compared and if they would last a few seasons or longer.  It took me a couple of tries to figure out what I liked and how to best assemble and decorate these salt dough houses… The printable recipe for these salt dough gingerbread houses is at the bottom of the post if you’d like to try making them.  You can find house templates HERE. salt dough gingerbread houses | tips The learning curve for me came in how to best assemble the houses.  I actually bought what I thought was white sealing wax made for a hot glue

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December 14, 2021 13 Comments
All Things Home

casual winter porch | Christmas decorating

I did not marry a man who likes to fuss with Christmas lights.  If I want lights, I typically have to do them myself.  It’s not that Jeff won’t help but it’s just not his thing at all and I get that.  He’s never going to suggest it or start untangling and testing lights on his own.  He’s okay if the outside of our house looks just as it does the rest of the year.  But, the style of this particular house makes decorating for the holidays pretty easy.  I can just address the porch and it’s festive enough to leave the rest of the house alone.  So, I focus on creating a casual Christmas porch that can transition nicely into winter. This casual Christmas porch actually started with a freelance writing assignment for HGTV.com.  My editor asked me to create a door decoration for the holidays that wasn’t a

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December 13, 2021 19 Comments
crafts

molded salt dough ornaments | christmas crafts

I know what you’re probably thinking.  Didn’t you already do a post on molded salt dough ornaments?  Well, yes, I did!  You can find that post HERE.  While this post is a little Deja Vu, this is actually a different post talking about working with a different kind of salt dough for a different look. I enjoyed making the salt dough “gingerbread” so much that I decided to try working with some original salt dough.  And of course, I wanted to test it out in the wooden molds.  I used a basic recipe of 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1 cup of water and kneaded it in my mixer until it formed a ball.  I made some shapes with cookie cutters and shaped the rest of the dough in the molds.  They turned out beautifully, but I did have to adjust my technique since this dough

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December 12, 2021 20 Comments
All Things Home

2021 holiday home tour | Christmas decorating

While I am still working on crafting and gifting, our home is pretty much done being decorated for Christmas.  Due to some freelance projects, I got a very early start this year and I can’t say I mind too much.  It meant that I didn’t feel rushed, but could take my time working through each space.  I enjoy decorating so much more when it doesn’t feel like a race.  That extra time allowed me to rethink certain areas, like the fireplace mantle and I love the results.  So, here is our holiday home tour for 2021… I did the most decorating in the living room because it’s where we spend much of our time and it’s the most visible room in the house.  It’s also just natural to decorate with the pretty mantle, built-ins, and a place for the Christmas tree.  You can read more about the mantle HERE. Swapping

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December 11, 2021 28 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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