Dried Potatoes - A Perfectly Prim Decoration

I have seen in alot of magazines where primitive lovers are drying potatoes for decorations. Well, I decided that I would try my hand at it and I thought they turned out pretty neat. My original plans were going to put them in a jar with one of my prim labels, but then I found a wooden bowl and thought that they would look great in the bowl. They were very easy to make, but time consuming so if you plan on trying your hand at them then plan on being home all day long. Basically, I mixed up 1 cup of boiling water to 3 heaping tablespoons of instant coffee (instant is the key). Cube your potatoes into 1 inch pieces or larger if you would like. I did mine a bit larger since I heard that they shrink. You can also use sweet potatoes, but I used good old regular Idaho potatoes. Let them soak overnight in the coffee water and then mix cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg (equal amounts) into a bag and shake each potato in the spice mixture, place onto a cookie sheet and bake all day long on 200 degrees. I noticed that the smaller pieces did shrink a little bit, but the larger pieces didn't as much. I didn't cube all of mine because I wanted them all to have a different look. I also kept the skins on my potatoes and they turned out perfectly prim!! Check out my pictures below. I think the next time I make them, I will probably string some, but beware that they can be messy after they are done baking/drying in the oven.

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My Prim Home

We have had plenty of snow here in our little town in Ohio. Enough snow that we could sell it by the truckloads. We even have ice if you all would like any. Anyway, the schools have been out of session pretty much all week long which is nice because my husband gets to stay home since he is a teacher. He has been enjoying the time with us and we have been enjoying our time with him. I decided to post a picture of my home so you all could see all of the snow that we have. My DH has been out using the snow blower quite frequently and then of course he chips away at the ice too. I hear we are suppose to have more snow next week which is not what I wanted to hear at all, but I guess I have to roll with the punches. I guess I am just ready for spring time. I have lots and lots of perennial beds so I love being able to get out in my flower beds and work with my flowers. If you ever wanna check out some of my flowers then you can head on over to Lisa's Ohio Flowers and check some of my other pictures out. I definitely have some beautiful flowers if I do say so myself and I even decorate my flower beds with some cute primitive items. Oh, how I love prim things!! Oh, be sure to check out my shutters on the front of my home..... they are from Amish Country (imagine that - right?). I love how they have little stars cut out of them and they look great with my black prim star. Yep, I love it!!

Oh - ignore our Christmas decorations still being up. It has just been so cold to take them down, but the first chance we get when it warms up a little bit then we will definitely be heading out to take them down.

Labels, Organizing and Re-organizing

One thing I love about nap time for my 2 year old son is that I get to play around the house with all of my prim decorations. I am still working on a few things, but here is what I have. This probably isn't going to stay the same. I am probably going to end up moving my black cupboard next to the doll out of there and moving something else in, but I am not sure what yet. I have another idea for that black cupboard so it will definitely have a new home soon in another area of my home. The bucket is definitely going to stay and same with the doll, but I need to find me something else to take the place of that black cupboard. The bucket will probably have a label added to it that says KITCHEN NEEDFULS and my rolling pins and towels will stay as is. Let me know your thoughts. I don't know why I am having so much difficulty with this one.

You probably remember this Griswold Cast Iron Cornbread mold that I posted about. I love this antique and was thrilled when I found it for such a great deal. I thought this was a perfect place for it. It is in the perfect place here in my kitchen.

Here is my bench that I found at the antique mall. I decided to move things around and here I added some of my favorites.... Carrot Socks Bunny, a favorite picture with a very special saying and also my Noah's Ark.

Here you will see part of my Amish made cupboard that is in my kitchen. Please be sure to check out my jars with my labels that I received today from Susie @ Yankee Lane Primitives. Yep, I love her labels and I am sure you will too so be sure to check them out and get ordering.

Here is a close-up of my labels that I decided to use on my jars. Yep, I filled up my jars too with black beans, flour and pinto beans. Of course it is all for decoration, but don't you think they look great? It was so easy too and it gives it a great new prim look!! Yep, I am addicted to putting labels on everything (lol).

Here are just a few other labels that I received. I am going to have to search for more containers for my labels. Trust me..... you will love ordering from Susie. She is so sweet, her labels are great and you receive 16 of these labels for a very reasonable price.

