What I Wore - Mad About Plaid

Plaid has been all over the place lately and I'm smitten with it.  When I saw this shirt at Old Navy during one of their sales I snapped it up.  A lot of times I don't like long sleeved shirts like this because they feel constrictive to me, but this one is super soft and comfortable.  The colors and pattern are great for fall but the red also gives it a holiday vibe.

When the weather is just starting to cool off I think layering is the way to go.  I had a white tank underneath and then added this cream scarf on top.   It added just the right amount of extra warmth when it was cloudy, but was easily removed when the sun came out.

Paired with these medium blue denim leggings and my favorite cognac boots, I was ready for fall.

Plaid Shirt - Old Navy

Denim Leggings - Loft 

Scarf - Target - old

Boots - Cathy Jean - old 

I'm linking up with I do deClaire, Pleated Poppy, Get Your Pretty On, Shopping My Closet, and Style Elixer.

Casual & Inexpensive Thanksgiving Tablescape

As you most likely know by now I am not a fan of dishes.  I love decorating, cooking, and entertaining, but I do not like cleaning up after it all.  So this year I decided to keep it simple and disposable.  I used this tablescape for our annual Friendsgiving and I'll be using it again with our family on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving and Autumn tend to bring to mind orange and burgundy but I wanted a more neutral palette this year.  I started out with a basic white tablecloth (I bought two at Bed Bath & Beyond recently for $12 total!).  Then I added this burlap runner that I picked up at Michael's (with a 50% off coupon naturally).   I wanted to be able to reuse it so instead of cutting it to the length I needed, I had it go off the edge of the table and used binder clips to clip the excess to the bottom of the table.

I had originally planned to make my white pumpkins into votive candleholders.  I have seen this idea all over Pinterest but when Josh busted out the drill to make one, the practice pumpkin exploded.  Needless to say we decided to just leave them as is.  I spaced them evenly on the burlap runner and then sprinkled some mini pinecones in between.

In order to break up all the white I bought some craft paper and cut placemats out of it.  I'm not going to lie, this was more of a pain than I thought it would be.  Cutting them out was fine but since my craft paper was on a roll my placemats wouldn't stay flat.  I ended up ironing them with a burp cloth between the iron and the paper.  Even though it took a little more effort the result was exactly what I wanted.

As you can see in the pictures we used disposable everything; napkins, plastic silverware, plastic cups, and plastic plates.   This tablescape ended up being casual yet festive, rustic yet elegant, and most of all easy to clean up.  If you haven't figured out how you plan to decorate your Thanksgiving table, give this casual and inexpensive tablescape a try.


I'm linking up with Thrifty Thursday, Creativity Unleashed, Pin Junkie, Link Party Palooza, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Bakerette, PinWorthy Projects, Happy Holiday Linkup, Saturday Night Fever, Moonlight & Mason Jars, and The Weekend Social.

Fresh Cranberry & White Chocolate Chip Blondies

I've never been a big fan of white chocolate because it is overly sweet to me, but I heard that the white chocolate chips that Trader Joe's has at holiday time are really good so I picked up a bag.  They've been sitting in my cupboard waiting for inspiration to strike.  A bunch of people have been posting copycat Starbuck's Cranberry Bliss Bars and they got me thinking.  Those usually use dried cranberries, but I thought that might be a little too sweet for my taste with the white chocolate.

Since I bought the big bag of fresh cranberries at Costco I decided to make my own version of Cranberry Bliss Bars but with fresh cranberries and no frosting.  I started out with a plain blondie base, kicked up the vanilla flavor by using vanilla paste, if you haven't tried this stuff it is basically vanilla extract on steroids, and then stirred in some fresh cranberries and white chocolate chips.

I bought mine at Sur La Table but Williams Sonoma and Amazon have it too.

It comes together really quickly, all in one bowl, so you can have a delicious holiday treat with minimal effort and minimal dishes.  The sweetness of the blondie and the white chocolate with the tart bursts from the cranberries are the perfect balance for each other and leave you with a delicious, seasonal treat.

Start out by creaming your butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy.  Then beat in an egg and the delicious vanilla paste. (If you don't have vanilla paste you can use vanilla extract instead.)  Once that's all mixed together, add in some flour, baking powder, and a little salt.

Stir in the cranberries and white chocolate chips and then spread the batter in a square baking pan sprayed with cooking spray.  The batter is very thick so you will need to spread it around.  I forgot to take a picture before I put it in the oven so I pulled it out after about 3 minutes so you can see how thick the batter is.

Bake at 350 for about half an hour or until the top is golden brown and it's puffed up.  You want it to be fully cooked, but think of this like a giant cookie, keeping it a little bit underdone when you pull it out will keep your blondies soft and chewy.  They will continue to cook a bit after removing them from the oven from the residual heat of the pan.

