My true love gave to me…
a pair of Meissen porcelain doves circa 1740.
If you have missed any of the 12 Days of Christmas, click here.
My true love gave to me….
A partridge tureen. He (she?) may not be sitting in a pear tree, but this antique partridge tureen circa 1758-1762 is sure to please you!
I thought I’d have a little fun this year and share my version of the gifts from the 12 Days of Christmas! Stay tuned as every day up through Christmas I will have a post!
Some days there will be multiple posts – the regular content and then the 12 Day of Christmas!
If you have missed any of the 12 Days of Christmas, click here.
Hello Everyone!
First things first:
As some of you may have noticed,
You see, we have just moved into our new house so I also felt like my blog needed a new house too!
So welcome to Petite Haus! A whole new blog layout is coming shortly, so stay tuned! Here is a preview of my new logo I designed:
Please be patient if there are any glitches! Also, I know my header is off center and wonky but like I said, a new design is coming shortly so I am not fixing it!
We have been very busy settling into the new house but there are still so many boxes to unpack!
Some things may not be unpacked for a while, because I’ve got to put up my Thanksgiving table here soon!
Why? Well, Later this week I am participating in a blog hop for Thanksgiving with 14 other talented bloggers!
And lastly, if you follow me on Instagram (now @PetiteHaus – if you already followed me before, no worries, you don’t need to refollow me, the name change carried over my followers!), ahem, let me try again…
If you follow me on IG you will see a sneak peek of my house! And voila! Here is the main centerpiece of the house!
Okay everyone, I have got to run! More boxes to unpack, maybe some sleep to be had…
Hello everyone!
I’m so excited to announce that we are moving into the new house! HOORAY!
With this move, I have some exciting things coming to the blog as well.
I am taking a short little hiatus (about a week) to get settled into the new house.
Once I am done unpacking, I’ll be back on the blog with a surprise, so be sure to stay tuned friends! Wish me luck and hope for no back sprains from lifting boxes!!
In this post – Hearth and Hand by Fixer Upper’s Chip and Joanna at Target
This post contains affiliate links.
You might have heard that this upcoming season is the last season of Fixer Upper on HGTV. I suppose they want to end on a high note?
If you can’t get enough of their lovable farmhouse style, then look no further than their new upcoming collection entitled Hearth and Hand launching exclusively at Target this week on November 5! It is available in stores and online.
I expect that this collection will sell out pretty much immediately on the first day!
I have rounded up my favorites from the collection – this is just the tip of the iceberg here! Most pieces are under $30 and the most expensive is $129.
Galvanized Charger With Gold Welding
Striped Pot Holder (Set of 2) – Black/White
Glass Tumbler X Pattern – Green
After sitting on the ground watching a movie last night, I wish I had these Plaid Floor Cushions!
You know what I love about these Galvanized vases? They have a built in flower frogger! YES!
Love these little French houses on this House patterned wrapping paper and this green plaid ribbon
Artificial Lamb Ear and White Berry Wreath (24″)
Artificial Juniper Wreath with Bell (16″)
Artificial Lamb Ear/White Berry Garland (6ft)
One last thing – how cute is this wooden dollhouse?!
Check out all of Hearth and Hand here at Target! Let me know your favorite!
All photos are from Target.
In this post – My Secret to Soft Hands
This post does contain affiliate links.
Today I’m sharing a secret with you about how I keep my hands nice and soft.
You see, I was at my hair salon when my stylist noted to me – wow! You have really soft hands compared to other health care workers, what’s your secret??
L’Occitane is my secret.
Of course my secret involves French soaps! Did you expect anything else from this Francophile?
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| Chloé cat and I have matching nails! If you’re wondering what she’s wearing, it is these claw protectors. |
FYI I was not paid to write this. I just like their products.
If you are a nurse, doctor, housekeeper/cleaner or work any job that requires you to wash your hands a hundred times a day, I’m sure you’ve noticed by the end of the day you have very dry hands!
