Claiming Our Space

Sunday, December 2, 2012

It's Time to Party - Homemade Holiday Party

I am so psyched that today is finally here! I LOVE parties and I LOVE winning things! Don't you? So why not do both? This party is being co-hosted by Claiming Our Space along with 4 You With Love and it is going to be a blast!

Here's the highlights!

Link up your homemade holiday projects now through Dec 3, 2012, 11:59 PM eastern time.

Come back and vote for your favorites between midnight Dec 4 through Dec 9, 11:59 pm eastern time.

The winners and features will be announced Dec 10 at noon, eastern time.

Here's the prize packages for the winners!

First Place Prize Package

A $10 Gift Card to either Hobby Lobby or Michael's (winner's choice), a $5 Gift Card to Starbucks, 4 spices from my advent spice box, along with these items from my 20 days of Homemade Holiday Inspiration.

Second Place Price Package
A $5 Gift Card to Starbucks, 4 spices from my advent spice box, along with these items from my 20 days of Homemade Holiday Inspiration.

Third Place Prize Package
4 spices from my advent spice box along with these items from my 20 days of Homemade Holiday Inspiration.

Are you ready? Let's get this party started! (Also, this is my first time running something like this. If you run into a snag, please e-mail me at your earliest convenience).

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Willow Wednesday

Mom, can't you see I am trying to hide?

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Tout It Tuesdays - #34

Happy Tuesday!

I hope everyone here in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a great day with our families and ate waaaaay to much. Of course, going back to work yesterday was a bit of a let down after the long weekend. I enjoyed sleeping in a bit though Willow never let us stay in bed too long. Funny how shed is the one that wants to sleep in on work mornings but when we can sleep in, she has to get up. Silly dog. Good thing she is so sweet!

Something else wonderful happened this weekend, my MIL moved into her new house and hopefully, I will be able to show how she is transforming her home into her own unique space in the coming months. It is an older cap cod that hasn't been updated since the 1970s. So there is lots of possibilities for a great transformation.
Now onto this week's Features!

Courtney from the Polivka Family shared Tandoori Butter Chicken. Indian food is one thing D and I have never made at home but this recipe makes me think we can do it.

Can you stand how fab these feather trees from Laurie's Little Bits of Creativity are? I can see a forest of these scattered throughout my house.

D loves chicken and dumplings but I am awful at making actual dumplings so this recipe from The Hill Hangout looks like the perfect recipe for me.

Rena from Jewelry Making Journal shared how to make an absolutely gorgeous Rustic Foldover Copper pendant. I haven't yet tried making my own jewelry but this makes me what to get some supplies since I love.love.love jewelry of all types. Wouldn't this look great in the open collar of a crisp white cotton shirt?

Make sure to grab the featured button!

<a href="http://www.claimingourspace.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg186/gooch100/COSButton-Featured.jpg" /></a>

This week's Fan Fav is compliments of The Crafty Blogger.

She created the cutest snow globe ornaments and her post has a instructional video. I love that her family does an ornament exchange. I would love it if my family wold do this but, alas, I can't see anyone else getting their craft on.

Make sure to grab the Fan Fav button

I can't wait to see what people will be share this week and know that I will be inspired by everyone's projects and recipes.

Just a few rules/guidelines.

1. I would love it if you would follow through GFC or Bloglovin'. It would be great if you would also follow us on Twitter and Pinterest.

2. Please do not link shops or link parties that are not related to a project, photo or recipe challenge. Everything else is accepted.

3. Linking to Claiming Our Space isn't required but I would appreciate it if you would grab my button and either display it with the post you are linking up or under your list of parties.

4. Don't forget to click on the "like" button on your favorite project or recipe so I know which one should be the week's Fan Fav.

5. Please try to visit at least two posts for each link you submit and leave a comment. Comments make everyone happy!

With all that out of the way, let's Tout It!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Scalloped Corn Casserole

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had seven for dinner, including us. Of course, we made way way way too much food. Isn't that always the case on the holidays? Here is what our spread looked like. You can see the scalloped corn casserole at the far end.

One of the wonderful things about combining D's family with mine is learning about the dishes that are part of his family's traditions. This casserole is one that his grandmother made every year and now his mom makes it. I don't think D would believe it was Thanksgiving without it.

If you try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as much as he does.

Scalloped Corn Casserole
Source: My Mother-in-Law

Ingredients
2 whole eggs, well beaten
1 can evaporated milk (sweetened condensed milk can be used if you wish)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 Tsp. garlic salt
1 Tsp. black pepper
2 cans creamed corn
1 sleeve saltine crackers, finely crushed
3 tablespoons butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a large glass bowl, mix eggs, evaporated milk,onion, garlic salt, and black pepper well.
Add creamed corn, making sure mixture is combined completely.
Mix in finely crushed saltines until thoroughly incorporated.
Butter 9 x 9 deep casserole dish with 1 tablespoon of butter, leaving some butter at corners.
Pour corn mixture into dish. Add two tablespoons of butter on top and finish with additional garlic salt and black pepper.
Bake approx. 45 mins. to one hour.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Gallery Wall Pt 3 - Wall Shelves

Check out our Gallery Wall Shelves! I decided that we needed to jump on the wall shelf bandwagon since I loved the idea of being able to swap art work in and out at will. Plus, the reality is that I was being too pokey about figuring out the layout to actually hang the art and this seemed like a way to actually get something on the wall before 2013.

You can see that the coin art and the sea biscuit shadowbox are included in the mix. I also added some family photos, a silhouette of me from kindergarden, a rubbing from a church in London and some state love art (tute coming for that soon).

I used Ana White's Ten Dollar Ledges as the start for my project. Though I modified it to fit our needs.

Our ledges are 5 feet in length and I used 1x4's, 1x3's and 1x2's. While I used cheaper wood for the 1x4's and 1x3's, I splurged on 1st quality 1x2's so I wouldn't need to worry about knots.

I used our Kreg jig so I could hide the fasteners making the finishing that much easier.

Some wood glue, screws and caulk - and I had 2 gallery wall shelves. (it is the table that is wonky crooked, not the shelves)

I gave them each several coats of white semi-gloss paint and then they were ready to hang.

Some help from D to get a couple of long wood screws into the studs and we were ready to go.

It fills up the space perfectly.

We hung it high enough so that we can put chairs, a bar or a small bookcase underneath without any problem. There is space on either side soany pieces that need to be hung, like shadowboxes, can easily added.