Archives for December 2010

Fancy This Fridays Edition #5

December 30, 2010 4 Comments

I’m about to be on my way out of town for the weekend for New Years!
So Happy New Year to all of our amazing followers, readers and friends!
We can’t wait to grow and enjoy Truly Lovely in 2011!!!

It’s time for the BIG 5th Edition of Fancy This Fridays!! Please link up your projects, ideas, anything you think is Truly Lovely! Then please, spread the link love and visit some of the other links! Tell them we sent you!

SOURCE

Happy New Year from Truly Lovely!!! Party it up!!! But please be safe!!!

Fancy This Friday Rules:

1) Must be your own project

2) Must be linked to that project’s specific post within your blog,

not the blog itself

3) Grab our party button so others can party too!

4) Share some linky love with the other participants, by visiting and commenting on their projects as well! We ALL love comments!!

Thanks for linking up lovelies!!! See you in 2011!!

AND

Filed Under: Fancy This Fridays

Brownie Covered Oreos

December 29, 2010 10 Comments

Mint Oreo Brownies

The sweet ladies at work provided me with several festive treats last week… To thank them for THEIR goodies, I decided to make some goodies of my own. Even though it’s past Christmas, it’s still Holiday time, so I made my first batch of Brownie Covered Oreos, Kassi’s version!

I first saw the idea here, at Ashley’s Antics. She has some really fun ideas, and entertaining posts, for sure!

For my variation, I chose to use Mint Oreos, because I LOVE mint, and thought it would be fun to have the green in the middle… I also bought the family size brownie mix, because Ashley had said that one box didn’t make very many…

I used the Marshmallow Icing Brownie Topping from Betty Crocker, instead of the glaze that Ashley used… Bad choice… I’ll tell you about that in a second… Some Cool Mint Oreos, and some plain, just because…

Simply follow the directions on the box for mixing up your brownies, then I just tossed a few oreos in the bowl, made sure they were covered in brownie mix and spooned them (well I used a huge fork… but you get the idea…) into a muffin pan.

Just an FYI, if you drip a little extra brownie mix over the oreos in the pan, they’ll come out a little thicker and a little nicer…

Then I stuck them in the oven to bake. When they were done, I let the pan cool for a few minutes, then took a butter knife to loosen the edges and pop them out of the pan onto wax paper to cool.

This is where I was a little upset with my icing choice… The Brownie Topping leads you to believe you can just drip the icing on top of the brownie and be done with it… Guess what? You can’t. It’s too thick as it comes out of the tube to have a nice glazed look, so you have to glob it on, then spread it out, like normal icing… Silly, fibbing icing package… Oh well.

Anyway, I iced the brownies, and feeling they needed a little something extra, sprinkled them with Cinnamon Sugar.

I couldn’t resist getting a picture of the green mint center… And they were so yummy!!! I’m so glad I bought enough to make more! 😉 Guess what I’m doing again tonight… Yummy mint brownies for my house!

Once they were all fancied up, I put two in each of the little Ziploc bags and wrote, “Happy Holidays from Kassi”. There you go co-workers! Hope you enjoy!!!

And that fun little Christmas food carrier I got at Wal-mart for $3… Put to good use yet again! Yay!!

If you try these, we would love to see how yours come out! And if you have any variations, we would love to see those too!!!

And thanks to Ashley for the idea!!!

That makes one “Lovely Idea We’re Dying to Try” from our sidebar list… Done! And a Success!

Filed Under: Recipes

Fancy This Features #4

December 28, 2010 4 Comments

So sorry we’re a day late with the features post… It’s been a busy Christmas weekend in the Laney family world!

I just wanna say a real quick thank you to Miss Kayli for all of the crafty goodness she supplied me with in the form of my Christmas presents from her this year! You can now look forward to lots of fun crafty posts in the New Year thanks to Kayli!

A few of my favorites:

A cute little craft iron
Daisy iron ons and a canvas bag to make a Bride Bag for my wedding planning
A package of multi-colored felt!
And the list goes on!!!
And our sweet Mama gave us both some tote patterns and fabric for sewing cute totes… So stay tuned for those as well!!!

Oh… And guess what… My fiance really loves me… Guess what he got me for Christmas?!?! That’s right! One of these…

SOURCE

I’m already brimming over with ideas!!! Wedding DIY, gifts, decor, you name it!!! I’m going to try it all with my new Silhouette!! Thank you sweetheart fiance!!! Even though he’s not a blog reader, maybe he’ll chance by and see his public thanks! 😉

So until then, thanks to all who linked up to ! Especially because it was Christmas Eve!!!
We love you guys already!!!

Here are our favorites from last week!!!

Tracie from My Life in Stages shared her family’s Christmas traditions, which included making these super cute coasters as teacher gifts and driving around to look at Christmas lights! (Which we do every year also!

Lhorie At To Sew With Love did it again with this super cute Santa dress for her little doggie! Gotta love a doggie Santa Claus!

Danielle at Mostly Food and Crafts made this quick tile gift! I can’t wait to try one of these now that I have my Silhouette!!!

