Happy Halloween!

I figured this was the perfect day to post pictures from the fall and Halloween activities we had over the weekend.  First off, a 19.5 acre corn maze!



Welcome sign at the Corn Maze, this year they were honoring Minnesota military families.  Anything that honors military personnel has a special place in our hearts!



                                          

                                                    CORN!

 

Our friends Mike and Becky came too!



Now for the good stuff...COSTUMES!  (Forgot my camera so used my phone=crappy quality on the pics but you get the idea:)

                   



The Ladies



The Men

                                                

"BUD" Lightyear

How scary is that devil?!

 

 "Work it Smoochie!"



  The candy is ready and I'm impatiently  patiently waiting for the trick or treaters to start ringin' the doorbell.  I might even try to keep my eyes uncovered through an entire scary movie tonight;)  Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!



Baby Shower Favors

My mom had asked me if I had any ideas for baby shower favors and I immediately started brainstorming.  I ended up with the flower boxes below.  I purchased the boxes and flowers from Michaels.  The flowers came in a bunch and I just pulled them off their stems. 

There was a small stem left after pulling the flower off so I stuck that through the top of the box and then used my hot glue gun to put little dots of glue on the petals to make sure the flower was secure on the box.  I added the raffia because I had it on hand but you could do without or even use some pretty ribbon.  I filled the boxes with tissue paper, travel size lotions from Bath and Body Works in scents of Sweet Pea and Pink Chiffon (baby was a girl:)), and also some candy.  If you buy the supplies for these at full price it can get a little spendy but both Michaels and Bath and Body Works always have coupons so check online for printable versions of them before heading out!



Bedazzled Pumpkins

This post doesn't need much explaining. They're just BEDAZZLED pumpkins, they're easy, and the mini ones are so cute even when they aren't decorated!

These are the supplies I used, all from Michael's Arts and Crafts Store:

• Glitter
• Sequins
• Sequin Pins
• Gems
• Ribbon
• Elmer's Glue
• Hot glue gun
• Paint brush

                                                                        
Glitter Pumpkin:  "Paint" Elmer's Glue on pumpkin one section at a time using any sort of paint brush. I just used the Crayola brand paint brushes.   Sprinkle glitter on glued section.  Gently shake off any loose glitter and continue with the rest of the pumpkin. Let dry!

Sequin Pumpkin: This could not have been easier.  With the sequins and sequin pins all you do is stick the pin through the sequin and secure onto pumpkin.

Rhinestone Pumpkin: I used my hot glue gun for this one to be sure the gems would stay.  Make any design you choose!  My friend made the pumpkin with the spider web.  It surprisingly didn't take her very long and she started by using a Sharpie to draw the web and then glued and placed the gems accordingly.

Ribbon Pumpkin: Used my hot glue gun for this one too but you could probably get away with using Elmer's if you let it dry well enough.  Just wrap the ribbon and glue!

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!

Garlic Crescent Meatballs

I love this recipe and have been craving them ever since I made them over the weekend.  Once again, a super short ingredient list.  My fav!

Ingredients:

• Pillsbury crescent rolls
• Sliced mozzarella cheese
• Frozen meatballs
• Garlic powder

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray
• Roll the crescent rolls as you usually would but with one frozen meatball and half a slice of cheese rolled inside
• Sprinkle garlic over the rolls, I use quite a bit but for most people a pinch or two for each roll would be enough
• Place in oven and bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until they are golden brown (see picture)

I serve these with spaghetti as a substitute for garlic bread or you could just have these as your meal and dip in spaghetti sauce!

Cheesecake Rice Krispie Bars

This isn't the recipe I was planning on posting next but I made these tonight and they were too easy and good not to share!  The original recipe I came across called for banana pudding.  I wasn't feeling banana so I figured vanilla pudding would work just as well.  While I was at the store looking for the vanilla pudding something caught my eye...CHEESECAKE PUDDING!  What?!?!  Why did I not know such a thing existed?  I decided to go for the cheesecake pudding, obviously.  I only needed three other ingredients (one of which I already had on hand, the butter)  I love recipes with short ingredient lists and will rarely look twice at a recipe with a long ingredient list.  So here you go folks,  an easy little recipe to try out this weekend.

