Aloha Subway Art

I created this invite to a goodbye party/luau I am throwing for my bestie who is moving far far away. :( At least her party invite is super cute!

Quick and cute t-shirt scarf

This scarf took me about 1 hour start to finish. It cost me $3.00, though yours could be free if you have old t-shirts on hand. And, the best part is that it was SUPER easy. All you need is t-shirts and scissors. Really. My local Wally world had plain t-shirts on sale for $1.00, so I bought them, but if you have some plain t-shirts you wouldn't mind cutting up (maybe if they have some stains) then use those. First, cut off the bottom hems. Save them, you will use them later. Then cut the shirts into 3/4 inch to 1 inch strips. Don't cut the seams, you want loops. You will want about 30-35 total. I had three colors, so I cut 11 strips of each for 33. The exact number isn't that important. More loops makes the scarf longer, less shorter. Take each loop, and pinching the two seams, stretch it as far as it goes easily. Then take the stretched loop and wind it around your hand. It should go around 3-4 times easily. Once you have several piles of loops, cut the hems you have set aside into 3-4 inch strips. Use those strips to tie the loops together. CUTE! If you need a pictorial step by step how to, check out Kevin & Amanda here. (I totally copied it from her!)

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Snickers salad

Admittedly, this salad may not look like much. I made it because I had the ingredients (yes, I had 5 Snickers bars at my house. Don't judge me.) and I needed a quick dessert for company. I thought it would probably be good, but wasn't expecting much more than than. But, HOLY HANNAH MONTANA! It was not merely "good." It was A.Frickin.Mazing. It should be called crack in a bowl. Well, ok maybe it shouldn't be. Can you imagine "Here kids, it's dessert time. Eat your crack in a bowl." But you get the idea. It was super simple to make. Now the only hard part will be making it and not sticking my face in it and eating it all and licking the bowl. Make this. Make this now. You're welcome.

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 package whipped topping, thawed
5-6 Snickers bars, chopped in pieces. I prefer teeny pieces, so that you get some in every bite. You do what feels right to you.
4 Granny smith apples, chopped. Again, smaller pieces are the way to my heart, but chop 'em how you like 'em.

Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Stir in whipped topping. Stir in Snickers and apples. Refrigerate about an hour, serve. This should not be done the night before, as the liquid in the apples will make it runny and gross if left too long. That means that if there are any leftovers (which, frankly I'd be shocked) then you must eat them. Again, you're welcome.

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Valentine's cone wreath

My crafty friend and I are back at it! We like to get together once a month at least, preferably once a week. This time we made this super cute (and easy!) paper cone wreath for Valentine's day. I love the red/pink/grey/black colors, and I personalized mine with a picture of my family on our "forever anniversary." (The anniversary of the day we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Seattle LDS temple. For more information on what that means, visit Mormon.org )

The original pin can be found here. As you can see, I tweaked mine a bit from the original idea, and I think it turned out so much cuter!

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Gluten free homemade Baked Potato Soup

I love baked potato soup, but it can be difficult to find a mix that is gluten free. So I decided to make it myself from scratch, and it was SO good. There is no flour, glutenous or otherwise, used to thicken, and the fresh ingredients make it is so yummy!

Recipe by Dede Bessey
Ingredients:
5-6 medium potatoes, washed (not peeled) and cubed
5 large carrots, peeled, chopped into disks
1 whole celery stalk, chopped, including greens
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 lb bacon, cut into "lardons"
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp minced garlic
5 cups water
6 cubes chicken bouillon
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 cans evaporated milk
2-4 Tbsp Kirkland signature no salt seasoning
1/2 - 1 cup potato pearls
Shredded cheddar, sour cream, green onions to garnish

Boil water, add chopped potato, carrots, and celery. Let simmer until veggies are tender.
In the mean time, add bacon, onion, and butter to a saute pan. Saute until bacon is cooked, onions are tender. Then add garlic and saute 1 minute longer. Add all of above ingredients to crockpot or large sauce pan. (Including the water the veggies were cooked in, the starch is important!)Add bouillon and no salt seasoning. Simmer, covered, on medium-low heat (or crock pot on high) for about an hour, stirring occasionally. About 30 minutes before serving time, add milk, cream, and evaporated milk. Stir in completely. Just before serving, add your potato pearls and re-cover. The potato pearls are used to thicken the soup, add as little or as much as you'd like, my measurements are just estimated. (This is also true for the no salt seasoning, add however much tastes good to you.) Once potato pearls are absorbed, stir well. Serve garnished with cheese, sour cream, green onions.

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Spiritual advent

I wanted to make an advent that had meaning, I found this article at LDS.org and I knew I had found my advent. I made a bunch of 3" envelopes on my Cricut, hand cut the tags, and printed the quote, scripture, activity, and song idea from the article. I created a PDF of these, which you can find here. The quote goes on one side of the tag and the scripture/song/activity on the other.  I mounted them on a board, and viola! I got the general idea for the boards from from this pin. http://pinterest.com/pin/285204588871581878/ I actually ended up making 4. One for my family, and some for ladies I Visit Teach, and one for my bestie. The quotes and activities are truly inspired, making each day until Christmas focus a little more on Christ. I really really love the way they turned out!

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Thanksgiving centerpieces

I found these super cute and super easy centerpieces on Pinterest, and since I had all of the supplies all ready, it was easy to pull together for Thanksgiving. The idea for the original pin is here, http://pinterest.com/pin/257776507/ I did not have kidney beans, so I just used white beans. They were super cute anyway!

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