Patriotic Wreath

Last year I made my first wreath for Halloween and since then I have been obsessed with making them.  I've tried to make one for each holiday or event that was near.  My latest endeavor was a wreath for Memorial Day!  I wanted to do something simple and easy and nothing too "cutesy."

Here are the simple steps!

From Hobby Lobby I purchased a 14 inch straw wreath, 3 yards of burlap (2 would be plenty), 2 rolls of red and blue ribbon, and 2 packages of greening pins (found in the floral department). (I also bought these stars that I didn't end up using.)

First cut a really long piece of burlap and wrap the entire wreath leaving no straw showing. 

Next cut several pieces of burlap into approximately 2" x 2" squares.  The squares don't have to be perfect!

 Pinch the squares and pin directly to the wreath.  Again, this doesn't have to be perfect! Do this over and over again until your wreath is as full as you'd like.  Then cut a few pieces of ribbon and add them to the wreath with the greening pins.  

 Tie a ribbon to hang and you're done!

Thin Mint Cookie Balls

The start of spring also brings one of my favorite things...Thin Mint girl scout cookies!  The little girl scouts twisted my arm and made me buy two boxes. I figured it was probably against my better judgement to eat both boxes. So with the new popular cake ball trend I thought I'd try some experimenting.  I decided to mix this cake ball trend with the cookies and make...cookie balls! Now I'm not normally one to make up my own recipes, I tend to just read the directions, so this could have turned out really bad or really good. I think it turned out pretty good! My dad would probably disagree...but I am a huge mint fan.

Here's the recipe:

1 box of Thin Mint cookies

1 pkg Almond Bark

1 tsp mint extract

1 8oz pkg of cream cheese (I use neufchatel...it's less fat)

green food coloring

sprinkles

   

Grind both sleeves of cookies in a blender.

 In a large bowl mix cheese with the blended cookies.  Mixture will be very thick. 

Roll into one-inch balls. Freeze for 30 minutes to an hour (until frozen). 

Heat almond bark in microwave until melted. Stir at 30 second intervals. (Do not over heat!) 

Add a few drops of food coloring to desired color and mint extract.  Stir quickly as the almond bark will begin to harden.  

Dip each ball into mixture and place on wax paper. Adorn with sprinkles. 

Store in a sealed air tight container. Enjoy!

Pregnancy Survival Kit

When my sister-in-law Courtney found out she was pregnant I was just about as excited as she was.  I wanted to do a little something for her to celebrate the pregnancy! I know that pregnancy can be rough on the body so I created a Pregnancy Survival Kit!

Here are the contents:

• baby name book (to name the baby of course)
• nail polish (to comfort those swollen feet)
• foot scrub (to comfort those swollen feet)
• nail polish (to beautify those swollen feet)
• cocoa butter (for stretch marks)
• gossip magazines (for a few minutes of relaxation)
• crackers (for nausea)
• gum and mouth wash (just in case nausea gets the best of you)

Throw it all in a cute basket and you're all set and ready for a baby...well almost.

Mother's Day

Garrett and I were both blessed with such wonderful mamas! For mother's day we met them (and my sister-in-law and father-in-law)for lunch at La Madeleine and then did a little shopping. While we were at lunch I got to feel my nephew kick for the first time! How exciting!!!

Pampering in a Jar

For my last mother's day treat I wanted to do something small for my mom to pamper herself.  I already had the body scrub, am going to take her to get a pedicure, and have a plethora of jars so I came up with a simple and easy idea... pampering in a jar!

I headed to the store and found a few small things that I knew I could fit into a spaghetti jar.

These are the contents:

face masks

nail polish

nail file

foot scrub

loofah

Burt's Bee's tinted lip balm

Burt's Bee's cuticle cream (this stuff is awesome...order yours here Cuticle Cream)

I put all of these things in a spaghetti jar, tied it with a ribbon, and added a loofa, and voila!

Banana Nut Bread

Banana (Nut) Bread

For part of my mother's day gift I made some banana nut bread to go along with the other goodies.  I found this recipe in a bridal edition cookbook given to me by my parent's neighbors.  I love this recipe because it's simple and delicious and reminds me of my grandma's banana nut bread!

Here's the recipe:

2 c flour (all purpose)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs

1 1/2 c mashed bananas

1 c sugar

1/2 c vegetable oil

1/4 chopped walnuts (optional) I'm not a big fan of nuts so I leave them out.

Mix together in a large bowl flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl mix eggs, bananas, sugar, oil, and walnuts. Add egg mixture to the flour mixer.  

Bake in a well greased (this is key for easy removal) loaf pan at 350˚ for 1 hour.  

Let cool for about 10 minutes.  Loosen sides with a knife. Remove from pan. 

Store in a sealed container.  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Body Scrub

Cinnamon Body Scrub


For Mother's Day I decided to make my mom and mother-in-law some body scrub. I had found a link on pinterest that I had been wanting to try out so I figured this would be a perfect opportunity.  I made a little extra for myself and tried it tonight and it's amazing! My skin already feels so soft after just one use!


Here's the recipe!


2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp ground ginger
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 tsp sea salt
1 c vegetable oil 
something to store scrub in (I used mason jars that were left over from salsa)


Yields approximately 6oz


In a medium bowl stir together cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. 









Stir in sugars and sea salt.  Add vegetable oil.










Store in a sealed container! And scrub away!

Life as a blogger

So I've thought about blogging for a while and finally decided to give it a whirl. I'll share my attempts at crafts, cooking, and some things that keep us busy. Hope you enjoy!