Craft: Shell Door Wreath

I (Jenn) am newly married and just changed my name... I started thinking about cute crafts for the house that will utilize my new last name. I decided to make a shell door wreath for our front door. Our whole house has a beachy theme so I thought this type of wreath would fit perfectly with our style. You may choose whatever style fits you, It does not need to be shells. You can use fake flowers, ivy, beads, holiday theme décor etc.

Here is our finished product:

How to complete the look?

You will need:

1. 1 paper plate
2. Scissors
3. Ribbon (color of your choice)
4. Hot glue gun & hot glue sticks
5. raffia (I bought at Michael's)
6. Shells of your choice (6 - 8 medium sized shells + 40 - 45 small shells)
7. gems or other craft items to glue on.

*1st you will need to cut a the center out of the paper plate to leave a round "donut" shape. Just follow along the circle on the plate (most designs will have a border line). This will form the base of your wreath.
*Next cut 2 long strands of ribbon (about 2 feet each), tie both ribbon strands around the border of the plate into a knot. Then tie one of the ribbons into a bow and the other into a big loop. This forms the easy to hang part of your wreath.
* Take the raffia and wrap around the plate and hot glue into place. Make sure there is not space in between each loop, go over 2x if needed. Continue until the plate is fully covered.
* Next place your shells on the plate how you would like them and hot glue into place. Start with the big shells and add the smaller ones next.
*Once you are finished let sit for the glue to fully dry then hang on your door.

Congratulations you have created an easy door wreath!

We hope you enjoyed this wreath craft. Until we blog again, XoXo, Jenn & Connie

Friendsgiving & Blind Wine Tasting Party!!!

This year my husband and I decided to host a Friendsgiving dinner! I've always wanted to have a blind wine tasting party, so we did that as well :)
It was so much fun!!

We invited some friends by emailing/messeging this:  

"Please join us for a potluck: 

We will cook the turkey, make the gravy and have some yummy apps! 
(and of course our wine for the blind tasting!) 

Please bring a bottle of wine to taste, white or red, sweet or dry, your favorite or one you've never tried, doesn't matter, as long as it's wine! 

Make sure it's covered in a brown paper bag (we will have some too, but make sure no one sees the label, but you)

We will taste & rate each wine from 1-5 (5 being amazing) & whoever brought the highest rated white & red wine wins a prize! 

Please also bring one of the following side dishes:  
- mashed potatoes
- sweet potato dish
- green beans casarole/dish
- veggie dish
- salad
- stuffing
- cranberry sauce
-  dessert (x2)

Let everyone know what you're bringing so we don't end up with a bunch of the same thing. 
Super excited & can't wait to celebrate with you!!!"

We ended up doing smoked pork tenderloin instead! It was amazing!! My hubby recently got a smoker so he wanted to make this too :) He did such a good job! 

For appetizers, I decided to make Jenn's Fruit Turkey (she made this for Thanksgiving before and helped me learn how to do it):

Then while looking for a cornucopia to buy online I found this recipe:
http://recipes.safeway.com/recipe/13462/cornucopia.aspx

Jenn was in town and helped me make it! It turned out great and was such a hit! 

Thanksgiving Cornucopia: 

1) Use foil to shape cornucopia.

2) 

3) Next, roll out dough into strips, overlapping to cover foil. Start from the back.

4) Braid three long skinny strips to go around opening. Then bake at 350 degrees for 25 min.. after that we turned off the oven and let it sit in there to cook a little more and stay warm. 

5) Fill as you wish & enjoy! 

For the Blind Wine Tasting  I made everyone a scorecard. We started out with the white wine with appetizers and right before we sat down to eat. Then throughout the meal I  poured the bottles in numerical order. We mixed the paper bag wrapped bottles up before we numbered them... it worked out great! 

The results:

After dinner and dessert we spend the rest of the night signing karaoke! :) We had such a blast and are so thankful to have such wonderful people in our life! 

Hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving! 

Xoxo 

Double Decker Sister Cooks
Connie & Jenn