murica.

I love America.  Seriously, I am so patriotic it frightens people.  I cry during fireworks, the National Anthem and would sleep on a street corner in Washington D. C. if they would let me stay forever.  Also, the Welcome Home, Soldiers Blog.  Check it out:

welcomehomeblog.com
I have done some serious procrastinating on this site...

I spent this past Spring Break in Washington D. C. with my sweetest friend, Audrey, who was rocking an internship at the Senate!  What a little go-getter!

after our VIP tour of the Capitol!

Needless to say, I love The Fourth.  May-retta, Georgia put on THE BEST Independence Day celebration, it cannot be topped.  Unfortunately, this year I had to work in Tuscaloosa so I missed the celebration.  That didn't stop me from making some patriotic meringue cookies!  

Meringue cookies are so easy to make and you can color/flavor/pipe them for any occasion.  I used jello powder to flavor my red and blue cookies and they are melt-in-your-mouth delicious!  

I think these look like fireworks- how stinkin' appropriate!

guerilla bread

Paula Deen makes this fab-o thing called Gorilla Bread.  I think it's a phenomenal once-every-year kind of treat and when le boyfriend came to town I figured it would be a great time to stuff my our faces.  Coincidentally, I had a class project due the next day so some friends came over to complete our movie trailer!  The breakfast and movie trailer turned out great and both are below!

Mrs. Deen makes this recipe with super easy ingredients and a bundt pan.  I was half way through the preparation process when I realized I didn't have a bundt pan.  Duh.  So, I improvised: instead of gorilla bread, I made guerilla bundles.  I renamed them because 1) I put them in a muffin pan and it definitely helped with portion control and 2) the amount of sugar that will attack your system after eating 1 9 of these sneaks up on you like a guerilla army.  Yikes but totally yummy!  Here's what my little guerrilla bundles looked like:

seriously. 

Also, here is our trailer for the movie "The Hunger Games"... really the fewer details you have, the better off you will be:

Happy Fourth, Y'all!

noodle dance

The Fourth is my FAVORITE holiday.  This year, unfortunately, I won't be in my hometown to enjoy the festivities.  I decided to add a little American flair to my back porch so that I can celebrate the colors all month long!  This project cost me a total of $2 and took me 30 minutes total to make!  

Funny story, I was picking up the noodles from our local dollar store and this sweet lady asked me what I was doing with them.  I explained this project to her- three minutes later, I was sitting on the floor of the store with seven or eight women around me as I showed them how to do it!  Funny things happen when you're crafting!

This one is for all my new dollar store friends!  Three easy-peasy steps to make the Patriotic Summer Garland:

cut your noodles into 1-inch sections.  a kitchen knife will do great!

string all your pieces together with a needle and some fishing line

hang it up! 

The best part about this?  WEATHER.  PROOF.  I hung this up and we had a gigantic storm blow through that night and those suckers stayed in place!  Neither wind nor, rain....

Happy Fourth!

father's day

Father's day is a week from today!  Unfortunately, I won't be able to spend the day with my awesome Daddy, but I figured this craft was a fun and somewhat manly addition to our lakehouse (a convenient time for a present)!

My daddy loves the lake.  Like seriously?  He's a stud.  What 50-ish year old can do this?:

dude's got skillzzz

Anyways, we have a great house up in Hartwell, Georgia, and I figured this craft that everyone has been making lately would be a shabby-chic addition to the living room and a decent present for The Boss!  It did take a really long time, but it only cost me $2!!  Booyah!

tape your state down on the wood to make nailing the holes easier!

not bad for my first time!

Happy Father's Day, Jeffe!

lilly lovin'

Like I said, I'm digging cooler painting lately. Does it take 800 years? Yes. But it's totally worth it.

I made this one for my Mama for Mother's Day and gave it to her last weekend!

We love Lilly Pulitzer... like, we flew to Pennsylvania to spend a boat load of money during a Sample Sale.  It was easily the most fun I have ever had with my sweet Mama!  I decided to loosely base her cooler off of this print:

you can't quite tell, but they're fish...

paint pens were my bffs for this one

she uses it all the time and I'm so glad!

marg time!

Like I have said, Banks graduates on Saturday!  In honor of his big day, I made some margarita cupcakes.  Yeah, that's right.  Lime, tequila and sugar all baked into one little package.  I baked regular cupcakes and mini cupcakes for his grad party- a big band party at the Marietta square with the whole town!  How convenient!

I used Brown-Eyed Baker's recipe and they turned out perfectly!  Also, the frosting turned out so beautiful, my best friends at Wilton helped me out!

yummo!  lime zest and frosting!

this is one of the minis :)

My confession? I hate cupcakes.  I really have never liked cake!  That just means you'll have to come and take all of these cupcakes off of my hands!  Any takers? 

moss frame

My front door has looked a little nekkid lately so I decided to make this moss frame rather than slap a boring circle wreath up there. I had the frame and the burlap, so for a $5 bag-o-moss and some hot glue, I made this!

definitely different from all the beer signs and christmas lights that
adorn the other houses in the neighborhood!