Christmas Pickle and the Big 1-0-0

*******The giveaway is now closed. Winners announced here!*******

I (finally!) made it to my 100th post! Whew. Don't worry, I'll keep it short so we can get to a fun giveaway. :) Baby B has a set of building blocks he loves to play with and without fail he always picks out the long skinny green blocks. He is always carrying at least one of them around, and we find them all over the house wherever he drops them. We started calling them his "pickles."

It is seriously so cute that he's picked a favorite and we want to remember it forever. And since it's Christmas, my husband had a great idea to keep the memory alive. He screwed a small o-ring into the end of one of the "pickles" and slipped an ornament hook through the hole.

It was so easy and makes a great, sentimental addition to the tree. To finish it off, I used a sharpie to write "Baby B's 'pickle' 2011" down one side. This is a great way to remember some of our favorite things as Baby B grows and now I want to turn everything he loves into ornaments! :)

And now for the part you've all been waiting for.....the GIVEAWAY! I recently bought a fabric covered button thingy-ma-gigger and started making button earrings (idea from here, tutorial here). It's super fun to do (if you're the crafty type you should pick up a button maker and give it a try! I use the 1/2" size) and it's an easy way to make custom, unique earrings for yourself or a friend.

(some of my buttons waiting to be earring...ified?)

If you're not the crafty type, my sister & I have stocked up our Etsy shop with bags, purses, and some great button earrings. They are super cute (and would make great gifts...wink, wink). Which brings us to today's giveaway! I will be giving THREE lucky winners one pair of button earrings of your choice from our Etsy shop!

You can enter up to 3 times:

1. Visit the earring page of our Etsy shop, then come back here and leave a comment telling me which pair of earrings you want if you win.
2. Share a link to the giveaway on Facebook and leave a comment saying you did.
3. Share a link to the giveaway on Twitter and leave a comment saying you did.

Please leave your email address in the comment if you want to be notified if you win. The giveaway will close at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 16th. Three winners will be chosen randomly from the comments, and yes, if you put in multiple qualifying entries, you can win more than once!

Also, we're offering a 10% DISCOUNT off you entire order from our Etsy shop through the end of the year! Just use the discount code RUDOLPH10 at the check out.

P.S. I'm linked up for giveaway day at Sew, Mama, Sew! There will probably be HUNDREDS of giveaways posted there by the end of the day, so make sure you check it out and try to win some great prizes! (here are links to each category: craft supplies, sewing supplies, handmade accessories, handmade bags, handmade baby & kid items, and handmade for the home)

Salt Dough Gift Tags

***I made an updated post to answer several questions (add color, dry faster, etc) and try some fun new designs! Check it out here! ***

I pinned an idea a while back for making salt dough gift tags because I love how they would look with my brown wrapping paper. Plus salt dough would be super easy and cheap. Then I came to find out those particular tags were actually made of clay, not salt dough. But not to be deterred, I set out to make some salt dough tags anyway!

My version of the tags turned out great, and I have to say they look pretty sweet on my gifts (which I'll be sharing pictures of soon). I think the main difference between these and the tags on pinterest is that mine are not as smooth. But they were practically free and I actually like the textured finish they have. Want to make some tags for your gifts this year? Here's how I did it:

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

Combine ingredients in a bowl and knead until smooth. (I never got it super smooth, but I made some tags after just a quick knead and some after kneading longer, and there was a definite difference in quality with the tags that were kneaded longer being smoother and more even once they dried.)

Then roll out the dough to the desired thickness. (I think mine was roughly 1/4") DO NOT EAT THE DOUGH. This is your only warning. If you choose to ignore it and eat the dough, your friends and family have my permission to laugh at any resulting sour-puss faces you may make.

Use a cookie cutter to cut out your tags in whatever shape you want. You can re-knead the left overs and roll them out again to get more tags.

Now you need to make a hole for ribbon. I used a small drinking straw to get the size of hole I wanted.

Then comes the fun part - embellishing your tags! I tried a few different ways to decorate my tags. Some I left blank, just to keep it nice and simple. Some I stamped with a clean rubber stamp (in a star shape) to leave an impression with no color. The rest I stamped with the same stamp, but I dipped it in ink first. They all turned out fine, so choosing a style is really just a matter of preference. (although the tags I didn't knead as much came out rougher and the impressions didn't show up as well)

Then you wait... and wait... and wait for them to dry. It took these babies about 3 days to dry. I turned them over halfway through to let the backs have a chance to dry, too. But that was it! They were super easy and they will make toppers for my gifts this year. This would also be a fun way to make Christmas ornaments!

Have you ever made gift tags? What do you make them out of?

p.s. We accidentally left our camera behind at Thanksgiving, so we are temporarily using the old point and shoot we still have. Hence the dark/blurry/unfocused photos. Sorry about that. They actually look much better in person than in these pictures! :)

Don't forget to check out my update post!

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Kitchen Shelves

Remember that little peek of the new kitchen shelves you got after we painted the kitchen? Well, the wait is over to (finally) see them finished! We installed two of these metal shelves from IKEA (first mentioned in our kitchen plan) and relocated the bars that used to be there (also from IKEA). I started with the bar and hung it high enough to fit hanging spoons & spatulas above the countertop. I put the bottom shelf right above that, then put my tallest dishes on the shelf to see how high to hang the top one. The last thing I wanted to was to put them up, find out something didn't fit, and have to move them!

