Birthday Week Celebration + Craftee McGee Giveaway!

Welcome to day one of my week-long birthday celebration!! A few great crafty friends of mine have all pitched in with some great giveaways to help me celebrate with you, my readers! So away we go!


Meet Jacqui of Craftee McGee!



Tell us about yourself!

I am a 26 year old wife to my best friend, daughter of the King, mama to a furry pup, church lady by day and craftee mcgee by night! Hubby and I just moved to the northwoods of Wisconsin where we are loving our new, quiet life {and missing caribou coffee & target!} I love all things crafty and can't settle on just one activity at a time!



What made you choose the name "Craftee McGee" for your shop?

I wanted to choose a name that wouldn't limit me to one product. I like to make so many things that a name like Jewelry by Jacqui just wouldn't do :) Friends had started calling me Crafty McGee and it just sounded right. When 'crafty' with a y was already taken i=I added the ee's and here we are!


Where do you get your inspiration?

Everywhere! Nature, colors, and the people in my life! Always the color green. I'd have a shop full of green if I could! I have a new necklace coming to the shop that was inspired by some moms I'm friends with. Another necklace coming soon was inspired by jewelry I saw on our trip to Maui in January. Many of the colors I'm loving right now {gray, cream and silvery blue} are inspired by the snowy winter of the northwoods. Also I can always count on leaving inspired when I take a trip to the antique/thrift shops in the area. Usually furniture calls my name & asks to be given a new home & a pretty coat of paint!



Other than making jewelry, what are your other hobbies, crafty or otherwise?

I have self-diagnosed creative ADD. I cannot focus on one creative endeavor at a time! While my shop is filled with jewelry and accessories I also crochet, embroider, bake, scrapbook, restore furniture, sew, and make things for our home. I also love to read, go camping, drink coffee with friends, spend time snuggled up with hubby & pup and right now cross country ski, ice skate and play broomball. Hooray winter!


If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life (homemade or purchased), what would it be?

Chocolate. The darker the better. Anything 60% cocoa or more in all its forms!




Let's celebrate!

Jacqui is generously giving away a $20 gift certificate to her Etsy shop, Craftee McGee!

How to enter:

{You must be a follower of Food, Wine, & Mod Podge to be eligible}

Visit Craftee McGee and let me know what you would buy with your gift certificate!

For additional entries (leave a separate comment for each):

2. Become a follower of Jacqui's blog
3. Tweet it, blog it, or share it on Facebook (include link)
4. Follow @crafteemcgee and @foodwinemodpodg on Twitter
5. Heart (add to favorites) Craftee McGee on Etsy

This giveaway closes at midnight on Monday, March 7th. Winners of this and all the giveaways this week will be announced on Thursday, March 10th.


And don't forget to come back tomorrow -- we're going to keep the birthday celebration going all week!

A Package from Atomique47

I recently got this pretty package in the mail:



My bag from my lovely sponsor, Laura from Atomique47! I just couldn't help myself when I saw this pretty mustard-yellow bag.



It's perfect to hold my makeup to throw in my gym bag!



Don't forget to go check her shop out! She has such cute clutches, makeup bags, and wristlets. Enjoy shopping!

Also, make sure to stop by FW&MP next week -- it's my birthday week, and there will be a week-long celebration going on! And there just might be some giveaways!

Meet Allison from A Glimpse Inside!

Today I have a wonderful lady visiting my blog -- Allison, from A Glimpse Inside! She's a good friend and a great blogger, I just know you'll love her! So without further ado...

Hello!
I am so excited to be blog swapping with Katie today! Katie is one sweet and talented lady and I am so happy she wanted to have me over for a "visit" in her world today.


First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Allison and I am from A Glimpse Inside.

I am an Army wife with a creative side. I LOVE to craft, paint, sew, take photos, decorate, go thrifting and more!

The dear husband, Travis, and I are currently living in KY. We won't be here long but we enjoy being close to our home state of TN. He is super supportive and encourages me to create anything that comes to my mind.

But enough about me... I bet you all just want me to get to the good stuff. :)


I started blogging a little over a year ago and it has become quite an addiction. On my blog, I share pictures and stories of our life along with my crafts, recipes, thrift finds, decor, and more.

Here are some things you'll find.


We love to go thrift shopping. Here are some of our finds revamped to make cake stands and candy bowls.

On Tuesdays, I share yummy recipes.
This one is AWESOME and a must try- Dalmatian Cupcakes.


I love to share furniture or project transformations. It is always so fun to see what something will turn into when you are finished.

