The Apple Street Cottage

 Today's   project was inspired by something I saw at the Dollar Spot in Target.  Naturally, I forgot to take a photo of it, but it was a simple haunted house made from chipboard or balsa wood ( I can't remember which) with a place for a tealight behind it.  I knew I could improve upon it, so I did!   Welcome to the  Creative Craft Hop  hosted by Sara from  Birdz of a Feather .   If you just came from Niki @ Life as a LEO Wife , welcome to the Cottage.  At the bottom of this post I'll direct you to the next stop on this hop, but be sure to visit all of the other stops too for some amazing inspiration. They will all be listed. The first thing I did was head to Design Space to search for a haunted house. As you can see, the one I chose was pretty detailed, but since my Maker was cutting it, I was fine with that.  Full disclosure:  It took HOURS to cut!  If you don't want to run your Cricut that long or you don't ha...

I'm feeling a crispness in the air. The apple trees are are loaded with fruit, the pumpkins have turned a beautiful orange, and the trees are showing their gorgeous red, orange, and yellow hues.  Yes, it's Autumn and it's time to bring some of that beauty indoors.   Welcome to the Autumn on a Tray Blog Tour hosted by Katherine at Katherine's Corner.   She's gathered a group of bloggers to share how to decorate a tray for Autumn and the results are amazing.  If you're coming from Sandra @ Dinner at 8 , welcome to the Cottage!     I created my tray with things I have around the house.  Let's get started, shall we? I started with a teak tray and this fabulous bird I found last year on sale.   Clearly the tray has seen better days, but that won't matter once I'm done decorating. I added my enamel coffee pot , a yard sale find, filled with hydrangeas. At the other end of the tray, I added a pewter candlestick for a little balance....

That's right, my friends.  While everyone else is excited about pumpkin spice, here at the Cottage, it's all about apples!  Now, don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against pumpkins, but if I had to choose, apples would win every single time! That's why I'm sharing with you my 3 favorite apple recipes.  They're easy and taste delicious!   First, and most important is my Applesauce Recipe .  Most important because I use it in place of vegetable oil.  Around here, we've stopped using most cooking oils including vegetable, sunflower, canola, etc.  The reason?  They are processed with Hexane, a chemical commonly extracted from petroleum and crude oil.  I've read the levels of it are safe, but, personally, I don't want any petroleum products (that are also used in glue, varnish, and ink) in the food I eat.   To make applesauce, all you need is a bag of apples, a half cup of brown sugar and a cup of water.  Cook them down and ...