Baking Frosted Sugar Cookies and Sweets for Christmas with Cate McLean

It’s the sweetest time of year. Baking at my home with Cate McLean of 2FeelPositive. All the warm smells, pretty Christmas lights, the Christmas music playing and having something good to drink. Enjoy while you bake your Christmas cookies, trim the tree and wrap your gifts. Soft colored snow flake sugar cookies. Oh, so pretty and unique, and they even taste wonderful.

A fun filled gathering to enjoy homemade sugar cookies and Christmas candy while opening small gifts from each other.

How to say Merry in a new way! How delicious.

Steam a pot of Hot White Chocolate with handmade cut peppermint marshmallows from Butter Baked Goods & Cafe, known for their marshmallows. They have a wide variety of flavors. Oh, so so good. Even better with sugar cookies. Santa is a very lucky man this year!

White chocolate peppermint bark with crushed peppermint candy on top. So much fun and easy to make.

How cute are these? Cate made little Christmas bulbs.

So cute!

How adorable is the tea pot with the stocking hat cozy? I had to get it. So, so adorable and oh, of course I had to buy the pink marshmallows when I saw them. Oh, a little white Christmas tree adds so much charm to a table. The mini paper chain was made by my daughter Mandi. Simple things in life are so special.

Sugar confections – nothing like them. So festive!

How sweet it is. Yum, yum good!

Gathering and enjoying the holidays with dear friends and family makes your heart all warm and cozy.

We had so much fun coming together and creating this blog.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and enjoy your holidays with the ones you love. ooxx 

Visit Cate’s blog for the delicious sugar cookie baking, icing and decorating steps, and don’t forget to sign up for email updates.

Tracey and Mandi’s Christmas Cottage On A Seaside Cove

A Christmas cottage on the seaside cove in Kennebunk Port, Maine.

Come in and enjoy the Christmas cottage by the sea that me and my wonderful daughter, Mandi, created in the cove at Kennebunk beach in Maine, which adorns the pages of Coastal Living Magazine. We had so much fun creating this project.

Making cupcakes and Christmas cookies in the kitchen for Christmas is heartwarming. Stringing seashell lights up the stair case for an enchanting evening!

Overlooking the cove on Christmas morning with Christmas goodies in jars.

At the kitchen sink Christmas morning looking out at the sea.

Tumbled beach stones from the beach outside make a wonderful fireplace to hang Christmas stockings. Old general store doors out to a porch overhanging the cove. A warm cozy fire to warm your toes, Christmas tree with handmade decorations, stockings made by Sweet Summer Linens, cotton throws to keep warm so you can snuggle up Christmas day.

Stockings hanging by the fire, seashells, pepper berries, seeded eucalyptus and pine boughs make the mantle all natural.

Make paper cottages to add some whimsy to it and general store jars full of vintage Christmas bulbs. Create a clothesline and pin your stockings like we did. You can add a little sparkle by covering the clothespins in old fashioned glitter.

What’s a Christmas cottage without all the trimmings?

Christmas stockings hanging one by one, filled with Christmas goodies. Oh, how sweet!

Paper Christmas cottages designed by Mandi of Sweet Summer Linens. A fun project to enjoy with your children to embellish your decor.

Evening time is a wonderful time to sit and enjoy the lighted tree. Seashell lights are a perfect coastal Christmas idea.

Sailboats made from paper with an old fashioned, simple paper chain, glitter snowflakes, white glass bulbs with polka dots on them can make a charming seacoast cottage tree. Simple and fun to make. Tip: We sprayed white paint on the tree to make it frosted.

What’s Christmas without a few pretty wrapped gifts? So pretty that you do not want to open them.

It’s evening. Time for bed snuggling and dreaming of santa and the cinnamon yeast rolls on Christmas morning with icing.

It’s Christmas morning. Smell the sausage cooking and the cinnamon yeast rolls coming out of the oven. Ooooh, what a smell!

A small vintage Christmas tree to add to a bedroom so when you are sleeping you have a cozy Christmas feel.

Christmas gifts await at the foot of the bed. Pretty boxes and pretty ribbons add to the Christmas ambience.

A quiet nook to make Christmas ornaments, cards and crafts.

Santa quietly filling Christmas stockings at the ends of the beds as you quietly sleep, dreaming of Christmas morning.

A special place to read a Christmas story to the little ones. Paper mittens and seashells hang from the window while fresh boughs with pepper berries adorn the sill. Light the candles on the window sill Christmas night. How enchanting!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and to all a good night!

Pink Chocolate Popcorn For Movie Night With Cate McLean

Another collaboration with me and Cate. Pink Popcorn!!

Time for a break from everyday life. Get together with your family and friends, grab your pj’s and put your hair up or down. (I always pin it up out of my face.)

Get your quilts and throws, soft pillows, and find a cozy place to snuggle up to.