Cute, right?!

Thanks again to all the Lovelies that still participated in our party even though it was Christmas Eve!! You guys are the best!!!

We would so appreciate if you would stop by the blogs of the sweet ladies that were featured and leave them some bloggie love!
Tell them Truly Lovely sent you!

And if you were featured, we’d love you to have our button!

Hope to see you again this Friday!!!

Filed Under: Fancy This Fridays, Features

Fancy This Fridays Christmas Eve Edition!

December 24, 2010 4 Comments

Merry Christmas Eve Bloggie Friends!!!

We wish you the Happiest of Holidays!

Since it is Christmas we hope you’ll link up your favorite Christmas crafts, recipes, projects, ideas, etc. But really, we’re not picky… Anything you have fancied up this last week is lovely to us!

I will be heading up to Christmas with my family, including Miss Kayli, this afternoon. Hope you’re enjoying this special time with your friends and family!

Check back next week to see our favorite projects from today’s link up!

My Christmas Rope Wreath! Read about it !

Fancy This Rules:

1) Must be your own project

2) Must be linked to that project’s specific post within your blog,

not the blog itself

3) Grab our party button so others can party too!

4) Share some linky love with the other participants, by visiting and commenting on their projects as well! We ALL love comments!

Thanks for linking LOVELIES!!!

Merry Christmas!!

AND

Filed Under: Fancy This Fridays

Paper Boxes!

December 24, 2010 11 Comments

Alright so it’s almost Christmas- you bought your friend an awesome (but incredibly tiny) gift and you’re so excited to give it to them. BUT you have a few problems…. ONE! Sure the gift wasn’t cheap but it isn’t HUGE either and the last time you checked- they didn’t make bags and tissue paper this tiny… TWO! Now you’re panicking because you don’t know how you’re going to wrap it and you’re suddenly wishing you would have bought something bigger…
TAKE TWO DEEP BREATHS and chill- Kayli’s got you covered Use a paper box! Here’s a tutorial-

1. Get your materials together- two pieces of scrapbook paper (tissue paper and ribbon later for pretty wrapping) and some type of folding mechanism- I used my hands 😉 Yeah- that’s it. That will be all you need.

2. Take one sheet of paper (this sheet will be the bottom half of your box) and fold it pattern-in hot dog style one way- then unfold it and fold it hot dog style THE OTHER way.

3. Alright now unfold again so it’s flat- and lay it pattern down. Now take each corner and fold it into the center of the paper so it looks like this…

4. Now take the bottom of your paper and fold it into the center and do the same with the other side, like this…

**When you make the top of your box, you’ll want it to be bigger- so at this step just make sure you don’t fold ALL the way into the middle- leave a space in between, nothing drastic- but if you make them touch like above- then the top won’t fit over the bottom..**

5. Unfold it so it looks like this-

6. Now push both sides of your paper in like so-

7. Then fold the top over on one side so it looks like this-

8. Then do the same to the other side and TADA!!! You have the bottom of your box! Confused look?? Where did I lose you?? haha

So I completely love these- I use them to hold notes and keepsakes, and for wrapping gifts! It might seem crazy complicated- but it’s really not- and once you’ve started, just keep one to use for future reference! Here are some others I’ve made- as well as the one I made for this post. Anyone else have clever ways to wrap gifts?? We’d love to hear your ideas!

Happy Folding and Merry Christmas!

Filed Under: Crafts, Gift Ideas Tagged With: Scrapbook Paper

Silhouette Funny

December 23, 2010 3 Comments

Since it’s almost Christmas… I thought I’d share this funny I got from the Silhouette website today while I was pining for it’s awesomeness…

(Yeah, that’s a word!

Heads up to my fiance… Except in his case if he ever wants to see his ropes again…

HAHA!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL of our AMAZING FOLLOWERS!!!

We’re just a new, little blog and we’re so grateful for each and every one of you!!!

Hope you have a fun holiday weekend!!!

Always,

AND

Filed Under: Kassi, Kayli

Chalkboard Canisters

December 22, 2010 20 Comments

Merry Christmas!!!

The countdown is ON!!! Only 2 days left to go until the big day!

That being said, here is my tutorial for my favorite homemade Christmas gift for 2010!!

Chalkboard Canisters!

I made this gift for a dear friend that is also a teacher, so I’m hoping she’ll “get” them! I’m not a teacher and I want to make myself some now… haha. So I think I’m good.

The inspiration for this project came from , at Tatertots & Jello.
My fave blogger!
And from here at the Soladay Family Blog.
Thanks ladies for the inpiration!! Hope I did the idea well!!

I started with three glass containers of varying sizes, a spool of fun black and white checked ribbon, some chalkboard paint and a foam brush… And of course chalk! All purchased at Wal-Mart from the Craft Department.

Only other materials needed were my trusty glue gun, some tape and some twine I already had.

I taped off the area I wanted to paint using packing tape…

FYI: Splurge on some painters tape! The paint leaked through the packing tape a little on the edges, and I had to go back and clean it up by scraping off the excess…

It took about three coats of the chalkboard paint to get it thick enough on the glass… I was having trouble with it… until my fiance came in and globbed a bunch on there.

