Okay, I just need a few more hours to each day.

A little decorating here, some shopping there, a little quack quack...oh, I got sidetracked again!!

I can tell by looking over at my blogroll that some of you are a tad busy too. A few of you haven't had any posts for a long time. We miss you and come on, post at least one pic so we know you are still out there!! I know you want to...

Last week I took a couple of days off and went to visit family and friends in West Texas. My first stop was at my talented friend Roxanne's home for the Society for the Preservation of Quaint Old Homes December meeting. SPQOH for short.

Mercury glass and a vintage glass glitter banner-a great combo!

(I think Brandy made the banner and she has an etsy store...)

Love it.

I was feeling the coordinating goin' on.

Roxanne hand painted the walls, made the mosaic framed mirrors and created that awesome tomato cage Christmas tree. You go girl!

Who knew a simple crab apple tree branch could look so awesome?

Roxanne sent us all home with pine tree cuttings for us to plant.

She taught us you could also plant these pine cones to sprout a tree.

I think they are just cute like this.

Roxanne has more photos on her blog.

I hope you all have a Quaint Christmas too!!

It's starting to feel like baking time...

Pumpkin Spice Scones 1 C. all purpose flour 1 C. cake flour 1 1/2 t. baking powder 1/2 t. salt 1/2 t. ground cinnamon 1/2 t. ground nutmeg 1/4 t. ground allspice 1/4 t. ground ginger 6 T. unsalted butter 1/2 C. raisins (optional) 1/3 C. pumpkin puree 1/3 C. heavy cream 6 T. brown sugar 1 t. vanilla 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Get out a baking sheet and line with parchment paper (not required but makes cleanup easy!). Cut the butter into small pieces, put it in a small bowl and put it back in the refridgerator. In a medium bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, salt, and all spices. Whisk together well. Place bowl in freezer (refrigerator is fine if you have no room in freezer). 2. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, heavy cream, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together well. Put this bowl in freezer (or refrigerator) and take the other bowl back out. Get the butter pieces out of the fridge and dump them into the bowl with the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the raisins if you are using them. 3. Get the liquid mixture out of the freezer and pour into the flour mixture all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is just moistened. The dough will be very crumbly, this is the way it should be. Turn the mixture out onto the counter and push the pile together with your hands. It should stick together fairly well. Knead it just a couple of times until everything is together. Don’t knead it too much or the dough will get too sticky. 4. Pat the dough out into a rough circle, 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut it like a pie into 8 pieces. Place pieces on the baking sheet so that they are not touching. Bake scones for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. They should be light brown on the bottom, the tops will darken as they cool. Icing: For ginger molasses icing, stir together 1 T. molasses, 1-2 T. milk, and 1/4 – 1/2 t. ground ginger (to taste). Adjust the amount of sugar or milk to make the icing the consistency you want. It should be pretty thick. For cinnamon icing, mix together 1 C. powdered sugar, 2 T. milk, 1/4 – 1/2 t. cinnamon (to taste). Again, adjust amounts to change consistency. Icing can be brushed on or drizzled.

I found a great site for recipes. Nicole at Pinch My Salt is the best!

She includes easy to follow instructions and tutorials.

Now let's all get baking!!

The Big Reveal

It is time to let you in on the secret .

Do you really want to know?

The new dealer is the one and only....

MR. ELLA!

Yepper, this is the man who wouldn't even get out of the car when we stopped at an antique shop while we were on our honeymoon. I vowed to myself then that I would have to teach this man to love the thrill of the hunt.

This was not an easy task though. It took almost 30 years of the Ella influence and determination to get to this point. He is one of us now. A little scary, but fun.

About a month ago, Mr. Ella told me he wanted to have a booth downstairs at the ACM.

The only space available was a 5' x 10' booth.

Not too small, not too big. It was just right.

I helped him pick out the paint color (a muddy grayish brown) and the building of a booth began.

Framing the area with architectural pieces was like adding needed jewelry.

I will say Mr. Ella must have been paying attention to my quirky ways over the years...

The space is filled with a tasteful collection carefully selected by Mr. Ella.

Not too shabby, right?

Our shopping adventures will never be the same.

Way to go Honey!!!

New Dealer in McKinney

There's a new dealer at the Antique Company Mall and you will never

believe who it is....

Anybody want to guess?

Garden Antqs at Warrenton

My trip to Warrenton just would not have been complete until I spent time with Theresa of Garden Antqs Vintage.

Her booth was filled with a dreamy vanilla palette with her classic touch of robin egg blue.

Enjoy browsing!

Theresa is also set up in the Antique Company Mall in McKinney, Texas.

Just up the aisle from Ella's corner booth.

Through Ella's eyes

Do you want to see what caught my eye while I wandered around the Marburger Farm Antique Show?

Stunning trays.

Pretty Pom-poms.

Dazzling ribbon.

The new hot look.

The interesting look.

The worn look.

My favorite look.

The other hot look.

And the ... "if you have enough of anything, throw it all together to get a look". It was fun walking through the tents and downloading the visuals to that creative side of my brain where I jumble it up and wallah, the Ella look!

Home, for the moment

Well, my bags are out of the car, but not unpacked. Mr. Ella and I just rolled in from one of our most relaxing trips to the Roundtop/Warrenton Antique Show. I hope to share more pics with you soon!

Oktoberfest is in full swing

Oktoberfest in McKinney has started! A fun and festive mood is in the air around The Antique Company Mall.

The streets have been blocked off and dealers like Cindy R. and Carolyn have moved in with their wares displayed with their creative touch.

More dealers will be setting up for Saturday's events. I can't wait to see what they bring...

Around the corner, Patina Green is all decked out for Fall. This wonderful table setting greets you as you walk in the front door. If I owned an old barn, I just simply would have to get the whole package for my Thanksgiving Feast with the fam.

I LOVE white pumpkins!! If you can get to McKinney this weekend, you won't regret it...

Come on over!

(Oh, did I tell you that many of the dealers in the ACM have discounts in their booths?)

Are you ready?

Are you ready for some Football ?

Or maybe - Are you ready for some Photos?

My Saturday was a junker's visual overload for sure. My Dear Hubby and I headed out early to East Texas. We had scheduled our day to start at Judy Hill's

Late show in Kilgore.

Theresa of Garden Antqs was set up in a beautiful and relaxing setting.

I couldn't pass up a chance to catch a pic of two lovebirds!

Cubby full of pretty ribbons.

My favorite , creams...

We wandered up to Judy's house to roam around. We didn't get to the sale as early as we had planned and we were told everything was picked over. Theresa has some great pictures of the show before all the shoppers demolished the awesome displays. Here are a few of my favorite things.

Now that is talent to take old surgical clamps and make them absolutely gorgeous.

Okay, the reason we didn't get to the Late show as early as planned is because we stopped in Canton at Laurie Anna's Open House. She has moved next door to her original store, but there is much more room.

Pumpkins greet you as you enter. Yummy chandies give you a sparkly wink as you walk around in marvel at the incredible displays.

I was in burlap and cream HEAVEN!

Gorgeous table settings at every turn.

More of my little peace.

Lauri Anna's is open during Canton's Monday Trade Days.

If you have a chance to go-by all means GO!!