Ribbon Wreath Tutorial

I've been wanting to make a ribbon wreath for a while now and I finally got a chance to do one recently! I decided to do a pink Valentine's Day theme. I headed to Michael's and was lucky to get really pretty coordinating ribbons that were perfect. I love that I got patterns that aren't the typical hearts that would be expected on a Valentine wreath. Here's the beautiful ribbons I chose:

This is Aria ribbon and I believe it's only carried by Michael's. I love, love, love the pink chevron!!

First I cut a ribbon strips, I did about 4 inches each.

Next hot glue your strips into loops.

I used a 10 in Styrofoam wreath.  You will need to wrap a ribbon around the wreath, hot gluing it as you go.

 

Once that's done it's time for the fun part. Start hot gluing your ribbon loops onto the wrapped wreath. I worked one section at a time and found that it worked well. After all your loops are glued on, glue a ribbon loop onto the back of your wreath and hang on a wreath hook!

Helpful tips:
Make your loops smaller if you have a limited amount of ribbon.
Don't pack your loops too close together, you can always go back and fill in empty spaces later.
Use a variety of patterns and textures for a interesting mix of ribbons.
Expect this to take a couple of hours to complete. :)

 

 



Ruby Slipper Nails--Perfect Red Polish

I have been searching for the perfect red nail polish for ages, every shade I've tried has always been "off"...till now! I just tried out Essie's Snap Happy and I am in love! It's the perfect pin-up worthy shade of red.

I'm addicted to glitter so I decided to use a pretty red glitter top coat by Glitter Addict and I love this polish even more! The final look reminds me of Dorthy's ruby slippers.

I did two coats of Snap Happy and one coat of glitter. I did go back later and put another glitter coat to freshen up my mani :)





Aqua Chevron Gift Set from Nicole Michelle's Creations

Nicole from Nicole Michelle's Creations is my go to girl for anything I need sewn. I've ordered lots of items from her over the years and have always LOVED everything I've gotten! The most recent order I made was this adorable aqua chevron gift set. I ordered them custom made as a Christmas gift to my sister. Nicole was great to work with and let me choose exactly how everything was made. I chose a key fob, make-up brush roll and small make-up pouch with water proof liner. Needless to say, I loved how they turned out and my sister loved them too!

Follow these links to get your own fabulous items and tell her Living My Charmed Life sent you!

Website http://nicolemichelles.com
Body By Vi http://nicolemichelles.bodybyvi.com/ 
Shop http://nicolemichelles.bigcartel.com
Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/NicoleMichelles
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/NicoleMichelles
ShopMSMhttps://www.facebook.com/ShopMilitarySpouseMade 
Twitter: http://twitter.com/NMCBags


Greek Salad Hors d'oeuvres --Healthy and Simple Party Food

I love, love, love party food! I was pretty excited for NYE this year so I could try out a new dish to bring to a party. I've been stuck in a rut in my party food making so I knew I had to bring something other than my usual 7-layer dip and BBQ meatballs. I decided to try out these Greek Salad Hors d'oeuvres. They came out looking beautiful (a few people commented that they were too pretty to eat! lol) and delicious. Not only that, they were also simple to make.

Ingredients:

Black Olives

Grape Tomatoes

Block of Feta Cheese

Cucumber

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Slice black olives and grape tomatoes length wise, cut feta into cubes, slice cucumber and then quarter each slice. Push one of each onto a toothpick. It works best if you start with the olive and also to pierce the tomato from it's inside rather than through the skin. 

Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!!!



Photography--Kids Being Kids

Recently of good friend of mine came out my way to visit family and she let me have the honors of photographing her adorable little ones! I, of course, love getting the sweet smiles and posed family shots but my favorite pictures are always the silly, random ones I get of kids just being kids. It may not be the "perfect" expression that will get framed on the wall, but I really believe these are the shots that really capture their little personalities and will be looked back at fondly over the years. Also, I've found that the kids have so much more fun if you just let them do what they want sometimes ;)
 I got the tongue out/wink combo..

