Football season ends

So, my family is kinda nutty about Super Bowl. As I sit in my recliner watching a pretty horrible football game, I'm grateful for the yummy snacks and rockin' decorations.

Super Bowl Decorations

I make team pennants every year. I started off making the two teams that were playing in the Super Bowl but after the gazillionth time the Giants made it to the Bowl, I started just making other NFL teams.

This year I made the Broncos, Browns, and Chiefs.

I also have the football field pennants. Tutorial here.

I also have my football felt coasters. Maybe someday I'll inflate my vintage football.

Even the top of the piano gets some love. I adore the referee plates.

 

The Food

Since the game is played in New Jersey this year, our food theme is Jersey shore aka boardwalk food.
Tomato pie.

Popcorn (I make it on the stove with olive and coconut oil.)

Taffy and cotton candy (actually it's cotton candy taffy.)

Corndogs

 

Chips and salsa with cream cheese (this is more of a Grow family thing.)

And, orange and blue jell-0 jiggler helmets.

My mum's friend asked what she could bring to the party so I sent her a link to Martha and her chocolately pretzel peanut cookie bars.

 

Oh, and lemonade served in Mason jars which originated in New Jersey.

 

 

Okay, I need to get back to the game. Have a great day. Go team!

Super Bowl Open House

Super Bowl Sunday is a special day for our family. It's a party with a lot of food, some fun commercials, family time, and oh yah, there's is a sporting event on the tv.

The food theme is different every year (sometimes inspired by the teams that are playing or the venue) and we add to our decorations every year. Here's this years' rundown.

The Decorations

I made 3 more team pennants. I've made almost 20 now. Welcome Bengals, Dolphins, and Cowboys.

The football field banner is decorating our kitchen window.

The usual football field platters, football plates and bowls, felt football coasters, as well as our football cheese spreader and bottle opener all make a comeback this year.

The Food

Specially brewed rootbeer (regular and diet) from Brew Bakers in Huntington Beach.

Giant Football Calzone. I used storebought pizza dough and filled with pizza sauce, lots of cheese and veggies. We also had a ziti pasta with the same sauce.

Pretzel Sticks from Brewbakers with homemade marinara sauce (leftover from the calzone). We also keep chips and veggies around for snacking.

 Knock-You-Naked Brownies from Pioneer Woman's Recipe.

Peanut M & Ms.

 Jell-O Jigglers Helmets in sugar-free lemon and strawberry banana.

The Entertainment

We are playing Bingo during the game this year. I found these fun Super Bowl bingo cards online from Parade Magazine

and of course a lot of cool commercials. :)

I hope that you have a wonderful day. Thank you for vistiting We Grow By Our Dreams.

I have lots more projects and tutorials on my other blog, The Vintage Sheet Blog. 

Easter Open House

Spring is so fun! I have a few photos from around the house to share with you and some stories to go with them. Enjoy!

We'll start with two of my new finds. I found these vintage fabric-covered plastic eggs at an estate sale a few weeks ago. Each egg has a different fabric and there are 3 different sizes. I found the wire bunny egg holder at the Assistance League Thrift Shop this year. I love the combo.

Here we have two versions of a similar chocolate bunny. The first guy is faux chocolate. The second can be filled with any kind of candy. We used sparkly jelly beans.

This is the egg garland that I made last year with fabric scraps and vintage pillowcases. Our Easter count down bunny is in the middle. He counts down the days with numbers on carrots.

As long as we are peaking out the front window, here are some flowers in the front yard.

We are very lazy gardeners at my house. My neighbors asked if we had garden faeries that come in the night because they never see us gardening and we always have gorgeous flowers. Ha ha ha.

Up next, my sister and I found this spring plate at a different estate sale. Actually, it was buried in the garage of all places. I love the texture of the flowers.

We love to decorate the coffee table. At the same estate sale as the plate (also in the garage), we found the purple pitcher. It is filled with plastic eggs. The little basket holds the eggs we hide for my niece every year in our front yard.

This is another thrift store find. This bunny sits on the divider between the kitchen and dining room. I love strawberries for Easter.

One of my favorite Easter memories as a child was going to my cousins' house for spring break. We would always make lemon cupcakes with green coconut and jellybeans with pipe cleaner handles to resemble Easter baskets. The niece and I re-created them this year.

We aren't Greek but wish we had Greek relatives to teach us how to cook Greek food. A few years back I bought this beautiful cookbook. It is filled with gorgeous pictures of not only the food but of the people and landscape of Greece. We will be having a Greek-style feast for Easter this year.

And, lastly for our tour, our Crown of Thorns plant. This was given to my niece at church this year to remind her of the true meaning of Easter. She was told that this is what the Roman Soldiers used to make the crown of thorns for Jesus to wear during his crucifixion.

Thank you so much for visiting We Grow By Our Dreams for an Easter Open House. I hope that you have a wonderful Easter. I will be conducting a choir of young women ages 12-18 for one song tomorrow at church.

Christmas Open House 2009

Welcome to my Christmas open house. I have pictures of my town followed by some from my home.

First, let's start off in downtown Huntington Beach. This is a pedestrian bridge acrosss Pacific Coast Highway connecting the Huntington Beach Hyatt to the beach. The picture of the lantern is also in front of the Hyatt..  Let's go to my home. For the past several years we have put this painted wooden nativity in front of our home. I love it's simplicity. Nativities are a major part of our Christmas decorations. We have several dozen. We have everything from nativity washcloths to ornaments. Here is a sampling.

Finally, we'll end with a picture of our Christmas tree. We love to pack it full of ornaments. They all have special memories attached.

Thank you so much for visiting my open house.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's time for another open house. Please enjoy these images from my home. Let's start with the front door. My sister painted our Grow pumpkin. Once you come inside you are greeted by Paris. I don't think he likes his pumpkin costume.

Let's go in the kitchen. This is the shelf above the sink. The turkey in the middle was created by my niece when she was in kindergarten. It's part of a series.



Then, above the front window hangs the banner I sewed this year along with a welcome sign painted by my sister.

All of the glass cupboards have pumpkin ephemera inside.

 

Let's go in the dining room. We have china we only use for Thanksgiving. The wheat plates were from my mum's mum. Later, we'll put the Thanksgiving serving pieces out. They are from my Dad's mum.

 

I am really excited about my new project this year. It's a "stuffed" turkey. I saw it on the V and Co blog and I knew I had to make it.

I made little pumpkin place cards for everyone with a gingerbread cookie mix and melted orange chocolates.

 


This is a funny pillow that sits on our living room chair.

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Here's the top of the piano. My niece worked her magic there.

That concludes our Thanksgiving open house. I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm grateful for you.