Fox Hollow Cottage

Simply The Best Announcement!

2013-05-24T15:19:19Z

Today, I Have Simply The Best Announcement to Make!

Jessica from Mom 4 Real and I have teamed up to bring you

A Brand New, Seasonal DIY & Crafting Competition.

We are be-yond excited and it has been so hard to keep this quiet.

This competition will be 100% voter based. No judges. Not even Jessica or I!

Merit alone will get you the win.

It’s anyone’s game and we can’t wait to watch you shine!!

Simply The Best Summer Edition begins JUNE 1st

1. You may enter one diy/craft style project. Additional links will be deleted.

2. Post must be relative to Spring/Summer. This means; no Christmas or Halloween crafts. lol

3. Link up a craft or DIY project relating to Spring/Summer between June the 1st and June the 14th.

4. Voting will take place June 16th – June 30th! Our readers will vote on their favorite project.

5. The project receiving the most votes will win the $300+ prize pack, along with securing a spot in the Simply The Best Of 2013 contest to be held in January, where they can enter their favorite project from 2013.

6. There will also be a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd runner up. They will also have a spot secured for the Simply The Best Of 2013 contest to be held in January.

7. There will be a Simply The Best Fall Edition as well as a Simply The Best Winter Addition, leading up the the Simply The Best of 2013 to be held in January.

8. The winners of the Fall and Winter editions will also secure spots in the Simply The Best Of 2013 Contest.

9. The contestants in the Simply The Best Of 2013 Contest will be competing for a prize pack valued over $800!

Do You Want To See What You’ll Be Competing For?

Good! Because I realllly want to show you!!!!

Yeah. I KNOW. I want it too!

The Winner Will Take Home

#1. Courtesy of the Maison Blanche Paint Company; A DIY’ers Dream! One Vintage Furniture Paint, One Antique Wax and One Organza Shimmer Coat. All In The Shade Of Your Choosing.

2. Courtesy of Sutton Place Designs, One Expertly Handcrafted European Grain Sack Tote Bag. This Will Be Wonderful Year Round but Extra Perfect for Summer!

#3. Courtesy of Mindy from Pretty In Paint, A Gorgeous Three Piece Collection of Home Decor Items, Including the Fabulous Cinderella’s Carriage Burlap Pillow Pictured.

#4. Courtesy of River City Candle Company, Two Hand Poured Soy Candles with Real Wooden Wicks, in the Scents of Your Choice.

We hope this excites and inspires you to share your best with us and our readers!!

We really are thrilled to be offering this awesome prize pack to the lucky winner.

So “Save the Date”! Remember…

Can’t… can’t… WAIT to see what you guys enter.

PS: Must be 18 or over to enter. Open to US residents only.

PSS: Sorry about the US residents thing. The fabulous prize pack would be too costly to ship.

PSSS: I {heart} my international readers. Really. I do.

PSSSS: Any more “PS’s” and I am going to be speaking snake. I don’t like snakes. Eww.

A DIY Dollar Tree Magnetic Map Tray Craft

2013-05-21T14:27:44Z

I am sure you are all as fraught as I am over the news coming out of Oklahoma. If you would like to donate, here is a direct link to the American Red Cross donation page. Tricia was very excited to share this craft today. We had it scheduled to go up before the Tornado hit Oklahoma… changed, and cut short so many lives. I am, unfortunately, too frequently at a loss as to how to proceed with my everyday life, when others lives have been ended or become so mangled they are not even recognizable? Do you celebrate life and move on… pray, be silent and pull back? I am usually a jumble of everything with lots of tears mixed in. Shannon

A DIY Dollar Tree Magnetic Map Tray Craft

Hello again, Fox Hollow Cottage readers! I’m Tricia from Simplicity
in the South and I’m so excited that I get to share a Dollar Tree
craft project with all of you today!

I’ve slowly been working on putting together a small office area in
one corner of our kitchen, right next to where I do most of my
blogging.