Coffee Table Upcycle


But I mostly share crafts! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to craft! I love to share the tutorials on how to make them as well.

You can find all these crafts and more on my Tutorial page.


I would absolutely LOVE for you all to come visit me in my neck of the woods and take a glimpse inside my world. Stop by, take a look around, stay awhile and maybe leave a comment or two. Who doesn't love those comments? I know I do!


Thank you Katie for blog swapping with me!
You are a fabulous host! :)

Weekend Breakfast :: Potato Pancakes

I just love waking up on a Saturday morning and coming down to make a big breakfast. There's just something so special about cooking a real meal in the morning; I suppose it's because it's really the only day of the week where there's time to do so!

This weekend, I decided to try my hand at some potato pancakes. I had never made them before, but we had a ton of fingerling potatoes dying to be eaten. And you know what?

Never make potato pancakes with fingerling potatoes. Never.

They tasted great and the consistency was perfect, but actually shredding fingerling potatoes is miserable. It takes forever, and you'll likely catch your fingers/fingernails/etc on the grater at least 15 times. So please, when you do this at home, use big, fat potatoes that you can get a really good grip on.


Potato Pancakes
adapted from AllRecipes

2 large potatoes (or 20 little fingerling potatoes)
1 egg, beaten
1/3 onion, finely diced
1 tbs flour
Salt & Pepper (I used seasoned salt in lieu of table salt)
Vegetable Oil

Shred the potatoes and dice the onion.




Mix together with the egg, flour, and seasonings.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Scoop a large spoonful of the potato mixture into the pan once the oil is hot, and smash down with a spatula.



Cook at medium-high heat for approximately 4 minutes on each side.

Serve with freshly shredded cheese, sour cream, or even a poached egg!



Crispy and delicious!


Make sure to stop by FW&MP next week! It's my birthday week, and we're going to have a week-long celebration!

Ideas & Inspirations :: Feb 17th

Time for another {ideas & inspirations}! I'd like to make this a regular feature, every other week on Thursdays. So keep an eye out for it!

Here we go!



My birthday is coming up, and I have a particular love of all things marshmallow. These S'more Cookie Bars from Delightful Bitefuls look like just the dessert for me! Who needs cake when you have marshmallow fluff?




...and if my hubby is not up to making the S'more bars due to his lack of baking skills (mine too), we could always just whip up these super easy S'more Bites from Crazy Domestic.




This cute ribbon ring from bstudio on Etsy is just the thing to welcome spring! And best of all, they offer them in 31 different colors!




How cute is this bunting decoration on a crafting table? And best part? It uses Mod Podge. Check out the tutorial over at Maple & Magnolia.




How fun are these earrings? I love that it's a set of three so you could even mix and match! Go check 'em out at Crafteemcgee!


What new ideas and inspirations have you found lately?

New Gloves

No-Sew Fingerless Gloves
Approximate time: 20 minutes

Start with two long socks that need some repurposing, likely due to a hole in the heel.



Cut in the middle at the length you would like it. Cut a hole for the thumb.

Approximate time: 2 minutes.

Next, attempt to take a picture of both of your hands. Will require a flat surface, the floor, and your ability to bend yourself into a pretzel. Repeat until one of the pictures turns out remotely ok, or you throw out your back, whichever comes first.

Approximate time: 18 minutes.

Total time: 20 minutes. And an Aleve.

Happy Valentine's Day + Whitney Rae Paper Discount!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

On this day o' love, it's fitting that I share with you the card I got for my love:



No, that's not a typo. It's a cute misunderstanding from the weeks before Chris and I started dating yeeeaaaars ago. Someday I'll share the story :)

Anyway, are you wondering who made me this awesome custom card??


{ Meet Whitney }

Whitney is one of my February sponsors, with her awesome shop Whitney Rae Paper!



Tell us about yourself!

I am a recent college graduate with a degree in financial planning and a love for paper. I am from the great state of Texas and am currently planning a June wedding and can't wait to see what's in store for our lives together! :)


Tell us about your shop! When did it open, and what got you into the paperie business?

I opened Whitney Rae Paper in July 2010. I have always had a love for paper and needed something as a creative outlet (financial planning is not very creative) so I started making cards. My mom has had great success with her jewelry shop on etsy (A New Thing) so I thought I would give it a chance and I love it!




You have a lot of notecards that involve couples as the focus. Does that speak to something from your life?

I love love! I think it is important to show how much you love people especially your significant other. And cards are the perfect thing to show that.


You're planning a wedding! Are you making your own invitations?

