Saw It, Pinned It, Did It: "I Do" Wedding Shoes

Can this even be considered an SPD project?  I'm not sure, but I'm going with it!  SPD projects have been put on the back burner with this whole wedding thing happening in 9 days, but there have been a few little wedding related SPD projects I wanted to share.

I had seen a few of these types of pins floating around Pinterest and knew it was something I wanted to incorporate in to our wedding...it's my "something blue."

I searched etsy and finally ordered my decals from BridesDelight.  It was less than $5 with shipping, which I thought was a good price, since I think they were like $8 at David's Bridal.  The decal arrived with a little instruction card and so I got to work sticking them on the bottom of my shoes.  It was really easy to do.  Just make sure you are very careful when you peel the decal off the plastic it comes on.  Then just make sure your shoe is clean and stick it where you want it!

My plan is do some pictures like these of the bottom of my shoes on our wedding day.

Obviously I don't have any actual wedding photos to show, but I did try them on one night and I think I'm going to like the way they turn out in our wedding photos!

Don't mind the dirty bottom of my shoes...I'll clean that before the real pictures :)

What do you think?  Do you like the idea of putting something on the bottom of your wedding shoes?  Did you do anything like this on your wedding day?

-Ericka

Saw It, Pinned It, Did It: DIY Wedding Card Box

I hadn't found any card boxes in stores that I really liked, so after seeing all kinds of DIY card boxes on Pinterest, I knew I wanted to make ours myself. I came across this pin and knew it was exactly what I was looking for:

I picked up all of my materials from Hobby Lobby and got to work.  

Supplies:

three different size paper mache boxes

x-acto knife

hot glue gun/glue sticks

paint & foam brushes

ribbon & whatever other accessories you want

Step 1 - Cut holes in your boxes and lids.

In order to get the cards to drop in to the bottom box, you have to cut holes in the bottom of the middle and top boxes, and in all of the lids.  The top lid will just have a slit to insert the cards.

Make sure you leave enough of an "edge" on the bottom of the boxes when you cut the holes, so that there is something to hot glue to the lid below it.  Like this: 

Step 2 - Paint your boxes and lids.

I ended up having to do three coats of paint on my boxes to get the coverage and color that I wanted.  The paint dried really fast, so I did it all in one sitting.  I used foam brushes for this and it worked really well.  I tried using spray paint first, but didn't like the way it looked, so I decided to hand paint them and I love the result.

Step 3 - Add ribbon and accessories. 

I added ribbon to each box.  I just wrapped the ribbon around tightly and hot glued the ribbon to itself, not to the box.  It stayed pretty good on it's own because I made sure it was tight.  I also added some little pearls around the slit on the top of the box.  I want to add some type of flower accessory like in my inspiration pin, but I haven't found exactly what I'm looking for yet.

Step 4 - Hot glue boxes together.

Once your box is decorated the way you want, hot glue the boxes to the lids, so that they stay together.  You won't glue the lids to the boxes, so you can still lift the lid off if you need to empty the box or rearrange the cards if they start getting stuck.

Step 5 - Display the beautiful box you just made at your reception and enjoy!

You could also do a variation of this card box for a graduation or bridal/baby shower.

The box was easy to make and wasn't really that time consuming.  I did it all in one sitting and I think it maybe took me 1-2 hours and that's including letting the paint dry.

I love the way it looks, but it just needs something more.  Any ideas of something I could add to finish it off?

-Ericka

**Update:  I found some cute little flowers at Hobby Lobby that I added and here's how it looked when it was finished:

Saw It, Pinned It, Did It: Buffalo Chicken Bites

My fiance and I love anything buffalo chicken related, so when I saw this pin for Buffalo Shredded Chicken Bites, I knew I had to try it out.

Original Pin

They were super easy and tasted good too!  The most time consuming part was shredding the chicken.  I might try to use canned chunk chicken next time.  I varied a little from the original recipe and it still turned out great  Here's what I did:

Ingredients

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

2 tablespoons buffalo sauce

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs, lightly beaten

3-4 cups of bread crumbs

Step 1

Heat Oven to 350.  Line large baking sheet with foil.

Step 2

In large bowl, combine chicken, cream cheese, buffalo sauce, and cheddar cheese.  Roll a heaping tablespoon of mixture in to a ball and place on to a plate.  Repeat with the remaining mixture.

