Chinese Market Soup

For the last few years I've made what I've termed Chinese Market Soup. The idea came about when I read an article about a open market. Where a soup vendor had a hot broth and you got to add the ingredients you wanted in the soup. And they poured the hot broth over it and you had a soup just the way you like it.

I line up all the ingredients for everyone to pick from. I always have the staples of a soup, carrots, beans, pasta, potatoes, etc. I have also put out bok choy, bean sprouts, watercress to name a few things.

The trick to serving this soup is make sure the broth is super hot. Once the broth is poured over the ingredients it cools off a bit.

The kids love it. They get to pick what they want and usually they eat the whole thing cause after all they made it themselves. LOL

Thanks for stopping by
XOXO
Esther

A Snowy Gingerbread Party

For this year's annual Gingerbread House party I decided to go with a Snowy decorating theme. I found these snow covered greenery

I used an vintage watering can to hold the greenery and placed the wintery painting I painted this year.

I used the wreath I created last year. (you can read about it here) along with reindeer. I use snow batting and fake snow around the legs.

In the corner I set up for the house pieces were set up with a couple of trees also with snow batting and fake snow. 

On the trays with that held the house pieces I sprinkled sugar on it for the snow effect.



And hung Christmas lights on the ceiling for a extra touch. I love the way the lights look so much I am considering keeping them up year round.

Here is a look at all the candy laid out ready to decorate houses.

Here is a look at the houses that were created.

Everyone had a great time and went home with a Gingerbread House they created

Thanks for stopping by
XOXO
Esther

Christmas front porch

 I normally decorate a little more traditional. Here is a picture from last year

I wanted something a little more christmasy for the front porch this year. I decided to go with Christmas ball. First I wanted to do one big ball on top of each each but I couldn't find a ball the size I wanted. I found these from the Christmas tree shop.

I used 3 different sizes on each urn.

 



To add the Christmas balls to the urns and wheel barrow. I glued chop sticks to balls and stuck them into the dirt so they wouldn't blow around. Here is a picture of adding the balls to the wheel barrow.

 

I added fake snow and sparkles as a finishing touch.



 

 

I loved the look of sprinkled snow. It added a really nice touch for the Christmas season.

Thanks for stopping by
XOXO
Esther

Christmas Cards

What a busy December! Between work, shopping and getting ready for the Holiday. December passed by very quickly. One thing I promised myself last year was to take is easier this year and not try to do it all and be everywhere. Would you believe it I actually did. I spent a few quite evenings at home enjoying the Christmas movies that were on. I just love watching all those Christmas movies from the classical It's a wonderful life (my personal favorite) to the sappy love ones like Matchmaker Santa. I really do try to watch as many as I can every December. Corny I know... but it's my thing... can't help myself. One other thing I did was create my Christmas Cards.

Here is one that I created

 I got this idea from a shadow box I saw with all the days of the month and little nick knacks from Christmas. I originally wanted to put all the days of the month on the card like I saw in the inspiration piece, but quickly realized there just wasn't going to be enough room.

Then I though I would just mixed up the number from 1 through 10 using different kinds of mediums. Playing cards, stamps, etc. Talk about happy accidents. With out any planning I picked the #2 from the miniature playing cards and the number 5 from my stamps and accidentally put them together.

 

 

 

The card came together rather quickly after that. I stamped out all the pieces I needed.

 

 

 

 

Cut them out and colored them in.

 

 

 

Put it all together.

 

 

 

Love the way it came out. I might not have gotten all the numbers on the card like I saw in the inspiration piece but I did get the feel of it. 12 for the twelve days of Christmas. The clock to represent the counting down. A calender like item for the year we wait until christmas comes. A star for the christmas star and a Christmas ornament. And of course the big day itself the number 25.

 

Thanks for stopping by

XOXO

Esther





The Train Show

One of my Christmas traditions is to go to the New York Botanical Garden Train Show.

Picture from the NYBG Train Show ad

When I first started going the train show was outside and it was so very small. Over the years it has grown and moved into the conservatory. Every year they unveil one new building that was created for the show.

I remember the year the replica of the conservatory was revealed

It is absolutely amazing to see the conservatory made out of all natural material. Every time I see it I'm still in awe in how they made it look almost see through. Another big one was Yankee stadium

They even put in the spectators. Oh yeah there is a sound track playing as well with  a game. It is so much fun looking at the trains going around

To looking at the details they put into all those creations. All the building they create are New York landmarks both still standing and torn down. For the last three years I've started going to the Bar Car Nights. In addition to the show there is a special complementary drink for you to enjoy while you walk around.

This year they were show casing the creator of the show Paul Busse. They showed how he created a building from start to finish

 

Here is a few pictures  of some of his other creations. 

Amazing isn't. Oh I bet you want to see this years new creation......Macy's the largest department store in the world.

Amazing detail don't you think. I hope you enjoyed. I also hope you make time to go and enjoy the Train show yourself.

Thanks for stopping by
XOXO
Esther

Pumpkin Redo

I saw these pumpkins from Pottery barn and fell in love with the way they looked



inspiration from Pottery barn

I had these paper mache pumpkins for quite some time.

With the inspiration from Pottery barn and I thought this would be a great way to ramp up those pumpkins.  I bought some burlap in 2 different colors and found this awesome textured vinyl in the remnant pile in Joann's Fabric 70% off  Yeah!

 The first thing I did was glue a wine cork to the stems to make them longer.

 Then I tried to gluing the fabric onto the pumpkin but you know me I don't have much patience.

 I pulled out the hot glue gun and scissors and I went to town. I also glued some sisal cord between sections and around the stem.

 Here is the almost finished piece.

There are more finishing touches I want to do. But Thanksgiving day came so quickly I didn't get a chance to finish all the details.

Now to think Christmas! Oh boy! LOL

Thanks for stopping by
XOXO
Esther

Thanksgiving Day Card

I make my own greeting cards for birthdays, everyday and of course the Holidays.  For the Holiday cards I try to come up with 3 different designs. Seems like a lot, I know. I like sending different cards out especially when a I send a couple to the same address like in my Aunts case I send a different ones to her girls and a different design to her.

For this Thanksgiving this was one of the cards I created.

My process of coming up with the ideas can sometimes take several days to a couple weeks as I try to come up with ideas that I transfer into cards. This year I started a little late in the month can we say panic...yep picture me pulling out all my Thanksgiving stamps and as they are flying in the air chanting inspiration hit me please... hit me... hit me. 

 

Okay okay I wasn't that much in a panic but I was a little stressed.

I have a couple of magazines I use to inspire me and to get ideas from. I found a really cute idea that I used for this card. It was a cute butterfly card with ribbons and buttons and that morphed into my creation. I got to use a pumpkin stamp I bought last year (the top one). I fell in love with it's vintage look and the one I bought this year. Not as vintage but heck there all kinds of pumpkins right?

Here is a pictures of all the pumpkins stamped out ready for coloring in and cutting out.

 

 I really love the way it came out. And they were tons of fun to make. 

Thanks for stopping by...

XOXO

Esther