It’s not just washing your hands that make them so dry – but the terrible alcohol based hand cleaners are so drying it’s incredible.
So here’s my first secret.
Every night when I go to bed, I apply my favorite hand cream, L’Occitane’s Shea Butter Hand Cream.
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| Here at Amazon. |
It is a really nice creamy texture but it never leaves my hands feeling oily as with other hand creams. It also has a nice non-offensive scent as it is made of honey, almond extracts, coconut oil and Shea butter.
They have a travel size too which I keep in my bag for work. I also keep one in my travel bag and one in my purse! They make great gifts and stocking stuffers!
Ready for my next secret?
On days when my hands are so dry that they are peeling/flaking, I use their One-Minute Hand Scrub. I also try to use this about once a week.
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| Here at Amazon. |
It is made of sugars and Shea butter, sweet almond and grapeseed oil. You simply apply it to your dry hands and massage it all over your hands for 1 minute. Then you rinse it off really well. I follow this with their hand cream and it makes my hands just so yummy soft it’s amazing. It is like having a manicure at home!
Those are my two big secrets about my soft hands. But not only is moisturizing and exfoliating important, but so is the soap that you wash your hands with and also taking care of your nails!
I like their shea butter nail and cuticle nourishing oil, but I do not do that religiously like I do with the above products!
I also use their hand soaps which are nourishing for your hands. I keep one of their liquid soaps next to the sink that I use the most frequently – I suppose I could buy more but they are a bit spendy so I try not to go overboard! I have tried various scents over the years. Their Verbena Shea Liquid Soap is wonderful, as is their Lavender Shea Liquid Soap. I just bought this Welcome Home Hands Cleansing Gel
As I was writing this post, I was curious, what is shea butter, anyway? It is made from the nut of the African shea tree. Here is the wikipedia page about it.
L’occtaine makes a lot of other hand creams, but I find that none of them are as moisturizing as their original Shea butter one. I do have some of the others, but I cannot say they are my secret to soft hands! They have stronger scents which may appeal to some of you!
Hope you also enjoyed the rose pictures I took of our garden this past Spring. They are all David Austin roses! It’s hard to model your own hands!
http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com/
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In this post – a French gothic Halloween table inspired by the Phantom of the Opera
This post may contain affiliate links.
I was thinking about my theme for my Halloween table this year and I was thinking… Haunted mansion initially.
Note: I have updated this post from earlier this month because I am participating in a fun Halloween Blog Hop put together by Amber at Follow the Yellow Brick Home!
If you are joining me after touring Belle Bleu Interiors, welcome!
Be sure to check out the rest of the Hauntingly Beautiful Homes too, scroll down to the end of the post to see the other fabulous bloggers sharing their Halloween homes too!
But then on vacation, I had listened to the Phantom of the Opera on the airplane and had been humming the tunes for the past few days…
Then I thought, oh! I have my theme!
Inspired from the phantom’s lair full of candelabras, as seen below from the movie.
I used these antique French altar candelabras as my base.
Red roses are the other main theme – the phantom gave Christine red roses.
I used an antique lace tablecloth on hand.
Dried roses rest on each plate.
Crows and pumpkins add the extra Halloween touch.
A look at this table during the daytime, although I had much more fun shooting at night!
Antique Meissen plates add a little extra color to the table and go with the flowers.
Everything on this table I already had on hand – except the fresh flowers, pumpkins (from our garden), and the Crows which I got here
Just decorate for halloween with things you already have – and then sprinkle a few little Halloween touches here and there, such as: crows, witches’ hat or broom, potion bottles, skull, insects, pumpkins… you get the idea!
The red Celosia cristata remind me of the gyri of brains. The red roses and purple carnations add to the Halloween flair.
Your Halloween decor does not have to be so creepy or scary.
You can set an elegant Halloween table with vintage and antique decor.
Sources –
Faux Crows set of 6
Meissen Purple Indian are the purple/pink plates
Gold Candelabra (not French, but gives you the similar phantom effect!)
