It's my Birthday...and a BIG SALE!

Good morning to you! Today I turn 39 years old, and honestly, I feel like a 25-year-old. I cannot fathom how close to 40 I am because I just don't feel it. Anyhoo, in keeping with the celebrations, I thought I'd host a ONE-DAY ONLY sale for my Rose & Ruffle facebook fans today. Every single item in my shop is 25% off! 

Get a head-start on Christmas shopping with some adorable Christmas and Winter Wonderland Pajama Pants & Nightgowns! 

There are also some Fleece & Flannel Reversible Neck-Warmer Scarves for ladies and children, as well as Dresses, Bonnets and Baby Ensemble Sets.

I will gladly take custom orders,and I love to make sibling sets!

Imagine those early morning Christmas photos with adorable custom-made, matching pajamas & nightgowns!

Find Rose & Ruffle Co on facebook HERE 

**there is a 25% off coupon code for fans listed on the page!!!**

{ You can visit my shop is HERE }

As always, THANK YOU so very much for your support! I'm just a regular Mom who loves her family, has been touched by adoption, and who loves to be creative, so thank you to all who have helped us to raise the funds for this next adoption!

This is my Isabelle Kate on her first birthday - I couldn't be there with her on that special day, but because of the miracle of adoption we have a whole lifetime ahead of us! ADOPTION MATTERS!

My Cinderella

Off to the ball, kind of. A party at her little friend's house.  ;)
I probably have a million and a half pictures, and I love them all. Every single one of them! So I'm sharing lots.

Over the past several weeks, Isabelle Kate has wanted to be a cowgirl, a cat, a leopard, a horse-ridin' girl (but not a cowgirl, because I asked), back to a cat, a ballerina, but oddly enough she didn't beg to be a princess like she usually does. I started to panic a bit, since I'd been planning on making her Cinderella's dress for months now. She loves Cinderella, and I was hoping she would love the surprise...she did!

Last minute, I decided to go with buttons instead of a zipper for the gown. I think they look sweet, but they are kind of a pain, ha! At first they were too "loopy," so I had to tighten them with a few stitches in place. That did the trick, though now they're not nearly as easy to manage, especially when my fingers are cold and uncooperative.  =)  I also added a hook and eye below the buttons since we had a slight wardrobe malfunction of sorts and needed to keep the fabric pulled together. It worked beautifully!

I goofed and forgot the choker, so some of the pictures have it and some don't. Darn it! She wasn't too thrilled about heading out to the cold for another photo session, but I think we did okay.  :)

Isabelle twirled and twirled and giggled and squealed with delight (the first time around anyway, ha), and I think I felt like the happiest Mommy in the whole world!

I was also relieved because this was the one dress I didn't have her try on before I put it all together, and it fits like a dream. Phew!

Here is Isabelle's Trick-or-Treat goodie bag. Such sweet memories looking at it. I made one for each of the boys when they were little, and then after so long, I finally had my sweet girl to make one for. It really is the simple things that bring so much joy.  =)

I have to write this down so I don't ever, ever forget. Tonight we cuddled in her bed for a little while, and then it was time to say prayers. Here's what she said:

Dear Heavenly Fah-der, 'cuz that's what my Sunday School teacher says, thank you for giving me my Mommy to make me pretty Cinderella dresses, so that I can look extra pretty...and for my friends, even the ones I don't really like...and for all the candy at the pow-ty (party), even though I didn't bring any home because I already ate it all...and for my glowy-dark light thingy...aaaand my dress {insert long yawn here}...and that Mommy didn't get super mad because someone ripped my new dress. Amen.

HA HA HA

sharing with:
 sew many ways
link party palooza
funky polkadot giraffe 
sugar bee crafts

Best Homemade Rolls Recipe & a House Anniversary

Today is by far the coldest day we've had yet this fall, one of those perfect Beef Stew kinds of days. With rolls!  Delicious, homemade, melt-in-your-mouth rolls. And I've finally gotten around to sharing the recipe!

Best EASY Homemade Yeast Rolls

1 1/4 cup very warm but not hot water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp dry, active yeast (or 2 packets)
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp sugar (more or less)

In large bowl, gently mix the ingredients and let sit about 15 minutes to proof.

Next, add the following & stir together with a sturdy wooden spoon:
(You can use the dough hook on your mixer but it only takes a few moments and a little muscle to stir the dough by hand.)