Step 3

Please flour in a shallow dish.  Place eggs in a second shallow dish.  Place bread crumbs in a shallow dish or zip-lock bag.

Step 4

Dip each chicken ball first in the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs.

Step 5

Place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing and enjoy!

Hope you enjoy these if you make them.  Now go check out all of the other awesome SI, PI, DI projects!

UPDATE:  These were featured on Delicious Dish Tuesday!

-Ericka

Saw It, Pinned It, Did It: Jalapeno Poppers

Yayyy for the return of Saw It, Pinned It, Did It with Katie and Stephanie!!!

My fiance loves stuffed jalapenos, so when I saw this recipe for jalapeno poppers on Pinterest, I knew I had to make some for him.

Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese
1 small chipotle in abodo sauce (1 chipotle pepper, not 1 whole can)
2 tablespoons canned jalapeno peppers, chopped
8 square wonton skins (I couldn't find these at my grocery store, so I used fillo dough cups)
cooking spray
1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce
muffin tin (a large muffin is pictured below, but I ended up using a mini muffin tin)

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Step 2

Pulse together the cream cheese and chipotle until smooth and creamy.  Add chopped jalepenos.

I didn't "pulse" mine, I just mixed it with a spoon.  Next time, I don't think I will even add the chipotle.  I didn't chop it well, so I ended up picking it out anyway.  

Step 3

Spray muffin tins with cooking spray.  Place fillo dough cups in muffin tins and top with a spoonful of cream cheese mixture.

Step 4

Bake for 10 minutes or until fillo dough cups are golden brown.  Serve with sweet chili sauce and enjoy!

We didn't end up using the sweet chili sauce.

These were DELICIOUS after they cooled a little.  We ate a few the night I made them, and then I put them in containers in the fridge to eat later.  However, they were not as good after they had been in the fridge.  The fillo dough cups were not crispy anymore, they were soft, which I think is what ruined the taste for me.  I would recommend eating these while they are fresh, not trying to save them to eat later.

Overall, they turned out great!  There was good jalapeno flavor without being too hot, and the crunchy shell and creamy filling were the perfect combination!

-Ericka

Weekend Recap & SPD Project

My weekend recap is a day late, but I have a good excuse.  I got super sick Sunday night/Monday morning with some type of stomach bug/flu, so I wasn't feeling up to par yesterday.  I'm feeling much better now, so here's a quick recap of my weekend.

Kevin and I went to Muskegon Friday night to spend the weekend there with our families because his brother and sis-in-law were coming to town from Cincinnati.  Kevin and I had marriage counseling on Saturday afternoon and then we went out to lunch at Brooklyn Bagels.  That night, we went to dinner at Hearthstone.  If you're ever in Muskegon, MI you have to check out Hearthstone--it's amazing.  

On Easter Sunday we all went to church and then headed to my family's Easter party.  We ate way too much delicious food and watched Michigan win their basketball game.  Go Blue!  Then we headed to Kevin's dad's for a little bit before heading home.  

I forgot to bring my camera again this weekend, so no fun pics from Easter weekend.  But I did do a super easy, super fun SPD project this weekend that I'll share today.  A couple of weeks ago, Katie did this project on her blog, and I loved it, so I pinned it and did it this weekend.  I wanted something cute to hold all of our remotes on the coffee table and thought this would be perfect.

All you need is an acrylic frame/shadow box (Michael's $4) and a piece of scrapbook paper.  

I got the 8x10 size shadow box and cut my scrapbook paper to fit inside.  You don't have to glue the paper or anything...just set it in and you're done!  Super easy and cute!  

You can easily change the paper any time if you get bored with it.  It would be super cute on a dresser or end table in the bedroom, or on a shelf in a bathroom. 

Oh and I have some flowers starting to come up in my yard that I'm excited about:

I need to clean the flower bed out, now that the snow is gone, but I'm so happy to see signs of Spring popping up!

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend and enjoy the rest of your week!

