Happy Thanksgiving!!

Image from here

Wishing you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving!!  

xo, Laura

DIY Thanksgiving Pilgrim and Indian Wood Peg Dolls

I have fallen in love with those cute, modern little wood peg dolls, and decided it was high time I made my own set!  They looked easy enough, and require only a few simple supplies, so I came up with these cute Thanksgiving pilgrim and Indian dolls for my kids to play with.  I wanted my dolls to have a clean, simple, modern look, but you could add as many details to these as you would like!

They cost me under $2 for the peg dolls (using my trusty 50% off coupons at Michaels), and were really easy and quick to make.  I love them so much that now I'm debating whether or not to give them to my kids!

I know this is last minute for this Thanksgiving, but this would be a great activity for even your kids to make while you are preparing your Thanksgiving feast.

These are pretty self-explanatory, but here are the supplies and directions...

Supplies:

• Wood peg dolls (from any craft store- mine are from Michaels)
• Paint and fine tip paintbrush
• Pencil
• Optional- Sealer (I used Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze)

Directions:

1.  Draw the features that you would like on your doll lightly with a pencil.

2.  Carefuly paint the clothes and faces of your pilgrims and Indians.  

3.  Optional- If you would like your dolls to have a shiny, finished surface that will protect the paint, you can spray a sealer on them.  I used Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze.

Let dry and play away!  Now to decide if I'll let my kids actually touch these or not ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

xo, Laura

11 Tasty Turkey Treats Recipes for Thanksgiving

Pinterest has been FULL of cute little turkey treats this season, and I wanted to share with you some of my favorites!!  Only 2 more days until Thanksgiving.... are you ready? 

1. Reese's Turkeys

2. Turkey Pretzels

3. Thanksgiving Turkey Pops

4. Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

5. Oreo Turkeys

6. Turkey Cookies

7. Gobble Spoons

8. Turkey Cupcakes

9. Turkey Brownie Pop

10. Cooked Turkey Pops

11. Turkey Fruit Plate

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with lots of turkey and mashed potatoes! 

xo, Laura

Cranberry Cinnamon Streusel Muffins Recipe

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Post Pebbles, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #PostWalgreens http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.

I am so beyond excited to share with you this Cranberry Cinnamon Streusel Muffins recipe.  I've been experimenting in the kitchen, trying to come up with a really good cranberry muffin recipe (since it's cranberry season, right?), and I really think this recipe hits the nail on the head!

These muffins are sweet, but not too sweet, and perfectly balance out the tartness of the fresh cranberries that are baked inside.  The tops of these muffins have a nice slightly crunchy, caramelized top that tastes amazing!

You'll never guess the secret ingredient that gives the inside of these muffins such a nice texture, and is also part of the tasty, crunchy sweet streusel cinnamon topping... Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal!  I headed to Walgreens, where Post Honey Bunches of Oats, Fruity Pebbles, Great Grains, and Grape Nuts are all on sale this week for only $1.99, and picked up a box of Post Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds Cereal.  My family eats a box of cereal a day (since there are six of us), so this is a great time to stock up!

You really have to give these muffins a try.  They are honestly my favorite muffin that I have ever eaten, and these are now going to be a recipe that I turn to again and again for great tasting muffins... enjoy!

Cranberry Cinnamon Streusel Muffins:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 cups Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal (I used the kind with almonds, but any will work), slightly crushed- 1 cup for the muffins, 1 cup for the topping
• 1 egg
• 4 Tbsp. melted butter
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked through to remove any soft cranberries
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw), or regular sugar
• 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• dash of nutmeg
• 1/4 cup melted butter

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and grease 10 muffins cups or place 10 cupcake liners inside the cups.  Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and one cup of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal in a medium bowl.

2.  In another bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter, and milk, just until blended.  Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.  The batter will be slightly lumpy, which is fine.  Fold in the cranberries just until mixed in evenly.  Don't over mix!

3.  Spoon the batter into the muffin liners or cups, and fill level with the top of the cup.  Combine one cup of slightly crushed Honey Bunches of Oats cereal with the turbinado sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Stir in the 1/4 cup of melted butter, and spoon the topping evenly onto each muffin.

4.  Bake until muffins are dry, and when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffin comes out clean, approximately 25 minutes.  All ovens are different, however, so be sure to keep an eye on the muffins while cooking, and remove immediately when they are baked through.

I truly hope you enjoy these muffins.  In fact, I'm enjoying one right now as I type this ;)  If you want to try these, don't forget that Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, along with other Post cereals, are on sale at Walgreens this week for only $1.99.

Happy baking!

If you liked this, I'd love for you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

Gold Glittered Feather Thanksgiving Name Cards

I have fallen head over heels in love with all of the the gold-dipped feathers that I have seen on Pinterest.  Plain, ordinary craft feathers are transformed into chic, sophisticated little works of art with just the addition of some shiny gold paint.

I thought to myself that if gold-dipping the tips of feathers looks so great, why not paint the whole feather gold, and add some sparkly gold glitter to the top?  If some gold is great then a lot of gold would be spectacular, right?