1 egg
2 1/2 cups unbleached flour (you can use bread flour too)
1 cup whole wheat or white whole wheat flour
dash salt

Sprinkle additional flour onto your kneading surface and turn out dough; knead until smooth and elastic- sometimes this takes several minutes, but little helpers don't seem to mind. =)

I use a small plastic square and slice off pieces to shape into the rolls- keep the ball of dough flat in your hand and gently turn under the sides, pinching them in place on the underside. Place each roll in a lightly greased 13 x 9 baking dish/pan. Have a smaller (8 x 8 or 9 x 9) dish ready to go as well because sometimes you'll have enough dough to make extra rolls. This is a wonderful problem to have!  ;)

Let rolls rest & finish rising in pan for about 10 minutes while oven preheats to 400 degrees. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Easy and delicious! These rolls pair fabulously with my Hearty Slow-Cooker Beef Stew.

This recipe was slightly adapted from this one.

Tomorrow marks our one-year anniversary of owning this house! I remember so clearly that I lugged over the Crock-pot, the veggies and meat already prepped, a tube of chocolate chip refrigerated cookie dough & a baking sheet, and all the utensils we would need in order to eat our very first meal in our new home the day we closed. It would be another three weeks before Move In day, but it was a special night for us.

Lots of times I get so annoyed with myself for not having this or that finished, but we've worked really hard throughout the year to make this place feel like home. And it finally does! Here are some pictures of the changes we've made:

 more info about the kitchen here

 we recently painted the island a contrasting color &

finished off the {disgusting} toe kick under the cabinets- that's a post for later

 more on this small powder room here

 our master bedroom

 our family room

 our home office space (adjacent to my sewing studio) - neither blogged about yet

 our dining room

 the rock garden on a slope

 redoing the foundation garden - left side

foundation garden (with a new rock wall) - right side

I just spent 10 minutes looking for a post for either of these gardens...and nothing!

I'll put one together when it's grey and freezing and I'm dreaming of getting my hands in the dirt

I haven't shared any of our kids' bedrooms because, well, I'm busy and haven't bothered had the time. I'm still deciding what to do in the bathroom upstairs, but I painted the walls (and heater!) and am so smitten with the color! Just gorgeous! We were about to buy a vanity, sink and all the powder room hoopla when the garage door went and broke. As in, broke. Can't open or close, and thankfully the glass windows didn't shatter into a million zillion pieces. Anyhoo, that gets replaced Monday, so the ugly bathroom stuff stays put for now.

Have a good weekend!

linking up here 
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How to Get a Bird Out of a Garage (Without Ladders, Nets or Trauma)

It's no secret that I adore animals of all kinds, and that love certainly includes songbirds. This weekend, two sparrows got trapped in our garage, and if you've ever witnessed this, it's just horrible. They become so dazed and disoriented - and upset- that they simply cannot manage to get themselves back out the door or window to freedom. It happened once at our old house, and it was an all-day effort involving ladders, nets, and lots of trauma (the bird's too, ha!), but everything we read online recommended the same thing: try to capture the bird one way or another in order to release it back outside.

There's a much better way! 

The first thing to try is opening up all the doors which lead to the outside. It probably won't work, but if the bird hasn't gotten confused and upset yet, it just might. We actually thought this had worked for us, but lo and behold, the next morning when I walked out into the garage, there she was, flitting from one rafter to the next. She would swoop down in fits, soooo close to the open door, but then she'd dart right back up to the rafters, more traumatized than ever.

Birds, like this sweet chickadee, are much better suited for the backyard than for the inside of a garage.

Time for Plan B: Fill a large bowl with water to simulate a bird bath, and place it directly in front of an open door. I put some peanut butter and nuts in a smaller bowl beside the water (because I don't have birdseed yet) to further entice it to the open door. I've read that birds are attracted to the sound of moving water so I spent a few minutes gently splashing the water around inside the bowl- I flicked some onto the garage floor as well, thinking perhaps that it might get her attention faster. Then I went back inside to let her try to figure it out.

I peeked a few minutes later, and she was perched on the side of the bowl, but the darn door squeaked and startled her, so up to the rafter she went. Ten minutes after that, we checked again, and there was no sign of her in the garage. She must have realized that the great outdoors was right there, and thankfully, she flew outside. This was a much better solution than trying to capture the bird to set it free!

As I was about to empty the bowl, this beautiful image caught my attention: nature's mirror

This bird house - built by one of my sons and his grandfather - is a much better, safer place!

linking up here
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