Wine Glass Charms

April has been a crazy month. 

My boyfriend went on a ski trip in March, had an accident, and broke his knee. He'll be in a wheelchair/crutches for about 3 months. We moved into our beautiful 2 story townhouse, so it's been quite difficult to say the least. 

As if a boyfriend in a wheelchair in a 2-story house wasn't enough on my plate, we completed our family with Bandit, a 2 or 3 year old basenji mix.

He's quite the little character! It broke my heart to see all the scars on his face and legs (the shelter owner thinks he was bait dog- to learn more about this senseless abuse, click here) and it's the most amazing feeling to be able to give this little guy a loving home. 

This past Saturday was our housewarming party. It always feels like there is so much to do and no time, but luckily we got the backyard cleaned up, put up our gazebo (a house warming present from my mom) and entertained about 20 guests. The theme was skeleton keys (I wish I would've remembered to take photos of the actual party) and I made the most adorable set of wine charms for the event.

What You'll Need:

- Wire Hoops (I purchased Earwire Hoop Rings 25mm - 20 Gauge for $2.99 from House of Joiwind on Etsy.)

- Small pliers

- Jump Rings (you may not need them if your charms already have jump rings)

- Tweezers

- Charms & beads galore!

Steps:

1. Open your wire hoop and flatten the top. I left it at a bit of angle where I could still put the beads in but could close them without bending them again. 

2. If your charms require jump rings, add those now. (For a great tutorial on how to use jump rings, visit My Girlish Whims)

3. Start adding beads

4. Finish adding your beads, close the ring and you're done!

I made each charm different. I can't decide which is my favorite!

These make the perfect housewarming gift, hostess gift, stocking stuffer, office gift, whatever! I'm totally hooked and am thinking of creating an Asian set with some left over charms I have from other projects.

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Chicken Tortilla Casserole Recipe

I found this Chicken Dorito Casserole recipe from Bev Cooks in one of my (many) Sunday Pinterest binges and thought this would make an awesome dinner. I finally got to test it out last night when my mom and sister came over.

This is the PERFECT I-have-a-crap-load-of-stuff-to-do-tonight meal. If you're decent a mixing stuff, you've got this in the bag.


What You'll Need:
1/2 a bag of blue tortilla chips
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 can of Rotel (Funny story: I bought the hot Rotel thinking Oh, this won't be all that spicy. HOLY JALAPEÑO, WAS IT HOT! So, if you prefer a milder flavor, opt for the original Rotel. I like spicy food, so I thought it was great)
3 cups of cheese
1 packet of taco seasoning

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl. I added in 1 of the cups of cheese when mixing (it was really by accident since I skipped through the instructions.) You're looking to get this to a slop/dog food consistency (appetizing, I know).

2. Spread the chips out on the bottom of your casserole dish.
3. Spread the mixture over the tortilla chips. Top with the left over cheese.
4. Stick that puppy in the over for 30 minutes and you're done!



The surprising part? This could potentially be a really great dip too. Just be sure to really shred the chicken to avoid huge chunks if you're opting for the dip application.

Hope y'all enjoy it!

Keep On Keepin' it Krafty



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Wedding DIY: Save $$$ on RSVP Cards

This may not be your typical hot glue, glitter and scissors wedding DIY, but it'll definitely save you a lot of money when planning your wedding (and with today being Valentine's Day, I'm sure lots of couples will have wedding planning in the near future).

With the average wedding guest count at 153 for 2012 (Reference) and postage going up to $.46, traditional RSVP card costs can start adding up, for your wallet and the environment. We do everything online: book flights, order food, post pictures- why not RSVP online too? Welcome to the wonderful world of QR codes.

QR codes are an easy and extremely cheap way to keep track of your RSVP list. Here's a simple how-to using Google Docs (and best of all, it's free!)

Example from Mighty Vites

1. Go to docs.google.com and sign in using your Gmail account.
2. Click "Create" and select "Form" from the drop down menu.

3. Enter a name for your form and select a theme.

Don't like any of the themes? Check out their template library

4. It's time to create your fields. These are totally customizable. Having a kid's menu for the little ones? You can add a field for number of children.  Here's a sample of what I think should be included:

Name

RSVP

Number of Attendees. Remember to add an option for "0"
for those not attending!

5. When completed, enter a confirmation message. This is what your guests will see when they've filled out the RSVP form.

6. Once you're happy with everything, submit the form. This will generate a URL for your form.
7. Copy and paste the URL into your address bar and check it out!

8. Go back to your form and select  "Create Response Destination". Enter the name of the spreadsheet and select "Create".

Now you have all your responses in one easy to reference spreadsheet. No need to shuffle through cards with illegible handwriting- this does it all for you!

You're not quite done at this point! Now it's time to generate a QR code. I know you might be skeptical at this point, telling yourself you don't want an ugly black bar code on your pretty RSVP card design. Not to worry! QRStuff.com allows you to pick the color of your QR code to perfectly coordinate your design. This site is easy to use: select the type of link (this is a Website URL), paste your form's URL into the content bar, select the perfect color and pick "download" for your output type. Save the file and you're ready to place it on your RSVP card's design and print!

This is the QR code I generated for the fake form above:

Go ahead, scan it. I dare you.

I know, I know- you're impressed.

So, what do you think? Is this a great money saver, or are you too traditional to go the techy route?

Hoping everyone has a fabulous Valentine's Day!
Keep on Keepin' it Krafty!

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Pepperoni Pizza Casserole

I found this amazing recipe on one of my pinning binges the other day:

Source: sweettreatsmore.com via Jazmine on Pinterest

I knew I had to try it! I didn't follow the exact recipe though, here's my variation:

What You'll Need:
1 box spaghetti
Salt (for cooking the pasta)
2 tablespoons of olive oil (for cooking the pasta)
Ground Turkey
1/4 can tomato sauce (for cooking the ground turkey)
Adobo & garlic salt (for cooking the ground turkey)
1 bottle of your favorite pasta sauce
Pre-cut pepperoni slices
3 cups mozzerella cheese
1 cup bacon bits, divided
1 baking dish

1. Follow the box instructions for cooking your pasta al dente. Typically, you boil 3 quarts of water in a large pot, sprinkle some salt and add the olive oil. Then add the pasta.
2. While the spaghetti is cooking, add large spoonfuls of the ground turkey to another pot. As you add the meat, sprinkle some Adobo and garlic salt. Do this until all the turkey is the pot.
3. Cooking the pasta and browning the meat takes all about 15 minutes. Once all the meat is browned, add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and stir.
4. Now it's time to layer! Drain the pasta and put it in the baking dish. Be sure it evenly coats the bottom.
5. The original recipe called for the next layer to be the meat, but next time, my next layer will be the spaghetti sauce. The original way left the pasta too dry. Since you're cooking the meat with tomato sauce, it won't dry out.
6. Then, add the meat. I sprinkled some bacon for added flavor (then again, I sprinkle bacon bits on EVERYTHING!)

Doesn't this look DELICIOUS already!?

7. Add a hefty layer of pepperonis. I completely covered the meat
8. Add a layer of mozzarella cheese and (of course) a bit more bacon.
9. Heat your oven to 350ºF. Place the baking dish in and bake for 30 minutes.
10. Enjoy!!

He couldn't wait to dig in!

It's hard to believe, but I think the leftovers were even better! This is the perfect dish to make on a Thursday night- no need to worry about cooking on Friday! That's a great way to start the weekend if you ask me.

Will you try this out? Have any other casserole dishes you absolutely love? I'd love to try them out!

Always Keep it Krafty,

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