Yes I am! I already made and sent out our save the dates and am really looking forward to making the invitations! I just need to figure out what exactly I want! I seem to have lots of ideas and can't decide on anything. :)




In addition to the shop, you also are a blogger. What are some of your favorite posts?

Save the Dates
My One Little Word
Engagement Mini Book

Go check her out!

{ The Deal }

In the spirit of love, Whitney is giving all FW&MP readers a 15% discount at her Etsy shop! Just enter MODPODGE15 at checkout.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Dinner

A couple weekends ago, Chris and I were hosting a dinner for our parish. In an effort to get people to mingle and get to know each other, and build a sense of community, our priest has been scheduling these small dinners, hosted by parishioners, for a while now. We attended one months ago and met some great new people, and felt it should be our turn to host one.

7 people RSVP’d, plus Chris and I, equals 9.

We had 8 chairs.

After some serious MacGyvering, we were able to turn a wooden wine rack/box into a small, makeshift seat. I had to straddle it like a horse, but hey, it worked.

Since this was the largest dinner party we’ve hosted, we planned out every detail. We were going to make Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed pork tenderloin, roasted garlic & balsamic asparagus, sautéed green beans and carrots, and crispy roasted potatoes.

We even made a checklist including the time when each part of the meal needed to be cooked.

45 minutes before the guests arrived, the potatoes were in the oven, the pork was marinating, and the veggies were prepped and ready.

People began to trickle in, but due to a road closure from some police cars and fire trucks, they arrived a little later than planned.

I waited to put the pork in until everyone was just about there since it was only going to take 30-40 minutes in the oven, and we had plenty of wine and appetizers to keep everyone occupied.

I put the pork in, the potatoes were almost done, and the asparagus waited 10 minutes to also join the party in the oven.

Then, the power went out.

For two and a half hours.

We waited 10 minutes or so to see if it was going to come back on, but we also knew we had to act fast because we had half-cooked pork in the oven.

So in a last-ditch effort to save the night, we lit a bunch of candles, fired up the grill, and put the pork – pan and all – on the grill. Luckily the potatoes were pretty much done, so they only saw the grill (also still on the pan) for a few minutes at the end to heat up. We pulled out the asparagus that had been roasting for all of 5 minutes, and instead lit a match, turned on the gas stove, and sautéed them. The green beans and carrots were completely scrapped.

In the end, everything turned out ok. The pork was tender, but thankfully it’s a forgiving cut of meat. The potatoes were good. I’ll admit, the asparagus was pretty mediocre, almost verging on not good, but it was better than nothing. So we all sat around the candlelit table, ate dinner an hour and a half later than planned, and drank wine and laughed and chatted and enjoyed the night.

It just goes to show that no matter how much you plan and plan, there are some things that are just out of your control!

Also, I consider it nothing short of a miracle that none of the china was broken in all the dark madness.

Shrimp Pasta Salad

The other day, Pioneer Woman posted a recipe for some shrimp pico de gallo (or Shrimpo de Gallo), and ever since then, I have had the idea of cold chopped shrimp stuck in my head.

Then as Chris and I were brainstorming what to do for dinner, I suddenly knew just what to do! Pasta salad, with shrimp!

I love pasta salad every now and then. It's a great way to break up the usual hot meat, side of starch, side of veggie routine. And though my usual pasta salad involves chicken, why not use shrimp instead?



Shrimp Pasta Salad

10-12 frozen shrimp
2 cups pasta (I used penne)
2 Carrots
1 Broccoli crown
1/4 a head of Cauliflower

For the dressing
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbs rice wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 pinch red chili flakes
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Thaw the shrimp, and drop in boiling water until they are cooked through. Drain and rinse with cold water, then put them in the fridge to cool further.

Cook pasta to al dente, drain, and put it in the fridge to hang out with the shrimp.

Chop up your veggies to the desired size. You can use other veggies than the ones listed above; this is a great way to use up whatever you have in the fridge that needs to be eaten!

Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing together. I highly encourage you to make your own dressing instead of using the bottled stuff -- it tastes so much fresher, and when all your ingredients are fresh and cold, it's delicious!

Office Decor

I don't know about you, but it seems to me like office desks and cubicles are just so depressing with all that taupe. And with all the time we spend there, they really need some character!

I recently decided that although my wedding pictures pinned up all along my walls did bring a little happiness, I still needed more color. So I went cruising through the web and Etsy, looking for some fun prints to put up!

Of course, many of the really fun ones were a little too fun for the office, so I had to be careful with my selections. The beauties below are currently posted in my cube, and I just love them!







What do you think?? I would love to get more!

