Cheesy, Delicious - Hash Brown Casserole

Hash brown casserole is SO yummy!  I'm sure many of you have a version of this recipe, but if you don't I think this is a tried and true dish that should be in everyone's cooking repertoire.

Hash brown casserole is a perfect side dish for any steak, chicken or fish dinner.  It is incredibly easy to make and can be made up to a day ahead of time and kept in the fridge until it is time to bake.  If you are looking for a dish to take to a pot-luck, this one is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.  This is also a wonderful brunch dish as well! 

If for some reason you have never tried this dish, please, please give this recipe a try - you will love it!!

Hash Brown Casserole

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen, shredded or diced hash brown potatoes (2 lbs.), thawed

1 onion, chopped

1 can cream soup (cream of chicken, mushroom, celery.....whatever you have)

1 8 oz. container sour cream (I use light sour cream)

1 lb. shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups crushed corn flakes or 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 cup melted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grate cheese (or you can use already shredded bagged cheese) and chop onion.

Then add your hash browns, cream soup, sour cream, cheese, onions, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl and stir until combined.

After all ingredients are combined, spoon hash brown mixture into a greased, glass baking dish.  Top hash browns with crushed corn flakes or seasoned bread crumbs (I used bread crumbs here) and drizzle melted butter evenly on top.

Bake for 35 minutes, covered.  Remove foil and continue to bake an additional 10 minutes.

Hash Brown Casserole - hot out of the oven!!

Serve with salad and Honey-Dijon Pecan Crusted Salmon (recipe to come!!)

Cottage Mama's Note:  To make hash brown casserole into a main dish entree, consider adding cubed ham or chicken and adding additional vegetables such as diced bell peppers, peas or broccoli.

Bright Ideas: Initial It

Bold letters seem to be a popular trend in home decor lately and I love it! I am looking for some really cool letters to post B B @ B on my desk.

These are some fun ones I have found.

Anthropologie has cool chunky letters in matte metal.

This cast metal letter collection is found at Restoration Hardware. These are perfect for your desk, bookshelves or walls.

If you need a pop of color, Anthropologie also carries fun letters in fabric!

Beautiful Sponsor: Stitch n Studio

Are you looking for a fun new bag for Spring! I am loving this shoulder bag from Tammy's shop - Stitch n Studio. It is made with a cheery orange and red retro pattern in a 100% cotton fabric. The removable fabric flower is adorable and the striped jute burlap is so unique. Tammy offers fun clutches and wristlets too!

Beautiful Living : Minimalist Style

Are you a Minimalist? According to Wikipedia, minimalism describes a movement where "work is stripped down to its most fundamental features ... it is rooted in the reductive aspects of Modernism, and is often interpreted as a reaction against abstract impressionism and a bridge to Postmodern art practices." Strip it down to the fundamentals. Hide the clutter.

This Japanese style room is gorgeous and I am a huge fan of

plush cushions on the floor.

Notice all the geometric shapes the furniture makes in this room. The sofa, chair, and table form a square on the rug.

The green and orange colors are fun in this room!

The color scheme is even continued on the ceiling.

I have always been a fan of all white interiors and this one is no exception.

images via beinteriordecorator

Thunder and burnt orange

We've only made one change to the house since we moved in. The previous owners had built a garage extension behind the single garage, a 3.5 x 8 metre room. The only access to it was from the patio so we had a double doorway cut through from the existing dining area, gyprock and plastering around the walls, and the old steps pulled up and a new single step put in the width of both doors. It's nearly finished (just needs the old stove removed and carpet put down) so I'm trying to decide how I will decorate it.

We already have some furniture that we intend to move into the room which limits the colours I can use. The colour of the lounges is called 'Storm', which is a dark bluey-green. We will also use our oak coffee table, side tables and entertainment unit.

I want the room to feel warm and cosy so I'd like to incorporate some 'warm' accents. I found a few pictures along those lines. I was originally planning to use red splashes but I think this look is a bit more unique.

Happy Weekend

Happy weekend! I have a whole list of fun things to do today... pick out paint colors for the addition, pick out flooring for the art studio and other rooms, run (training for the 10K) and then hopefully watch a good movie?

Any ideas for a good rental?

BBB Flickr group (join today!)

Beautiful Living : Jewel Tones

I am loving these bright jewel tone colors. Each piece of furniture has its own personality while keeping the rest of the room neutral.

image from flickr via tumblr

More Bright Ideas and Beautiful Living

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Challenge Dress Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is "Savvy Saving Momma" who won with comment number 33 where she said;

"I follow your blog"

She also said in her previous comment, "I enjoy your crafting and sewing blogs! If I won I would love to get the Matilda Tutu dress!

