Introducing PROLO's

Now most of you have probably seen the mouth-watering pretzels and hershey kisses topped with an M&M. Well, I decided to switch it up a bit and make PROLO's, a pretzel and rolo combo of deliciousness (topped with an M&M, of course).

what you'll need: 

pretzels, rolo's, m&m's, backing sheet, and oven

directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line pretzels up on the baking sheet and placed unwrapped rolo's in the center of each pretzel. Bake for 2-4 minutes or until rolo's have become soft. Place an M&M on top and push it into the melted rolo.

There you have it, a quick, sweet and salty treat for any holiday day of the week! Seriously... the worst part was unwrapping all the rolos!

On The Nightstand: Room by Emma Donoghue

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another. ---GoodReads

I debated about my feeling on this book for a long time. Sometimes, I picked up the book and couldn't put it down, and at other times I sat there wondering "why am i wasting my time with this?"  At any rate, the debating put it in the three star category. Don't get my wrong, it was an interesting book, and overall I enjoyed reading it. The book is hard to get used to at first, as it is written from the view of a five year old and is not grammatically correct. I knew the book was about a boy and his mother who were trapped in a room, but what I wasn't expecting were the struggles of their life after Room. As a future therapist, I think that's what I found most interesting. 

Have you read any good books lately? Let me know and I'll add them to my reading list!

Hallway Reveal

When we moved into our home, the end of our hallway was very bare. I immediately thought a photo collage would liven the place up a bit, but then I came across Ana White's Ten Dollar Ledges and decided they would be perfect. Adam helped my build them and paint them white. We followed the instructions on Ana White's blog, only adjusting the length to fit the end of our hall.

We dug out my collection of black frames and filled them with wedding photos. 

We've had these shelves up for a while now, but love them even more with the new paint color chose for our hallway, living room, and kitchen. 

The darker color really makes them POP!

These ledges are great because it allows easy rearranging of frames without all the holes in the walls from a gallery wall.

What do you think?!

Has anyone else tried making these?

I've also seen them used as book shelves, holding trophies, and storing craft supplies (setting jars on them for buttons, beads, ribbon, etc)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This was our first year celebrating St. Patty's Day outside Mount Pleasant. I guess it's a sign we are growing up, because we enjoyed our small gathering on Saturday night instead. 

Of course we still enjoyed our green beverages...

...decorated the dog...

...and sported our St. Patty's apparel.

Needless to say, a few of us partied a little to hard, spending all of Sunday recovering.

I hope you all had a fun-filled, green beer-drinking weekend!

St. Patrick's Day Vignette

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today I am sharing my St. Patty's Day Vignette with you all. It's simple, but festive, just the way I like it.

 decorative fabric balls. lucky blocks. printables. votive. 

I made the lucky blocks last year, you can view my post on them here. 

I used my wedding jewels and gems for my candle plate and added a little green to it. I love how much it sparkles!

The decorative fabric balls are also handmade. You can view my tutorial here.

I found these printables on The Tomkat Studio blog. You can find them here to print for yourself. The votive holder is a part of my Beads By Melanie collection. 

Has anyone else decorated for St. Patty's Day this year?

Tomorrow I'll have to make the quick exchange to Easter!

On The Nightstand: Where We Belong by Emily Giffin

The author of five blockbuster novels, Emily Giffin, delivers an unforgettable story of two women, the families that make them who they are, and the longing, loyalty and love that binds them together.

Marian Caldwell is a thirty-six year old television producer, living her dream in New York City. With a fulfilling career and satisfying relationship, she has convinced everyone, including herself, that her life is just as she wants it to be. But one night, Marian answers a knock on the door . . . only to find Kirby Rose, an eighteen-year-old girl with a key to a past that Marian thought she had sealed off forever. From the moment Kirby appears on her doorstep, Marian’s perfectly constructed world—and her very identity—will be shaken to its core, resurrecting ghosts and memories of a passionate young love affair that threaten everything that has come to define her.

For the precocious and determined Kirby, the encounter will spur a process of discovery that ushers her across the threshold of adulthood, forcing her to re-evaluate her family and future in a wise and bittersweet light. As the two women embark on a journey to find the one thing missing in their lives, each will come to recognize that where we belong is often where we least expect to find ourselves—a place that we may have willed ourselves to forget, but that the heart remembers forever. 

---GoodReads

Emily Giffin has done it again with her newest novel. Again, switching each chapter between two character's point of view as she did in Heart of The Matter, she did it very nicely, making the story more interesting and was really able to hold my attention.  I loved that this book dealt with events that some people really do have to deal with in their lives, and I loved seeing that perspective because I have never been put in those positions. While the book was not completely predictable, it still left you with that "feel-good" feeling that predictable books often do.

Have you read any good books lately? Let me know and I'll add them to my reading list!

Lucky Blocks

I enjoyed my Love Blocks so much, I decided to make some for St. Patrick's Day! I went with the word "lucky." I had leftover wood and spray paint. I found some cute green scrapbook pages in my collection and cut out the letters. I then Mod-Podged it and finished it off with some green ribbon. Ta-Dah!

Has anyone else tried to make these letter wood blocks? I'm a bit addicted!

Tutorial: Decorative Fabric Balls- St. Patrick's Day Edition

I had some fabric leftover from my wreath, so I decided to make some decorative balls for my glass vase. Turns out, I like them better in my fruit bowl. At any rate, they are very simple to make!

what you will need:

fabric, pins, sytrofoam balls, scissors

First, I cut the fabric into strips. The size of each strip will depend on the size of your styrofoam balls, mine were 3 inches. My strips ended up being somewhere between 0.5 inch-1 inch wide, and about 9.5 inches long. I eyeballed these measurements, so they were not exact each time. Each ball required 8 strips of fabric, but that will depend on how thin you make you strips.

Once your strips are cut, you are ready to begin. I began wrapping the fabric strips around the styrofoam ball and using one pin to join the ends. Continue this process until the entire ball is covered.

When your entire ball is covered and you can no longer see the styrofoam, you have finished your first fabric ball. Repeat these steps to fill an entire vase, bowl, etc. 

What are some other simple decorating ideas you have tried with styrofoam balls?

Anyone going to try to make these?

Happy Crafting!