Friday October 27, 2017
Welch House 1900 at Follow the Yellow Brick Home
Saturday October 28, 2017
Where I Party and also Join the Hauntingly Beautiful Halloween Link Party – open to all, both new and old Halloween posts!!
http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com/
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Hello and thanks for joining us for the last week of the Hauntingly Beautiful Decor Halloween Link Party and Friday Features!
Grab your favorite mug and strong brew and get ready for A KILLER Halloween party with all your bloggy friends this weekend!
We have been been enjoying all the fun posts you have linked up with us so far and we can’t wait to be inspired by even more Hauntingly Beautiful Decor now through October 31st! Remember to come back on Halloween to see the three top viewed links of the party!
All your hosts have been busy this week getting ready for the Hauntingly Beautiful Halloween Blog Hop which is live now! We also have three other talented bloggers joining us for the hop so please do check out all the posts after you have linked up here at the party.
Here are the posts each of us shared for the hop:
Amber~ Follow The Yellow Brick Home
Angelina~Peonies And Orange Blossoms
Larissa, Contributor at Reinvented Collection and Follow The Yellow Brick Home
Larissa shared her Historic Welch House 1900 Halloween home tour as a guest here on my blog!
After you party with us here today don’t forget to visit Rhonda at Hallstrom Home, Deborah at Hip And Humble Style, and Shannon at Belle Bleu Interiors to see the beautiful ideas they shared for the Hauntingly Beautiful Decor Halloween Blog Hop too!
And now for your host’s Hauntingly Beautiful Decor Friday Features:
Amber’s feature:
I love to create altered art and assemblage which incorporate vintage objects…especially for Halloween! Saturday’s Vintage Finds shared some really awesome Halloween Shadow Boxesusing vintage treasures that inspired me to get creative with my own junkin’ finds.
Olivia loves vintage bottles! These simple, elegant and creepy Halloween potion bottles by The North End Loft are great!
Angelina chose Catherine’s beautiful bejeweled pumpkins over at Ornate Splendor.
Larissa loved how Saturday’s Vintage Finds transformed Dollar Tree spooky portraits into instant Halloween heirlooms.
In case you missed last week’s features you can see them here.
Thank you to everyone who linked up this week. Be sure to visit all of the blogs featured today for more Hauntingly Beautiful Decor inspiration and please do link up again!
Share all of your “Hauntingly Beautiful” Halloween decor and be inspired by the best Halloween decorating ideas in blogland. You may link up as many times as you like from October 2-31!
ON HALLOWEEN we will be sharing YOUR favorite features based on page views so be sure to visit then!
Party etiquette:
1. This is a Halloween home decor or elegant Halloween craft party. Please, NO RECIPES.
2. No advertising, shops, or link parties or links to sales.
3. You may share old or new content.
4. By joining this party, you give permission to the hosts to share on any social media and blogs.
5. Please follow the hosts through email subscription or your favorite form of social media.
• Please include a courtesy link (the URL) to the hosts in your blog posts so that your visitors know where to join the party too!
• Have fun and be social! Comment on 2-3 other blogs!
Need help adding a backlink to the hosts?
•Copy the URL from this post
•Insert it at the end of your blog post with a short snippet that says:
Ex.
“I’m joining the Hauntingly Beautiful Decor Halloween Link Party and you can too!”
(insert the link (URL) into the underlined text)
Happy Thursday!
We are now in the second week of our new way of picking our features – leave me a comment with your post number and look for your feature! So far not too many of you have left comments – makes it easy for me to pick! I understand, we get busy, just rush in and rush out… I do that sometimes too I confess!
I also confess that I’ve already put my Halloween decor away – we’re getting ready to move and I had the boxes in front in my closet so I had to start packing with something, right?? Now I have not put out Christmas, but I have no Fall or Halloween out other than the pumpkins on my porch!
This week, I shared some updates on my house that we are building. We are so close to moving in! I also shared an apple rose puffy pastry recipe!
