Christmas Home Tour Part One

Christmas whole view living room familybringsjoy.com

Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house…it’s quiet.

Finally I have some time to post my pics of the house.  Just now downloaded my copy of Lightroom {photo editing software} I bought for a great deal on Cyber Monday.  Even though it’s easier to use than Photoshop, there is still a bit of learning curve.  This means instead of spending all day figuring out how to edit all my photos to post on here, {which means I probably wouldn’t have anything to post until tomorrow} I decided to go ahead and post a few today and hopefully have the rest tomorrow for part two.  Once again I am posting them after Christmas.  Sigh…ho hum…I tried.  I thought I would have time to post them before, but it didn’t work out.  Oh well!

Christmas mantel 2013 familybringsjoy.com

corner living room view familybringsjoy.com

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with fun family traditions!

Sources

Metal W – Hobby Lobby

Chalkboard Download – Dear Lillie {printed engineer print at Staples}

Joy to the world wood block – Barn Owl Primitives

White Fur Stockings – Restoration Hardware Kids

White Flowers – Local discount store called Walls

Fresh Garland – Lowes

JOY sweater wrapped – I made at Whatever Craft Weekend

Christmas Tree – Balsam Hill (They are having an after Christmas sale right now!)

Come back tomorrow for part two.

Christmas Brings Joy,

Bye Bye Carpet

Today is the day!  This carpet is about to be ripped off the stairs and replaced with wood.

stairs familybringsjoy.com

So here are the before shots.

stairs with frames familybringsjoy.com

Can’t wait to share what it looks like when it’s completed.

Happy Thursday,

Simple Chicken & Dumplings Recipe

Chicken & Dumplings are yummy and perfect for a cold fall evening.  This meal is the closest I’ve come to making something from scratch.  The best thing about this recipe is my whole family loves it!  I posted on Instagram and many friends asked for the recipe.  So here goes…

ingredients familybringsjoy.com

To begin you will need:

  • A stick of butter
  • Half an onion chopped up
  • 1 clove of Garlic (I normally use fresh but didn’t have any on hand)

Put the above in a big pot and heat over medium heat until the onions are cooked to the consistency you like.

carmelizing onions familybringsjoy.com

Now add your water.  Uh oh…I don’t have an exact measurement to give you because I just add water until the pot is almost full. Turn that heat up to medium high to high (depending on your stove.)

newpot filler familybringsjoy.com

  • Cut up chicken & add to pot.  I usually cut up about 2 to 3 chicken breasts.

boiling chicken familybringsjoy.com

While the chicken is boiling.  It’s time to get the dumplings ready.

new Ingredients for dumplings familybringsjoy.com

Dumplings Recipe familybringsjoy.com

Even though the recipe says drop spoonfuls, if I have time, I let the kids roll the dough into balls.  Otherwise, it totally works to just spoon up some dough and drop in.

Dumpling Dough2 familybringsjoy.com

When you are mixing the dough, at first you will think you don’t have enough milk…keep stirring and it will form into a dough.

Dumpling Dough familybringsjoy.com

The kids love to mix the dough and roll it.

girl scooping dumpling dough familybringsjoy.com

Dumplings and Dough familybringsjoy.com

girl rolling dumplings familybringsjoy.com

dumplings familybringsjoy.com

By the time you are done with making the dumplings, your chicken will most likely be cooked.  If not, let it boil until the chicken is cooked through.

before dumplings familybringsjoy.com

After the chicken is cooked, if the water is not boiling, turn up the heat to high and wait for the stock to boil.  Once it is boiling, add your dumpling dough.

adding dumplings familybringsjoy.com

If a child is helping you with this, make sure you remind them the pot is hot and to carefully drop the dumplings into the soup.  Otherwise, the mixture might pop up onto their and burn them. (I know this by experience)

newdroppings dumplings into pot familybringsjoy.com

  • add some salt and pepper to soup

After you have carefully dropped your dumplings into the pot, turn down the heat to low.  Cook uncovered for 10 minutes then cover with lid and cook for another 10 minutes.  It is completely normal for the liquid to have a white creamy consistency.

ENJOY!  Sometimes I double the dumpling recipe because that is everyone’s favorite part!

new bowl of chicken and dunplings familybringsjoy.com

Feel free to pin the following collage to your recipe or food boards on Pinterest so you can find it when you want to make it. :)

Simple Chicken and Dumplings at familybringsjoy.com

Simple Chicken & Dumplings Ingredients:

  • Salt & Pepper
  • Stick of Butter
  • Half of Onion, chopped
  • 1 clove of Garlic
  • Chicken (around 2 to 3 chicken breasts)
  • 2 Cups of Bisquick
  • 2/3 Cup of Milk
  • Water (depends on the size of your pot…about 3/4 full)

Always LOVE to hear your feedback. Please let me know if you tried this and you & your family liked it.

From our family’s kitchen to yours,

The Monster Rap Family

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Halloween Mantel familybringsjoy.com

Happy Halloween from our family to yours!

Stay safe,

Who Says Crafting & Recycling Don’t Go Together?

oklahoma craft class familybringsjoy.com

For today’s Wordless (actually limited) Wednesday I wanted to share a pic of an upcoming craft class.  We will be putting to good use our old catalogs and magazines.  Besides, gotta love how fun and therapeutic decoupage can be.  So all you local readers, be sure and head to Dottie’s to reserve your spot…any state can be made.  Please email me if you have any more questions about the class.  And as usual, I will have a tutorial on here after the class.

Crafts bring joy,

Outdoor Living Area Reveal

I’ve been waiting for over a month to post photos of our new pergola and outdoor living areas.  Unfortunately, the brick layers are not done with the outdoor fireplace.  I decided I’m tired of waiting.  I’m bringing you the reveal today.  Drum roll…

outdoor living area familybringsjoy.com

I’m very pleased with how this space has turned out.  Now I wish I could show you a before photo.  I’ll have to put that on my to do list.  But for now, picture the entire slab of concrete by the pool completely empty for over a year.

I bought the pergola from Average Joe’s Pergola Depot. (Here I go again giving free advertising…way to go Shan, you should’ve asked for a discount or something)  They have the best prices on the web for pergolas.  The name of our pergola design is The Big Kahuna.  It still needs some stain.  The wood is cedar, but it’s already lightened up a bit since we bought it in May.

The black and white chevron rug (7′ 10″ x 10′ 10″) is from Ballard Designs.  The rug (indoor/outdoor) has held up beautifully.  We’ve had lots of rain this summer.  It still looks brand new.  I’m very happy with the quality.  Can’t wait to show this photo to the lovely people from Ballard Designs at Haven Conference this week!

The furniture came in a set from Lowe’s.  I wish I could have chose a color for the cushions.  I like the white cushions, yet they show dirt pretty easily.

entire view of pergola familybringsjoy.com

Here (above) you can see the full pergola and the partially done fireplace.  Sorry for the fence in the photo.  Whenever the fireplace is finished I will take a photo without the fence.  The fence normally goes around the entire pool.  We took part of it down for the 4th of July when we had friends over and haven’t put it back up yet.  I was happy to get a shot with the sunset in the background.

Now we have a sweet place to hang out with some shade.  What do you think?

Home brings joy,