Author: shelbyjoy08

Anniversary Dinner

dinner

We decided to stay in for our anniversary dinner since both sets of parents took us out dinner.  Matt decided he wanted to make steak au poivre, which is his favorite meal!   This receipe is from one of his parent’s cookbooks.

Ingredients:

4 New York Strip Steaks

1 – 2 tablespoons cracked whole black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

1 shallot or 2 green onions, chopped

¼ cup butter

¼ cup cognac

¼ cup whipping cream 2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard

Steps:

  1. Sprinkle both sides of the steak with the pepper and salt.
  2. Cook steaks on the grill (we like ours medium rare so we did it for about 10 minutes).
  3. In a pan cook the shallot and butter until tender.
  4. In a sauce pan heat the cognac till it simmers.
  5. Put the steaks in the pan
  6. Stir cream and mustard into the cognac. Light the cognac on fire and pour the sauce over the steaks. 
  7. Transfer the steaks to a plate and enjoy your French dish!

Bacholrette Party

Weddings

So this weekend I planned a bacholrette party in Nashville!

For the swag bags:

  • Personalize bags – this is a MUST so everyone gets the right t-shirt! Created using paper bags from the Dollar Tree, Orcal Vinyl, and the Cricut.
  • T-Shirts! The shirts were bought from Target when they had a buy two for a lower price deal. I used gold iron on vinyl and my cricut to DIY the shirts.
  • Face whips – I got these both from Target.
  • Kleenex – I found these in 6 packs from Target.
  • Socks (We went to Pinewood Social for bowling and socks are a must!. These are were two packs from the Dollar Tree
  • Two face masks – these are from Target.
  • Gum – Our grocery store had a 10 for 10 sale.
  • Srunchies (I made these so they would match the shirts as closely as possible).
  • Personalized water bottles (this is so everyone can know which bottle is theirs). I got these bottles at target during the end of summer sale.
  • Shout wipes – these came in a 10 pack.
  • hand sanitizer – Bath and Body Works was having a 4 for 5 sale.
  • Hair ties – I had these from when I worked at Claire’s.
  • EOS sticks – these were from a 9 pack bought at Costco.
  • Tylenol – these were bought at Target.
  • Sunglasses – I had these left over from my wedding’s welcome bags.

For the Bride’s Swag bag –

  • I added in a sash that I made. The instructions will be up later this week.
  • Two veils. One was a srunchie with a veil and the other was an elastic headband with tulle added to the elastic on the back.

For Decorations:

  • I bought cellophane warp from the Dollar Tree.
  • Balloons came from Amazon and Target.
  • The Champagne wall – for instructions on how to make that click here!
  • Banner – this was a DIY project made from scrapbook paper, glitter, ribbon, Modge Podge, and a hot glue gun!
  • Cricle banner – this was bought off of Amazon.

For the extras I brought 3 gallons of water, Gatorade, bottles of pressco, and a 30 cans of White Claw. For snacks, I also brought trail mix, granola bars, and popcorn. The cupcakes were topped with men’s silhouettes that were made using the Cricut, a hot glue gun, glitter card stock, and wooden skewers. I put the cupcakes on a cake stand to give it a more special vibe. The frame and matting was bought from Michael’s. I added the letters out of vinyl I cut from the Cricut and made them to match the shirts.

To make sure the hotel rooms would be clean from all of the decorations I packed 3 garbage bags, wet whips, and paper towels.

Boho Bridal Shower

Weddings

This weekend I hosted a bridal shower for one of my childhood friends, Natalia. I created the boho atmosphere by making a teepee, getting pallets, and finding enough floor pillows and blankets.

Get the look:

Instructions for the teepee and the champagne wall are coming soon to the blog.

The glasses were found at the Dollar Tree, so yes that means they were $1!

The round pink printed pillows were found at Ali Express, they were under $4 but you do have to stuff them. The most cost effective way to fill them is a huge bag of stuffing found at craft stores or Walmart. The floral pillows were from my guest bedroom bed. The navy and white pillows I made a few years ago for my family’s dogs.

The plates were found a thrift store for under a $1 a piece!