“You just gotta get it thick”, he said. Oh.

Anyway, they turned out fairly nice, I think!

I then took my trusty hot glue gun and glued the checked ribbon around the top edge of each jar. For the smaller jars, I just cut the ribbon in half and it fit nicely. I made a little bow of proportionate size for each container and ~~slapped them~~ carefully glued each bow to the containers.

For the middle sized jar, I tied a piece of twine around the top of the jar, then covered it with the ribbon, leaving some hanging out to hold the chalk.

I just tied the twine loosely around a piece of chalk so that it’s handy for writing on the little chalkboard facings.

And the finished result!

I LOVE them! I want some of my own… And so does Kayli… So there may be some more canister making in my near future…

For my friend’s gift, I filled each canister with a different kind of Christmas candy and wrote the names of what was inside for each using the chalk.

So what do you think? Do you have any other fun ideas using Chalkboard paint???

P.S. I linked the project up to these fun !!!

Check them out and enter your own projects/ideas!!!

Filed Under: Crafts, Home Decor, Tutorials Tagged With: Chalkboard Paint

Things You Should Know about Kassi….

December 21, 2010 13 Comments

Miss Ashley over at Little Miss Momma has a SUPER fun linky party happening!

“Things you should know if we’re gonna be BFF…”

You make a list of things about yourself others should know if you’re going to be bloggie BFFs. So of course… I couldn’t resist!

Here’s my list of things you should know about ME!

Me, in my new Scentsy Shirt! I sell Scentsy FYI!

I’m drawn to zebra print… I have a zebra print purse, wallet, and some jewelry… I wish I had a room to decorate in zebra… But that might be a little much.
I love using dots… Alot… Can you tell…?
I’m currently in the midst of planning my summer wedding. And I’m obsessed with all things wedding because of it. Like the wedding shows on WE and Style. I could watch them all day. Too bad they’re usually re-runs.
If I don’t paint my nails I tend to pick at them… Not really bite them… But mess with them until they look all messed up… Bad habit, I know.

I hate folding laundry… A basket of unfolded laundry has been known to sit in my bedroom floor for days and days.
I’m SO excited for Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy… and all that fun stuff with my kids someday! It’s super high on my list of future motherhood items!
I LOVE Christmas lights. My fiance laughs at me because I keep begging to go to Light Parades. Or to drive around and look at lights! I can’t wait to have my own house to light up for Christmas!!
I’ve known my fiance since we were little kids. We met when we were about 10 or 11 and were pen pals for a few years sending letters and school pictures. We reconnected in college and the rest is history! I still have one of the letters and pictures he sent to me, btw.
I love horses and riding. My fiance is teaching me to heel… Hopefully we can rope as a team someday! NFR 2020 here we come… 😉

So there you have it… A few things to know about Kassi! To link up your list visit Little Miss Momma’s Blog here!

I’m also linking up to Random Facts About Little Ole Me at The Idea Room!

You can link up here at Vintage Wanna Bee ALSO!!

For the Love of Blogs

Filed Under: Kassi

My First Work Christmas Party…

December 21, 2010 5 Comments

This last Friday was my VERY, FIRST EVER “real world” Work Christmas Party.

I mean, since graduating from college and getting a “real” job!

So of course… I was hoping to make a good impression!

The invite said to bring…

1) A Guest

2) White Elephant Gift $15 Value

3) Dessert or Appetizer

So I brought…

1) My sweetheart of a fiance as my guest… 😉

Even though he was REALLY hesitant to go… Not his thing!

2) A Heavenly Plug-in and Embers Scentsy Bar for my Gift!

(I sell Scentsy as one of my many ongoing adventures! Check out my website here!!)

3) Chocolate No Bake Cookies! My first attempt at them by the way! And I think they were delicious!!!

Armed with my newly acquired Christmas jewelry from AliLilly, I feel like my first “real” job Christmas party was a SUCCESS!!! At least I had a really good time, and so did my fiance! And I acquired a sweet set of makeup in the gift I ended up with from the gift exchange!! So win, win!!!

AliLilly Christmas Bracelet

AliLilly Christmas Earrings

I wrapped my gift in a red gift bag, and cut out some poinsettias from some wrapping paper I had left over… Just for something extra…

I think everything turned out very nice!

And thanks to Wal-Mart for the $3 dessert carrier!

Any work Christmas parties happening for you this year?? What did you take??

Filed Under: Holidays, Kassi, Party Ideas, Recipes Tagged With: Christmas, Food

Monday Features From Fancy This #3!!

December 20, 2010 6 Comments

It just gets better and better! This last week we had 34 link ups to our Fancy This Fridays Linky Party on Truly Lovely!!! Thanks so much for sharing your amazing ideas with us!!! We love them all!!!

We have promised to feature our favorites, though…
So this week we REALLY love…

This desk re-do by Bella at Bella Before and After! What a great way to Fancy up an old desk!!!