DIY Lilly Pulitzer Cards

There is only one benefit of being home sick... free time to craft!

I recently took the pages out of my old Lilly planner but couldn't decide what I should do with them, until one day it hit me--greeting cards!  Lilly has such wonderfully uplifting designs, so what better use than to make someone's day just a little brighter?

And it is SO easy.  Card stock & modge podge - seriously all you need!

I removed the perforations & traced the pages on the card stock.  Once you've cut the card stock to size you just modge podge the pages on to the card stock & voilà!  

Beautiful cards for any occasion!

Happy Crafting! 

Bachelorette Weekend ft St. Patrick's Day

I am WAY behind on blogging!  I've been busy with my newly opened Etsy shop -- CrazyCraftaholic :)  But anyway, this is about a recent bachelorette weekend for one of the many beautiful brides in my life!

We went to Charlotte, NC the weekend of St. Patrick's day...which is also the weekend of the World's Largest Bar Crawl.  Needless to say, it was PACKED with people & with green.  I would say this only added to our excitement though!  It also gave us an opportunity to buy a $25 shirt that would get us into basically ANY bar/club we would want to go to!

We had a pretty packed weekend, but it was so great to be able to celebrate the bride to be!

The MOH & I made these adorable lingerie detail boudoir cards & I made this cute itinerary also!

Of course, I made survival kits for the weekend, because you can't have a bache weekend without them!  They had all the essentials:  a monogram wine glass, moscato, bridesmaid pin, gum, gatorade, a razor, a hair tie, chap stick, band-aids, gum, bubbles, deodorant, pain reliever & chocolate!  All items are from the dollar store (except the wine/gatorade/pin) which keeps the costs down!

Unfortunately, we missed Food Truck Friday due to some "traffic issues", but Friday night was filled with other bachelorette fun & games!  When these include wine & bache dares, you know it's a good night!

Saturday we started with Wine & Design, which was a BLAST.  We quickly realized how amazingly talented we all are!  

Our next endeavor was Pole Dancing!  Some of the girls were a little skeptical at first, but quickly realized how much fun -- and how much of a workout -- this really is!    We had about a 45 minute class where we learned some "basics".  At the end we all had to do our own routine for the bride.  It was a BLAST.  & I think many of us were surprised at the skills we actually had!


Later that night we went out on the town! Before dinner we took some rooftop pics to take advantage of the amazing skyline! When we went out that night we decided to rock green wigs in honor of St. Patty's Day & O.M.G. we were like celebrities!  I know you're probably like, "ya okay, some white girl thinking people love her..." but really! people were asking us for pictures, coming up to us randomly just to talk to us, asking to hang out with us, etc.  It really was like nothing we had ever experienced before!

Overall, it was an excellent weekend, filled with fun & memories that will last us a lifetime.  Bachelorette weekends can be expensive, but in the end, the experience is worth it all.  You can always take advantage of DIY opportunities, such as the invites, decor, etc., in order to minimize costs!  It is an excitement filled time celebrating the bride to be & her future life changes.  It is something that I am always honored to be apart of, as it will be one of the last "big events" that the bride partakes in before she becomes a Mrs.!

Happy Crafting (& weddings!) 

Simple DIY Valentine's Day Gifts!

I promise, I must have been born a procrastinator.  It's in my blood...it has to be!   I have this problem where I will push everything to the veryyyy last minute.  I will give must self just enough time in which I know I will be able to complete my task.  I  should really work on it, but so far, no luck.

So as of today, Monday, February 9, I do not know what I'll be doing for my hubby Saturday, February 14...  I figured there has to be at least a handful of women who get in the same boat as me.  So (instead of planning for this year)  I figured I would let you know of some simple & quick ideas I've used in the past!

This first one is probably the easiest & quickest.  Perfect for completing Friday night, Saturday morning with success!

1 - get hubby's favorite 6 pack

2 -  draw flowers on construction paper

3 - cut out, making slit in center

4 - TADAA -- your very own beer bouquet!

How easy! & cute :)

 I also added a few mini liquor bottles for some flare :)  this way he had his favorite beer & liquor!

Obviously he loved it!! 

This next option takes a little bit more time, however it is still super simple to complete!

52 Reasons I love you

You'll need a deck of cards, a hole puncher, 2 binder rings, printer paper & modge podge.

I typed my reasons, but you could just as easily handwrite them if need be!

You'll type (or write) your 52 reasons you love your spouse & modge podge each one onto a card. Once these have dried, you can hole punch & combine them into an entire deck of reasons you love your man!!

Here are a few of example I used, in case you need some inspiration!