The lights were bought at Target after Christmas (I keep sets on hand for situations likes this).

Everyone wore flower crowns, which were from Claires and Icing.

The fans that were on each place setting were also from Dollar Tree.

Easy Salmon Dinner

dinner

Tonight is one of those nights where I have a million and one things to do for 3 upcoming events. So instead of getting fancy with dinner we just cooked salmon and served it with a side salad of spinach drizzled with poppy seed dressing.

Ingredients:

  • Salmon
  • Lemon Juice
  • Spinach
  • Dressing

Steps:

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
  2. Cook the salmon in for 15 minutes.
  3. Plate the salmon
  4. Drizzle lemon juice on the salmon to your liking
  5. Plate the spinach and add the dressing
  6. Enjoy your 20 minute dinner!

Salmon Wellington

dinner

Today was a rare day where I took over the kitchen from my Husband. I decided try making Salmon Wellington and am really happy with the results!

The salmon wellington recipe is from here!

For the potatoes I drizzled olive oil on them with some sea salt and parsley! I cooked them in the oven for the same time and heat as the salmon.

Prepping for a 2 Week, 3 Country Trip

International Travel

When I started thinking about the three different places my husband and I were going to go, it became overwhelming. The thought of going to London, Madrid, and Marrakesh in 1 trip seemed impossible. I have one suitcase, one backpack, and one carry on duffel to pack for London’s rainy weather, Marrakesh’s strict dress code and hot weather, and Madrid’s warmer weather. I came up with a looking at them as separate trips. I created a day by day sheet for each trip so I could plan out my outfits and pack accordingly. I’ve attached the blank template that I created.

DIY Personalized Tote Bag

Uncategorized

I made these as a gift for my bridesmaids last year and had such a positive reaction to them, I decided to make them as gifts for people.  My mom’s friend loved the bag so when her birthday was coming up I picked up a canvas and glitter tote bag from Target’s dollar spot to make her one!

Supplies:

Cricut

Iron on foil

Weeding tools

Canvas tote bag (Mine was $5 from Target’s Valentine’s Day collection)

Iron

Steps:

1. Write out what name you would like on the bag in Cricut design space and mirror the name since we are using iron on foil.

2. Cut the image out and get rid of the extra foil around the image (this is called weeding).

3. Place the design on your tote bag and iron the design.  

4. After the bag has cooled down a bit remove the plastic from the foil.

5. Fill up the bag as a gift or keep it to use it for your library books.

Mini Cheesecakes!

Desserts

Look at how cute these mini cheesecakes are! They are the perfect light dessert in the right size. I made these for my coworker’s birthday since she loves cheesecake. When making treats for work I always try to make something that’s easy to grab.

To make these you will need

• Muffin tin

• Cupcake liners

• 1 pound or 16 ounces of cream cheese (I used reduced fat cream cheese)

• ¾ cup of sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

• Vanilla Wafers (I used reduced fat ones)

First you want to preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then you will mix the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla in the bowl for around 5 minutes. Since I used my kitchenaid I put the cupcake liners in the muffin tin while the batter was mixing. Put a vanilla wafer on the bottom of each cupcake liner. Put 1 spoonful of batter in each cupcake liner. Bake the batter for about 15 minutes or until the batter is set. Once the mini cheesecakes are out of the oven and cooled, refrigerate them until being severed!

High Chair Tutu

Uncategorized

My sister-in-law sent me a picture of an adorable high chair tutu for my niece’s first birthday. Since I had left over tulle from my bridal shower, I decided to make her one.

Materials

  • Tulle (I used tulle that came on a cylinder from Michael’s)
  • Pink thread
  • Pink ribbon (I used 1 1/2 inch ribbon)
  • Safety pin

Leaving the tulle on the tube it came on, I sewed a 2 inch casing from the folded edge of the tulle. Sewing all 25 yards of tulle took 1.5 bobbins so be prepared for it to run out closer to to the end of the tube. I put the safety pin on one end of the ribbon and threaded it through the casing. I’m not going to lie, it took an hour to thread through all 25 yards of tulle. Since I don’t have a high chair, I tested it out on a chair. I cannot wait to see my niece sitting her high chair with the tutu!