This past weekend, my mother and I kicked off the advent of the fall season in South Dakota by making two of my most favorite goodies: Ghost Cookies and Homemade Hot Cocoa! I wanted to share the recipes with you all today, along with a few photos to guide you along the way as you (hopefully) make your own!

GHOST COOKIES – RECIPE

- Almond bark (1 package per cookie package is a good estimate, although you may have 2-3 “squares” left over, depending on how thickly you coat the cookies)

- Nutter Butter cookies

- Mini-chocolate chips (one 12 oz. package)

First step: Melt the almond bark over low heat.

Two: After the almond bark is melted, open your package of Nutter Butter cookies, and drop one into the pan. Using a fork, roll the cookie around in the almond bark until the cookie is completely covered. Tap off the excess almond bark, and lay on wax paper.

Three: Place two mini-chocolate chips on the cookie for eyes. NOTE: It’s important to place the chocolate chips immediately after placing the cookie on the wax paper, or else the chips won’t stick!

Eat and enjoy :) NOTE: These cookies are also fun at Christmas time; use the chocolate chips for buttons, and make Snowman Cookies!

 HOMEMADE HOT COCOA – RECIPE

- 1-1lb. box of Nestle Cocoa Mix (Nesquik)

- 1 8qt. box of Carnation Instant Milk

- 3 cups powdered sugar

- 11 oz. Coffeemate

- 12 candy canes (any flavor, although we prefer the original red and white kind)

- Dash of salt

First: Unwrap candy canes and place into a small ziploc bag. Place the small ziploc bag into a larger ziploc bag to ensure that there is no breakage during the crushing process. Then, using a hammer/mallet/etc., crush the candy canes to desired consistency.

Second: In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients.

Third: Sift or stir all of the ingredients until well mixed.

NOTE: This recipe makes 4 quarts of cocoa. Since we love cocoa in our family, this doesn’t last us very long, but is perfect for a small family, or for gifts! I’ve filled cute little jars full of the cocoa mix, decorated the jars for Christmas, and included the recipe – it’s such a fun (and inexpensive) gift!

Final Direction: After warming up your water in a mug in the microwave (or on the stove), add 1/3 cup of cocoa mixture, and enjoy!

Many thanks to my Mom for modeling her hands in the pictures for this post!

What are your favorite things to make/bake in the fall or winter? Please share them with me in the comments!

Another glimpse into our apartment today – this time, check out our new duvet cover in our bedroom!

We purchased this light grey duvet cover from IKEA in July, and we finally put it on our bed this week (we’re slow, I know!). But, I have to say – it was worth the wait! We love the yellow and grey combination, and the black accent of our furniture and our Euro shams add another level of fun to the look.

Take a look:

Have you made any purchases from IKEA recently? What are your bed linens like?

For today’s look at our home, I wanted to showcase two big pieces of furniture that have a big impact in our apartment. As you may know, Jordan and I are big fans of IKEA, and on separate occasions, we made a pilgrimage to the nearest IKEA (in Minneapolis), and within the past year, we picked up not one, but two Expedit units from IKEA.

Here is how we utilized the first Expedit in our apartment [shown in the photo below, from six months ago or so]. This unit is what I like to call the “Medium” size – and this is before we got the “Large” size Expedit, which you will soon see:

See how we used the “Medium” Expedit (let’s call her Trudy) behind our couch as a sofa table? We stacked a few special photos on top, a table lamp, and my printer, and we filled the cubes to the brim to maximize storage. You’ll notice that most of the items stowed away are kitchen-related; this is due to the fact that while our apartment is growing more homey by the month, we sadly do not have a pantry. And it really, really stinks. But, we’re doing our best to make due. To those of you that have pantries, however: don’t take those puppies for granted – they really are a space safer!

Now, moving on to the “Large” Expedit that we purchased on our most recent trip to IKEA (in July). Let’s call the “Large” Expedit Rudy. When we brought Rudy home, we rearranged our living room to accommodate this large 4×4 unit. So, here’s a look at what Rudy looks like now:

It may help to give you an exterior shot of our living room before, to show you Trudy before Rudy joined the party:

Basically, we moved “Medium” size Trudy to serve as our TV stand, and we built good ol’ Rudy tall and proud to stand where our two-person desk used to be.

So now, our living room looks like this:

In other words, we rely pretty heavily on our Expedit units in our apartment. Without a pantry (and with only ONE drawer in our kitchen, which we use for silverware), we need more kitchen storage, so that’s what Rudy’s function is now, along with book storage. And, when a little one comes along in the future, we plan to fill the bottom two rows of “Large” size Rudy with baskets that hold toys, books, etc. to accommodate a curious child.

Do you have an Expedit unit? What purpose does it serve in your home?

NOTE: I wasn’t paid or perk’d to write about the IKEA Expedit; I’m just a big fan of their furniture!

Happy Monday, all! When thinking about what to greet you all with this morning, I decided to put together a fun inspiration board for the Love Shoot that I’m dreaming of doing with my guy Jordan and our puppy Wyatt sometime this fall/early winter.

Check out my inspiration board below, which I created on Style Me Pretty, a lovely wedding blog that showcases creative and fun photography sessions! [All images via Style Me Pretty; for individual image credits, see this link]

To close out yet another week, I’m showcasing four of my most favorite jewelry finds on Etsy that I’m lusting after.

First, an AH-MAZ-ING ring from seller KristinCoffin:

This ring is made from twigs, y’all – it’s so gorgeous. WANT.

Second, another fun ring from seller Fabuluster – a custom fingerprint ring!

Third, a necklace with a swallow bird on it from seller OdetteNewYork. I have a special fondness for swallows; after I heard that swallows mate for life, much like humans strive to do, I had my Mom sew a swallow charm into my DIY wedding garter!

Last, a fun button ring from one of my favorite sellers, galla15:

What are you lusting after on Etsy?

[Photos via 1, 2, 3, 4]

Today I’m kicking off a new series on the blog: Crafty Wife! I love to craft and DIY, despite the fact that I don’t have a ton of time to make things anymore. Nevertheless, look for some Crafty Wife posts every once in awhile around here!

Inspired by this project over on The New Domestic (a great blog full of home inspiration!), I made my own little painting this summer (I know, this post is so overdue – we finally just hung the painting in our bedroom!). I wanted to make the painting in our wedding colors (grey and yellow) as a little homage to our DIY homespun wedding. Plus, our new duvet cover in our bedroom is a light grey color, so I wanted to stay in the same color family to make the room cohesive.

This is one of the most boring DIY posts ever, since I basically followed the directions in The New Domestic’s awesome tutorial. I used a traditional paint brush, but if I ever make another painting like this, I would use a foam brush/roller to eliminate the appearance of brush strokes. However, I couldn’t be more pleased with how this painting came out!

Take a look:

What’s on your DIY To-Do List?

Today’s post is all about my favorite new picks from IKEA, one of my most favorite places to get quality furniture on a budget!

To summarize: out of all of the new products at IKEA, I’m loving, loving, LOVING the new Isala series! Take a look at my favorite tables:

What are you loving from IKEA right now?

[First photo via; bottom four photos via IKEA]