3 Ingredient Meatballs

Looking for a quick and extremely easy dinner recipe? Look no further! These are delicious - delicious like you can eat them any way for days and they're still just as tasty!

Meet my three ingredient Crockpot meatballs. I married a peach loving, southern man, so I wanted to add a little twist to the go-to crockpot meatball recipes and through in some peach preserves. The results were amazing and they're now a go-to recipe in our house. All it takes are some frozen meatballs, a jar of honey chipotle barbeque sauce, and a jar of peach preserves. Throw them together in a crockpot and they'll be warmed and ready in just a few hours. Eat them as appetizers alone or make homemade subs (my favorite way!) by adding some melting cheese and Italian bread. Either way, I doubt you'll be disappointed!

DIY Wood "Be Our Guest" Sign

Throughout my (countless) Pinterest surfing hours, I've been running across more and more "Be Our Guest" themed decor for guest bedrooms. As an English teacher/literary addict, I've always felt partial to Belle and you know the little girl in all of us thrives when we can sneak some Disney decor into our house. Because of this, I knew it had to happen. On my latest craft store trip I ran across this unfinished wooden piece and had "my vision" - fellow crafters, you know what I'm talking about. So this is what it led to, a very easy and inexpensive DIY project that can be complete in less than an hour!

What you'll need:

-unfinished wood board (they come in all shapes and sizes at Michaels or Hobby Lobby)
-wood stain in a shade you like (I mixed two for my color)
-letters to spell out "Be our guest"
-paintbrush

Steps:
1. Arrange your letters how you like them on the wood and stick them on. Make sure you firmly press them down so stain can't leak far under the edges.

2. Paint over the letters, simple as that. Make sure you don't soak the letters - meaning when you first apply your stain to the board don't glop it down on top of a sticker, instead use some of your empty space. This will help it from running underneath and ruining your design. When you're finished, let it sit for about 5-10 minutes, then take a napkin and simply rub the stain off. You can leave it on longer and let it naturally dry if you like, I just wanted to get that rustic look so I chose to rub it in after a few minutes.

3. Carefully peel off your stickers and you're finished! If you have some craft paint that is the color of the natural wood, you can use it to touch up any places where the stain may have leaked through. I was so excited about my sign I grabbed an easel and displayed it immediately! :)

What Love Looks Like

#whatlovelookslike : my new favorite hashtag. Want to be touched by something truly beautiful? Search this hashtag and look at the results on Instagram. People really have shared some moving, poignant stories or daily snippets of what love looks for them.

For me, today, it's this. Back porch reading with my new husband, at our new house, just loving each other's company and doing life side by side. Marriage really is a blessing, and we're just starting to experience it. How exciting!

Stitch Fix Obsession!

For those of you like me who are obsessed with pinterest-esque looks but have no idea where to begin - here's your starting point. It's an incredible subscription box service called Stitch Fix. For $20, you fill out a lengthy survey about what clothes you like/styles you prefer/sizes/etc. and a personal stylist sends 5 articles of clothing or jewelry to your door a month. They even look at your Pinterest board to pick out your stuff - how many of us have wished this would happen? Whatever you don't like, you just send it back for free! If you do keep something, that $20 styling fee is deducting from the cost. I really can't say enough about how much fun it is to receive a box of clothes specifically for me once a month. The hardest part is always deciding what to send back...

If you're interested in joining, check it out through my referral link here! You'll be glad you did!
http://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3561329

Here is a review of my June 2014 box. You can always leave feedback for the stylist or tell them if you're looking for a certain style in particular, so lately I've been asking for lots and lots of florals and pastels. I mean, c'mon, I'm honeymooning in Italy this month and need that romantic flowy look - y'all know what I'm talking about. You can also choose your budget for clothes so you don't end up with something way out of your price range. It's just too good to be true girls, I promise!
***Please forgive my messy hair/no make up self. I'm packing up my house, it's my excuse!

Anyways, on with the box. This is the first thing I saw when I opened the box. This pile = my heaven. My heart really did flutter, I swear.

A personalized note about your fix is also included in your box, along with styling ideas for each piece they include.

Here was my first item, a cute tank top. Very pretty floral design, but for $60 I felt I could buy this design somewhere else for much cheaper.

Second item - this very unique dress. A hodge podge of different floral fabrics sets it apart, but I like it. It's definitely unlike anything I've seen before and I think it'll suit me well in Europe.

Third item - a white polka dot tank top. Very classy and modest, something I could easily transition into the workplace, but it wasn't something I just had to have. Plus it came with a built in tank which I  despise. I threw in a candid for you to showcase "the struggle" - I'm sure most of you have had this 

moment as well. 

