Easy To Make Granola Bites!

Sometimes it's so difficult to find yummy, yet good for you snacks. Luckily, I stumbled across a recipe on Pinterest that caught my eye, yet I thought I would try and make some modifications. So here it is, yummy butterscotch granola bites!

The hubby also approves (and he usually only likes my yummy baking, but not very good for you recipes). 

Ingredients:

2/3 cups toasted coconut flakes (I had to toast mine for only 8 minutes in the oven until brown)

1 cup uncooked oats

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 

1/2 cup ground flax seed

1/2 cup butterscotch chips (or you could use chocolate chips instead) 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

I toasted my flaked coconuts to brown for right minutes. Do this while putting all other ingredients together (wait to out morsel chips in until last or they'll be gooey. 

Mix together...

Then roll them into little balls. Makes about a dozen and half. I put mine in Tupperware and keep in the fridge. 

Easy to make and healthy for you! 

-Mandy   

Read more »

Everyone Loves Burlap!

Fall is officially here and that means football season is here for the Meadows' household.

Since my crafting abilities have been slowly improving, I thought I would take a shot at incorporating the oh-so-popular burlap wreath with my alma mater. At first, I had a difficult time trying to figure out what kind of wreath to make. Of course, I ventured onto Pinterest to find some inspirational ideas and took the one qualities I liked from each wreath I saw and made my own.

After making my own, I already have had one close family friend request a wreath. Not too shabby, eh? So I thought I would share with you the burlap, fun process (it’s really not that difficult!)

What you’ll need:

·         2 rolls of large burlap (Michael’s or Hobby Lobby)

·         1 medium sized wreath wire (looks green)

·         Any other ribbons you wish to add (I added maroon ribbon and more burlap chevron)

·         Small pieces of wire to tie your ribbon/burlap to the frame (You could even use paper clips if you want to!)

1.       You’ll notice the wire wreath has 3 lines. Cut a piece of wire (or use a paper clip or pipe cleaner) and wrap the beginning of your burlap on the bottom (3^rd line).

2.       Now, grab more of your burlap and start scrunching it in a loop format into the 2^nd line of wire wreath. Repeat. I did two loops per section of the wreath.

3.       Continue to loop and repeat once first batch of burlap is finished. You can also puff out the loops to make bigger, or smaller - Whichever you prefer.

4.       At this point, you’ll want to get whatever extra ribbon you want to put on and do the exact same thing, but have it spread out throughout the wreath and make sure not to do any loops too closely together. Luckily, if it looks strange, you can always re-arrange and retry.

5.       I also thought I’d make a flag banner. I just bought some felt at Hobby Lobby, made a triangle cut out and used it as a guide (to keep all flags the same), and some foam letters and hot glued them together.

6.       Tada!

Great thing is, this wreath can be more of a ‘fall’ wreath as well and not be football related.

Share with me some burlap wreaths you like or have made! I love seeing new wreath ideas!

Read more »

Baby Minky Blanket For My Niece

I'm so excited about next month, I finally get to meet my niece Cali (even though we've hung out a few times -- she even punched my hand, haha!). My sister is due October 11 and couldn't be happier. 

I made a blanket out of soft dotted Minky last month and had a ton leftover. I thought I'd make an easy, quick blanket for Cali with the soft dotted Minky. I went to Hobby Lobby and noticed they had a Vera Bradley look alike fabric on sale, so I thought I'd get some for her blanket. 

It was really easy. Cut into squares. Lay the dotted Minky that you want facing upward and the fabric facing down. Put batting. See. Leave one side open, sew. DONE! 

Ta-Da!!! 

-Mandy 

Read more »