Well, be sure to leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts. I love to hear them and if you have any suggestions on decorating or changing things around then be sure to leave that info to. Thank you!!

My Mom's Prim Home Decoration Slideshow

Here is my Mom & Dad's Home. I know that my Mom takes alot of pride in her home and decorating. I think it is tastefully decorated with all of her antiques and prims..... mostly prims, but I am sure you will love them. For the most part, they are all Amish made seeing as though she is only 20-25 minutes from Amish Country here in Ohio. She also has quite a few Dru Ann McCarty items...... bears and the radishes to mention a few. Well, I hope you enjoy your visit at my Mom's prim home. She was so excited I was going to post pictures of her home on my blog!!

~* UPDATE - If you click on the slideshow, it should enlarge the pictures for you!*~

Amish Country Findings

What a wonderful weekend!! There is nothing better then spending time with my parents. We packed up our car early Saturday morning and off to my parents we went. They live about 2 hours away, but it was worth the drive just seeing them. We got there and sat down to visit with my Dad a little bit and then we headed to Amish country for a day of shopping. We ate at my favorite restaurant..... Rebecca's and the lunch was just so tasty! I had a ham and swiss quiche with a side salad and her herb dressing (my favorite) and then we finished it off with a 7 layer carrot cake. Yep, it was very very good and my Mom treated us to the tasty lunch. Wasn't she so sweet!?! Well, after lunch we headed to the antique malls because that was the only place I wanted to go to. I pretty much found everything that I wanted and MORE. Yep, did you hear me? I said I found more . Here are a few pictures of the items that we brought home from Amish country.

This bench is something I just fell in love with when I first saw it. I just love how old it looks and trust me..... it looks great in my entry way!!

Here are some old rolling pins that I picked up. They look so cute in an old bucket that I bought.

I went to Amish Country with one of these in my mind and was thrilled when I found it. Haha, now I am just not sure where to put it. Isn't that funny!?!

I also went to the antique malls with this in mind..... I found 2 of them and one was $12.00 and the other was $36.00. Hmm, you wonder which one I picked. They both looked great and just alike so I am pretty happy that I found the cheaper one.

I was pretty happy about finding this as well, but once again..... I have it and I am not sure where to put it. I do that all the time and so does my Mom. I guess I inherited that from her (lol).

Here are my Mason Jars that I found and fell in love with. I ordered some labels from Susie @ Yankee Lane Primitives and they should arrive sometime this week. Once they arrive, I will be decorating them with the perfect label and filling them up with some goodies that will look perfect in my kitchen. Don't you just love the jars and the lids?

Be sure to stay tuned because I will be showing updated pictures of how I use all of my old antiques around our home. Oh - I will also be putting together a slide show of my Mom's home. My Mom is such a decorator when it comes to primitives. She has such great taste and well I guess you could say that I am quite proud of her and her home. It is beautiful and I love all of her decorations!! She could definitely be the next hot topic in Country Sampler. So, stay tuned!!

Cinnamon Creek Cabin

If you haven't checked out Cinnamon Creek Cabin and all of Dru Ann McCarty's handmade originals then you definitely need to. This is a little bear that I bid on during one of her evening shows. Isn't he just too cute? I am not really sure where to put him at this point, but hopefully he will have a home soon. Right now he is on one of my shelves, but I am thinking about totally re-decorating my cupboard in my kitchen and I think he would look too cute on there, but we will have to see. I will have to keep you posted on his new home.

Amish Country Here I Come.... With A List!!

I can hardly wait. I am going to visit my parents this weekend and I am looking forward to a day out with my Mom. Yep, I am off to Amish Country and I am taking a list. After seeing all of you wonderful ladies with these labels, it makes me wanna get some jars, tins or anything that a label would look great on. I have a couple old jars that I had around the house, but why not look for more. I also have a few other things that I want to look for as well so we will see what I can find. I will definitely have to show you and tell you everything that I saw and all the great deals that we found. There are 2 antique malls that we plan on going to so I can hardly wait to see what kind of old antique treasures I find. I keep telling my husband that I need more money and a bigger house for all of my prims and antiques and well he just laughs at me. I guess a woman could wish - right?

Well, I am off to the laundry room to do some laundry and hopefully I will have it all caught up by the time we leave for my Mom and Dad's. We will see. Here is some old prim clothes that I have hanging in my laundry room window. Aren't they just too cute!?!