To create these beautiful gold glittered feathers, all I did was paint the feathers gold with a paintbrush and Martha Stewart gold metallic craft paint.  Immediately after painting each feather, I sprinkled some gold glitter all over the top (Martha Stewart brand again), and then gently shook the feathers so remove the excess glitter.

Let dry, and voila!  Super easy and extremely cheap glittered gold feathers, perfect for the Thanksgiving table!  I added a little tag with names to them, and will use them as name cards on Thanksgiving.

As with most projects involving glitter, the glitter does tend to leave a little trail everywhere it goes.  BUT, I have a solution!  In past glitter projects, I have sprayed Krylon's Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze over the top of my dried projects to seal them, and it has worked perfectly to stop the glitter trail.  It seals in the glitter, and yet still lets the sparkly brillliance shine through!

If you liked this, I'd love for you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

Happy glittering!

xo, Laura

Thanksgiving Turkey Pops Treats

I just love this time of year!  Fall is in the crisp air, boots and sweaters are my outfits of choice, and two of my favorite holiday are just around the riverbend.  I created these adorable little Thanksgiving turkey pops as a tasty treat for the upcoming holiday. Whether you're an adult or a kid, you'll love these little gobblers!

They are easy and quick, and taste great!  As much as I love making cake pops, sometimes I don't want to go through the hassle of baking the cake, crumbling, adding frosting, rolling into balls, dipping in chocolate, etc.  Fun, but very time consuming!

So for these tasty turkey pops I started with mini Snickers bars that we had left over from Halloween a couple weeks ago.  Nice and easy!  I am NOT a huge candy corn fan (love the way they look, but can't stand the taste), so I used colorful Starburst candy corn instead!  I like that they come in different colors, which I think look great for the turkey feathers.  They are very very sweet, but still taste better (in my opinion) than the regular candy corn.  Of course, you can use any kind that you like!

Here's the how-to on the cutest little turkey on the block!  After some trial and error, I used cut off pieces of toothpicks to attach the candy corns to the turkey.  I made these for my kids, and supervised them eating them.  *** If you don't feel comfortable using toothpick pieces, or will be giving these away, you can always experiment with other ways to attach the candy corn just to be safe!***

You'll need:

• Mini Snickers bars
• Candy corn (I used Starburst candy corn)
• Candy eyes (or black and white frosting to make your own)
• Small amount of frosting (to use as the glue- I used a tiny tube of gel frosting I had on hand)
• Toothpicks
• Sucker sticks

1.  Break off the two end pieces of some toothpicks, and slowly push a toothpick piece into the end of a candy corn.  Once you have toothpicks in all of your candy corn "feathers," insert the toothpick pieces into the Snickers turkey the way that you like.  I used six candy corn for each turkey, two of each color.

2.  Using a little frosting as glue, attach the candy eyes to the turkey.  Cut a small piece off of an orange candy corn tip, and stick onto the turkey face under the eyes, so that the beak is pointing out.  Cut a thin slice off of the large end of a red Starburst candy corn, and attach using frosting.  

If you can't find Starburst candy corn, you can either use red frosting, an upside down red heart sprinkle, a piece cut out of a red Airhead candy, fruit roll-up, or laffy Taffy- get creative!  You could also just skip the red little gobbler all together if you wanted to, and it would still be adorable!  

Seriously, are these little guys not the cutest little turkeys on the block?  Give them a try!  If you make them ahead of time, or give them away, be sure to wrap a clear sucker bag around so the Snickers bar doesn't get stale!

If you liked this, I'd love for you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

Enjoy!

xo, Laura

DIY Gold & Bronze Painted Acorns

Today I wanted to share with you one of my very first posts from when I started my blog a year ago.  Most of you have probably not seen my DIY gold and bronze painted acorns yet, since my blog was just a newborn when I made them!

I LOVE gold, especially during fall and Thanksgiving time, and painting a light thin layer of gold and bronze takes a handful of plain, ordinary acornsand turns them into into exquisite and chic decor.  You can use them display them in a bowl, as a vase filler, or even turn them into tiny ornaments and hang from a Thanksgiving thankful tree or even your Christmas tree!  Without further ado, here's my original post... enjoy!

I was taking a walk through the park recently with my kids, when they started picking up and collecting acorns that they found on the ground.  Acorns are like little magnets that draw you in and make you want to pick them up.  They're so cute, and each of them has its' own unique shape, size, and color.

Soon I was down on the ground with my kids collecting acorns!  We brought them home, and I thought they would make a great decoration, but they needed just a little something.  I got out my Martha Stewart metallic paints, got to work, and ended up with these little jewels.  Aren't they beautiful?

The metallic bronze and gold paint gave them just the sparkle they needed, while still maintaining the beautiful browns of the acorn itself.  Want to make some to?  Your home will thank you.

You will need some Martha Stewart metallic paint in bronze and gold, a paintbrush, acorns, and a glue gun.  That's it!  I bought my paint at Michael's, used two coupons, and paid under $3.50 with tax.  