So, given the challenge of finding inexpensive ways to keep me
organized, I started out with these beauties from the Dollar Tree.

With a few other supplies, I turned them into useful magnetic memo
boards so I’ll have a place to keep Post-it notes, receipts and
pictures.

Other than the trays, you will need:
Sandpaper
Spray primer and paint (I chose Rustoleum’s Aqua.)
A scrap piece of paper for your template
A map (I found this map printed on thick archival paper on
Amazon.com.)
Mod Podge
A sponge brush or paint brush
A picture hanger (see the picture below)
E6000 glue

Scuff up the trays with sandpaper to give them some grip for the spray
paint. After wiping the trays down with TSP, give them a coat of
primer, then spray paint. There are so many different colors in the
map you could choose from but I love how well Rustoleum’s Aqua matched
the watery blue from the map.

Make a template before you cut the map by laying a piece of paper on
the tray’s back and pressing an outline with your fingers.
TIP: After I cut out the template, I
held my map up to the window, laid the template on top, then traced
the area of the map I wanted to cut out.

Put a thin layer of Mod Podge on your tray. Lay your map cut-out on
top and apply another thin layer of Mod Podge on top of the map.
Ignore the wrinkles. There’s a utensil for that.

Use the back of a spoon to smooth out the wrinkles before the glue
gets tacky. Then smooth the glue back out with the brush. I love using
matte Mod Podge because it doesn’t show imperfections nearly as much
as the glossy does.

Clean up any excess Mod Podge with a damp paper towel or Q-tip.

The last step is to glue a hook on the back with E6000.

Wait a few hours for the E6000 to dry then hang up your magnificent
magnetic memo Mod Podge map trays. Whew! That’s a mouthful.

The edges of the tray look even prettier with a little distressing,
don’t you think?

I have another organization project using the rest of the map for my
little corner of the kitchen coming up soon. So, I hope you’ll follow
along on Simplicity in the South to see how it all comes
together!

Want to see another Mod Podge and map project ? Come check out my decoupaged map crate tutorial.

You can even decoupage fabric on galvanized bins like the one I
used when I reorganized our linen closet!

Thank you, Shannon, for letting me share another project with your
lovely readers!

Tricia is multi-talented and I’m so thrilled she pops over once a month to share her awesomeness with us!!

Although… we sort of got her twice this month (but who’s complaining?)

Click here to see the B&A and read the sentimental story.

See more Dollar Tree crafts at the Dollar Tree Link Party.

It’s in full swing. Going on now!!

Again… thoughts and prayers for those suffering.

Everything Dollar Tree Link Party

2013-05-20T17:07:21Z

Welcome To The

Everything Dollar Tree Link Party & Blog Hop

You know Debbie and I love to get crafty and do it on the cheap!

So the Dollar Tree is a natural fit, and we think you like it too.

Open from May 20th – May 27th

So share what ya got people. We love seeing how creative you are!!

Anything and Everything Dollar Tree is eligible.

Crafts, decor, recipes.

(anything that’s based on a buck.)

Dollar Tree, Dollar Store, Dollar General, Target $1 bins, etc…

If you made. Link it.

Link here and be seen at Debbie’s too. Double the traffic. Double the fun!!

Here is an example of some of our previous Dollar Tree soirees.

– Valentines Dollar Tree Link Party –

Dollar Tree Link Party –

Did you see my latest Dollar Tree creation?

No? I shared it yesterday, here it is.

Dollar Tree Vintage Style Patriotic Pool Noodle Wreath

Link up your goodies, pop around and visit, comment… have fun. That’s it.

Let’s inspire one another.

PS: If you link up, you’ve giving me permission to shout, share, pin and brag in general about your project. Thanks! I like to do that

Vintage Americana Patriotic Pool Noodle Wreath

2013-05-22T04:51:16Z

Hi guys – When I was down in Cali I got crafty with my sister and I made this Vintage Americana Patriotic Pool Noodle Wreath! I made sure to take pictures so I could share it with you when I got home.

