Pumpkin Decorating Contest

**HAPPY HALLOWEEN**
Hope you all had fun and exciting weekends.  What did you do?  Did you dress up?  Mine was lots of fun…I’ll do a post later this week with some pictures from our festivities.

Today at work we’re having a pumpkin decorating contest and my department nominated me to enter!  I ran out of time do to anything over the top so I decided to paint something that meant something to me….my state flags.


Front: SC State Flag / Back: TN State Flag
I probably won’t win because people get really into it here…but at least I had fun doing it.
I’ve seen some pretty creative costumes this year….I’m working on a post now about some of the best I’ve seen.  Hope yall are all have a Boo-ti-ful day!
RGL

Baby Gift Idea

Recently one of my dearest and most precious friends Hope (picture located of her at the bottom right of my page) had a baby girl…Caylin Elizabeth!  Isn’t that such a sweet name?  Anywho…I was struggling with what to give Caylin as her 1^st present from Aunt Lauren from Nashville…and since I live so far away, I haven’t been able to meet her yet (which is KILLING ME) so I wanted my gift to be something very personal…….so I started thinking of what to get a baby girl.  Something southern….something classy….something she’ll actually use….and then it hit me.  I could be the 1^st one to get her her very own personalized stationary stamp.  I knew Hope would be writing a ton of Thank You notes because everyone will shower Caylin with gifts …so instead of the Thank You notes coming from Hope….they could come from Caylin herself.  Look at me already teaching her etiquette…LOVE IT!
This is the stamp design and card I got her:




Isn’t it precious???  And what’s neat about this personalized stamp is the center is interchangeable.  You simply just remove the middle (it peels off like magic).


This is where you can truly express yourself, by adding a new middle of whatever you’d like.  They have hundreds of things to choose from….for example..you could....
do this just to have your initial….
 do this for Halloween….

do these for Christmas….
do this for Easter or Spring…
This for Summer..or for Winter….


and these just because….




Ok I can’t do a whole post on baby Caylin and NOT put up a few pictures of her….isn’t she the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen.  I absolutely CANNOT WAIT to meet her when I go home for Thanksgiving. 




Happy Friday everyone.....hope you all have a fabulous weekend.
RGL

Ribbon Wreath Plates

Pile Treats on these Ribbon Wreath Plates


Hello my little blog readers.  Happy Tuesday!  This a fun and simple way to dress up a paper plate when you share your Holiday treats (or just because you want to be a little more festive), because we all know the Holidays are a little more special with yummy treats.

Supplies for Holiday Ribbon Plates:

• paper plates, any color or size (you can use plastic plates, but they’re harder to punch)
• hole punch
• ribbon, craft ribbon or curling ribbon
• treats
Punch holes about every inch all the way around. Then pick a spot to start and thread the ribbon through each hole.
There are a few ways you can thread the ribbon. It can be up and down or around and around. Both look pretty, so it just depends on your preference.
Once the ribbon has been through each hole, make sure both ends are even to tie it together in a bow. Now fill them with some of your favorite treats and they’re ready for family and friends! Happy Holidays!
You can do this pretty much any time you wanted to dress something up….


For example:
Halloween








Thanksgiving


Christmas


Valentine's Day


St.Patty's Day


Easter


4^th of July


Anything!!!!  I’m so glad I saw this today….it’s such a cheap yet cute way to dress up a treat plate.


RGL

My Fall Décor

Hello readers!
As I’ve mentioned before…..I absolutely LOVE Fall.  I’ve been working on a couple “DIY Fall crafts" lately and wanted to share.  There’s just something about this time of year that makes my heart pitter patter.
The canvas I painted for our front door.
The centerpiece I made for our kitchen table.
These are a MUST around my house this time of year….I want the whole house to smell like Fall.
Below are a few things I WISH I had….being engaged and all, I have to save money for a wedding...so I'm only allowing myself to do a couple of crafts for each Holiday….so I just go on Pintrest and “window shop” to get my fix.
Ahhhh…I can’t wait to do these things one day!!!
What kind of Fall Décor have yall done?  Any DIY stuff?
RGL

S'mores Pops/MTSU Homecoming!

Hey Y’all!!!  I wanted to do this post last week, but I never found my camera cord so I bought another one and am finally able to share with you what I made for the MTSU tailgate a couple of weekends ago….S’MORES POPS!   When I was assigned to bring a “dessert” I knew I wanted to do something cute and creative…so I thought of doing marshmallow pops dipped in blue candy melts to be MTSU colors….BUT THEN I thought…hummm…what if I dipped the marshmallow’s in CHOCOLATE and then rolled them around in graham crackers and make S’MORE POPS!!!  GENIUS!!!  So I started “googling” and found a few recipes and started my little project.


Items I used to make my S’mores pops:
• Graham Crackers
• Marshmallows
• Lollipop sticks
• Dipping Chocolate




How I made them:
• Put the graham crackers in a zip lock bag and start to crush them…then put the crushed graham crackers in a bowl.
• Put the dipping chocolate in the microwave for 2 min….you can also melt using a double boiler.
• Push the sticks into the marshmallows.


**Now you’re ready to begin!
• After pushing the sticks into the marshmallows, dip and swirl your marshmallow in the melted chocolate.
• Let excess chocolate drip off and then roll it around in the graham crackers. (This is where you could add sprinkles too……or toffee chips……or crushed peppermint, or crushed fruit loops…..the possibilities are endless.)
• Place them on your plate…or in my case, I stuck the ends of my stick in a foam board.


• Let them sit for about 30 minutes and then enjoy….in my case, I was using them for the next day so I let them sit for about an hour or so and then put them in plastic bags and put ties around them.
I wanted to be spirited so I painted a pot MTSU colors….
Then put a foam ball in the middle of it and stuck my pops in it to look like this….
And Tadaaaa!!!  Here’s a perfect centerpiece for the dessert table.  I’m done and ready for tailgating festivities.  I highly recommend you make these for some kind of event….. they were an ABSOLUTE HIT!!!!   
Here’s a few pictures of the day….we had so much fun!
Me and the roomies: Claud and Joey
Me and G
Me and Claud
I just love this time of year...don't you?
RGL