I'm Dreaming of A Green & White Christmas

Well, it's finally here, The most wonderful time of the year :)  So that means it's time to deck those halls!  I must confess, I've been in love with green and white, green & cream, green & silver, and green & gold color schemes for a while now. There's something so soothing and ethereal about this combination.  I suppose it also has something to do with the fact that I'm a floral designer and for us, it all starts with green :)

Nothing says welcome like this cream door all decked out in greenery :) The wreath is made with reindeer moss and the swag is made with evergreen boughs.  I just love this.

Need a green and silver inspiration for your table, look no further than this setting. Lady Slipper orchids, green & white roses, & kale bring magic to this green, white, & silver
tablescape.

Both real and wax evergreens make a serene Christmas forest scene.  I love these candles and have some very similar.  I can remember my mother having candles like this when I was growing up.

I love this green, cream, & silver crudite tray.  What could be more green than vegetables and an herb dip :)

An assortment of green and white ornaments on a white painted branch, how lovely.

Mercury glass adds sparkle to these evergreens.  I love the white twinkle lights to catch the light of the silver.  The contrast of the silver and rustic greenery is perfect.

A white gumdrop wreath hung by a sage striped ribbon is sure to bring visions of sugarplums to your head.

I just think these green glittered birds perched atop birch wrapped favor tubes are adorabale :)

Vintage Thanksgiving Clipart- Happy Thanksgiving

As I take time this week to count my blessings, I realize I have so much to be thankful for. I'm a truly blessed woman, and it does not escape me that God has showered me with too many blessings for me to count or even recognize.  Sometimes while we are enduring tragedy, or feeling lost we don't even realize that there will be light at the end of the tunnel, and blessings we can't even imagine.

If you had told me earlier this year when I suddenly and tragically lost my sister that I would feel blessed, I wouldn't have believed you.  From that tragedy I learned we should never take our families for granted and my younger sister and I are closer than ever.  I believe it is essential to make the best we can out of what can seem, the worst situations.

Sometimes I think we gain our greatest strength from picking ourselves up one more time, and counting our blessings.  Let's face it, the alternative is too depressing, staying down and drowning in our own sorrows is the saddest way I could think of to exist.

I know so many of you my sweet friends are facing difficulties in these challenging times.  Know that I am grateful for each and every one of you.  That you bring me joy and happiness, that you are a blessing to me.

So this Thanksgiving, I'm choosing Joy over Sorrow, Triumph over Tragedy, Love over Hate.
I choose to count my blessings, and overcome my obstacles, I choose Faith, Hope, and Love, for they have never failed me.

I'm hoping you enjoy this vintage clip-art that I've selected and enhanced for you.  Use them to make greeting cards, to make place-cards, to make a garland.

Accent the edges (or whatever you like) with some glitter, to really make it pop.  Print them on vellum paper and wrap them around candle votives.

So from my home to yours, I wish you a Joyful, and Blessed Thanksgiving, but most of all, I wish you, Faith, Hope, and Lots & Lots of Love.

Thanksgiving Giveaway

 I'm so excited to be celebrating my one year 

anniversary with this blog and I thought that called for 

a give-away.  I can't tell you how much I enjoy writing 

this blog, or how much I appreciate the loyal readers 

who take the time to read Shannon's Shanonigins. 

So Let me say Thank You from

the bottom of my heart.

One lucky subscriber will  be getting these 3 harvest

bounty bowls with lids. Wouldn't they be great at your

Thanksgiving table filled with honey butter, course sea

salt, and fresh ground pepper to pass around?

You will also receive this maple leaf bowl, imagine

it filled with cranberry sauce :)

And just because you're so sweet :) I'm going to throw 

in 3 bags of candy (all have Autumn colored wrappers, 

or in the case of The Hershey Drops, they are

chocolate brown (and yummy)!  Just in case

you want to use any of your bowls for candy dishes

or need a nice hostess gift to take someone 

on Thanksgiving ;)

 Here is a picture of the bowls with the lids on.  

Now for the rules

1). You must follow Shannon's Shanonigins on Google 

Friend Connect (you can do this from the right 

hand column of this blog).

2). You must follow Shannon's Shanonigins on

Facebook (also in the right column)

3). You must leave a comment telling me that you've

done these things (so I know) lol :)

4). For extra entries, post this on your Facebook

page, twitter about it, or re-post it on your blog

I will hold a random drawing on November 18th, 

so I can get your package to you by Thanksgiving. 

Best of luck, and many 

Thanksgiving Blessings to all of you.