I left it in California, (flying really cramps my crafting/shopping style) but I would love to make one for myself. I think it would be great for all the patriotic Summer holidays when there is nothing like red, white and blue to show your American pride.

The pictures might be a little grainy, we were in deep crafting mode and I just snapped a few with my iphone. My real camera was upstairs and that was just too far away… lol!

I whipped up a few rolled fabric flowers. And burnt the #@%* out of my fingers in the process.

My sister has some old school, industrial strength glue gun.

Where as I have some wimpy, little “cool melt” glue gun.

BIG DIFFERENCE!

My sister printed out this cute graphic and Mod Podged it to a little piece of wood.

I added the ball fringe (we got it at Michaels) and I glued it directly to the wreath.

They had the cutest little packs of trimmings!!

In fact… it was so cute, I ended up just knotting some on the jute twine I strung from one of the wreath to the other.

Perfect little, no-fuss banner. Done.

That’s it! Another Cheap & Easy Pool Noodle Wreath.

I love those things.

Oh. I must add my sister had the Dollar Tree pool noodle base prepped. She had already wrapped in some nubby linen fabric, and it just need to be finished up. I felt like it had a vintage flavor, so I went this way.

Is there something you would have done differently?

Added more embellishments perhaps? Or maybe less?

I tend to go simple, but sometimes wonder if they are too plain.

Oh well. Done is done.

See you all tomorrow for the Dollar Tree party!! (I hope)

I’m sharing this project at:

Savvy Southern Style, SNAP

Rub-a-Dub Dub: Handcrafted Soap Giveaway

2013-05-17T15:56:21Z

It’s The “Rub-a-Dub Dub Handcrafted Soap Giveaway”

Welcome to Fox Hollow Cottage, I’ve got a wonderful treat for you! I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making my own soap for awhile now, but instead, I just bought some. Hey, supporting the small business owner. I get points for that right? Well, I can tell you, I am really glad I did!

I purchased my new soap from Melissa at

and let me just tell you. I don’t know if all handmade soaps are skin changing… but these are!

I’ve been using bath and shower gels for so long now that I wasn’t sure I would even like “real soap” anymore. I like lots of bubbles. LOTS of bubbles. (In my shampoo too, so all that sulfate free stuff gets a no-likey from me.)

Anyhow. This stuff suds. Let me tell you, creamily and with abandon!! I soaped-up my bath poof and it was crazy bubbles! Plenty enough for a bubble lover like me.

The scents were wonderful. I’ve tried the Lemon and the Honeysuckle (heaven!) so far.

I tried the Lemon first and I will admit, I was a tiny bit concerned my skin might be dry afterwards since it was literally squeaky clean. Like, I was squeaking if I rubbed my fingers across my arm.

But NOPE! my skin was so, so, (let me add one more SO) Soft. Like baby soft. All day too.

I’ve used it every day since. Jim loved the lemon bar too. This from the man who has used Zest for as long as I have known him. I didn’t even think he would try it! He just got out of the shower one day and said he really liked it. I told him he was welcome to use it but he said he didn’t want to use all up. I told him not to worry, I would definitely be ordering more!!!!

Enough about me. On to YOU!

To help Melissa get the word out about her (magical. my words) soap I told her I wanted to host a giveaway and tell anyone who would listen about her great soaps!

One very lucky winner will receive a collection of assorted, handcrafted, Hill n” Holler (magical. again, my word) wonderfully, delightful soap.

Enough for the whole family or to give some out to people you really like.

I don’t want to promise exactly what flavors you’ll get, but I am sure you will love them as much as I do.

This is the selection I ordered:

…. and I can’t wait to open up the next one!

I know. It’s only soap. But hey, it’s the little things in life right?

You can find Melissa’s little bars of wonder at the Hill n” Holler online store.

You can also check out new flavors and creations at the Hill n’ Holler Soap facebook page.

(I noticed a few new things last I looked!)