Happy Crafting & Happy Valentine's Day!!

Gobble Gobble

Warning: this is a double post; from decor to turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!

We just moved into a house, yay! We have plenty of space now & I've been trying to decide on decor.  I really wanted to do a gallery wall, but wasn't sure where to start!  I knew I didn't have enough frames so it was great when I found an 8 piece set at Bed, Bath & Beyond.  It was a great starting point, but it wasn't what I was going for.  I wanted more.  I wanted personalized. So I shopped around some craft stores for some things & I rummaged through the house finding some more frames & signs that I could incorporate.  

I was definitely over stimulated. So excited to create a masterpiece via decor. Then reality hit.  Arranging the items to create something great--easy.  Taking that creation & actually transporting it to the wall--not so easy.  Good thing I have a handy dandy husband!  There was some frustrating getting things we wanted with as few nail holes as possible, but we did it!  

The rest of the week consisted of planning our Thanksgiving dinner.  You would think this is a simple task.  In most cases, it is.  But in our house, that's not always the case.  He wanted modern, I wanted traditional.  Ultimately, traditional won--surprise :)  I'm fine with creating modern dishes with turkey day leftovers, but the for whatever reason, the actual dinner itself I couldn't image having any other way than the "typical" thanksgiving dinner.

I have always been at war with myself when it comes it comes to recipes.  I have to follow the recipe...no, I want to make something original...no...I don't know!  I'm a bipolar chef.  

Recently I have been branching out more and more, wanting to create rather than mimic.  I suppose its my craftiness blending itself across trades!  

I'm making my 2nd turkey this year.  But for whatever reason, I didn't save the recipes I used last year for everything...WHY?!  

I looked at some recipes on Pinterest to get some inspiration, but couldn't commit.  So I'm flying solo!  I made some "herb butter" (if you will) to place under, & over, the turkey's skin.  It is just softened butter,  garlic, some everyday seasoning, some 21 salute, pepper, basil, garlic powder & onion powder. No measurements, just what looked (or smelt) good!  Covered the turkey in some foil & popped it in! The kitchen started smelling good, in 10 minutes--yum!

I decided I was going to baste every 30 minutes.  After this decision, I read a blog about how that's a no-no...oh well!  I started with using chicken stock for the first hour & a half until there was enough drippings to use.  Then I took the foil off, to allow for the idealistic crunch skin. 

I had my cooking plan ironed out, when I needed to start making each dish in order for it to be completed at the same time as the turkey. Then disaster struck! My turkey finished an hour sooner than expected...!  Obviously I couldn't leave it in the oven to dry out, so I took it out & covered it with foil to try & contain the heat.  I would baste periodically while finishing up the other dishes.  It was a challenge, but we finally got everything completed: turkey, hame, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, rolls & a delicious french silk pie.

So we ate ourselves into comatose & watched movies the rest of the day.  Couldn't have asked for a better meal or a better day!!

I hope everyone else had an amazing Thanksgiving as well!  Happy Crafting (& Cooking)!!

Anniversary Scavenger Hunt

October 16 is Mike & my "dating anniversary".   This year made 3 years!  Not sure if it's "normal" to celebrate your dating anniversary after marriage, but I'm okay for any excuse to celebrate!

This year I decided to do a scavenger hunt for Mike.  This is really something I would love more than something he would love, but it's the thought that counts, right :)

Here are all the clues:

First clue was in waiting in his car when he left for work:

 

I emailed him his second clue to lead him to the ones hidden around his office:

That led him to the next clue & a Fast Break:

This led him to a Monster waiting in the fridge:

That was the last at his office.  I gave him the next after we had finished dinner:

Once we got to Bo's I gave him the next one, which basically just gave me time to set the others up in the store

Once I was finished setting them up in the store I brought him this:

That's when the fun really began.  I wasn't sure if he would be up for it, he's more of an introvert, but he played along great.  We had so much fun.

bananas

strawberries

fudge (well chocolate syrup, couldn't find the fudge haha)

nuts (even though we didn't get any... haha)

cool whip! 

I was supposed to put the "wink, wink" one on Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra; but Bo's wasn't up to date enough for that :(  so we had to settle for caramel gellato--which was still amazing! 

Once we had everything (total of $13) I gave him the final card:

 

This was so fun for us!  It was even better when we got to go home & eat our banana splits with a glass of wine while watching a RomCom!  

This was definitely one of those gifts you give but really you're benefiting yourself as well.  But neither of us were complaining about that!  It definitely made me look forward to having kids.  I'll be able to plan fun things like this ALL the time then!

YAY!  Happy Crafting!