Do you sit in a cube? How do you bring the cheer to the office? Do you have any cute prints you've seen that you want to share? I'd love some new ideas!

DIY Vinyl Wall Art

Courtesy of Snowpocalypse 2011, I was stuck indoors for a few days in a row and starting to go a little stir crazy. In an effort to keep my sanity, I decided to tackle the empty wall in my kitchen!

This is the empty wall that has previously housed holiday-themed decor:



I'm not a big Valentine's Day person (I know, I know), and I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a Spring theme, so I thought maybe I would do something a little more year-round friendly.

So I got out the Silhouette and some black adhesive vinyl, and started on my new wall decal!



I decided to go with the simple words "Bon Appetit" with silverware on each side. Simple and classy, but cute.

After I cut all the vinyl pieces (which I had to do in batches because the machine can't handle such a long strip), I pressed them with books for a few hours. They were so very curled from being tightly rolled up that this helped make it much more manageable.



Once the pieces were ready, I peeled off the excess vinyl around the letters, then lined it all up and put it on the transfer paper. This was my first time using the transfer paper, but it worked like a charm! Though I'm pretty sure it's just really wide masking tape.



Then I measured the center of my decal and where I wanted it centered on the wall, and stuck just the top of the transfer tape directly onto the wall. I did this so that I could take a moment to make sure it was level by lining the level up against the top edge.



Once I was sure it was straight, I pressed it all down and slowly peeled back the transfer tape, leaving my wall newly adorned!



I just love it, and also love how easy it was to do, and how easy it will be to change!


Have you ever done any DIY vinyl wall art? I'd love to see pictures!

Cauliflower & Sausage Pasta

I know. Even reading the title sounds odd. Cauliflower and sausage? Pasta?

A few nights ago, Chris and I were in the mood to stray from our usual recipes and try something new. The only problem was that we had a whole head of cauliflower we needed to somehow work in. We thought maybe we'd make a pasta with red sauce and veggies, but upon a quick look in the pantry, we didn't have any canned tomatoes. So, turning to the cooking bible, How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, there is a whole section of using vegetables other than tomatoes to make pasta sauce. And lo and behold, one of them was for cauliflower pasta!


Cauliflower & Sausage Pasta
adapted from How to Cook Everything

1/2 head cauliflower
1+1 tbs olive oil
1 cup chicken stock
3-4 cloves minced garlic
Red pepper flakes
2 Spicy Italian Sausages, removed from the case
Italian seasoning
1/4-1/2 cup red wine
1/4-1/2 cup water
Salt & Pepper, as desired


Cut the cauliflower to save the florets. Discard the stalks.



Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil for the pasta.

Heat 1 tbs of oil in a large pan and toss in the cauliflower. Keep it moving for 1-2 minutes, add 1 cup chicken stock, and turn down the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook until the cauliflower is soft and tender but not mushy. Remove the cauliflower and cooking liquid and set aside.

Add remaining 1 tbs of oil to the pan, heat, and toss in garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir frequently until garlic begins to turn golden. Add de-cased sausage meat, and cook until the meat is fully cooked.

Add the cauliflower and liquid back into the pan, and add italian seasoning and red wine and water. If you don't have red wine, use more chicken stock.



Cook all components together, and as the cauliflower continues to soften, mash with a fork or potato masher.

Toss with cooked pasta, serve with a glass of wine.

New! Ideas & Inspirations

Welcome to the first edition of {ideas & inspirations}!

I see so many great new crafts, recipes, and products, and I just can't hold it in any longer! So now I'm going to feature all these great things that I love and that inspire me on a regular basis.

So buckle up, and away we go!



This might be, no wait, is, the cutest little valentine's gift I've ever seen. Find out how to make it here at Kat Crafts!




Anthropologie just announced it's jumping into wedding attire, and I'm just in awe. Can I get married again??




Willow Bee made the coolest yarn wreath for her little one's 4th birthday. It even includes bunting! It's so colorful and fun, she'll want to leave it up for more than just the party!




I'm so in love with this pretty scarf from The Limited, and I snagged it during their 30% off, free shipping sale! Can't wait for it to arrive!




Christina over at C+C Marriage Factory shared her Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas recipe, and oh boy it looks amazing. Check her out -- her recipes and photography are just to die for!




This super cute clutch is handmade by my awesome new sponsor, Laura from Atomique47. Not only is all her stuff super cute, but she's also giving all FW&MP readers a 15% off discount to everything in her Etsy shop with the code MODPODGE15!! This little beauty is at the top of my list. Which ones do you love?


What new ideas and inspirations have you fallen in love with lately?