Thanksgiving Disasters and Black Friday Deals

How did everyone's Thanksgiving go?!? Any baking disasters? I'd love to hear about them!

Mine started off so good. I was positive this year everything was going to go smoothly and everything was going to turn out perfectly! Who am I kidding? I always think that. I think you have to start out optimistically otherwise you'd probably never even begin.

My first downfall was that I started my baking too late in the day. Like 8pm too late. I always do. Hopefully now that I have it written in stone I can look at this next year and remember to start earlier! (haha, yeah right!)  All I had to make was a classic pumpkin pie and some super delish cranberry fluff. Piece of cake! I wanted to make a pumpkin pie simply because I found some really cute tiny leaf cookie cutters last year and I wanted to try and replicate all those beautiful pies I see on Pinterest with all the fancy leaf work on them. It almost worked.

Libby's Pumpkin Pie (my family's go to) is super easy to make so that part was no hassle. Even doing the leaf-trimmed crust was pretty smooth sailing, especially since I didn't follow anyone's directions, I just made up my own way to attach the leaves and prayed it worked out (It did, for the most part.)

The trouble started when I sliced my finger open trying to make an aluminum pie crust protector since I couldn't find the ones I know I had somewhere. Then, as I was trying to attach it to my fragile pie crust, some of the leaves fell off into no-mans land at the bottom of the oven and immediately started burning-which I somehow promptly forgot to remove and my whole house smelled like it was on fire for two days. Then, I forgot to turn down the heat part way through the baking of the pie so the crust leaves drooped and got charred and the pie itself was looking pretty dry. At least the leaves in the middle of the pie turned out pretty good! Thank goodness I also had a Patti LaBelle Sweet Potato Pie from Walmart to soften the blow. Those things are AMAZING!

I bet even Martha Stewart has had a few baking/cooking disasters in her day. They say practice makes perfect so maybe when I'm 80 I'll have this all down pat!

I removed some of the more burnt leaves on the crust and added my pre-baked leaves for the middle. Those turned out really well! I tried to strategically place them to cover all the cracks! It didn't really work but it actually tasted really good!

Speaking of Martha! I got some awesome Martha Stewart fall appetizer plates at Macy's! They were a steal! At $15 and $17 a piece normally, I only paid about $12 for them both! They had some other really cute items in the collection (like a white and gold pumpkin covered soup bowl!) but I had to limit myself to just these two. I love them and they made up for the fact that nothing else I set out for on Black Friday worked out! The silver (or gold in this case) lining of my Black Friday shopping excursion. Best purchase of the 2016 fall season for sure! Thanks Martha!

Turkey Wreath!

Thanksgiving, for me, is an overlooked holiday in terms of decorations. I have decided to make it my mission to decorate more than just my "left over" pumpkin decor this year. So far, everything I have done revolves around turkeys. Naturally!

I had seen some cute turkey wreaths on Pinterest, but nothing really that I just loved so I decided to create my own design! It's very easy and doesn't take too much time out of your day. I did mine in less time than it took the Colts to play a game of football.

All you will need is:

Tulle-I used five different fall colors that I thought would look good on a turkey. I also used sparkly tulle to add some pizazz, but the colors and whether or not it's sparkly are up to you. I used Red, Brown, Gold, Orange, and Green.

A foam wreath-I used a green one just in case some of it showed through the tulle, it would blend in a little better.

Brown foam board-for the body of the turkey. I found something perfect called Silly Winks foam sheets at Hobby Lobby.

Two colors of felt sheets-yellow and red for the beak and that dangly thing that hangs off (apparently, they are called "snoods.")

Eyes-I found some oblong eyes that jiggle that I liked better than just round ones.

A Glue gun

Let's get started!

First, I started by wrapping the bottom section of the wreath with the brown tulle. I folded the tulle over a couple times to get a good base color then just wrapped it tightly and tied off the ends. I left the two ends tied off to add to the feather effect.

I then took the tulle for the "feathers" and cut it to 17 inches long. I recommend cutting all the colors in the same sitting to make it go faster. I also only used the tape measure once and then based the other feathers off the first cut and used it as a template. I decided what order I wanted my colors in before I started to avoid confusion. I used two strands of each color eight times, with the exception of the brown which I only used once per rotation. So, I used 8 brown strands and 16 of the other colors.

I folded the tulle in half.

Then folded it again. Next, I tied it on the wreath.

Double knot the tulle when tying it onto the wreath for a more secure hold. Repeat with the same color and then repeat the process with the rest of the colors.

Half way done already! Push the knots towards the top and back of the wreath while working and keep them all the same. Push the colors together as tight as you like so none of the wreath pokes through. You can make it looser or tighter, but the tighter you pack the tulle in there, the more tulle you will use.

Almost done! I used a brown strand just a bit longer than the rest at the top for a hanger. This is the last chance to fix any imperfections such as making sure the colors are on the way you like them and none of the wreath is peeping out.

Next, I traced a turkey shaped body on the foam. I traced it on the back so if I messed it up it will be on the back! I made it bigger than I actually wanted it so I could do some tweaking later.

There you go! A turkey body! Don't worry if it's not perfect or slightly lopsided. It's homemade!

I cut out a square of the yellow felt for his beak. Again, I made it bigger than I wanted it, just in case I needed to do some trimming! At this point, I also cut out his snood in a willy nilly shape.

I placed all his face pieces where I wanted them before I glued them to make sure it looked good! Then, I took my glue gun and got to work! (Note: If you have never used a glue gun before-they get REALLY hot and can burn you! So be careful! And also, they are very stringy. Just a dab will do and try to get all of the strings off so it doesn't get all over your turkey.) I just glued around the top and sides of the beak and poked it out a little to create the 3D effect! Next glue the body to the wreath at the top and bottom!

All finished and hanging on the door!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!