Trip to Glacier National Park

The hubs and I just got back from a fantastic weekend trip to Glacier National Park.  The eight hour journey from Billings was well worth it, even though a portion of the park was closed for the winter.

Such a beautiful place!

Custom At-Home Teeth Whitening For Less Than $10 (That Actually Works!)

(These aren't my teeth- http://www.glenwoodvillagedentistry.com/- but's it the closest picture I could find to my results)

I am a firm believer in the power of bright, white teeth.  Nothing drastic like:

Incisors that glow in the dark

Or having a mouth full of Chiclets...

But a naturally bright smile can make you look younger and refreshed.  With my slight obsession with iced tea and coffee, my smile needed a little uplift.

I've tried numerous whitening products that always either left my teeth or my wallet hurting.  Insert the $10 miracle whitening that I've been using for the last few months.  My teeth are not the least bit sensitive, and they've honestly never looked better! 

To begin, buy two rubber mouth guards used for sports. 

I got mine at Wal-Mart in the sports section by the helmets and basketballs.  They were $1.97 each, and can come with the helmet strap attached (like the pic on the left) or without.  If your store only has those with the strap, no biggie, just snip it off with a pair of scissors.  

There are directions on the package for how to fit them to your mouth.  You submerge them in very hot water and then press them around your teeth.  If done correctly (and it's not very hard at all), you'll have a custom set of teeth whitening trays in a matter of minutes. 

Once you have your trays, you'll need this: 

I also found this at Wal-Mart for $4.97, but I've also seen it at Walgreens and numerous stores online.  This stuff is amazing!!  You get quite a bit of product, so I feel like the $5 goes a long, long way.

I've tried two methods to whiten my teeth: 1. Squirt the gel into the trays and then pop them in my mouth and 2. "paint" the gel on my teeth with a q-tip and then pop the trays in.  Both ways are effective, but I feel like preloading the trays works a little better, because more product gets onto the teeth.  Be careful not to put too much in there...I did and it oozed out of the tray from all sides, and let's just say it was gag inducing.  The taste isn't one that you'll want lingering in my mouth for a while.  

The package states it's a 5 minute whitening bleach, but you can leave it on for up to 15 minutes a day. I usually put them in while I'm getting into the shower or drying my hair.  It's next to impossible to talk (or sing) with both the trays in, and I think my husband thoroughly enjoys not having to listen to me try to sound like Adele while I'm sudsing my hair.  It keeps the dogs from howling along too...  :)

Summer Favorites!

I love that each season brings new trends and products to try out, and summer just happens to be one of my favorites.  I've found quite a few things that I'm really loving during these warm, sunny months:

The Body Shop: Satsuma Body Butter

This stuff smells like sunshine in a tub.  Well, actually, it smells like tangerines and oranges, but it is what summer should smell like!  I usually don't like body butters because they can feel really greasy, but this one sinks in quick and doesn't really leave any residue.  I put it on m legs when I'm just out of the shower, and it makes my skin feel like buttah all day long.

Side note- I've read that you should apply your lotion within 3 minutes of exiting the shower for your skin to retain the most moisture.  Seems to work for me!

Revlon Nail Enamel- Minted

(Not my fingers or my picture...but this is a good representation of what this shade looks like)

I love anything turquoise/minty green during the warm months, and this color is perfect!  I'm all about the cheaper drug store polish, and the Revlon seems to be one of the more long wearing formulas.  Add an accent nail or two in this color:

Essie- Peach Daiquiri

I've pretty much been wearing these two colors for most of the summer.  They really do look beautiful together, and play up my favorite color combo of the season- turquoise and coral. 

