KT Did It: It's a Boy! Baby Shower for My Sister

Hello all! I am so excited to be back on my blog sharing a new Did-It, especially something as special as this. Since my last post in March, I have been busy planning and preparing for a wonderful event: my older sister's baby shower. And it's a BOY! I was very honored that she let me host her baby shower, and I wanted to make it very special. My sister was a mermaid in another life, so it was fitting that her baby shower would be a nautical theme. Thank you Pinterest for all of the ideas and for giving birth (no pun intended), to Jessica's AHOY! It's a Boy! baby shower.
I started off looking for the perfect invitation.  I chose this blue and green invitation and matching party supply set by PartySparkle on Etsy. The next few weeks involved a lot of printing, cutting, and hot glue! I did a little bit at a time - one night I cut out cupcake liners, another night I made flags for the cup cakes, etc.

Once all of the paper was cut out and ready, I started to work on a few other crafts, decorations and party activities. I made my sister a Mommy-To-Be corsage using green, blue ribbons. Here is an easy tutorial for many a ribbon corsage for a baby shower by DIY Mommy. And here is the corsage I made for my sister, she loved it!

Next up were the activities for the shower. Thankfully my sister did not want to play any embarrassing games. Instead, I decided to have some crafting activities for the guests and Mommy-to-be to do. First, I made nautical themed alphabet prints for our guests to color with colored pencils, crayons and markers. For another station I made an underwater scene for guests to create fingerprint sea creatures and sign as the guest book. A third station was to write guesses about baby's name, birthdate, height and weight. I made paper onesies for guests to write their guesses and then hang with miniature clothes pin on a line which I created on a large frame. Finally, for decorations, I created a bunting banner with green and blue fabric to decorate the windows and railing.

Here is a glimpse of Jessica's baby shower! It was a huge success.

Here I am pinning on the corsage before the party! She loved it.

Here is the spread. My mom made the food, which was delicious as you would expect. We had a cheese tray with bread and crackers. There was homemade crab dip. For the main course, we had meatballs in marinara, Italian roasted chicken strips, a pasta salad and vegetable salad. Everything was scrumptious! And the spread looked pretty good too.

For dessert we served cupcakes (thank you Safeway bakery!) wrapped in matching cupcake liners and decorated with cupcake flags, all part of the baby shower package by PartySparkle that I cut and put together.  We also dipped rice krispie treats and oreos in blue and green chocolate melts, which was a fan favorite!

 

And, of course, the crafts! Here are some of the coloring pages that I made and printed on cardstock. They were beautifully colored by our guests. I am going to get them laminated and bound into a book for baby.

Here is the finger print guest book station.

For party favors, I cut out the matching chocolate wrappers and wrapped over 100 mini Hershey's chocolates and put them in party bags with some blue shark gummies and green round gummies.

Here is the bunting banner, which Jessica now has to decorate the nursery!

Love you so much, Jess! Cannot wait to meet baby boy!

KT Baked It: Hello Dolly's

Over the weekend I was battling my Sweet Tooth! Not only did I have the impulse to eat some sweets, but I also really wanted to bake. So I whipped out a few cookbooks including a photo album I made who knows how many years ago full of dessert recipes. And in it I found just what I was looking for...Hello Dolly's! Mmm, full of delicious chocolate, coconut and a bunch of other artery-clogging goodness that I just could not resist! It's also one of the easiest homemade desserts to make, which is great

What you need:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup butterscotch chips

In a bowl mix together graham cracker crumbs and melted butter.
 

Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Pour half the can of sweetened condensed milk over the graham cracker crust.

Pour the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips over the crust, then the walnuts and finally the coconut. Press gently into the graham cracker crust.

Lastly, pour the remaining half of the can of sweetened condensed milk evenly over the top.

Now you are ready to bake! So simple. Bake in preheated over at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until coconut is golden. Cool completely before cutting (and devouring)!

KT Made It: Watercolor Valentines

Happy February, friends!

It's not so hard to believe that I find myself back here WEEKS since my last post. Being a working mommy is hard work, but I am grateful that I was able to fit in a little time over the past week to work on something special for Valentine's Day.


My growing Pinterest board for Valentine's Day is full of cute craft ideas and foods for the holiday. I really wanted to make a wreath this year, but with limited time for crafting, I decided to do something a little simpler with supplies that I already had at the house: watercolor valentines.

There are a lot of designs you could make. I decided to make a few valentines decorated with hearts using a stencil that I made from a piece of card stock.


Here is my heart stencil.

Using different shades of pink and orange, I filled in the stencil with my paint brush.

Carefully, I lifted the stencil off of the watercolor paper to prevent the paint from running.

And here is the finished valentine! If I had a gold gel pen, I would have put arrows all around the hearts...maybe next year!

You can use your heart stencil to make different valentines using various color combinations, shapes, patterns and even change the size of the heart!

Happy Valentine's Day 2016!

KT Made It: Crab and Corn Chowder

Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe that 2016 has arrived, and even more difficult to believe all of the things that my husband and I have gone through in just 12 months. Eric was accepted into a residency program, we moved to a new town 2 hours from our family and friends, welcomed a beautiful new addition to our family, then Eric started his residency and I made the decision to leave a job that I loved for something much closer to home in a brand new specialty... it's exhausting just thinking about it! Through the ups and downs we are incredibly grateful for all of the blessings that God has bestowed upon us in 2015 and we are excited for what 2016 will bring to our family of three.

I have several hopes and goals for this year. I would like to get back into a few work outs a week, which has been a challenge working full time and being a new mommy. I also hope to make a few new crafts and maybe go to a few new restaurants this year, which I can share with all of you. And, of course, cook and bake a few new recipes!

So let's start off the new year with a new dish to share. I made this soup last year for the first time on Christmas Eve, and hoped to make it again this Christmas. But we decided to travel to see our family for the holidays, so soup-making was put on hold. However, I managed to whip it together just in time for the New Years celebrations.

What you need:
1 medium onion, chopped
5 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cans (6 oz each) crab meat - lump or claw, drained
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 small red pepper, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn
3 cups almond milk
3 1/2 cups half and half
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf

First, start by cutting the vegetables.




In a large saucepan, saute the onion in butter until tender.

Add the flour slowly to the sauteed onion. Cook until thickened and bubbly.

Gradually add milk and half and half. Cook and stir until thick.

Add the remaining vegetables and the crab to the cream base, followed by the salt, pepper, nutmeg and bay leaf.

Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 35-40 minutes. Remove bay leaf before serving.


Mmmm! Bon appetite!

Kraftmas 2015: Christmas Crunch

Every Christmas my mom makes this very simple but delicious snack mix, which we call Christmas Crunch. I have made it a couple of times with her over the years, but this year I made a batch of my own to share.

What you need:

5 cups Cheerios
5 cups wheat Chex
2 cups pretzels
2 cups dry roasted peanuts
2 bags of white candy melts
2 bags of red and green M&Ms

This is so simple to make! In a roasting pan, mix the Chex...

Cheerios...

peanuts...

and pretzels.


Ta-da!

To melt the candy, place the melts in a glass bowl.

Microwave for one minute and stir. Then microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each until all of the chips are melted.

Pour over the cereal/pretzel/nut mix and stir. I used a large spoon, but you can use your hands as well to make sure that all of the pieces are covered.

Allow the mix to cool and the chocolate to set, then break apart into small pieces.

Finally, add the M&Ms and your Christmas Crunch is ready to eat!