Fall Mantel on the Porch – Penny’s Vintage Home
Fall Coffee Table Talk – Everyday Living
What Jane Austen Ate – Sweetly Dreaming of the Past
Fall, my Favorite Time of Year – Old New Green Redo
Free Holiday Cleaning Printable – DIY Home Sweet Home
Don’t forget, if you are interested in having your post featured please leave a comment and include your link party number! Don’t forget the party number as I may not be able to find your post!
The party is starts on THURSDAYS at 6AM PST!
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| Eclectic Red Barn |
If the party does not load right away, just click on An InLinkz Link-Up below!
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I saw these cute apple rose puff pastry tartlets online and thought, well now, I must give it a try!
They are called apple roses because they look similar to a rose, not because they taste like rose!
These were actually surprisingly easy to make.
They would go well for any Fall parties you have planned and they would also work well for Thanksgiving!
I have included a recipe and some pictures with the tutorial – forgive the poorer quality of the pictures, I had put this on my insta-stories and a lot of you wrote comments to me so I thought I would include a blog post about it!
Apple Rose Puff Pastry Recipe – get printable version here
Ingredients – makes 12 roses
1 package (2 sheets) Puff Pastry
4 apples (preferably red apples to make red roses, but I used a mixture of Granny Smith and Honeycrisp)
2 tbsp lemon juice (half a lemon)
Flour, for sprinkling the counter
about 4tbsp Granulated sugar, for sprinkling
about 3 tbsp ground cinnamon
powdered sugar, caramel, or salted caramel for sprinkling on top
A little bit of butter to grease your muffin pan.
Directions
1. Thaw two sheets of puff pastry (1 package) at room temperature. This should take about 30 minutes.
2. Prepare a microwave safe bowl with water (enough to cover your sliced apples) and the lemon juice.
3. Cut your apples in half and remove the core. Cut the apples into very thin slices, about 1/8” thick.
4. Leave the peel on so you can get the red or green color for your roses. Immediately place your slices into the lemon juice water bowl so they do not brown.
5. Microwave the apples in the bowl for about 3-4 minutes, so that the apples are soft enough so that when you roll them they do not break. Alternatively, you can simmer the apple slices in the lemon juice water on a stove pan for a few minutes. If your apple slices break when bending, cook a little longer.
6. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Grease a muffin pan with butter.
7. On a lightly floured counter, roll out the puff pastry to about 9×12 inches. Then cut the dough into six strips, about 2 x9 inches.
8. Next, drain the apples. If they are still wet you may pat them dry on a paper towel.
9 . Arrange the apple slices on the dough so that they are overlapping each other. They should overlap each other by about 50%. Make sure the skin side of the apple sticks a little bit out of the dough strip (this is what will become “the rose”).
10. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (I do not give you an amount, please sprinkle with your desired sweetness).
11. Fold the bottom part of the dough up.
12. Starting from one end, carefully roll the dough, keeping the apple slices in place. Seal the edge at the end of your roll with a little water if it doesn’t stick. Place in a regular muffin cup.
13. Do the same for all of the roses. Bake for about 40 minutes until cooked. IF the apple start to burn on the top (about 30 minutes in), cover loosely with aluminum foil for the last 10-15 minutes.
14. These are best eaten warm. They can be stored in air-tight container for 2 days at room temp or in the refrigerator for 3 days. You may always warm them up just before serving (and it is encouraged).
15. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or your favorite (salted) caramel!
I chose to garnish mine with salted rum caramel (not one that I made, one I purchased from a favorite store in the Napa Valley). But you could always serve with ice cream!
http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com/
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Things are moving along so fast in the house – all of the finishes are being installed.
The wood floor was installed earlier in the month. I love the little bowties in the wood. It makes the floor look old! It is a European white oak.
I *love* my see-through fireplace. The rock is a Texas limestone. The sconces on this fireplace were actually the first lights I purchased. I bought them in Portland on a super-steal deal and could not pass them up! They are byAidan Gray.
