Last Day for Guaranteed Arrival Before Christmas!

Good morning all... I don't usually post on the weekends but I thought I would pop in really quick and let you know that today (12/15) is the last day I can guarantee a product brought from my Etsy shop will arrive before Christmas!

So anything bought after today, I unfortunately can't guarantee that it would arrive before Christmas (unless you wish to pay for expedited shipping - please contact me if that is the case!). Sorry about that! If you purchase something today, I can have it packaged and ready to go for Monday. :)

To sweeten the deal even more, my free shipping deal is still going on! Use coupon code LITTLEOAKCHRISTMAS12 for free shipping on anything in the store! This coupon code is good until 12/25 - so even though you may not receive your item in time for Christmas if you buy it after today, you can still enjoy free shipping as my gift to you! :) (Sorry my lovely international readers! I cannot ship internationally at this time.)

So if you're thinking TL;DR (Too long; didn't read): my Etsy shop! and coupon code LITTLEOAKCHRISTMAS12. Buy today to guarantee arrival before Christmas. That's all you gotta know. ;) See you next week!

Also...
My heart is heavy today and I am so sad for those children and adults who lost their lives yesterday in such a horrifying fashion. Please send your thoughts and prayers to those families today as they begin on this incredibly difficult journey.

It's Pinspired Friday! {DIY Paint Streak Ornaments}

Goooood morning! It's:

I've got a fun, easy craft for today! It's all started when I came upon this pin:

From A Yellow Bicycle: Pinterest Challenge: Painted Ornaments

And thought... hey! I've got some extra clear bulbs from other crafty projects, I've got some paint and the tree could use a new ornament or two. Surprisingly, I really was not trying to copy the original source's paint... but subconsciously picked pretty similar colors.

So gather your supplies. You'll need:
• Some acrylic craft paint.*
• A clear glass ornament. I read some comments and plastic is a no go.

* Probably a smart idea to use craft paint that was bought at about the same time. All of these were bought at separate times and that midnight color was a bit... chunky

 If you want your ornaments to look like the original... you may want to follow her tutorial. She drips the paint down the side where I give mine a good shake. ;)

Drip some paint into your bulb. Try to get some on the sides if you want more streaks and less all over color.

 I dripped that lighter purple on the side because I wanted a patch of it to show through. Now, a few tips:
• Shake your bulb over the sink and shake vigorously but don't go nuts - some paint might try to fly through the top and you don't want to smack your glass bulb against the sink and have it bust in your hand... that would be bad times.
• I recommend using some sort of paint with some sheen to it... the shimmer really makes the bulb here.
• I read in some comments that people were having a hard time with excess paint drying in the bulb - use an egg carton and let the excess drip out before capping it if you experience any problems. 
• Someone also had a neat idea - they put the paint in and took a straw to push the paint around! I bet that would be very cool looking.
• Some also reported that the paint just dripped off the sides and pooled in the bottom... I hope I don't have a Pinterest fail on my hands but all seems well!  

Grab a paper towel and set it down to try once you've got the colors you wanted and the entire inside is covered.

Wipe off any excess paint on the outside. Admire your handywork and smile at the easiest DIY ever. I love the gold-purple color almost better than the streaked/marbled look! :) And now, some obligatory tree shots. ;)

Did you enjoy this easy DIY? I'd love to see your creations or hear how this worked for you in the comments! Thanks for following along!

 

A few new things in my Etsy shop!

Hi all! Hope you had a fantastic weekend. In light of the recent promotion going on in my Etsy shop, I thought I would try to get a few new items in there! I recently acquired some vintage/antique lace of all shapes and sizes and thought it would make beautiful headbands and head pieces.

Etsy Store listing for Soft Lace Headband

 This one is a soft cottony lace, and it's probably one of my favorites because it's the first one I made... ha! It also sits on my head very well and doesn't slip around, which is a huge plus in my book. Seems like any head band I ever try to wear scoots around and there is nothing more annoying than that! This one is held with elastic so is a continuous band around the head.

Etsy listing for Gorgeous Poly Lace Headband

This one is a gorgeous polyester lace with so many details to it, slightly wider than the one above but made into a continuous circle with a bit of elastic in the back. I also think this is one of my favorite photos of myself! ha! ;)

Etsy Listing for lace applique headband

I think these are all "my favorites" but this one is stands out above the rest for me... such a fun way to use appliques and how beautiful would this be in a bride's hair? It's stark white on a grey grosgrain ribbon, with plenty extra to cascade or make a larger bow. Plus, it's guaranteed to fit any head - the elastic ones are pretty much made to fit an adult ladies head, but how cute would this ribbon one be on your baby or flower girl?

Etsy Listing for Ivory Lace Headband

This one is a soft ivory lace with a white satin ribbon laced through it. The lace goes all the way around the head, and ties in the back with the ribbon. The ribbon is so soft but thick, very high quality feeling.

These are actually pretty fun to make so I'll most likely be adding more soon. They're all $9.99 and all come in a small tulle drawstring bag so you can give them as a nice gift! :)

Don't forget! Use coupon code LITTLEOAKCHRISTMAS12 until 12/25 to receive free shipping! Enter it in during checkout to receive free shipping (it doesn't apply automatically!) Thanks for looking!

Sunny-Side Up Breakfast Casserole - A great Christmas morning casserole!