Once they are baked, let cool for a half hour or so before you cut into it.  If you let it cool completely, it will cut even more neatly, but if you are impatient, 30 minutes is enough to be able to get a piece out without it falling apart and you won't burn your tongue.

Fresh Cranberry & White Chocolate Chip Blondies

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp. vanilla paste 
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup white chocolate chips (depending on how sweet you like it)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and spray an 8 x 8 in. pan with cooking spray.
2. On medium-high speed, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
3. Beat in the egg and the vanilla paste.
4. Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined.
5. Stir in cranberries and white chocolate chips.
6. Spread in the prepared baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.
7. Cool at least 30 minutes before cutting.

I'm linking up with Whimsy Wednesday, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Less Laundry More Linking, Pin It Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Create It Thursday, Pin Junkie, Link Party Palooza, Show Stopper Saturday, Future Expat, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Marvelous Monday, and Whimsy Wednesday.

Easy DIY Fall Mantle

Last year I saw this fall display spelling out the word thanks.  I loved it, but wanted to glam it up a bit so I decided to put my own spin on it.

I decided to use red wine bottles because those are something that we tend to have in this house (especially during the holiday season) and I like the variety in shape you can find.  The darker the bottle, the better this will look.  I actually made this last year and then this year remade the T and the H with darker bottles.  The bottle on the left is the one I made this year.  Look how much clearer the letter is.  The old one was good, but the darker bottle is so much easier to see!

In addition to your wine bottles you will need some repositionable vinyl letter stickers, Krylon glitter blast spray, and some wheat.  I used the bronze blast color.  If you haven't used this stuff before, prepare to be amazed.  I absolutely love it because while I love glitter, I hate the way it comes off on everything.  This stuff solves that problem and it gives such even coverage.

Start out by removing the labels from your wine bottles.  The easiest way to do this is to soak them in hot water with a little bit of bleach.  Leave them alone for about 30 minutes and when you come back the labels will be floating on the top.  No scraping or scrubbing required!  Rinse and dry your bottles.  I recommend letting them fully dry upside down overnight because if your bottles have a little water left in them then the wheat can get moldy.  I may have learned that the hard way last year.

Once your bottles are dry carefully apply the stickers to the bottles.  Since the stickers are repositionable don't worry if you don't get them on straight the first time.  I decided to stagger my letters with every other one being lower.

Then take your bottles outside and spray them with the glitter spray.  Spray from top to bottom all the way around the bottle.  Don't spray on a thick layer, it will get drippy.  Just let it dry and then spray again.  I did 3 coats because I wanted the glitter to be thick but you could probably just do 2 coats.  Let them dry overnight and then peel off the stickers.

Now take your wheat and just stick some in each bottle until they look the way you want.  I decided to add some fake fall leaves to fill in the mantel a little bit.  I bought them last year on clearance at the end of the season but right now all fall stuff is on clearance at the craft stores so you can get some for a great deal.

I'm linking up with Thrifty Thursday, Pin Junkie, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Best of the Weekend, Show Stopper Saturday, Sunday Linky, Inspiration Monday, Craftastic Monday, Marvelous Mondays, Monday Funday, Mix It Up Monday, Busy Monday, Retro Repin, and Mad Skills Party.

5 Minute Fall Wreath

I am a big fan of craft projects that can be constantly reinvented.  This wreath is a perfect example of that.  I bought this plain grapevine wreath at Michael's a few years ago for Halloween.  I wrapped it with some Halloween ribbon and left it at that.  Since then I have changed it up in several ways and this is my favorite iteration by far.

The best part of all is that it literally took 5 minutes to put together!  I started out with a grapevine wreath and a few stems of fake fall flowers I got on clearance at Joann's last year at the end of the season.  (Make sure to get flowers that have wire in the stems.)

Using some wire cutters or strong scissors cut the individual flowers off of the stems leaving a few inches of stem on each one.  I split the flowers up into two groups, about 1/3 of them in one group and the rest in the other, trying to balance out the colors.

Then stick the flowers into the wreath.  Some I could just stick in at an angle, but others I had to wrap the end around the wreath so they weren't sticking out.

That's it.  No glue guns, no fancy tools.  Just a wreath, some fake flowers, and 5 minutes.  Happy fall!

I'm linking up with Retro Repin, Marvelous Mondays, Mix It Up Monday, Inspiration Monday, Craftastic Monday, Monday Funday,  Inspire Me Tuesdays,  Tasteful Tuesdays, Mad Skills Party, Whimsy Wednesdays, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Create It Thursday, Real Family Fun, Less Laundry More Linking, Pin It Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, TGIF Link Party,  Pin Junkie, Link Party Palooza,  Super Saturday, Show Stopper Saturday, and Sunday Linky.