Hmm, it seems I need to take a pic with the lights off!
I love this insanely huge kitchen. It is basically two kitchens into one. We love to cook/bake. My husband is the chef and I am the baker. Or as I like to say, he is the Chef de Cuisine and I am the Patissier. We host Thanksgiving and wanted to have a huge area to entertain. I imagine we will be hosting more parties now.
Here is “his” part of the kitchen. I am so thrilled with the beautiful white marble. It is a honed finished. Yes I know it will wear and may etch – but ya know what, the pastry counters in Europe are super old and made of white marble so I thought, why not?? It’s lasted there forever!
So excited about my pot filler! I actually had a dream about a pot filler. The next day I asked if I could have a pot filler plumbed. They said – good thing I mentioned it that day because the next they were plumbing that area and the very next day the walls were being sheet rocked so it would have been a change order or something. So, follow your dreams! ha!
Here is “my” part of the kitchen. A little steam oven, just for me! Crunchy baguettes, here I come!
The other side of the big fireplace. It took my Mother and I literally *months* to design this fireplace. It was way harder to do then you may think. We eventually ended up choosing a fireplace made of cast stone that was a fraction of the price of antique ones and I think it looks really great.
Ah, my antique fireplace mantel. We actually saw this fireplace mantel and designed a fireplace around it.
Originally the dining room did not have a fireplace and when I saw this in the store I decided to add one. The fireplace is from the 1800s and originates from Austria.
My Mom and I actually stripped this fireplace down to the wood, leaving the gilt work on. I like the chippy look – when it was painted it was much too formal for me!
A sneak peek at my dining room chandelier in the same room as the fireplace mantel above. This is the only formal room in the house.
While we are talking about lights, here is my entryway lantern. Can you believe I found this E.F. Chapman lantern at the Restoration Hardware outlet for an absolute steal? I couldn’t believe my eyes!
Outside, my antique wall lantern resides. I love the patina on this piece!
My master bathroom is almost done! So thrilled with how it looks. I was going for a serene and glamorous spa look. Now I just need to find a mirror!
If you follow on Instagram you will have already seen this bathroom. I was kind of nervous about choosing this green marble since I had not seen it really used before. I love how it turned out and how it gives also a nice spa feeling. This is the *only* bathtub in the whole house! I am not a bath person, just don’t have time and I totally get bored sitting in the water.
Carpet is currently being installed. Happy with the color and the texture!
Okay, that is it for now! We should be moving in *soon*. But there are always hiccups – like the carpet I picked out for another room is now on backorder (which by the way took me like a month to pick out!). Then I had to pick out a new carpet – totally made a decision this time in about 10 minutes. I think I have decision fatigue.
Soon it will be time to start packing. Although I already started. I cannot wait to move in and live in this beautiful house… and to start decorating!!!
Also, huge shout out to my parents – they have been supervising the project while I go to work. Love you both XOXO.
Until next time!
http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com/
It’s week 3 of our month-long Halloween party! We are so thrilled with how the party continues to grow!!
It was so hard to pick a favorite this week! There are so many great Halloween ideas you are all sharing!
Don’t forget, you can link up this years posts or one from the past! We love it all!
Amber~ Follow The Yellow Brick Home
See her $10 Antique Farm Table Styled for Fall!
Olivia~Reinvented Collection
Chic and sophisticated Halloween Party Tablescape Ideas worth stealing!
Angelina – Peonies and Orange Blossoms
Cute and Not-so-Scary Halloween Home Tour
Larissa – Instagrammer @Larissa_Jenkins and contributor to Reinvented Collection
Follow her on Instagram and her features for our hashtag, #hauntinglybeautifuldecor.
Lori at Dining Delight decked out her sideboard with eerie ravens, gathered branches from her yard, and creepy spiderwebs.