Much luck to ALL!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As always, thanks for stopping by today.

PS: Don’t forget to have your Dollar Tree creations ready for the

Start Monday, May 20th!!

Hope to see you, so we can celebrate being “Cheap & Easy” together.

Mason Jar Browned Butter Banana Bread

2013-05-16T22:55:42Z

Please Welcome Katie Jane Back to Fox Hollow!

Hello dear readers of Fox Hollow Cottage.

I just saluted you. Pretend you saw it.

I bring to you today…

the Mason Jar Browned Butter Banana Bread recipe

Try saying that ten times fast.

This is the best banana bread you’ll ever taste. I know you think your Grandmother’s banana bread beats all others, or that the crumble that your uncle adds to his bread makes it superb, but put those thoughts out of your mind. This is the best banana bread you’ll ever have. End of.

TO MAKE

Preheat oven to 325* and grease some 8 oz mason jars.

You’ll need the following:

For the bread:
2/3 c. browned butter (cooled slightly)
2 2/3 c. white sugar
4 eggs
2 c. mashed bananas (four large bananas)
3 1/3 c. bread flour
½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves

For the crumble:
3 tlbs butter, softened
5 tlbs flour
4 tlbs brown sugar

Cream together the browned butter and sugar. Add the eggs and mashed bananas. In a separate bowl, sift the bread flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Add this to the banana mixture. For the crumble, simply mix the crumble ingredients together. It really isn’t so much of a crumble as a mush ball, but it tastes delectable anyway.

Now! To fill the mason jars:
Fill a piping bag with the dough. Pipe the dough into the mason jars, filling about three quarters of the way. Then put some crumble on top. Do this with the rest of the mason jars until you run out of the batter. This can also be made into muffins, just fill the muffin pans about three quarters as well. Put crumble on top, bake for 35 minutes if you’re using the jars, 20 minutes if muffins. They should be golden brown-ish, except for the tops.

NOW FOR A STORY OF HOW I FAILED.

Before making these, I had to brown butter, for obvious reasons. After I browned the butter, I did all of the stuff above and yada yada, then put the bread in, but AFTER all of this is when it happened. I took the jars out of the oven and set them on top of the stove to cool. After about twenty minutes I went to move them off of the burner so I could replace them with more jars that had just finished. When I moved the first jar, however, there was a loud crack! and a sliver of what looked like an icicle running up the side. I, completely bewildered, went to inspect the glass as to how it could have broken when I simply moved it across the counter top. Upon doing this, I leaned over the stove and felt the warmth radiating up to my neck. Apparently, the burner was still on from making the butter. Apparently, the glass jar didn’t like being moved from a very hot burner to a very cold stove top. Apparently, Katie is a failure.

And I may have eaten my entire weight in some of the banana batter.

And frosting (which is what is on top of the banana bread, since we didn’t have whipped cream).

Woohoo.

Oh and also, I made my mother cry from her amazing birthday present.

No but seriously, these are really good.

Farewell, mes amis.

—————————————————————

I know my sweet tooth is calling out for a taste now!

At least a finger full of frosting… come on.

Prom, Mother’s Day and Big News

2013-05-14T17:30:16Z

Hoping today finds you well!!

I wanted to share with you about Prom, Mother’s Day and some Big News.

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day thanks to my boys.

Like many of you, I am sure, I got flowers.

And Austin and Jim made me a beautiful breakfast that was nothing short of perfect.

Fresh Berries…

That were so pretty, I did take the time to snap a quick iphone pic.

Especially these… I would not have thought of this.

But Jim did and I so very much appreciated it!!!!

The second course was eggs and french toast. Yum.

Everyone was in jammies so no pictures of the people. Sorry (:

After breakfast and some major relaxing, I took a two hour nap.

And it was spectacular. And needed. And much enjoyed!!

… in fact, we all ended up napping.

Everyone was up late since the Jr/Sr Prom was the night before.

