Love is Sweet

At my sister's recent wedding, we opted for a little spin on the ever-popular candy favour table. My mom, being the crazy and determined woman that she is, decided to make 450 carmel wrapped and chocolate dipped pretzel rods. Mmmmmmm. They were so good! We helped her wrap the rods with the homemade caramel, but she did all the dipping, and my dad even got in on the packaging. Good work, team!
We found the acrylic cannisters at Winners for $12.99. They are now being used as cookie jars and or flour containers at our various homes.
Tess was the mastermind behind the "Love Is Sweet" sign. She created it using Photoshop and then had it printed at Costco for under $2. The frame is Ikea.
Along with the pretzel rods, we had Wildberry Twizzlers cut in half as another option for those who weren't chocolate lovers. Both the licorice and the pretzel rods were a big hit.

Recipe for Mom's Caramel:
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup Eagle Brand Milk
1 cup Lily White corn syrup
1/2 lb. butter/margarine
Stir in sugar, syrup, Eagle Brand milk together before putting on stovetop. Then add butter. Have burner set on high heat. With wooder spoon stir continually. Turn heat down to medium, but make sure you stir all the time. With thermometer boil just to softball stage. To test for softball stage, have some cold water in a cup and pour a spoonful of the carmel in the water. When a softball forms, the candy is done.
Pour into buttered pan and let set up.

To make the pretzel rods cut the cooled caramel into approximately 1/2 " by 4" rectangles. Wrap around the pretzel rod and store until ready to dip with chocolate. You can drizzle with white chocolate after as well for a nice finished look, or roll in nuts or sprinkles.

Dresser Redo

This summer I found a cute dresser on Kijiji for $35. We had been thinking to get a dresser for our little girl (and soon to come little boy) to share. I thought this dresser had a lot of potential with the nice lines and character. It turned out even better than I thought! Tess did the painting (as I am not allowed to paint at the moment due to the baby boy on the way). She is so good! Thanks Tess for making this happen!
She just spray painted the existing hardware black. It worked out well that we already had the cream paint and the black spray paint! The dresser is solid wood and the drawers work perfectly! A "new" dresser for $35!

Another Cheapy Easy Recipe

I tried this recipe this past weekend and thought it was a great variation to our usual plain ol' taco recipe. It's quick and very tasty!
This is a recipe from my friend Debbie.

Cheesy Nacho Beef Dinner
1 pkg Rice-A-Roni (I used the Spanish one)
1/2 lb. ground beef
2 cups water
1 cup salsa
1 can corn
1 cup (or can) black or brown beans
1 tomato, chopped
Shredded cheese
Sour Cream
Tortillas or nacho chips

Saute rice with beef in large skillet over medium heat until beef is browned. Stir in water, salsa, corn, beans and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes until rice is tender. Stir in chopped tomatoes. Wrap in warm tortilla with cheese and sour cream (or on chips).

Style Me Pretty

I came across this great site. We are in full wedding mode right now and this place has some great ideas!
http://www.stylemepretty.com/

Whitefield Design by Brynn Snyder

I have been meaning to spread the word about one of my talented friends. Brynn (MacLennan) Snyder and I have been friends for....well, our whole lives, I guess. She has recently started her own design company and it is definitely worth checking out. She graduated in Industrial Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Brigham Young University and is one creative girl. So far I have been the lucky recipient of some beautiful thank-you cards, and a personalized monogram address stamp. She does great work. Check it out!
http://www.whitefielddesign.com/index2.php#/home/
or
http://www.whitefieldprints.blogspot.com/

Take A Look -- White Berry Reinvented

I just discovered this talented lady's site. She is in the Edmonton area, which makes it even better!
http://www.whiteberryreinvented.com/index.htm

Wedding Bells

Our sister is going to be getting married in about 8 weeks, which will make her wedding a Thanksgiving/Fall one.

Weddings are one of the best times for creativity to shine through. Trying to get big impact for the least price takes some real talent.

With this in mind, we would love to see what you, or someone you helped, did for a wedding. Send in your pictures of anything wedding related to creatingdaily@gmail.com. Don't be shy, it will be fun to share some ideas! Also don't worry about what season your wedding was, just send em' in.

Here are a few to start from my own......so long ago, haha.....

The dress---I have always been interested in designing dresses, and so I was able to design my dress, find and put together the fabric, and with the help of my amazing seamstress, create just what I had hoped for. I love lace!




The bouquet. I love hydrangeas, and being summer I was able to have fresh ones! I pinned my grandma's broach onto the bouquet for an extra personal touch!


The cake was made by my talented cousin. I am a chocolate lover, so this was a fun treat!



The guest book I made using fabric paper and pictures my father-in-law took of us. We also had at the guest book table a picture frame with "10 things Darin loves about Jenna, and 10 things Jenna loves about Darin." This has been fun to have hanging in our room and to read over.....some things just don't change!



My mom had aprons made for us. "Darin loves Jenna" and "Jenna loves Darin" printed on them. We still love wearing them!



The centerpieces were welded iron twisted rods with a 4-legged base. My father-in-law and brother-in-law were the creators of these. My mom and I did the hydrangea flower arrangements.

 

 

The backdrop was a creation from my sister-in-laws family. We just added our own flowers.

And a few ideas from others......