Make a bunch of Pink Popcorn (of course, it has to be pink) with melted Ghirardelli white chocolate mixed in.

Dip and drizzle your pretzels with white chocolate.

Add a cool and refreshing bubbly made of key limes to quench your thirst.

Pick your movie. My list would be mostly girly movies. To me, there’s more to a movie than the plot…I need details in the movies; house, clothes, etc. So snuggle up and enjoy the show. For the easy recipe for Pink Chocolate Popcorn, visit 2FeelPositive.

Have fun!

Some of my favorites:

The Holiday

Hook

It’s Complicated

The Devil Wears Prada

You’ve Got Mail

Something’s Gotta Give

Under the Tuscan Sun

A Small Cottage on Charming Nantucket Island

A small charming cottage with beach rocks in front for your parking spot.

A grassy casual path to the front door. Simple, simple, simple.

A fun place to hang your beach bags and hats.

I try not to do the red, white and blue theme on the homes I do on Nantucket. This is one where I did not follow that path. This lovely room with its ice pink walls and colorful pillows is not traditional. (I will bring you this soon in another blog.)

The kitchen nook with a bedroom off the kitchen is a true small cottage making space for everything. Charming, charming, charming. Instead of formal cabinetry, I used vintage pieces for the cabinets. Add a fun table and mix up!

A small place for your laundry. I striped the walls to make it fun and unique.

Took doors off to make open shelving. Found vintage fire king dishes to mix in with newer dishes, which looks great with the color of the fire king. The old breadbox is perfect.

Old iron bed with vintage fabric pillows from Sweet Summer. All the linens are from Sweet Summer in this project. What a great place to snuggle in after a long day in the sun and salt air.

The side path to the garden terrace. All the homes in town on Nantucket make the most out of the tiniest yards. All with great style.

What a spot to sit and have a cocktail.

Sitting amongst the beautiful hydrangeas.

The garden house behind the cottage has whimsical gardens and is a place we could all enjoy. Always get the white pumpkins. I’m a white pumpkin girl!

The quaint harbor of Nantucket. I have done numerous projects here and have a special spot in my heart for it. More on Nantucket to come!

Baking Polka Dot Cookies With Cate McLean

A Sweet Summer Time Gathering

A special time with Cate McLean, baking and creating something new and different for our blogger friends. Come enjoy the fun we had together – Cate baking, me styling and Mandi photographing. Oh what fun we had! You can have fun, too. Cate posted her recipe for you, but first let’s have a party.

Cookies right out of the oven!

Getting ready for a sweet summer time gathering!

Cookies filled with fresh whipped cream and pretty sprinkles. We made fresh key limeade to sip on. Had to add some white chocolate to the mix for a sweet taste.

Fresh whipped cream filled cookies mmm…with pretty colored sprinkles.

We all scream for ice cream! Of course, with sprinkles!!

Pretty and delicious polka dot cookies with Häagen-Dazs vanilla bean ice cream with rainbow jimmies. How sweet are the dot ice cream cups and the dixie cup spoons. Jelly Belly’s Cold Stone Ice Cream Parlor Mix jelly beans taste good and look beautiful. Of course I ate all the brown ones so the ones pictured would match what I’m doing!!

Cookies and ice cream and all the colors! Oh what a fun gathering!!

With left over cookies we put in a glass cookie jar because they are so colorful to look at.

Sweet summer treats in the pantry.

To get Cate’s recipe and see how she made these yummy cookies visit her blog.

A special thank you goes to Cate with her yummy baking and my wonderful daughter Mandi for all the fun and work on this blog. Many more if you stay tuned!! Hope you enjoy it! ooxx

Don’t forget – I’m on Pinterest if you would like to see more!

The Girls of Summer

Girls of summer cove

Girls of summer

Oh, the days of colorful vintage bikes for the girls of summer to ride on a hot summer day. And catching fireflies at night…

A magical home by the sea with all the girly touches. Who said you can’t take a classic shingle home and make it fun? Who said! Why not make the house mint green with aqua green anchor shutters, pink doors, an aqua porch ceiling and pale apple green floors, white wicker chairs with down cushions covered in colorful cotton striped fabric, and a round outdoor dining table with beach style chairs? A sea shell path leads to the entrance with pink hydrangeas. Who said you can’t? Why not make it fun and enchanting? Just contact me for an appointment and we can create it together!  There’s a great big wrap around porch to sit and enjoy each other in the afternoon or in the evening by candlelight and listen to the sea.

The girls of summers’ gathering spot in the kitchen’s breakfast nook. A place to have lemonade with buttercream cupcakes, the girls of summers’ favorite. Or sit in the fun summer stripe chairs for a cup of tea!