Olivia chose this Simple Halloween Entrance wall. This DIY Halloween art is spooky cool and unique. Katrin from Kreativk things subtle with a natural Halloween color palette but took it over-the-top by adding spiders printed with a 3D printer. It’s incredible how much dimension they have.
Amber loved how Deb at Seeking Lavender Lane added just a few classy Halloween touches to her Fall porch.
Made in a Day shared her glam Halloween Entryway in gold and black. How fun!
Larissa’s pick was Mariah from Giggles Galore did a fantastic job creating a mad scientist Halloween ice cream party! The attention to detail in this display is absolutely amazing and her mad scientist skeleton is fun!
Time to Play in our Hauntingly Beautiful Halloween Party!
Share all of your “Hauntingly Beautiful” Halloween decor and be inspired by the best Halloween decorating ideas in blogland. You may link up as many times as you like from October 2-31!
Each Friday during October we will be sharing our favorite features on our blogs so be sure to visit again.
On Halloween, we will be sharing YOUR top 10 party favorites based on the number of clicks on each post!
Party etiquette:
1. This is a Halloween home decor or elegant Halloween craft party. Please, NO RECIPES.
2. No advertising, shops, or link parties or links to sales.
3. You may share or old or new content.
4. By joining this party, you give permission to the hosts to share on any social media and blogs.
5. Please follow the hosts through email subscription or your favorite form of social media.
• Please include a courtesy link (the URL) to the hosts in your blog posts so that your visitors know where to join the party too!
• Have fun and be social! Comment on 2-3 other blogs!
Need help adding a backlink to the hosts?
•Copy the URL from this post
•Insert it at the end of your blog post with a short snippet that says:
Ex.
“I’m joining the Hauntingly Beautiful Decor Halloween Link Party and you can too!”
(insert the link (URL) into the underlined text)
Now it’s time to party!
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Hello Everyone! I hope you all are having a fabulous week.
If you remember, last week we changed up how we are choosing our features. Each of us co-hostesses are choosing our features from those that leave us a comment. This week four of you commented on my blog, so that made it quite easy for me to choose features! I used to just choose them based off of what caught my eye and would go with a theme.
It was a bit more fun choosing this way – I love chit chatting with you all!
Here’s what I shared this week – a recipe for Spooky Ghost Meringues which are perfect for hot chocolate toppers at your next Halloween party! Also wrote about some confessions about how I’ve already started thinking about Christmas before Halloween!
Penny at Penny’s Vintage Home Shared this romantic shabby chic dining room made up for Fall!
Everyday Living shared this beautiful Fall table.
Christine’s Home and Travel Adventures shared a beautiful Fall table with transfer ware.
Barbara at French Ethereal shared an impromptu tea with a fabulous pumpkin bread recipe.
Don’t forget, if you are interested in having your post featured please leave a comment and include your link party number! Don’t forget the party number as I may not be able to find your post!
The party is starts on THURSDAYS at 6AM PST!
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| Eclectic Red Barn |
If the party does not load right away, just click on An InLinkz Link-Up below!
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Happy Ghoul-a-ween!
These ghosts are haunting my hot chocolate mugs and they can easily haunt yours too!
Last year I shared this recipe at Katherine’s Corner as a guest post, but I thought many of you may have missed it so I decided to repost it here.
Ingredients
4 large egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
candy eyes
Supplies
Electric Mixer
Piping Bag and Piping Tip (I used Ateco tip #806)
Silpat or parchment paper
Directions
The ghosts will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days! Perfect to make ahead of time!
I confess, I had them up as decor way longer than 3 days. I did not eat them, but I had tucked them into my Halloween village and used them as decorations. I would not advise eating them if you keep them out that long, but they do make cute decorations if you have extra!
I had so much fun with these, maybe I’ll make some more again this year…
Children, both big and small are sure to love these treats!
Check out my other Halloween Treats (no tricks involved)
Chocolate Cat Hazelnut Macarons
I have added some Halloween Favorites to my Curated Shop, check it out!
http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com/
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