- Ericka

Saw It, Pinned It, Did It: Easter Printable

Do you need some fast and easy Easter decor before Easter is here on Sunday?  Printables are such a fun and easy way to add some holiday decor your home.  I love printables and I put new ones up all the time in my house for different holidays and seasons.  Easter is no exception!  I saw this cute printable on Pinterest and knew I wanted it in my living room:

Source: curdsnwheycrafts.blogspot.com viaEricka on Pinterest

So I just went to the site of the pin, downloaded it, and printed it on cardstock in a 5x7 size (to fit my frame).  I love the bright colors for Spring!

I also added some fun glitter eggs in Kevin's fantasy football trophy (he insists it has to be displayed in the living room...).  The glitter eggs are from Dollar Tree.  They match my Easter Egg Tree I have on my TV stand.

That completes my Easter decorations at my house.  I hope to add more next year, but I'm loving what I've done this year (Easter Egg Wreath and Easter Egg Tree).  I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!  We will be visiting our families all weekend for Easter :)

I'm linking up with Katie and Stephanie for Saw It, Pinned It, Did It.

Saw It, Pinned It, Did It: Easter Egg Tree

Last week I showed you my Easter Egg Wreath and this week I have another fun Easter craft to show you!

Original Pin:

Source: sweetfloweret.com via Ericka on Pinterest

If you like bright colors and glitter, you'll love this!

Supplies:
Foam Cone
Easter Grass
Small Glitter Easter Eggs
Hot Glue Gun

I found the grass and glitter eggs from Dollar Tree.  The glitter eggs are actually ornaments.  I originally purchased four bags, but had to go back and get two more.  I ended up using just over five bags of the glitter eggs.

Step One
Cut off all of the ribbon hangers on the glitter eggs.

Step 2

Start gluing eggs on to foam cone.  Start from the bottom and work your way to the top.  I put my eggs really close together.  If I did it again, I would space them out a little more (then I probably wouldn't need 5 bags of eggs).

Step 3

Once all of the eggs are glued on the cone and the glue is dry, you can start stuffing the grass into the gaps.  You do NOT have to glue the grass.  I just used a pencil to help stuff the grass in to the gaps.  It will stay there without any glue.

Once you have grass in all of the gaps, you're done!

I think it turned out pretty cute.  I have it sitting on my TV stand in my living room and I love the bright Easter colors it brings in.


I'm linking up with Katie and Steph for Saw It, Pinned It, Did It.

Saw It, Pinned It, Did It: Easter Egg Wreath

I'm so excited to share this super cute Easter Egg Wreath with you all!  I love the fact that I have a front door where I can hang cute wreaths for everyone to see.  When I saw this Easter Egg Wreath, I knew I had to make it for my front door.

Original Pin:

Source: google.com via Ericka on Pinterest

 I headed off to the dollar store and Michaels to get my supplies.  I already had the hot glue gun and glue sticks, so I just needed the plastic eggs, some ribbon, and a foam wreath.

Supplies

Hot Glue Gun (& hot glue sticks)

Foam Wreath

Plastic Easter Eggs

Ribbon

A lot of you probably have many of these items on hand, so this wreath should be pretty inexpensive to make.  I went to Michaels to get the foam wreath, and with my 40% off coupon, the wreath was about $5.  The plastic eggs came 12 in a pack for $1 each, and I used 4.5 packs of eggs on my wreath, so $4.50.  I picked up some yellow ribbon from the dollar store, but didn't end up using it.  I used the ribbon I found at Michaels, which was more expensive, but nicer.  It was about $3, but I didn't use all of it.  So in total, my wreath ended up costing me around $12.

Step 1

Glue plastic eggs to inside part of the wreath.  You don't have to glue them on the back of the wreath, because no one sees the back when it's hanging on the door.

Step 2

Continue gluing eggs around the wreath until you have four rows completed.

Step 3

After the glue has dried, tie ribbon in a bow around the bottom of the wreath.  You can glue it in place if you need to, but mine stayed on it's own.

Step 4

Hang your wreath!  Mine wouldn't hang nicely on my wreath hanger, so I took a piece of hanging wire, made a loop, and stuck it in the foam wreath so I could hang it.

I told you this was easy!  And don't worry if you see white space when you look at your wreath (I was worried about this when I was done), because you can't see all of the white space when you aren't looking at it up close.

What do you think?  I love it!  Probably my favorite SPD project I've ever done!  Now if only Spring would get here and all of this snow would go away....

I'm linking up with Katie and Steph for Saw It, Pinned It, Did It.