A girl’s custom kitchen with revamped vintage appliances painted pink. What a girl’s dream! (Sorry boys…)

What a fun area to bake cupcakes. A vintage stove custom painted pink from a potholder mitt which served as inspiration. Buttercream cupcakes…umm umm good!

Summer dinner parties in a charming dining room. Striped walls and a checkerboard table. Fun to mix and match.

Shutter plate holder with cool plates and a vintage buffet. What else could a girl want?

A pretty living room to sit and have girl time. Mix and match fabrics on comfortable down furniture and get cozy. Cotton slip covers so you can sit right on them. If they get dirty, just pull them off and wash. Oh the charm of it all! This is how to live in a home and have fun.

In saying all that, this home was a huge undertaking AND a lot of fun! The kitchen originally had six closet doors in a row for cupboards, a sideways wood stove with red brick underneath and behind it where the new pink vintage stove is now. It had a very high bay window where you see the girls seated in the photo above. Before the redesign, you had to stand to see out of it! I put in farm windows to match the side windows and added a window seat with drawers for storage. The table and milk stools make a breakfast nook. A small sitting area with summer striped chairs where mom can sit and have tea with her girlfriends. I redesigned the walls, ceiling, floors, cabinets, etc…

In the rest of the house, I had the original bird wallpaper stripped (it was everywhere) and painted the walls and the woodwork, which was olive green. Stay tuned for part two of this house!

Antique Car Show: Great Colors

Who says a girl can’t have fun at a car show? Look at these colors!

Still looking for pink cars for next year’s show!

Sweet Summer Style Coquina Cottage Part II of the Main Cottage

This is one of many southern, tropical projects I have finished. I took existing furniture and refurnished it for an up-to-date look. I also had new furniture built for the cottage while still maintaining a vintage cottage look.

This was a three year long project – a one hundred year old cottage on the Gulf of Mexico! It was a gem that needed love and attention. I kept it mainly in its original state accept for redoing the kitchen and the bathrooms. I changed the colors because everything was mint green, both outside and in! There was originally beach sand where the pool is now, which made it the perfect place for a puddle pool. All the cottages surrounding the main cottage are original.

What a place! Come enjoy some of the inside…

Striped floors add fun to this screened-in porch, overlooking the pool. Sweet mermaid light with colorful furniture.

To give it an airy feel, I designed open shelving and added a butcher block island. What a kitchen!

Dinner anyone?!

Sleeping porch with whimsical art we made on the wall so it would be different and fun. Sleep while the waves hit the beach like a lu-lla-by.

Master bedroom has a headboard made out of an old theater frame cut in two. Added filling to the middle and covered in a striped fabric and voila! It’s a funky headboard. No one else will have this!

A place to sit, have an iced tea and relax. I used vintage wicker furniture and added new outdoor fabric. We also made some of the pieces.

Simple guest bedroom by the beach. This room is facing the ocean – oh, listen to that surf!

Vintage wicker on the porch overlooking the sea – the beautiful sea.

Sweet Summer Style Coquina Cottage Part I of the Main Cottage

To the main cottage we go!

A bubbling fountain welcomes you to the middle of the court yard. Love that sound.

The pathway to the puddle pool which has no edge. Mermaid spa with seashell cottage.

The back of Coquina Cottage is a puddle pool. The front is the beach.

Up to the porch to have lunch. Key West shrimp, anyone?

To the beach we shall go for the afternoon!

Sea grape trees in the sand and Adirondack Chairs at Coquina Beach.

Around the corner and into the kitchen. Coming soon – stay tuned to see the inside of Coquina Cottage in Part II. See you then!

Sweet Summer Style at Periwinkle Cottage

Twin arbor in the compound of cottages.

Through the gates to the sister shell cottage. What a wonderful way to enter the sister cottage called Periwinkle.

Enter the old fashioned sleeping porch at Periwinkle Cottage.

What a wonderful sleeping porch with striped floors for fun. A mix-match of soft cotton bedding to snuggle in and rockers to rock as you listen to the waves crash on the beach. Something we should all experience.

Sitting and reading in a sea of soft linens with patterns and colors. Feel yourself relax and enjoy the day at the cottage.

A day bed to have a nap or read after sunning on the beach.

Have a drink on the other end of the porch. Simple wicker chairs and a vintage table under the paddle fan where you can enjoy your summer meals.

Hot pink cabinet with colorful glasses in this colorful cottage kitchen. Color, color, color!

This is two-in-one. A place to have a big gathering of family and friends. Laugh and enjoy each other. Soft furnishings and a fire place to lie by on chilly evenings.

A mantle with a cool sign and glass lamps that glow at night.

Fun – Fun – Fun master bedroom! Bedding with bright and bold hues and a beach sign painted in great colors. Vintage mantle overhead with these funky finials make up a headboard. Custom linens are fun, after all, this is the beach!

Sweet hibiscus everywhere.