Cheesecake Rice Krispie Bars

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 5 cups Rice Krispies
• 3.4 oz box of cheesecake pudding (I bet butterscotch, vanilla, banana,  or chocolate would all be good options)
• 10 oz bag of mini marshmallows

Directions

• Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Set aside.
• In large pot, melt butter on low-medium heat.
• Add in marshmallows and stir constantly until completely melted. Remove from heat.
• Fold in dry pudding mix until fully combined.
• Slowly add Rice Krispies to mixture, stirring as you go to to be sure it gets mixed evenly.
• Immediately pour the Rice Krispie mixture into prepared baking dish. Using buttered fingers, press Rice Krispie mix into dish (don't over press or they get hard and dry tasting). Allow to set 20 minutes or more before cutting and eating.

DIY Wall Decor

When we first moved in we put this picture up in the main level living room(I am selling it if anyone is interested:)).  We had it from when we lived downtown St. Paul and it fit that space perfectly with the exposed duct work and city view out the window.  When we moved into our home the picture did not go with the new couches we bought or anything else we had for that matter. I dealt with the picture for months and months until I finally could not stand it anymore and I began keeping an eye out for wall décor that I loved.  I couldn't find anything that I really liked so I started thinking about DIY ideas.  I ended up with the result of the photo below. 

I was able to pick patterns that I liked and that would match what we already had going on in the house.  I purchased everything from Michaels, for the three frames I paid under $20.  Michaels always has coupons and their frames are on sale a lot of the time.  Next, I picked out 3 scrapbook sheets of paper that I liked, the ones I chose were priced from .29-$1.29.  I really don’t think there are many that are priced much over that.  I also grabbed some ribbon to hang the frames. The pictures I considered purchasing before making these were well over $50 and this project was a total of about $25.  The best part?  If I ever get sick of the pictures I can go pick out some new patterns.

(I can’t wait for someone close to me to have a baby; can you imagine the CUTE patterns and ribbon and bows that could go into this?!  Or even baby's initials?  Oh my!)

               

I got the little hooks on the back of the frame from Michaels also.  I used my hot glue gun to put them on the frame and then just tied the ribbon onto that.  I can’t remember the specific name for them but they were by the 3M command strips and the framing department. You can also do without the ribbon if you choose.

I'm going to share a great recipe on my next post, stay tuned!

My First Blog Post!

After having "make a blog" on my to-do list for many months I am finally able to check it off!  I am so excited to finally have an outlet to share whatever, whenever!

To keep with the spirit of the season my first post will be about FALL.  I recently went to the Junk Bonanza  at Cantebury Park in Shakopee.  There were so many unique things and I can not wait to go to the next one in April.  I purchased the red neck wine glass there along with the mini pumpkins(SO cute) and the old door chalkboard.  I love the chalkboard idea because you can use it for every season/holiday/occasion and decorate it however you please!  I added the ribbon to the red neck wine glass just to tie all of the fall colors together.  The chalkboard is resting on some left over burlap I had from a wreath I made.  I never realized how much I could love burlap but I have used it for many projects and decoration.

I love the scents of Fall and set out to find the perfect scents to fill my home.  Bath and Body Works is usually my go to place for yummy scents and they of course came through for me again.  I already had two fall scented candles on hand so I wanted to get some new scents for our Wall Flowers.  I, of course could not decide on just one scent so I left with Autumn Day and Leaves.  As soon as I plugged them in I could smell them and they are AMAZING.  

To close out my first post I will share with you a sweet little secret.  It all started when my boss would ask me to pick up Starbucks for her on my way into work.  She had her "usual" which was a skim Chai Tea Latte.  After making many Starbucks stops and ordering her the same thing every time I thought to myself "this drink must be PRETTY good if she wants one every day". So, that day I ordered TWO skim Chai Tea Lattes and my life has never been the same;)  That's the start of my love affair with Chai Tea Lattes but my love just got stronger as I found out that the SAME exact brand of tea Starbucks uses is sold in store and in a liquid form ready to go.  All you do is add milk.  As soon as I found out this little secret I went to Target and was shocked to find this little gem on the bottom shelf and on sale for $2.99!  I went into the store willing to pay $10 for this stuff as one drink from Starbucks is over $4.  I figured if I could get three drinks out of the store bought stuff I'd be saving money.  At $2.99 I grabbed 3 cartons and went home.  I had to try it right away and of COURSE it tastes exactly like how Starbucks makes it.  It is the same brand as I mentioned.  I do equal parts tea and milk and typically heat it on the stove but do heat it in the microwave when I'm in a rush.  I've also done it over ice on warmer days and it's just as yummy.  This is a nice alternative to coffee and I recommend you give it a shot:)

Until next time...!