May Your Teacup Overflow....

 I needed something to brighten up my desk today...

Found it!

{Sure beats that ugly paperclip dispenser!}


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 Check out our facebook page for our store
where we show more fun ideas for using vintage items in your office.

A Little Cha-Cha Chai

We've been busy at the store the past couple of weeks.

Returning it back to it's non-Christmas state

and we threw in a tea party on Sunday....

but this week we had a class!

To get us in the mood today...we've got a little

Tea for Two Cha Cha.....

got to love a good Cha Cha!!

Tonight at our class we 

RELAXED

So, grab yourself a cup of tea,

ours is our Chai Spice Blend, 

while we share our recipes.....

Tonight we wanted to show our guests

HOW

to use tea...

Chai Tea especially! 

The first thing we did was make some

deliciously smoothing

Chai Tea Sugar Scrub....

2-1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup Chai Tea

Put the Chai Tea in the same bowl as the sugar

Add 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix 1/2 cup distilled water

and 5 Tablespoons grapeseed oil together

Mix the sugar, chai, cinnamon mixture together

and pour into the sugar mixture.

Mix it all up ~ that's all there is!

We all decided to try the mix out...

this winter has been hard on the hands this year!

We decided that it smelled delicious...

and if it didn't work, that it would taste great lol!

But, alas, it DID scrub away our rough hands 

and it left them smooth and smelling good!

We poured the mixture into a mason jar 

and added a little ribbon and colored paper for the lid....

So very cute!

 We ended the evening with some

Chai Tea Buddies.....

Put 10 cups Chex cereal in a bowl

In a microwavable bowl put 2 teaspoons Chai Tea

 and 12 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

 and heat for 1 minute in the microwave and stir.  

Heat for 30 second increments  and stir until the chocolate is melted. 

Pour over top of the chex cereal and mix. 

 When the chocolate is coating the cereal, put two cups of powdered sugar 

in a brown paper bag and add the cereal and shake until covered.

Enjoy!

Knit Wit

Now....

tell us that this doesn't make you smile?

Everyone should have a knitted sweater for their trees don't you think?!!

As we were going through pictures yesterday

we came across this ~ isn't it the cutest???

You'll find it outside of Natalie's Phat Cakes

(right now it probably has a LOT of snow around it though!!)

Happy Wednesday All!

& stay witty & warm :)

Everything But....

Everything But....

Everything but taking down the Christmas decorations!

I really don't know WHAT

is wrong...

but you would think with a Level 3 going on outside

and wind chills at -41 degrees

brrrrrrrrrr

that I could have at LEAST

taken down

The Christmas Decorations today....but

no.

Instead I cleaned out the pantry

THAT was a job!

I did a little laundry, surfed the internet....

I did a LOT

of 

surfing.

Then poked around in the freezer to figure out supper

and found the zucchini

 that I 

BRILLIANTLY

froze last summer.....

and decided to make this:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

and yes, it is super delicious...

like a moist brownie on the bottom and a bit of a crunchy top...

oh yea....and it's CHOCOLATE.

What more could you ask for on a snow day??

If you happen to have some Zucchini in your freezer....

have a try ~ it's super easy & delish!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1-3/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour milk 

(if you don't have sour milk....

just put 2 teaspoons of lemon juice in regular milk 

and let it stand for 10 minutes!)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2-1/2 cup grated zucchini

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Cream together butter, vegetable oil and sugar

Add eggs, sour milk and vanilla.  Blend well.

In a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together.

Blend dry ingredients into the butter mixture.

Add grated zucchini, and mix well.

Spread in a greased and floured 9x13 pan.

Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

Bake in a preheated 325 degrees F oven for 45 minutes.

CHOW DOWN

oh....

and get those Christmas Decorations 

put away already!

Skip to the Loo

I just love my downstairs bathroom window...

I forgo the curtain and opt for

STUFF

So...you can imagine how much fun it is

to change it up for Christmas!

When you open up your Christmas decorations

do you ever get excited to see something again?

That is how I am when I unwrap this

vintage Santa mug 

and 

 candy canes....

 awww....

come on...how could you not smile?

Slowly but surly decorations are appearing in

The Summer Kitchen Girls' homes!

Jolly Good :)

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

 

'Tis a crazy(er) time of year for The Summer Kitchen Girls...

But we are finally trying to get a bit of holiday jingle going on at home all while we gear up for our Joyeux Noel Open House at the store this weekend.

Probably could have had much more in the way of decorating done if we wouldn't have taken the day off to shop... but those gifts won't buy themselves, right?;0)

A Touch of Blue

 Do you know what?

We love that white shabby style....

but we could never live in it.

These girls love 

COLOR

way too much!  One of our favorite way to add some

fun vintage color is by adding blue....

You'll never guess what kind of blue 

these girls love to add...

well, you just might :)

We love finding pieces of 

blue transferware.

There really is nothing like adding it for a 

POP

of color in your room

no matter what you're decorating style...

don't you think?

It probably all started with

  grandma's china set....

every holiday it would be out on the table 

and we'd be in charge 

of putting grandma's sliver knives and spoons

 beside each plate 

and putting the fork on a napkin

 folded by our little hands.

ahhh....you can tell

Thanksgiving is coming...

good memories always come with it doesn't it?

The Embellishment Factor

When you look all day

at a ho-hum pillow, 

you might think that there has 

got

to be something you could do to take it from this.....

to This....

So, I took some old fabric we had 

cut it into strips, and fashioned it into a bow

I then put one of my vintage pins 

on it to hold it in place....

I sat it on top of my pillow...

already it looks better :)

I dug through the ribbon drawers and found 

a ribbon that would work!

I tied the ribbon around the pillow and after I knotted it

 and tacked it into place with my needle & thread.

Of course, 

I had to add a few more loops 

to make a nice full bow.  

Then I pinned the pin on top of it....

Voila!

What an exciting pillow I have now!

What will you Embellish?!!

Join us for some fun with 

Paula & Patti from Ivy & Elephants 

for their What's It Wednesday!

Family Recipes

This weekend we were going through our recipes 

and found one of our favorites!

 Aunt Bea's 

Buttermilk Baked Apples

 Oh Aunt Bea!  

What a lady!

What did we love about Aunt Bea?  

Well, first off we loved her 

Buttermilk Baked Apples...

then there was her spunkiness, 

and when you saw her driving down the road...

well, you didn't see her ~ you only saw a puff of white hair 

barely above the steering wheel!!

Thank you for the great memories Aunt Bea!

 {and the apple recipe for sure!}

  

5-6 Apples

1 egg

1-1/2 cup brown sugar

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Lay peeled and halved apples in your 9x13 baking dish. 

Beat egg in a bowl and then add remaining ingredients.  

Pour over apples and bake at 350 degrees 

for about 45 minutes, or until apples are tender.  

Enjoy!!

Decorating with Fall's Bounty

So glad you stopped by!

Take a look at the

BOUNTY

of fall....

Our hydrangeas 

were just gorgeous this year...

We just had to use them...

...along with some of the beautiful tree branches

and pumpkins from the farm down the road.

Adding a little Fall to the Home 

makes us happy....

....very Happy!!

Pumpkins by the Fireside

 It's a bit chilly out in northwest Ohio this week

and to the children's delight we 

decided to light a fire in the fireplace last night!

and since I finally decided to decorate the mantel

It was an opportune time to snap a few pictures....

A fire in October...

that is unheard of the 9 years we've lived here!

 But it was wonderful...

you can't help but love to hear the crackle of the wood!

oh...let's not forget the

WARMTH

of the room....that's the most important part!

Gather round everyone....

 Fall is in full swing!