...the boy version of stuck out tongue...

...and a classic crying baby lol. 

Like I said before, these may not the the "perfect" pictures but they are definitely going to get some laughs in the future!

Girly Nails: Barbie Pink and Silver Glitter

Lately I've been trying out lots of different nail polishes together using contrasting accent nails, glitter ombre, ect and this is my newest combo and I love it! I used a super girly pink from Old Navy called "Preppy Pink" which has a subtle silver shimmer to it. I added an accent nail in Pure Ice "Beware" which is a shinny silver glitter packed polish, 2 coats and you can't see nail under the glitter.

I love the Barbie doll feel of these two colors together and the best part is that they are very affordable, under $3 each! For being cheap polishes they stay on chip free surprisingly well.

 



A Walk Down Memory Lane with Hungarian Cooking

I grew up in a Hungarian-American family that didn't come to America until after 1900, I am only the 3rd generation to be born in here.  My great-grandmother came to America when she was a teenager, married a Hungarian man (who I don't know much about) and had 3 children including my grandma. My grandfather came over with his family from Hungary when he was a toddler. I grew up eating delicious homemade Hungarian cooking. Hungarian cooking isn't very popular around the US but it should be because it is hands down the best comfort food ever. As an adult I never tried cooking any of my childhood foods, I guess I always figured that there was no way I could come close to my grandma's and my aunt's cooking so I wasn't going to even try. Recently, David had a Cub Scout assignment about his family heritage and one of the requirements was to make a traditional food. So I got on Pinterest (where I get all my ideas from!) and searched out Hungarian foods. We decided to make a Hungarian goulash, this is a soup made with chunks of beef, potatoes, tomatoes, paprika and coriander..not a bowl of noodles and hamburger like most people think of when they hear "goulash".  I didn't expect it to come out to taste like I remembered but I was pleasantly surprised when it tasted almost exactly like my grandma's! She has been gone for a few years now and hasn't cooked in even longer so it was so wonderful to taste those flavors again and even better to share them with my son. I'm including the original pin so if anyone would like to try this amazing comfort food soup you can! My only suggestion is it came out thicker than I remember so next time I will be adding a cup or so of extra water. It's so simple to make and has so much amazing flavor that it's really worth a try. http://pinterest.com/pin/258112622365030143/

 Credit: André Baranowski

 

4 tbsp. sunflower or canola oil
2 yellow onions, chopped
1 1⁄2 lbs. beef chuck, trimmed
and cut into 1⁄2" cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground
black pepper, to taste
1⁄4 cup sweet paprika
2 tsp. dried marjoram
2 tsp. caraway seeds
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, cut into 1⁄2" cubes
2 medium parsnips, cut into 1⁄2" cubes
1 1⁄2 lbs. medium new potatoes, peeled
and cut into 1⁄2" cubes
1 tomato, cored and chopped
1 Italian frying pepper, chopped

1. Heat oil in a 5-qt. dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Increase heat to high. Add beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook, uncovered, stirring only once or twice, until the meat is lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Stir in paprika, marjoram, caraway, and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add carrots, parsnips, and 5 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium. Simmer, covered, until the beef is nearly tender, about 40 minutes.

2. Add potatoes and cook, uncovered, until tender, about 25 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and peppers; cook for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with rye bread, if you like.

SERVES 4 – 6

 

For the same Cub Scout assignment I had to make a snack for the whole pack. I decided to try making traditional kiffels which are a cookie with a filling such as apricots or walnuts. Those, however, were a huge fail. They tasted terrible and I ended up running to Winn Dixie and buying a box of powdered sugared "Danish Wedding Cookies" and passed them off as Hungarian cookies..no one knew the difference, lol!

 

I am looking forward to learning more of the traditional recipes and maybe even perfecting my kiffels!

 

The recipe and photo are from www.saveur.com