Austin is a Sophomore but was asked by a Senior so he was able to attend. I took a few photos, and Austin’s date Cassidy was sweet enough to make sure I got some of their photos too.

Pre-Prom pics – Thanks for sharing Cassidy!!

At the Prom pics.

I think a good time was had by all.

Which helped make for a super weekend here at Fox Hollow!!

The boys got me a new Orchid too.

So I’ve got now flowers – and later flowers. lol.

I want to take a minute to remind you that Debbie and I will be hosting a

Dollar Tree link party on Monday the 20th.

So get anything Dollar Tree ready to link up and share!

**Now, the Big News is… that soon, I’ll have big news to share.**

I can’t spill just yet, but I can hint that it involves:

Prizes… fanfare… accolades… a title…. and prizes.

Did you catch that there will be prizes?

Tune in on May 24th for the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT.

(man, keeping secrets sucks.)

A Duncan Phyfe Magnolia Makeover

2013-05-23T02:52:21Z

A Duncan Phyfe Magnolia Makeover

And yes. I had to google “Phyfe” to make sure I spelled it correctly.

I’m not shy. I’ll own up. I actually had to ask what style it was in the first place too.

Because my style consists of … ”I got it at a tag sale for $5″. lol

Which I’m sure you’ve clued into with all the “cheap & easy” going on around here.

So, I found this fab little table with the cute legs and the wee brass feet at a tag sale.

A whole home moving sale actually. (great sale. I actually got several pieces)

Anyhow. The thick base is so sturdy. Crazy heavy too.

But it was in rough shape. The whole top was very damaged. As was the carved relief work on the face.

Lots of chips and scratches all over. I did have to do some sanding, but it was all to smooth out damage, not to prepare for painting. All the legs were incredibly loose as well, and required tightening. One in particular needed a clamps and wood glue. But Duncan was worth it. The fret work was love at first sight!!

I knew it was going to be meeting some Maison Blanche paint.

Magnolia and Confederate Grey La Craie paint got in on the makeover action along with some clear Maison Blanche Antiquing Wax in Clear.

For everything but the areas accented in grey, I painted with Magnolia (white). A light coat first, then a heavier second coat. I used Confederate Grey on the detail work on the edge/face of the table and in the grooves on the legs. Next, I very lightly dry brushed over the detailing on the edges to really bring out the design.

Finally, I finished with a coat of clear wax to seal and protect my work.

It was a really quick and easy makeover and it’s happily hanging out in my living room.

Until the next cute table comes along…

As you can see… the harlequin table got the boot. {winks}

And for $5 I can afford to change things up. So who know how long this will last?

Wishing all the MOMS out there a fantastic Mother’s Day.

If you still need a gift with a meaningful message please help yourself

to this free Mother’s Day Printable Art.

I’m taking the weekend off to be with my family so I will see you next week.

Psst… and the next party on the May 2oth

This project was featured at: Domestically Speaking

Sharing at: Tatertots and Jello, DIY & Showoff, SNAP, The 36th Avenue

Mother’s Day Chalkboard Printables: a gift idea

2013-05-06T05:02:28Z

Hi Foxy Friends, so happy to have you here today!

I hope you stopped by to print up your

Mother’s Day Chalkboard Printables, they make such a great gift idea!

I just love printables! They make the greatest gifts.

This one is a little more geared to us older girls gifting their moms.

It just doesn’t seem to matter how old or grown up I get… I think I will always need my mom, and I’ll be there for her, when she needs me.

So this is where my heart went when creating this printable. I hope you like it.

– Please right click and “save as” to print this 8 x 10 chalkboard art –

In fact, I felt this so strongly, I made one to print out for myself as well.

My mom and I live in different states and I wanted to have this by my desk to keep me company while I work.