Mr. Pumice Ulitmate Pumice Bar

Guuurrrrrl, nobody wants to look at funky feet in cute sandals.  These Mr. Pumice bars are AMAZING at keeping unsightly calluses and dry heels at bay.  They are cheap, cheap, cheap and give you just pedicured feet at home.  Give your tootsies a good scrub and slather on a little Vaseline before bed, and your feet will never look so pretty.  Just don't forget to put socks on before you climb under the covers. The thought of greasy sheets makes me gag a little.  **shudder**

Kendra Scott- Danielle Earrings in Turquoise

Have you ever come across a designer that you swear is your fashion soulmate?  Kendra Scott jewels...where have you been all my life?!?!  I love, love, flippin love these earrings, as well as everything else on her website.  I want to win the lottery just so I can call her and say, "Yes, dahhhhling.  I'll take one of everything."  Do yourself a favor and explore her site.  Seriously amazing.  Simple, classic, colorful pieces that I know I'm going to enjoy for years to come!  I feel like turquoise will never go out of style, and you really can wear it in any season for a bright pop of color.  Plus, it pairs so well with dozens of different hues, I feel like I could wear it everyday. 

TRESemme- Cashmere Touch Hydrating Serum

This stuff helps soothe my dry summer hair, and I'm kind of obsessed with it.  I've just been using it on my ends, but I really think it's helped me go almost 8 months without a haircut and virtually no split ends.  It's supposedly infused with coconut and argan oils, but alls I know is that a little goes a LONG way.  Too much of a good thing, can be a very, very bad (and greasy) thing.  One little pump on my ends before I blow dry, and I find myself needing my straightener less and less.  

Bath and Body Works- Beach Grass Candle

I usually don't find myself burning candles in the summer, but this scent is heavenly.  It doesn't at all smell like beach grass probably does, but the B&BW website describes it as "dewy greens, palmetto grass and sweet white freesia."  This is one of those scents I wish they would never discontinue.  It slightly annoys me that every candle I bought has wicks that are super short (and I end up having to pour out wax to keep it from self extinguishing), but I love that they go on super sale.  Sign up for the emailed coupons!  Well worth deleting incessant junk from my inbox when they mark things down.  

London Olympics

 Admit it ladies...we're all tuned into the 30th Olympiad for the same reason...

It's our love of sports and the excitement of watching world class athletes compete.  :)

This also made my list of summer favorites.  No matter how many times I see it, it still makes me laugh.  

The BEST Apple Pie Recipe

I may have found the perfect combination of recipes for the best apple pie on the planet!  I tend not to bake a whole lot since we've moved, since it's just the two of us, but I couldn't say no this time.  

Poor hubby had a bad week...It began on Sunday night with a trip to the E.R., and then a business trip the next day.  So when he requested an apple pie (with big, sad puppy dog eyes), I gave in.  While pies can be a lot of work, this one was worth ever second spent prepping.  

I can't take credit for these...I found them searching Google- "Best Apple Pie Recipe" With almost 5,000 5-star reviews, I had to give Apple Pie by Grandma Ople a try (find the original recipe here).  I did add a few twists/ingredients of my own, and I thought the finished product was stellar. 

But before you jump into all that buttery, sugary goodness, you need a good crust recipe.  Sadly, Grandma Ople didn't include one on the All Recipes site.  I got this one from Simply Recipes, and it was gooood.  

This pie crust recipe is shown on Simply Recipes in a food processor, but I don't have one.  Here's my version:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
6-8 tablespoons ice water

-Combine flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl.  Whisk or sift together to incorporate ingredients.
-Add butter cubes, and mix in with pastry cutter until mixture resembles course meal (with pea sized pieces of butter).
-Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture begins to clump together.  If you pinch some of the crumbles and it holds together, it's ready.  If not, add more water until it does.
-Pour dough onto a very lightly floured counter and smoosh together any crumbly pieces with the palm of your hand.  (This also helps create the flaky texture once it bakes.)
-Shape dough into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To roll out the dough, I always find that it's easier to roll it between two pieces of waxed or parchment. I lightly flour the insides of the waxed paper, and add my dough.  I let mine thaw a little on the counter before I started rolling because the refrigeration made it a little hard.  

Once rolled out to about 1/8 inch, I put one piece into my pie dish (a 9 inch stoneware dish), and cut the other into strips for the lattice top with a pizza cutter. 

For this particular recipe, it's easier to go ahead and have the lattice pieces ready to go.  The pie recipe is a little unusual in that you add the apples to the dish, put the lattice on top, and then pour hot pie filling OVER the lattice.  Trust me...it's delicious.  