The first and most important step is to bake your acorns!  They could have little critters in them, and baking them for an hour at 200 degrees will kill them, so better safe than sorry.  After they have baked and cooled, all you need to do is to paint the acorns with the bronze paint, and the little acorn tops with the gold paint.  Let them dry, then glue the tops onto the acorns.  That's it! 

 I love the way they look in my Pottery Barn leaf bowl.

Or on my rustic wood stands.  (See how else I used these stands at the Very Hungry Caterpillar baby shower I created for my friend)

They also make a great vase filler.

There are so many fun ways that you can decorate with these golden acorns.  Get creative, try making these, and then have fun finding the perfect way to display them in your home! Let me know what you think of these little cuties by leaving a comment below.

You might also like my Easy DIY Fall Thanksgiving Wreath, this cute Boy's Thanksgiving Pilgrim Hat, and this Easy DIY Fall Headband (for boys or girls).

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

Happy crafting!

XO, Laura

Snickers Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Ganache Recipe + $2 Coupon

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.

Fall is in the air, and one of my family's favorite fall traditions is to cheer on our favorite college football team on game day!  There's nothing like an intense football game to make you hungry, and today I've got the perfect tailgating recipe to share with you...

Snickers Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Ganache!  A delicious fall dessert that's sure to please all football fans young and old, male or female!

I created an amazing pumpkin bread dessert recipe, and made it even better by adding chunks of Snickers Bites that I bought at Walmart to the batter, and drizzling the baked bread with a delicious chocolate ganache layer.

The result is a moist pumpkin bread with bits of chocolate-y goodness that is out of this world, and perfect for your next game day get together!  Instead of oil in the bread batter, I used Greek yogurt, which when combined with the pureed pumpkin, makes for a very moist, delicious, and indulgent dessert.

As impressive as this recipe is, it's actually quite simple and quick to make.  Here are the easy directions to make this decadent dessert... whether your favorite football team wins or loses, this Snickers pumpkin bread is one thing we can all smile about!

Make sure to read at the bottom of the post to see how you can score your own bag of Snickers Bites for only 50 cents, instead of the $2.50 retail price at Walmart!  I love a good deal, don't you?

Snickers Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Ganache:

For the Bread:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 1 7 oz. bag of Snickers Bites

For the Chocolate Ganache:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 11.5 oz bag of chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the inside of a bundt pan, and set aside.

2.  Whisk two eggs with a fork in a medium bowl.  Add the canned pumpkin and Greek yogurt to the eggs, and stir until fully combined.

3.  In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice.  Using a large knife, chop the Snickers Bites into smaller pieces.  Add most of the Snickers Bites (minus a few to garnish with) to the dry ingredients.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir gently just until combined.

4.  Pour batter into the bundt pan, and bake between 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees, or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.  Once the bread has cooked and cooled, carefully flip the bundt pan upside down to remove the bread.

5.  To make the chocolate ganache, heat 1 cup of heavy whipping cream in a pot on the stove on medium-high heat until it boils.  Once boiling, remove from heat, and pour over the chocolate chips in a metal bowl.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes without stirring, giving the chocolate time to melt. 

6.  After 5-10 minutes, stir the heavy cream and chocolate with a whisk until fully combined.  Let the ganache mostly cool to give it time to thicken.  Once it is the desired consistency, drizzle the chocolate ganache over the entire pumpkin bundt bread.  Let the chocolate set for a few minutes, and serve!

To serve the bread, I cut it into slices, and drizzled the remaining ganache (that I poured into a plastic squeeze bottle) across the top of the bread, and added a few of the chopped Snickers Bites that I saved to the top as a garnish.

The result?  An easy, delicious, and impressive dessert that everyone will love!  Next game day, try whipping up a batch of Snickers Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Ganache.  It's the perfect fall football time treat!

And here's another thing to smile about!  For a limited time, you can save up to $2 on Snickers or Milky Way Bites when you click on the above photo, or click HERE!

The cool thing about this coupon is that if you share it socially (on Twitter or Facebook), or email it to 3 people, the value of the coupon will DOUBLE!  

I bought my Snickers Bites (7 oz. size) at Walmart for only $2.50, so if you share and print the $2 coupon, you will pay only 50 cents for the entire bag!! What a deal!!

Be sure to print out your coupon today to take advantage of this amazing deal!!

You can also see what's new with Snickers on the Snickers Facebook page and the Snickers Twitter page.

I hope you give this yummy Snickers pumpkin bread a try!  Have you tried Snickers Bites yet?  What else would be good to make with these Snickers Bites?  Leave a comment and let me know your ideas and/or any recipes that you come up with!

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

For more fall fun, be sure to check out my fall activites bucket list punch card, my caramel apple spice drink, this spooky spaghetti with eyeballs, this easy and pretty fall wreath made out of paper, and my DIY cinnamon-scented nature wreath.  

Happy fall!

xo, Laura

Linking Up Here:  Tatertots and Jello, Ginger Snap Crafts, Snap!