Pocketful of Blue

Christmas decorating won't start until after this Saturday for me. My daughter's 10th birthday party is this Saturday so I will be decorating for that. In the meantime, I still have the leaf in the table from Thanksgiving  so it gave me the opportunity to create a little different centerpiece than usual. I used my aqua mason jars along with some other jars and a  basket of  silverware to create a casual farmhouse table. ≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈ Here is what I currently have on my most favorite  little table in the corner. I'm thinking it looks pretty sweet! Hopefully I will have some Christmas decorating to share soon! Don't forget to check out my  Christmas Parties and Inspiration Page  for important dates this holiday season!! ~ JoAnne ~   joining   ~ WOW Us Wednesday ~ Savvy Southern Style Open House Party ~ No Minimalist Here Farmhouse Friday ~ LaurieAnna's Vintage Home

Hi Everyone, I hope you all had a very wonderful Thanksgiving ~ I sure did! ~ but of course, now we move on to the Christmas Holiday Season ~ source There are many wonderful Christmas linky parties planned with opportunities to link up our amazing holiday decorations. {Well, yours will be amazing, not so sure about mine!} I have created a page to list all of the parties that I know of and also some links to great inspiration from all over blogland. So click on    Christmas Parties and Inspiration 2011   at the top of the page to see what I have found so far. If you are hosting a party or know of one that is not listed, I would love for you to let me know and I will add it. I love the photo above of the little tree ~ I just think it's so sweet and the blue combined with traditional Christmas colors would work really well in my house. What have you found for inspiration this year? I would love to hear about it. Have a great d

O Gracious God,   w e give you thanks for your overflowing generosity to us.      T hank you for the blessings of the food we eat and especially for this feast  today. T hank you for our home and family and friends, especially for the presence of  those gathered here. T hank you for our health, our work and our play. P lease send help to those who are hungry, alone, sick and suffering war and  violence. O pen our hearts to your love. W e ask your blessing through Christ your son. Amen. ~ source source ~ I am thankful for the friendship and community that I have found  through all of you in this place we call 'Blogland' ~ Blessings,  JoAnne

Just popping in with a quick post to share  my Thanksgiving tables ~ at least this is what I have so far . . . ~ I kept it fairly simple ~ • • • • •  • • • • •  ~ added a vintage tablecloth to the folding table to dress it up a little more ~ • • • • •  Wish me luck! I haven't hosted Thanksgiving in a very long  time  but I'm looking forward to it! Also, Stacey at A Sort of Fairytale and I  realized  that we are both using kraft paper and blue mason jars in our tablescapes ~ take a look at some of the charming things Stacey will be using on her table.  You'll want to see the rest of her cottage also ~  it really is like a fairytale! Thank you all so much for coming by ~ Have a heartwarming and tummy filling Thanksgiving!! ~ JoAnne • • • joining • • • WOW Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style Primp Your Stuff Wednesday @ {Primp} Farmhouse Friday @ LaurieAnna's Vintage Home

Hi Everyone, For some reason I have cooking on my mind . . . can't you just imagine the wonderful aromas already? Country Living ~ it's almost crunch time ~ Are you ready? ~ JoAnne

Hi Everyone, I just wanted to share a couple quick things I made for Thanksgiving decorations. I made a Thanksgiving Sampler but I did it the cheaters way. Years ago, I used to embroider and cross stitch but who has time for that these days? So of course I used the computer. I played around with different fonts, symbols, and colors until I came up with something I was happy with. Then I just printed it out, placed it on a piece of blue card stock,  and  put it in a frame.   •••••••••••••••••••• ~ so simple ~ The next project was even easier. I had found a really large leaf outside and after it dried,  I kept moving it around trying to find a way to display it. Then it suddenly came to me ~ (very dramatic like) ! Remember this frame I showed you a while back? Well now it is proudly displaying my lovely leaf! Isn't that just brilliant of me?  : ) Here are both of my projects hanging together.

Cottage and Vine's Room by Room Party  this month is Dining Rooms. You've seen mine before but I hope you don't mind  seeing it again. Actually, we don't really have a dining room ~  this is our eating area for all occasions so I didn't think Rene would mind if I joined her party with this space.   (She's nice like that!)   We have a leaf for the table for when we have a larger group so  I will definitely be adding it for Thanksgiving. See my little table back in the corner that I posted about here ? I still really love it! • • • • • • • • • • • • We have this fireplace across from our table  and I've always had trouble accessorizing the shallow mantle. I came up with the idea to display some of my China on it. I just kind of layered some dishes and added a  few  other things I had to dress it up. How do you think it turned out? I'm so happy you stopped by for a visit! ~ I hope

Hi Everyone, I have never really shown you the real reason  we bought  our house four years ago. Well, here it is ~ our backyard. Would you join me for a little tour? These pictures were taken just this week. We have about 1 acre of land with many large trees and a stream runs through all of the properties on our street. My hubby will be very busy for a couple weekends taking care of all the leaves. I haven't shown the yard before because it needs a lot of work... but if I wait until all of the work is done,  it will be a very long time. We have done some trimming of trees and things like that but there is still a lot to do. The original owners put a cement block wall all along the stream and much of it is now falling in, not to mention the fact that it's pretty darn unattractive ~ so we have our work cut out for us with that project! ••••••••••••••• I do feel blessed to have a large yard like this for our

We are having a beautiful November weekend here in Ohio. Sunny blue skies and crisp cool air. Just heavenly! I hope you are all having the same! ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞    ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞  I've always loved little white country churches. To me they symbolize pure, simple country life ~ good values, family, community. ~ I hope your day is special ~ JoAnne

Hi Everyone, I won a wonderful giveaway from Dolly at Hibiscus House . It's this beautiful book "Christmas with Southern Living". Dolly included a sweet handwritten note  telling me which recipes she really likes. This Prime Rib with Horseradish Cream is one of them. How good does that look! The book also has gorgeous photos of holiday decorating inspiration. Here's another recipe in the book... Blackeyed Pea Cakes with Cranberry Red Pepper Salsa. Okay ~ not something I would normally make  but it looks so good I might have to give it a try! Love this wreath with the dried hydrangeas in the center and doesn't it look amazing mounted on this old window frame? Okay ~ now we're talkin' ~ I'm a huge fan of desserts and this looks super yummy ~ I think I have to go raid my kids'  Halloween candy now!  paperwhites on a windowsill ~ so pretty  ~ look at this chocolate bread pudd