The "Apple Pie by Grandma Ople" called for all Granny Smith apples, but I didn't have that many on hand.  I ended up making some changes to her original recipe, but I'm itching to try this again as written.  Here's my version of the pie filling:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

8 apples

dash of cinnamon

dash of vanilla extract 

(I like tart apples in my pies, so I used a few Granny Smith, Jonagold and Jazz Apples.  I personally think the more variety you have in the apples, the better your pie will taste.  I'm curious to try it with just the Granny Smiths though.)

-Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Stir in flour.  Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and cinnamon and vanilla extract to your liking.
(We like a LOT of cinnamon in our house.  I didn't measure, just eyeballed, but start with a teaspoon to see where your flavor is at.  I'd say the same for the vanilla extract.  I just wanted a little extra warmth in the filling, so I added a literal dash.  I took a spoon and tasted the filling to make sure these extra flavors were in check).

-Bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce temperature and let simmer.  

-Fill prepared pie dish with apples, mounded slightly.  Cover with lattice top.  Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust.  Pour slowly so that it does not run off.  

-Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.  Reduce the temperature to 350 and continue baking for 35-45 minutes until apples are soft. 

If you've never made a pie like this before, beware of the dreaded oven drips.  While your pie is a-bubblin'-and-a-bakin', the deliciousness from the inside of the pie will sometimes spill over the top.  It ends up hitting the bottom of your oven, burning, and filling your entire house with a smoky haze.  I put a cookie sheet below my pie while it's baking, but found that I still got the smoke.  While there wasn't burned sugar glued to the bottom of my oven, I still wasn't a happy camper.  

So I baked the pie for the first 15 minutes with a dry cookie sheet under it.  (Because I wanted the crust to get nice and crispy brown).  When I reduced the temperature, I put a little water in the cookie sheet.  This helped the smoke problem a LOT!  Because I didn't want the excess moisture to make my crust soggy, I took the water out and replaced it with a dry cookie sheet for the last 10 minutes of baking.  The pie came out perfect!  

The hubster was a happy camper, and I earned some major brownie points for making something delicious!  Both of these recipes are keepers!

Real Bride- Etsy Order

So I haven't officially said anything about it on my blog (even though there's a link in the sidebar), but I have an etsy shop.  If you haven't spent hours clicking through the awesome craftiness on this site, you really are missing out.  There are so many amazing handmade items!

My shop (The Sassy Italian Designs) has both jewelry and paper goods.  I've been lucky to have a few orders so far, and I was SO excited to see a pic of one of my necklaces "in action!"  This sweet customer was kind enough to send me a picture of herself on the big day.  What a beautiful bride!

Burlap Monogram Tutorial

 I love me some Pinterest, but I hate finding projects with dead hyperlinks or no instructions.  I've totally gotten into the burlap craze, and love this monogram I pinned:

 Sadly, the link didn't have directions, but I figured burlap canvases can't be all that difficult, right?  I headed to Hobby Lobby armed with this picture an an open mind.  I managed to find everything I needed to  make these for my own home on a budget.  I found out that while the burlap was cheap, art canvases with a thicker depth are not.  :(  Since mine were going to be covered anyway, I began looking for a cheaper alternative.  

Styrofoam!  

It's sold in large pieces and odd shapes back where you find the poster board.  I like this option because A.)It's cheaper than buying three canvases B.) It's super light and C.)  The thickness was just what I wanted.  

I got a little overzealous with mine, and cut it before I managed to take a picture.  It is sold in one piece, though.  This particular piece measures about 12 x 10 x 1.5 inches and was $4.99.  With my handy 40% off coupon, I managed to make all three of the letters for less than $10!  

I left Hobby Lobby with the following things:

1 styrofoam board- $2.99 (with coupon)

1/2 yard of burlap- $1.99 (and I have enough left over for something else)

Spool of ribbon- $3.99

I already have acrylic paint and brushes at home, but the paint should run you about $1, and the brushes around $2.  

