Weddings, Wreaths, and Bow Bouquets

My best friend is getting married tomorrow. I am so unbelievably happy and excited for her. I have been lucky enough to be blessed with the role of being her maid-of-honor. In preparation for her impending nuptials I've been given the chance to create a few DIY wedding inspired crafts.

My first DIY was the creation of this beautiful monogrammed burlap wreath for my best friends new home. I tried to match it to her wedding colors, while still designing it to stand out hanging on her front door. I was very happy with the way it turned out, especially since this was my first attempt at a burlap wreath. 

The supplies I needed to make this wreath:

• 18 inch metal wreath form
• 5 inch burlap (12-15 yards)
• Scissors
• Twist ties
• Embellishments (optional) 
• Hot glue gun

I followed Frou Frou & Frills tutorial on How to Make a Burlap Wreath. Her video was amazing and super easy to follow. After completing the wreath I just had to decide what embellishments to add. I picked up the flowers, wooden letter D, and the chevron ribbon all at Hobby Lobby. I had to paint the letter D. I'm sure if you want more of a rustic look you could leave it aú naturale. I then glued down everything with the hot glue gun and added some extra ribbon at the top to hang the wreath.

My next DIY was to create the bow bouquet needed for her rehearsal dinner being held today. I had to make sure to save all the bows from her showers to complete this beautiful creation. I then followed this tutorial and ended up with the beautiful creation shown below.

Now, it's time for me to get dressed up and pretty for the rehearsal dinner. I can't wait! 

<3 Kelly Jean

New Year, New Planner

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Happy New Years everybody! I hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable holiday. My holidays this year have been pretty hectic, but still enjoyable. I feel like finally though my life is going to be back on track. Now it's time for new beginnings and a chance to do things better. I believe that 2014 will be my year. 

In 2014 I will be:

1. House hunting and buying my dream home
2. Exploring possible career options
3. Continuing to workout to become the fit and healthy person I aspire to be
4. Completing extreme amounts of DIY projects based off of my Pinterest inspirations
5. Helping my best friend to get married
6. Planning my wedding (buying my DRESS)
7. and therefore also marrying the love of my life on September 13, 2014.

It's definitely going to be a busy year, but also probably my favorite year. I can't wait for all the wonderfully exciting things that 2014 holds for me. To help me keep track of everything this year I am currently on the hunt for a new planner. Here are my two favorite planners I've seen for 2014.....

Swoozies Agenda

Amazon Planner

I'm not sure which to choose. I love them both! Where are other shops to find cute planners?

<3 Kelly Jean

An Easier Black Friday

I personally choose to have my shopping experience be something that is relaxing and laid back. I like to really take my time to find what I want. Based on that I'm not one that will stand in line for hours at a store and fight the crowd to get the Black Friday deals. Sure, I think the 70%-90% off deals are amazing, but I just can't get myself to deal with the crowds and insanity. For that reason I choose to do my Black Friday shopping online. 

This year I have found two new amazing sights offering up some truly great Black Friday deals you can get all from the comfort of your home. They are Pick Your Plum and GroopDealz. 

Photo Credits 

Photo Credits

Both sites offer up items that you typically find in the local boutiques around the squares in your hometown, yet at half the price. I was overjoyed when I stumbled upon both these sites.

Here are a few of the items I'm thinking about picking:

Note Sets for under $1

Holiday Washi Tape for up to 80% off

Iconic Style - Wool Hats for 73% off

Knit Arm Warmers for under $2

Here are a few of the dealz I want to grab up:

Diamonds in the Rough Necklace

Holiday Lace Dress

Lace Trim Knitted Leg Warmers

Tiny Gold Initial Heart Necklace

Now I'm on the hunt for some more super deals on this Black Friday. I just adore a great deal!

<3 Kelly Jean

Margherita Spaghetti Squash

Sometimes it's hard to find substantial meals for dinner that are healthy and vegetarian. This Margherita Spaghetti Squash was the perfect solution. It's even Gluten Free! It was mouthwateringly delicious! My fiancé even approved and asked for me to make it again this next week. The whole thing took about 50 minutes and was the perfect amount to feed both my fiancé and me. 

The recipe was extremely easy to make. The only slightly hard part was cutting the spaghetti squash in half. I always struggle greatly getting it cut. I usually end up banging and pressing a little too hard on my squash with a dull knife. I recently got an amazing new knife set from Joseph Joseph. This made the job so much easier. The squash was cut in a jiffy. 

Here's how I made this amazing and healthy dinner....