We centered the shelves on the wall space between the window and doorway. And yes, that is bare plywood laid across the two cabinets we still need to install. But hey, at least it's counter space!

I still had one bar left over, so I decided to get a little crazy and line it up next to the first bar....right across the window. You can see it in the picture above, too. I've seen things kind of like this in magazines where people would have a shelf in front of a window with plants and jars on it, and I thought this would be a cool twist on that. See those little white pots? My plan is to grow herbs in them. What do you think? I am planning to replace the blinds so the pots will stand out more. Hopefully it ends up cool and not "ugh, what was I thinking?!"

A shot from the other direction - I still love how well the yellow goes with the living room. And the metal adds some nice texture to the space!

And here is everything all loaded up. I LOVE the white dishes against the yellow, but to be honest I'm not crazy about the bar. I think it looks cluttered. Maybe I just need to play around with what things I have on it?

And I may need to move the "EAT" up a bit since it kind of hides behind the dishes. But I'm looking for a frame to hang a picture my sister painted up there, so I'll wait until I know what else is going up there.

That's the only new progress on the kitchen so far. I love that we were able to add some storage without having to put in any cabinets. The open shelving looks so much lighter and... well... more open. Do you use open shelving in your kitchen? I'm also to have my favorite dishes where I can actually use them! We had them stashed in the basement (because we didn't have room for them in the cabinets), but now that they are back in the kitchen we've been using them everyday!

And, of course, we'll close with Baby B. He is starting to climb on things - like stepping on this paint bucket to get into the sink. I am going to have my hands full with this boy. :)

P.S. This is my 98th blog post! I'm thinking the 100th post will be a great time for a giveaway, so stay tuned to win some fun prizes - made by me!

Progressive Dinner

Here are a few final details from the progressive dinner we hosted....

After I made the mini lanterns, I mixed in pillar candles, glass vases (which were just old snapple bottles), and some pomegranates...

....and small gourds. I had a few orange place mats that I lined up down the middle of the table as a runner and then arranged my centerpieces on top.

Then right before the guest came I lit the candles and grabbed some sticks from the yard to fill the vases. It's no joke looking for sticks in the yard after dark in November. What can I say? I'm a thrill seeker.

I thought the sticks were fitting for fall, but still kept things nice and simple. Plus they were free. But I almost poked my self in the eye when I blew out the candles. Like I said, thrill seeker.

We found out we would have up to 16 people at our house, so we did a little furniture rearranging to fit everyone. I'll warn you now, these pictures are all post-party and not set up at all. But at least you'll get an idea of the layout. We moved the coffee table to the office, slid the couch against the wall, and brought up the big dining table from the basement which ended up fitting everyone.

But we also set up the small table, just in case.

Now for the yummy part - the food! And after I made those sweet buffet labels, I didn't get any pictures of them with the food. Oops. So just believe me when I say they looked good! We hosted the first course of soup, salad, and bread. I made two soups. I chose them first of all because they are my favorites, and also because they are pretty simple. First was my mom's cheese broccoli soup (I also added carrots). I made it in the afternoon and then dumped it in a crockpot to stay warm until dinner. I don't do any measuring or follow a recipe for this soup, but I found a soup recipe online that follows the basic order of events (but I use velveeta instead of cheddar) that you can play with if you like.

 Cheese Broccoli Soup recipe & picture form here.

The second soup was a chicken taco chili I found on pinterest. The I just threw it in the crockpot in the morning, and dug in when the guest arrived. I let them dig in first, of course. And yes, it is as good as the picture looks. And no, I did not take the picture.

Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili - via Pinterest

I love bread with my soup so I decided to make these bread bowls, but instead of each person having a whole bowl (remember, this is only the first course!) I decided to slice it so people could take less and not get too full. I have to say, bread baking is not my strong point and as always I had trouble with the rising. So they turned out very dense. But still yummy, so it was okay. :)

My bread rising to make bread bowls (recipe from pinterest)

We also made a strawberry & spinach salad to go along with the soup. I found this picture on pinterest, it's not the recipe we used, but you don't really need a recipe! We just mixed spinach, sliced strawberries, & feta cheese in a bowl (it's also good with nuts, but we were trying to avoid common allergens). Easy. :)

Strawberry Spinach Salad - via pinterest

I made a sweet vinegar based dressing to go with the salad. Just to warn you, it's probably the best dressing you'll ever taste. This recipe is from my grandmother-in-law, and once you taste it I will be happy to pass your praises on to her.

Salad Dressing:
Beat 1 egg with a fork and mix it thoroughly with 1 c. sugar
Add:
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
3/4 c. water
pinch salt

Bring to a boil and boil 1 minute
Add 1 Tbsp. butter.

Chill (the dressing, not you)

Variations:
Thicken with corn starch (in water) and add cooked, crumbled bacon for hot bacon dressing.
For cole slaw - mix some of this with sour cream, mayo, mustard and celery seed.

WARNING: You have to watch this while it is on the stove. It boils over very quickly once it starts boiling. I stir and lift the pan from the heat every few seconds, then return it until it is about to boil over again, then lift, etc.

This is the only terrible picture I have, but this is what it looks like. I did a double batch and it filled this jar about 3/4 full.

And we mixed up some pink lemonade to finish things off. So we kept it pretty simple & easy, but still had a great time enjoying great food with our friends.

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