So here it is, The Matilda Tutu Dress:

Savvy Saving Momma, I emailed you to your blogger account email, so hopefully you have received that so we can discuss where you would like me to ship this cutie patootie little dress.

Thanks so much to all of you who entered!  This was so fun, I will definitely do another giveaway soon!!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday

This has been a busy week and I am ready for the weekend! Do you have exciting plans, or are you looking forward to some relaxation? Whichever the case, enjoy!

BBB Flickr Group

No-Sew Projects with Fabric

Now I know the majority of you that read my blog are sewers; however, I do know there are some that are not.  As you can see from my previous post, I LOVE fabric!  I think it is so gorgeous and just looking at it gets my creativity going.  But did you know there are plenty of ways to incorporate fabric into your home that does NOT involve sewing?

I thought I would show you a few no-sew fabric projects that I have around my home:

These are basic square frames purchased from IKEA.  I simply framed some fabric that I really loved that seemed to coordinate with our store-bought bedding.  Personally, I think it really adds a lot to the room and gives it a completed look.

Here is the framed fabric hanging over our bed.  And do you see the accent pillow on the bed?  Yes, that was done in my days before I had my sewing machine.  I made that using heat-bond and just ironed it all together!

This is the wall-art that hangs over my 7-month old daughter, Matilda's crib.  I purchased an inexpensive painters canvas from Michaels and covered it with fabric (I staple gunned it to the back of the canvas).  I then painted a wooden "M" pink and covered it with pretty floral wall-paper accents (found at Joann's).  I added a pink ribbon on the top and stapled it to the top of the canvas (and hid the staples with the upper flower......shhhhh....don't tell).

This was another way I incorporated fabric into my daughters room without sewing.  I covered a foam board with batting and then covered it with fabric (securing with straight pins on the back).  I added ribbons across the front and secured them in place with pearl straight pins (found in the sewing notions section of Joann's).  I added a hanging ribbon on top (secured by straight pins) and hung it on the wall.

Here are three pieces of wall art I created using fabric for my daughter Savannah's "big girl room".  I've shown these to you in a previous post (see here), but I don't know if you realized there was no sewing involved.  I simply covered the mats that came with the frames in polka dot fabric.  Then I deconstructed the animal templates and used different fabrics to rebuild the look of the animals.  All of the animals have a pearl as their eye (found in the scrapbooking section of Hobby Lobby).

Finally, this was one of the easiest no-sew projects.  This was a bookcase we purchased from IKEA to use in my daughters bedroom.  It came with a "not so lovely" cardboard backing to the shelves.  So, I decided to cover this with fabric before we put it together.  This is secured using duct tape on the back-side of the cardboard - gotta love that stuff!!

So as you can see, there are many different creative things you can do with fabric if you don't sew.  I always encourage my friends and family to start sewing if you have any interest in it - it's really not as hard as you think.  But if you don't have the interest or the time, you can still have fun with all the beautiful designer fabric that is on the market today!

Cottage Mama's Note:  If you have any questions about these projects I have described, feel free to leave me a comment or email me and I would be happy to go into further detail.

Giveaway - Shop Gussy

** Update: Diane is the lucky winner... congrats **

I am excited to announce this giveaway from Gussy! She is offering one lucky reader a $30 shop credit to be spent at www.shopgussy.com. I love these bright and beautiful colors for Spring!

To qualify, leave a comment below, and

make sure you are a follower of BBB.

Winner will be announced sometime tomorrow!

Now Don't Be Jealous......

.........but look what arrived in the mail for me yesterday!

Eeeeek - it's my fabric!!  I had ordered about 40-50 yards of fabric awhile back and it is finally here.  I will be using most of this yardage for items in my etsy shop.  I do have several item for my shop ready to go, I just need to get some good sunshine to take my pictures so I can list them.

I have had a lot of friends ask me where I get my fabric.  Well, I usually can find the best prices for fabric online.  The only thing about ordering online is you usually have to wait for it and you don't get to touch and feel it.  However, if you are familiar with a designer, then you usually will know what to expect.  I love looking in fabric stores, so sometimes it is best to browse your local specialty fabric store to see what the fabric looks like in person.  Many times the color of a fabric can vary online depending on your computer monitor color settings.  So if you plan to order a lot - check it out in person first!

The majority of the fabric I ordered is the new "Nicey Jane" by Heather Bailey (I love the fresh, clean look), with a little "Love" by Amy Butler (Gorgeous!), and a few yards of Sandi Henderson.  These designers are not found in your big-box fabric stores like Joann's or Hancock, so if you are looking for them in-person, best to check out the specialty stores.