Ingredients:

• 1 Large Spaghetti Squash
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 5 medium Campari Tomatoes (you can also use 1 Large Roma Tomato)
• 2 Tablespoons of Basil (fresh of dried)
• 1/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Slice the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise down the middle. 
3. Remove the seeds and center strings.
4. Drizzle the two halves with olive oil and then sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder. 
5. Place the squash, open side down on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.  
6. Remove from the oven, check to see if the squash is soft and easily comes up with a fork into a spaghetti like texture.  If it's too hard to remove, cook for another 10 minutes.   
7. Remove from the oven, scrape and fluff the stringy squash with a fork.  Leave the squash in the skin.
8. Turn the oven up to broil. 
9. Add the tomatoes and fresh basil into the squash, stir and top with the mozzarella cheese.  
10. Place in the broiler for 3-4 minutes, until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. 
11. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving the squash.
12. ENJOY!

This recipe was adapted from Hoopfinity's Happenings and Easy Recipes To Do. 

<3 Kelly Jean

GoStak Portable Snack Holder

The perfect portable snack holder!

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I typically have a small lunch around 10:30-11:00 during the week due to my work schedule. It never fails that 2 o'clock rolls around and I'm hungry again. I don't get home till usually 5:00pm or later so I have to have something to fulfill my needs. Well, thanks to my amazing fiancé I now have a new way to way to bring along some nutritious snacks to curb my mid-day hunger pains. These Blender Bottle GoStak jars are amazing. They are extremely convenient and easy to use. The separate compartments twist apart to allow you to switch up your snacks. You can twist as many jars as you want together to allow you to bring all the necessities or just bring a few. I love them because they easily fit in my purse without me having to cart along a lunchbox also.

Apple Cinnamon Chobani with Granola and Flax Seed

The other morning my GoStak container came in handy when I was running late and didn't get to eat breakfast at home. I poured some of my granola in one jar and flax seed in the other. This allowed me to have a quick breakfast at my desk. I'm thinking about using them to bring along my own salad dressing for my lunch. I'm really picky about my dressings and I can't seem to find one I really like at Panera for my classic salad as part of the YouPickTwo.

You can pick some of these GoStaks up on Amazon, the Blender Bottle site, Vitamin World, or even your local Walmart.

<3 Kelly Jean

Love is Sweet Bridal Shower

I recently hosted a bridal shower for my best friend. We hosted it at her soon-to-be in-laws family church. The theme was Love is Sweet and the colors were purple and silver. I ordered my invitations from Storybook Lane Crafts etsy shop. The original was super cute, but I had to have Kelli customize the invitation to match the colors of my theme.

Here's the original:

Here's how my customized invitation turned out:

I had to black out any private information. Sorry if it takes away from the ADORABLE invitation.

I think she did an amazing job. I was so happy with the end result. To go with the theme of the shower I decided to DIY my own favors. This didn't go as well as I planned, but I think that's because it was my first time working with melting wafers and making suckers. It takes a little practice to get the end result to look "perfect". 

Here's the candy wafers I used. They were purple (orchid) and vanilla flavored.

I slowly added more and more wafers to my double boiler to melt the whole bag.

Here are a few tutorials on melting candy in case you have any questions:

• Craftsy Hot to Melt Candy Melts
• Wilton Tips for Melting Candy

I placed cake pop sticks in the molds and then poured the melted chocolate over top.

After freezing them I folded up this cute free printable and added a little eggplant colored bow to make my favors complete.

Here is where you can get the FREE printable for this great favor Love is Sweet Lollipop Cover

<3 Kelly Jean

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

There are some times in my life when I crave something really sweet. I try to be healthier than I was in the past, but I still have times that I just want some really yummy food. Well this was one of those days. I decided to make for my fiancé and I Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. YUM! I found the recipe here at the Blahnik Baker's blog.

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Here's your ingredients:

2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature --- Noob Cook has a great tutorial on melting butter in the microwave

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 large egg yolk, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups chocolate chips

6 ounces caramel candy squares, unwrapped

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Sea salt, for sprinkling over caramel and bars

After obtaining all my ingredients I got to baking!

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 8' X 8' baking pan with parchment paper (or foil) leaving overhang. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or medium bowl), beat the melted butter and sugars together until combined. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined about 1 minute. Then stir in the chocolate chips for additional one minute.
4. Combine the caramels and heavy cream in a medium microwave safe bowl and melt in a microwave. Stir every 30 seconds until caramels are melted. This will take about 2 minutes, depending on your microwave.
5. Add half of the cookie dough to the prepared pan. Press gently and smooth the top with a spatula. Drizzle/pour the hot caramel sauce over the cookie dough and sprinkle with sea salt. Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over the caramel. Spread the dough with a spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle again with sea salt. 
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.

It was scrumptious! My fiancé definitely approved since he'd eaten a good portion of it before I could even take the picture.

<3 Kelly Jean