– Please right click and “save as” to print this 8 x 10 chalkboard art –

Austin is away at a Jazz Band competition this weekend, and Jim has asked me what I would like for Mother’s Day but I don’t really need a thing… so I will probably ask for help with some sort of little home improvement project or another. That is really my favorite thing to do and I love having their help… or sometimes rather, telling Jim whatever wild scheme I’ve come up with, and then having him figure it out for me! He is a good figurer-outterer and there is always something cooking in this brain. The boys usually make me breakfast, and really, that is “gift” enough for me!

As always, thanks for stopping by!!

PS: If you’d like to see the other printables I’ve designed just click HERE (:

PPS: if you’d like to make sure others get to a chance to print these too… please pin and share.

Thanks so much!!!!

PPPS: (last one. lol) For even MORE Mother’s Day Printables, come see me at Mom4Real.

(Here is a peek at what you can print there. Yes, there are six colors to choose from!)

Springtime in the Kitchen at Fox Hollow Cottage

2013-05-16T16:12:10Z

Hello and Welcome to the latest Kitchen Tour

It’s Springtime in the kitchen at Fox Hollow Cottage. We’ve finally shaken off the grey days and rain of Winter and are poised in anticipation of a glorious Summer.

Summertime is short here in the Pacific Northwest, and all the sweeter because of it.

Things are looking a little lighter & brighter.

I think the house and I are both saying… “aah”.

This is the little gem of our kitchen. Our Belle Foret Faucet.

Jim and I both love the rich, coppery-bronze shade and had quite the time shopping for it!

Oh, and this time, I am going to address the plate rack, right in the post.

So far, this is my most asked about item of interest in the life of my blog.

I’ve had this for at least 12 years. I bought it at HomeGoods in Southern California.

I have never seen anything remotely close to it anywhere, ever again in all my shopping.

If I do, I promise to buy them all and let you guys know!! Promise.

Here is a peek into our sun room with a little glimpse of our repurposed fence board bar counter. I loved this wee purple flower but it didn’t make it while I was on vacation. I almost took a picture to share with you… but it was too sad!

The golden yellow honey bee hive container holds powdered sugar. My vintage Ball mason jar is on straw duty and the small green container… is empty. I’ll have to put that to work!!

We love the little dishes and I have them stacked all over. You can only use so many at a time, but I keep picking up more.

They are like dish-crack. I have to have them (:

I love having fresh lemons on hand for drinks and to cook with.

Bonus=they are bight and happy to look at too.

There is that sunshine I was talking about.

Mmm. Love it!!

My white Roo is a kitchen staple, he matches no matter what.

This is our casual dining area and my curtained pantry shelves. To the left is our combination living/dining room, and to the right (not pictured) is a step down into our sun room. Our first floor is very open. Especially for such an old home.

I just recently tested out this new look to see if I liked it.

I painted my cabinets with Maison Blanche paint and then stenciled a design with chalk.

I think I like it. I’m pretty sure my kitchen is going to be going white in the near future.

There goes my to-do list, growing again.

Our current floor is actually a luxury vinyl.

Hey, that is what the lady told me it was called. (when my jaw dropped at the price)

Leave it to me, to pick out expensive “linoleum”.

It’s actually been dreamy. It’s completely worry free and I planned on having it for many, many years.

That is, until our fridge leaked and damaged all the underlayment (the plywood sub-floor).

Hmm. Water and wood don’t mix? Who knew. lol

Well, since we have to rip everything up… why not go for the real deal this time around?

We are going to be getting all new hard wood floors in the kitchen, living and dining rooms.

Austin is older now, and we really are not hard on our floors (if you don’t count water leaks!) so we decided to go for it and not only replace the kitchen, but the other rooms too.

I’m really excited. Not so much about the installing… but you know, about the after part!!

All I’ll need to do is paint my kitchen white and maybe throw up a few beams… and it’ll be time to move! LOL

For some reason, when my house is done, I often feel the need to move?

Not this time though. This is the longest we’ve lived in a house. Ever.

Just for fun, I always like to share a memory of what the kitchen looked like when we bought the house.

We’ve come a long way.

One project at a time.

This Post is Partying at:

Tatertots & Jello