To begin, I measured and cut my styrofoam.  Since I wanted mine to be relatively small (to fit on a small shelf), I was able to get one 7.5 x 7, and two 5.25 x 4.25 blocks from one foam board.  I measured my sizes first, and drew a cut line with a permanent marker.  A large serrated knife made cutting these suckas easy, but you could also use a craft or exacto knife.  Now, cutting styrofoam isn't the most pleasant experience.  Focus on the cuteness factor of the finished product as the chills roll down your back and your teeth hurt.  *Shudder*  Luckily, it's over quickly.  

Next, I scoured my computer for fonts that would look similar to the one in the picture.  Copperplate Gothic and Constantia are both bold and blocky.  Play around with different text effects to get your desired look.  I ended up making mine bold just to give them a little extra thickness.  Use the ruler bar function on your word processing program to make sure you're keeping them the right size.  

There are several different ways that you can transfer the letters onto your fabric.  If you have a craft cutting machine like a Cricut or Silhouette, you can easily have the machine cut out a precise stencil for you.  

If you don't have a fancy cutter, no sweat.  Print your monogram letters and:

A.) Cut the letter out using small scissors or a craft knife.  Use the letter itself as a stencil (and trace around the outside), or use the negative (and trace around the inside)

B.) Place the print out under your fabric, and trace the outline as neatly as possible. 

 I prefer using a fine tipped permanent marker to trace (like this one from Foray).  I've found that a maker works best because it can just skim over the top of the fabric.  Using a pencil or pen may be hard to create lines without pulling or moving the fabric.

To get a clean line while tracing, TRY TO KEEP THE TEMPLATE AND FABRIC AS STILL AS POSSIBLE.  Use pins, tape, spray adhesive, or any means necessary to keep everything in place as you are tracing.  This keeps the lines straight and the letter true to shape.

 I like to paint project like this with small, straight edged brushes with stiff bristles.  It's really difficult to get clean lines with a domed or rounded edge brush.  It's worth spending the extra $2 to get a brush that will make this waaaay easier! The stiff bristles keep the paint exactly where I want it.

 Since I'm right handed, I prefer to paint left to right or top to bottom so that I can see the edge of my bristles and exactly where my paint is going.  This means I turn the canvas/material lots so that I can paint in that direction.  I cut a large square in the fabric with my letter in the center, so that I can turn to my heart's content, and not have the excess bunching up or getting in the way.

Take you time, and try your best to stay in between the lines.  Try not to dip your bristles more than 3/4 of the way into the paint.  It keeps things so much neater.  When I get a little dip happy and go all the way past the metal, I just wipe my brush off with a paper towel and start again.

Since you are painting on fabric, some paint will leak through the back.  Put something between your work and your table!

I painted all three letters at once, and taped the material to a book shelf so that they could dry.  I was worried that the damp paper under the fabric would crinkle as it dried, and cause my damp fabric to dry funny.  I'm not sure if this would actually happen, but I didn't risk it.  

I began this whole project with burlap, and ended up switching to another material I had on hand after painting this letter.  With so much space between the threads, I was having a hard time getting the letters as precise as I wanted.  I also wasn't loving that this space would also show the white of the styrofoam.  

You could remedy this problem by adding another coat of paint to fill in the holes once the burlap is attached, but I'm all about convenience sometimes.  

So I switched my fabric to one with smaller weave.  I also got this from Hobby Lobby (in the same section as burlap).  It's more of a canvas-ey material.  It's got a nice weight, has texture, was just as cheap, and almost the same color.  

I like it because it allowed me to paint a much cleaner line and create solid color.  It reminds me a little of some things I've seen things at Ballard Designs.  

Next, I wrapped and stapled the material onto my pieces of styrofoam.  I'm not an expert at this, but I just tried to keep the corners as clean and sharp as possible.  I don't really care what the back looks like since mine will be on a shelf.  You could take the extra time to make the back look neat if you wanted to display these somewhere the back would be seen.  

Finally, I hot glued a black and white striped ribbon around the outside to give it a more finished look.  The original Pinterest inspiration left the sides plain, which I also like.  

 I love the look of these, and I love that they were quick and inexpensive to make.  Might have to give some of these as gifts!

Perfect Summer Song!

Words cannot begin to describe how much I love this catchy summer song! Perfect for warm breezes and ice cold drinks! Mmmm....motorboatin'!