Here are these three designers websites if you would like to check out their lines of fabric:

Heather Bailey 


Amy Butler 


Sandi Henderson

I want to start sewing right now!!  But, my daughters 2nd birthday is next week and we are having an "Elmo Dance Party" so I better finish up things for her party first.  Hope you are all having a great day!

Bold Vision : Erin Hiemstra

Erin is the Bold Vision behind Apartment #34. She came to the blog world to document her condo renovation. But of course, as luck would have it, life threw her a curve ball and she ended up in a totally different direction - new career, a new man and now only 2 months away from her wedding.

Her blog, Apartment #34 has turned into her place to share a treasure trove of inspiration for fashion, art, design and all things related to a stylish life.

Now she is chronicling her pending nuptials in Mexico in her Wedding Wednesday feature, showing us all how a destination wedding can be fully DIY. I love the honeymoon destinations post on Italy!

Thank you Erin for sharing your vision with us!

Modern Hamptons?

My husbands favourite colour is blue. Since I have already decided on other colours for the living space, and I don't like 'cool' colour bathrooms, I think I'd like to decorate our bedroom in blue and white. I'm thinking Hamptons meets modern chic. Is that even a style? Nevermind. I'm not hugely into the country look but I don't want it to look stark so what I have in mind will hopefully work.

Here are a couple of pictures to start with.






Our bedroom isn't very big. It fits a queen bed, two bedside tables and a tallboy (just) in the bay window. If my renovation dreams come true, we will glean a tiny bit more space by removing the existing wardrobe (and taking over part of the adjoining bedroom as a walk-in-robe). The room will still be small but I think once the dresser is moved away from the window and we have that little bit extra space where the wardrobe was, it will make a big difference.


My only hurdle is that our furniture is a dark timber... which doesn't exactly fit with the white or blue part. They were a gift from my in-laws so we certainly wouldn't dispose of them. I would love to sand all the pieces back and paint them white but would that be offensive? Ideas? Advice?

We already re-painted the room when we moved in because it was an appalling dark purple suede effects job (gag) but I think an all-white paint job will be in order this time. We also have timber trim so that's going to have to go as well.

That's about as far as I've got in my thought process. Have you got any good ideas?

I heart Butterflies

Most of you know that I have a thing for butterflies... It was love at first sight when I stumbled upon this sweet pillow on Etsy!

The Importance Of Lighting In An Interior Design Project!

Interior Design Ideas
Light is an essential part of our daily activities. Just like we need air, water and food to survive we need light in order to function efficiently.

Gone are the days when people used to stop working after sunset. The invention of electricity has made life easier and has helped to improve efficiency.

The use of light in interior spaces greatly affects the environment and "mood" inside the space. Here are some of the aspects that can be considered while lighting an interior space.

1) Natural light:

The Sun is the biggest source of light available on our planet. We all are dependant on it. Sunlight is not only required to function but is also responsible for biological balance of the Earth. Sunlight also keeps the air clean by killing any possible bacterial attacks which might be harmful to health.

It is normally assumed that sunlight can penetrate inside a space for about 7 feet (approximately 20 meters). If the architect has taken proper care during planning of the structure, then sunlight can be a very good and free source of light.

2) Artificial filler lights:

These types of lights work on electricity and are required mostly at the night times. But this is not always true. There are some geographical locations where the weather is cloudy for most months in a year.

At such times filler lights in the form of fluorescent tube lights. These types of light are used to create the same effect that the sunlight would create. As the name suggests. these types of lights "fill" the space evenly with light, eliminating any dark spaces.

3) Special lighting for special spaces:

Special lighting is required at spaces where it is necessary to create a "mood" or special "ambience" inside a space. To achieve this use of color is done. Lighting fixtures like spot lights are used which divert the attention of the crowd at certain focused areas.

These kind of techniques are also used in commercial showrooms, to enhance the importance of the display areas. If you have visited car shows, exhibition pavilions, you will see this kind of lighting extensively used.

Special type of lighting requires more number of light fixtures, because the area they cover is very limited.

4) Extreme lighting:

This type of lighting is used in spaces where the activities have a special purpose, such as movie studios, pubs, dance floors, etc.. Here the lighting used can be of movable types, or can have more sophisticated controls such as intensity, color, movement, controlled through music beats.

The above discussion shows, how the activities happening inside a space directly affect the type of lighting used inside a space. A properly planned lighting plan can greatly enhance the quality of a space.

I hope this article was useful.