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!

cooler craze

I have been on a cooler painting kick lately- I have several trips to the lake and the beach coming up so why not?! My brother Banks graduates from high school next weekend! That's crazy! I remember when he used to look like this:

love this kid

Anyways, cooler painting is super cheap and extra personal, once you actually purchase your cooler!  I already had all the acrylic paint and brushes but I decided to purchase some paint pens and that made a WORLD of difference.  Please please invest in some if you decide to do this!  Also, have a lot of Clorox wipes on hand- if you mess up, the acrylic paint comes off with one wipe.

I painted one for Banks to get him started on his freshman year at Auburn- Congrats, Banks!

the cooler was originally red and Wally World was
out of navy blue paint so I had to mix my own, then
paint the whole cooler!

the first layer of my tiger eyes... it was quite
a process!

ta-da!  I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out!

...and the other side

There is a pretty snazzy Vineyard Vines logo on the back but I didn't take a picture of it. 

I had to stick this on the inside of the cooler to remind him who's boss!

cutey cute koozies

It is sweet sweet summertime which means that when I'm not at class or at work, I'm pool-ing, crafting and baking!

This fall, I will be a recruitment counselor which means I cannot wear anything with my sorority letters on it.  Harder than it sounds, I promise!  I made these cute koozies so I can take them to the pool and be an incognito sorority chick!

The koozies were on sale for $.66 each at Michael's and I already had the grosgrain ribbon and puffy paint- seriously the easiest project ever.  I'm going to make them for all the upcoming high school grads!  Anything is cuter with a monogram!

sigma rho chi recruitment counselor!

ta-da! complete with diet dew!

too precious!

tickle me pink

I know everyone an their mother is making this lately, but I have a weird fascination with Crayola color names! Where else are you going to call the color green "inchworm"?! America and Crayola are great. Here's my process!

carnation pink- so perfect!

color names facing out, of course!

the first round of blow drying...
it took about half an hour to get it just right!

a fallen soldier- tickle me pink, obviously

my finished product!  

i just love how 3-d it is!

freedom

Well, it is officially summer! Today is my last day or work as an office manager (I'm working at the desk this summer but that is wayyyy easier), I completed both the Praxis II and the GRE, finished up the semester with a 3.9 and now I am into my Maymester class which is a BREEZE.

In celebration of all these great things, I made Cookies 'n Cream Cupcakes! Mostly to perfect my frosting skillz, they made great end of the year gifts!

yummo, right?

believe it or not, I think I got my Georgetown cupcake swirl perfect!

she's back!

After organizing my life with only 3 weeks left in the semester, I have a little bit more time for sweet and cute things!  Also, I gave up sweets for Lent, so I can finally gorge on some goodies!

Here's a fast update on my last few weeks:

School is nuts.  Work is nuts.  Everything is under control, but I'll be glad to have my life back in 19 days!  The downside to all of that, however, is that I will actually miss going to classes because I have gotten so close with all the girls in my major.

my cray-cray homework schedule...
this doesn't even include work/group meetings/social life (just kidding)

It's that time of the year when awards are awarded and honorees are honored so I've been blessed to receive a lot of those kinds of things but it does keep me busy!

my cupcake after mortar board induction!
I guess this is where our dues go...

I am a Sigma Rho Chi recruitment counselor and I have been learning about the in's and out's of rush for the fall and have been making some fabulously amazing friends along the way!

I met half of my sweet boyfriend's family over Easter weekend and now that we have crossed that hurdle I can breathe again! His family is 1/18th the size of mine so it really was fine.

my official induction into the clan

I have officially submitted my application to go to South Africa!  Prayers would be appreciated!

this is from addo elephant park, 40 minutes from my school!

So, all this said, I decided to make some cupcakes to celebrate myself (and to bring to a study group...)!

I give you Strawberry Champagne Mini Cupcakes!  They were delicious, with and without the frosting.  I added more champagne than I needed to (naturally) and it was a very drunk treat but everyone still enjoyed them!

isn't this the cutest color you have ever seen?!

the frosting consistency didn't come out the way I wanted
but this way it forms a cute little cupcake beret! 

seriously, I wanted to rename myself Eloise and plop down
in the middle of the Plaza when I ate these!

hiatus

I will be taking a break for awhile for a few reasons-

• Crafting and baking is not expensive, but I need to save literally every penny I make.  This time next year, hopefully, I will be in South Africa and obviously I need some money while I am there!
• I take 2 life-shaping exams within a month of each other (poor planning on my part...) and I spend every chance I get in the library, not doing cute things to make my life a little brighter...
• I am taking 18 hours of class this semester and 21 hours this summer.  For those of you who don't know, that's A LOT.  It's killing me, but I have to graduate on time with a double major and a minor.  Yay.
• I don't have any room in my house for any new decorations!

Here are some of the things I want to do when I'm back...

Baby Blocks for several new little friends due in the summer/fall!

Party Pom-Poms

Knock-Off "Cirrus" Anthropologie Bedding!

Precious Petal Pillow

Wine Cork Monogram

peace out, sweets.

That's right.  I'm giving up sweets for Lent this year.  I'm a Jesus lover and I do believe that in order for us to focus on his suffering for us so that we can have victory in Him, I can't cheat on Sundays.  So, I'm without the magical little sugar calorie demons that sew my clothes tighter in my closet while I sleep until April 8th!

As my last hurrah, I celebrated Mardi Gras down in Mobile (it's way better than New Orleans) with 20892 members of my family and le boyfriend was drowning in questions.  It was hilarious.

To celebrate my body being given back to the Lord (goodness knows it needs to be!) I made chocolate chip cookie dough brownies.  I took several pictures of my process, but none of them look as good as this one:

mmmmm YES.

In the mean time, I'll leave with my latest time waster.  This is my dream-dog and I need one NOW.

gimme.