Fourth item - Another cute floral top. Loved the summertime colors, the style just wasn't for me. I prefer fitted tops or at least something a little more flattering. It was way too big and I changed out of it so quickly I forgot to take a picture, sorry!

 

 

My 5th item was a pair of pastel mint skinny jeans which (unfortunately) didn't fit well enough for a picture. The first item in four fixes that hasn't fit, that's still pretty awesome!

So there you have it. For only $20 (which counted towards the $40 dress I kept) I was able to have beautiful items sent straight to me, no gas money spent! I love the convenience and just the thrill of waiting to see what's in the box. Here's to waiting for July's to come!

 

Remember, if you're interested in trying it out follow this link:

http://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3561329

You just pay month-to-month, so you won't get stuck in a scheme that doesn't let you out at any time. It's wonderful, promise!

DIY Pallet Easter Bunny

This craft made me so happy.

I've been looking for some new, colorful spring decor to add to our (soon to be) new home. This fit the bill, and even Jake was excited to help me make it.

This is such an easy and inexpensive craft - plus it took very little time. The painting was the most stressful part and even that wasn't that difficult.

 

*MATERIALS*

• Pallet boards
• Saw
• Sander
• Wax paper
• Yellow paint
• Blue paint
• Ribbon
• Paintbrushes

Step one-

Find a pallet. Do not buy these, people. Go behind local stores and just look. They're everywhere, in great shape, for free. Our local stores will beg you to take these off their hands!

Once you have your pallet, you need to take the boards off. We don't have one of those wonderful skinny saws that does this so easily, so instead Jake had to break out the hammer and crow bar and put some muscle into it. It made for a good show! :)

Step two -

We used five pallet boards for this project. After laying them side by side to figure out how we wanted to place them, we measured them off and cut them to our desired length (about 2/3 length of the board). To bind them all together, we flipped our boards upside down and used some spare wood we had lying around, a drill, and some 1/2" screws. We used the wood to connect the boards, then screwed it into each individual pallet. 

Step three - 

Sand those boards down! No worries, you'll still have the rustic look - but you don't want to be picking splinters out of your hand every time you go to move it either. Jake just did a quick 2-3 minute sanding job on the top and around the edges.

Step four - 

While Jake handled the wood side of the project, I started on my artsy side. I used wax paper to free hand sketch the bunny I wanted, then cut it out. Once Jake was finished, I taped it onto the wood and began painting. We used blue, yellow, and pink ribbon - but of course you could do it in any colors you'd like, we just wanted something bright! We also have cotton balls to add for a bunny tail, but I haven't decided yet if I want to add them or just leave my rustic bunny be. 

...and we were way too focused on the painting to think of taking pictures of this last step, my apologies!

 

Easy Sunday craft = FINISHED and CHEERFUL!

Golden Touch

It's been a very busy few weeks. We've been house hunting, decor dreaming, and have finally signed a contract on a dream home we both LOVE. So, now my fun starts!

As I showed in an earlier post, my inspiration for my new office will be everything pink and gold. I love gold everything, and my current house is really lacking in enough gold touches to make me happy. Today I took advantage of the spring like weather and redid some decor pieces for my future craft cave.

First up was a collage frame I have hanging in my craft room right now, boring black and in desperate need of some color. I love this collage frame because it's so different, so I knew it'd be coming with us on the move. I used Rustoleum Metallic Gold spray paint, my absolute favorite.

All it took was fifteen minutes and two coats of spray paint, and this frame is ready for its new home! I'm very happy with the results. Now just to change out those pictures, most of which are 6+ years old.

As I was painting, I used an old shutter I'd bought back when they first started becoming popular decor to keep the grass from being painted gold. I had used it for about a year (and painted it a hideous grandma blue shade I won't even show you out of embarrassment) before sticking it in the back of a closet. Funny thing is, as it started catching the gold paint I was spraying, I started seeing potential for it to be used again. As what? I don't know, that's what Pinterest is for! In the end, it got a new shade of spray too and is sitting in my craft room waiting for its purpose. If you can think of any creative use for it, leave me a comment! I'd love to hear some ideas :)

Picking off the leaves that stuck to the spray paint :)

Wedding Invite Sneak Peek

I've been sketching and designing relentlessly lately trying to come up with a wedding invitation for myself that meets all my requirements from the beginning. Finally, I've got it. And guess what? It's absolutely perfect and the cutest thing I've ever seen! I'm absolutely 100% in love with my wedding invitations. So, today I'm caving to requests and giving out a sneak peek. You're welcome! I can't wait to broadcast the real thing and put them up for sell in my Etsy shop!