Cameo Craze

I continue to absolutely love my cameo and have started to experience more with wood and vinyl cuts for the wood to create a variety of new crafts. Here are a few of my new faves!! 

Roommate gifts: 

Housewarming gifts:

Friendship gifts:

I also recently completed my picture collage wall in our home and absolutely love how it turned out!!

Oh and here's a small sign for my sister and my adorable nephew!

Silhouette Cameo Crafts

For my birthday I purchased a Silhouette Cameo machine and I am #obsessed . I had a very hard time deciding whether or not to go with a Silhouette versus a Cricut and decided that taking in consideration overall cost, design software, etc. that the Silhouette was for me. I absolutely love my machine and love how there's plenty of other bloggers, crafters, and videos out there to help me troubleshoot with my machine if needed!

The first few projects I have been working on are mostly cutting stencils from contact paper and stenciling them on to wood boards or canvases.

This particular one is going on the picture collage wall in my house. 

Valentine's Day

I love this holiday for its sweet little notes and the naked Cupid guy. I've always been a candy addict so it really satisfies my sweet tooth. I dislike this day because of the pressure for romantic gifts or extravagant romantic dinners. I think people should manage to plan those little things in their relationships thoughout the year, not just on February 14th.

I got crafty of course this year and really just searched a few of my favorite blogs for some free valentines day printables!

Don't forget I love all things cheesy and corny that can make people smile! 

Wood Crafts

Lucky for me our colorado state university sport club logging team allows me to snag these beautiful wood sections to craft with. I just have to trek out the logging practice site and load them into the car. This was my first trial run with homemade chalkboard paint. I think for future ones I'll sand the log first to ensure easy writing with chalk pens :) 

 

I sort of like the character the split in the log gives it but I have some too that are whole. 

Almond Bars

Recently a student staff member brought me in these almond bars and I just about died! They are a wonderful balance of chewy and soft in the middle and have a super nice crust on them. They have a bit of an artificial almond flavoring taste at first but then I realized they are just heavenly! 

Dutch Letter Bars

Ingredients:

1 stick of margarine

1 stick of butter

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp almond flavoring (optional)

1 cup of almond paste (or 1 8-ounce can of Solo Pure Almond Paste)

2 cups flour

Directions:

Cream first 3 items together well. Then add next 2 items and mix well again. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again. Add almond paste and mix well again.

Finally add the flour. Will be very thick.

Put in a 9x13 greased pan. Sprinkle with a teaspoon of sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or till very lightly browned (do not overbake).

Jewelry Blocks

My most recent DIY craft project is these adorably cute, cheap, and easy jewelry blocks! Snagged this idea off a blog and modified it to be a bit cheaper. I found wood blocks at hobby lobby for $.99 each and then purchased a pack of wooden dowels for $2.76. Stained the wood blocks with a stain we had around the house and spray painted the dowels bronze. A little gorilla glue and some command strips and up on the wall they went. They've stayed together so far :) 

They're fun and a super clean way to make sure you don't clutter your dresser or night stand! 

Little Man Kleffman's Baby Shower

This weekend I celebrated Little Man Kleffman in beautiful San Diego, California. I must say that the 70 degree weather and wearing shorts and flip flops sure made me miss California. Snowy Fort Collins just really didn't seem exciting to go back to, especially with 70 mile high wind advisories. Courtney's Baby Shower #2 went very smoothly, the decorations were adorable, the food was delicious and most importantly the Birthday Girl Soon to be Mama was happy :). Below are some great snap shots we got throughout the afternoon! Can't wait to meet Little k!

Food Food Food

 I'm going to start adding recipes to my blog because I LOVE FOOD! My husband and I both love to cook and eat...not such a great combination huh? This is one of our absolute favorite recipes. You definitely need to love buffalo sauce and some kick :)


Buffalo Chicken Dip

1.5 Full Size Chicken Breasts (you can edit this depending on how much chicken you want in the dip)

1.5 cups of Franks Red Hot (12 oz. bottle)

1 cup of Ranch

1 block of cream cheese (cut into chunks help mix better)

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions:

-Boil the chicken breast until cooked, remove from water and cut into chunks or shred

-Combine Franks Red Hot, Ranch, and Cream Cheese into a medium size sauce pan over a low-med heat, stir frequently

-Once the cream cheese has combined with the Franks and Ranch, add the 2 cups of sharp cheddar to sauce pan

-Stirring frequently wait for all to combine into sauce pan

-Add cut up chicken breast

-Enjoy with tortilla chips, crackers, fritos, celery, etc

*You can substitute blue cheese for the ranch for a different flavor. You may experience some separation on the Franks from the rest of the ingredients, we've found using full fat cream cheese and quality cheddar helps to better combine it. Either way its delicious. 

Halloweenies!

I am a firm believer that Halloween costumes should be funny, dorky, and something that people can laugh at. I've never been a big fan of dressing scandalous for Halloween like many other people and thus this Halloween my costume was epic. Not only did I check this one off my bucket list (or close enough), but Beasers and I also won the CSU HOWL-O-WEEN pet costume contest!!!

Happy Halloween!

Brewing!

My husband really enjoys brewing beer. Not to imply that I don't, but he takes this passion to a whole other level. Our most recent addition to the family includes the below kegerator...which he so dedicatedly hunted for on Craigslist, the internet, and in-stores for months on end. Thank goodness though, the search is over, the newest addition to the Foster Family is up and running!

And since we bought a kegerator we had better brew some beer for it!!! Jason decided a Chocolate Vanilla Porter would be good for fall and it smelled delicious! 4 weeks away until its ready and we can't wait.