Update: My Sunny-Side Up Casserole recipe was featured in a recipe feature blog post over at the blog View Along the Way! It was very exciting and quite the honor. Please check it out and check out View Along the Way if you're looking for a great DIY/Home blog!

Good morning! I just wanted to take a second and say "hello!" to some of my newer readers - I am seeing on my stats (which is such a cool tool, by the way) that I am having readers come in from Australia, Russia, Germany, Canada, and a few others and that is very cool! So hello to my international readers!

It looks like most of my readers are from the US so good morning and hello to you as well! :)

On to the recipe!
I've got a good one for you this morning - it's a gem in my little dancing bear recipe book (you might remember the mothership from one of my very first posts). This one was passed on to me from Mama LOC before I was married and before I could really even cook anything more than quesadillas and beans from a can. I remember Mama LOC made me a copy of her recipe on the fax machine (technology!) and I have made it multiple times since then. The most I know about this recipe is that it originates from a newspaper insert or magazine from about 1997, so it's not super old, but let's just say that I wasn't super old when it was printed. haha! ;) It's a great recipe that I know I will pass on to future generations.

This is a great recipe to feed a crowd or a family, and this casserole would especially be yummy and easy to prepare on Christmas morning!

Wipe that drool off your keyboard and start assembling your ingredients! ;) You'll need:
• 1 pound sausage
• 1 cup cheese-flavored croutons (I used Caesar as that was all I had on hand - it was fine.)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 6-8 eggs
• paprika (optional)

You'll also want a 9x13 glass dish, a saucepan and some Crisco or Pam type spray. 

Preheat your oven to 350. This is one of the changes I made to the original recipe - the original recipe calls for 325 but after the suggested time and original temp. the eggs were not even close enough to edible so preheat to 350, not 325.


In this time, brown your sausage on the stovetop in a sauce pan. If you're like me and forgot to take the sausage out the night before and it's frozen solid, defrost in microwave. ;)

While your sausage is browning, grease up a 13x9 glass dish. I used Crisco. Make sure you get the sides well - this dish has a tendency to stick quite badly otherwise.

Take your croutons and measure them out. You'll see I used closer to 2 cups than 1 cup as suggested - we like ours extra crouton-y. Smash the croutons up using a wooden spoon or something of the like. You don't want them completely turned into powder but instead more like smaller squares.
*A note on the croutons - the original recipe does call for cheese-flavored croutons. I usually make this with cheese flavored croutons, but I only had Caesar on hand when I made this. Both work fine. The best ones I have ever used for this are the cheese flavored croutons from Save-A-Lot. I do suggest using the "large cut" croutons over the teeny ones.

Put your semi-smashed croutons in the bottom of the pan and 1 cup of cheddar cheese on top of the croutons. Your sausage should be completely browned at this point, remove from heat.

Now, mix your 3/4 cup sour cream and 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard in a separate bowl. Dollop about half of the mixture on top of the casserole. Don't spread it around - you're making pockets of flavor.

If you haven't already, drain your grease from the sausage and once drained, sprinkle it on top of the cheese/sour cream/croutons.

This is another variation of mine from the original recipe - the original calls from 8 eggs but I made this one time for a crowd that had someone who didn't care for eggs very much, so I reduced it to 6 - and 6 seems to be the perfect amount of egg in this recipe. 8 seems like a bit much in my opinion but if you're making it for a lot of people, 8 eggs may make more sense. It's really up to you. Make 6 little indentations in sausage and break open an egg in each indentation.

Now, top that with the remainder of the sour cream, the remainder of the cheddar cheese, and sprinkle it with paprika if you like. It just adds a hint of zesty-ness that plays off the croutons but it's not necessary.

Your oven should be preheated at this point, so stick the casserole in there for 25-30 minutes (another alteration - the original calls for 20-25, but it's just not enough.) 25-30 minutes later...

*drool*
The eggs should be slightly runny. If you have someone in the crowd who doesn't care for runny eggs, you may want to cook it a little longer, or this recipe could be easily adapted into scrambled eggs on top, just whisk your six eggs in a dish and pour the eggs over the top of the casserole.

There you have it! One of my favorite recipes to "inherit" from Mama LOC (my other favorite Mama LOC recipes is a Shepard's pie that is to die for, you'll see that here eventually!) and it's something just slightly different from your normal, everyday breakfast casserole.

Just for kicks, here is my copy of the original recipe! :)

Thanks for following along! Let me know how this turns out for you. I know you're out there readers, let's hear some comments! ;)

Sunny-Side Up Breakfast Casserole
 • 1 pound sausage
• 1 cup cheese-flavored croutons (I used Caesar as that was all I had on hand - it was fine.)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 6-8 eggs
• paprika (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350. Over medium heat, brown sausage. Drain drippings; set aside.
2) Grease bottom of 13" x 9" glass baking dish. Cover bottom with coarsely crumbled croutons and sprinkle with 1 cup shredded cheese.
3) In small bowl, combine sour cream and mustard; place half of sour cream mixture over cheese and croutons in evenly spaced spoonfuls. Spread sausage over top.
4) Make 6 indentations into the sausage. Break each egg into each of the indentations.
5) Spoon on remaining sour cream mixture on top and sprinkle casserole with 1 cup Cheddar cheese and paprika.
6) Bake 25-30 minutes until egg yolks are slightly runny. Remove and enjoy!

I'm linking up with the Holiday Heirloom Recipe Collection party!

   

I'm also linking up with the "What's Shakin" Link Party!