Recycle Bottle Caps with this Cute Ornament Craft!

I have stated in previous blogs that I am addicted to Pinterest especially when it comes to recipes and decorating my house. I had my family over for Thanksgiving and my mom; sister and I were working on some Christmas craft ideas. The original craft we planned didn’t really pan out so I pulled up my Pinterest board and found a craft that I knew I had the stuff for. This was soooo easy and super simple to make.

Supplies you need:

• White Paint
• Hot glue gun
• 3 beer bottle caps
• Orange permanent marker
• Black permanent marker
• Ribbon
• Assorted buttons

What you need to do:

1. Save the bottle caps off of 3 of your bottled beverage of choice.

2. Paint the inside of the beer cap with white paint.

3. Once the paint has completely dried glue the bottle caps together side by side on the edges as shown in the picture above. You’re basically building a snowman with the bottle caps.

4. Draw a snowman face on the top bottle cap using an orange marker for the nose and black for the eyes and moth.

5. Draw buttons on the middle bottle cap with black marker

6. Fold a piece of ribbon on an angle to create a scarf. You will then glue this in between the top and middle bottle cap.

7. Glue a button or any other type of small Christmas decoration to the folded part of the scarf to add a little something extra to the ornament.

8. Create a loop with another piece of ribbon to create a hook and glue this to the back side of top bottle cap.

That’s it! Now you have a cute ornament to hang on your tree or to give as a gift!

Written By: Katie B. 

What's Going on the Grill?

I don’t know about anyone else, but this time of year I get super sick of eating brats, hamburgers and hot dogs. My boyfriend wants to grill out most weekends, but if I have to eat another plain old hamburger or brat I might just have to go on a hunger strike! OK,  not really, but I need some variety in my meals.

I recently became a Pinterest addict. We had our friends over for dinner a couple of weekends ago and, instead of making those plain old hamburgers and brats, I tried to look for a recipe on Pinterest using chicken. 

My boyfriend started grilling when we bought our own house. He had a fear of grilling chicken because chicken tends to dry out if you cook it incorrectly. I found a recipe on Pinterest for a chicken marinade that had so many flavors! I didn’t have to worry about eating any boring plain meat. The marinade calls for beer, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and Cayenne pepper. Sounds good right? Here is the recipe for this flavorful chicken:

Photo and recipe courtesy of Pinterest

Garlic Beer Marinated Chicken

Ingredients:

• 12oz beer
• 6 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning
• 6 garlic cloves, minced (I used the minced garlic that you can buy in the jar at the store to save time)
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper (this spice was difficult to find. If you are having problems look for Ground Cayenne Red Pepper)
• 2-3 Ib boneless Chicken-You may want to pound chicken to an even thickness before marinating to ensure that the chicken cooks evenly and stays juicy.

Directions:

1. Whisk together beer, lemon juice, olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt, pepper and cayenne in a bowl. 
2. Add chicken and let marinate for 6-12 hours. I like to put a cover on the bowl and shake it around every few hours to make sure the marinade covers all of the chicken.
3. Remove the chicken from the marinade and grill until done-approximately 12-15 minutes.
4. Serve with your favorite sides. We served ours with salad, buttered noodles and dinner rolls.

Never be a victim of boring grilled meat again. Try this recipe today!  You won’t be sorry.

Happy Grilling!

Written By: Katie B.