Announcing Winners for DMBLGIT October 2011

DMBLGIT October 2011

I was recently asked to help judge the DMBLGIT photo contest for DMBLGIT and it was very
challenging.  There were so many fantastic photos and there are some truly talented photographers
out there in food blog-land.  I thought it would be fun to share the results with you. Shannon

So many wonderful photos have been submitted over the course of this month for the DMBLGIT October 2011 event. There were a wide range of photos that each showed dedication and talent for the culinary world. Each day during this month Sydney and I would look in my inbox for new email submissions that seemed to jump out of the screen and greet us with inspiring and delicious looking food and photographs.
We received a total of 36 photos from many different blogs, that each told a unique story about the individuals participating in this challenge. You can still check these photos out in the gallery. I want to take a quick second to thank and acknowledge our judges who took their time out of their busy lives to judge these photos; Kristen Doyle, Bron Marshall, Ilva Beretta, Shannon Imlay, and Jeanne Horak.
Now…here is the moment everyone has been waiting for…the winners for this month are:
Overall 1st Place:
These include the highest scoring photos:

Homemade Ice Cream

Pamela of Uno De Dos (Canon EOS 350D- 25mm- 4.5- 1/100- 200)

Some Comments from the Judges include:

Bron: ”Fun, love the bite out”

Shannon: “I love this photo! What a unique and great way to display and photograph Ice Cream. The colors, contrast, and composition in this photo are great”

Jeanne: “Simply gorgeous-excellent props, composition and exposure”

Sydney: “This photos is stunning, fun, and creative”

Overall 2nd Place:

Gâteau au Fromage Blanc 0%MG (in english: 0% fat cheesecake)

Steeve of Cuisine Airlines (taken with Nikon D90 with 50mm f1.8 lens)

Comments from the Judges:

Bron: “Lovely”

Shannon: “The color contrast in this photo is beautiful”

Jeanne: “Lovely pale palette really makes the most of the berries, great use of shallow DoF”

Sydney: “When my mom and I first saw this photo were delighted to see fromage blanc was used, and the currents add an amazing extra to the cheesecake photo”

Overall 3rd Place

Tart w/Caramalized Figs & Almonds

Ago of Pane, Burro e Marmellata (taken with Nikon D3000 – 50 mm)

Comments from the Judges:

Shannon: “ I love this photo. It looks and sounds delicious”

Jeanne: “Lovely shot, painterly lighting, visible and appealing textures”

Sydney: “I absolutely love this photo. I love figs and almonds, this photo just screams delicious, I want to grab it from the computer screen!”

Category Winners:

These are the highest scoring photos for each category ( edibility, originality, and aesthetics), after excluding the overall winners.

Edibility Category Winner:

There was a tie for this category, below are the two winners

Moon Cake

Soma of E Curry (taken with Konica Minolta Dimage A200)

Some comments from the Judges included:

Bron: ”Great moody light”

Shannon: “This is a lovely photograph. The cakes look moist and appetizing and the composition and crispness of the photo are very nice”

Jeanne: “Love how the lighting and subtle palette emphasizes cookie texture”

And:

Ricotta & Cherries Crostata

Edda of Un Dejeuner De Soleil ( taken with Pentax K-m, f 50/1.4)

Comments from the Judges:

Bron: ”Looks yummy”

Shannon: “Again, another stunning photo. This photo made me smile, made me hungry and made me want to crawl into this cozy photograph to sit and eat a while. Beautiful composition!”

Sydney: “Delicious, and wonderful set up”

Originality Category Winner:

Lentil & Butternut Squash Coconut Coconut

Rose of Magpie’s Recipes (taken with Canon T3i kit lens)

Comment from the Judges:

Jeanne: “Nice Idea”

Sydney: “I really like that you used coconut shells to serve your dish in, it brings originality to your photo”

Aesthetics Category Winner:

Chocolate Cake

Jimena of Agoisfoto (taken with Camera Canon 5D Lens Macro 100mm EF 1.8)

Comments from the Judges:

Shannon: “This picture is beautiful!”

Jeanne: “Lovely Monochrome Styling”

Sydney: “Gorgeous layout”

Thank you to everyone who participated in this event. Sydney and I had a great time hosting this month’s DMBLGIT Event. I hope all the people who submitted their photos enjoyed and had fun participating. Also, each of our judges did an awesome job and once again thank you.

Congratulations to each of our winners, you all did an outstanding job. November’s DMBLGIT event will be hosted by Nags of Edible Garden, if you would like to participate please send your entries to Nags.