January 31, 2014

Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken

January 31, 2014/ Michelle S

Fact: Meat, although delicious, is disgusting looking and therefore hard to photograph. (Sorry vegetarians.)

Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken | Decor and the Dog

Fact: This recipe will change your life. Or allow you to be really lazy on Sundays. Both have happened to Nate and I.

I had seen 1 million recipes for crockpot rotisserie chicken floating around on the ol' Pinterest. They were all basically coat the chicken in olive oil and rub on spices to your liking. We've finally concocted our liking.

I hate crockpot recipes that require 40 minutes of prep. What's the point of a crockpot? To be a lazy cook. This recipe. 5 minutes. We eat it almost every other Sunday. It's such an easy meal idea. It's also the best way to make sweet potatoes. Slow cooked and soaked in chicken fat.

The only bummer of this recipe is pulling the junk out of the chicken's bum. I always get really excited when Target has the chickens without the junk inside. (Tip: If the grossness is still inside, wrap your hand in a baggy and scream like a school girl when you pull it out. Totally helps.) Who's hungry?

Happy weekend! Any big plans? I honestly haven't thought that far ahead. I do know we have another round of snow coming. Awesome. Not.

Looking for more recipes? Check out our Cook It page!

January 29, 2014

Two Sided Infinity Scarf Tutorial

January 29, 2014/ Michelle S

Last week I mentioned my obsession with crochet. I'm also currently obsessed with Hershey's Hugs and sewing infinity scarves. The infinity scarf thing is becoming an issue. The Hugs are not.

My latest scarf need was an animal print scarf.

Infinity Scarf Tutorial | Decor and the Dog

This obession is the direct result of this pin. Stupid, beautiful Pinterest.

Michelle | Decor and the Dog's pin on Pinterest.

I had to have that animal print scarf.

Ike felt just as strongly about the situation.

Non-cheesy animal print scarves are hard to come by. The ones I did find were like $30. Yep. Not gonna happen. I picked up some ol' animal print fabric at Joann's and whipped me up two beauties. One is solid animal print. The other is a two sided infinity scarf with some dots mixed in. I like that the two side one can show more dot or more leopard depending on my ever changing mood.

Here's how to make your own infinity scarf!

Start by cutting two 9" x 54-58" rectangles. I used 58" on the animal print only scarf. I used 54" on the dot/animal print combo. I personally like the 54" but it is a tighter fit.

Pin the right sides together and sew along the long edges. You'll be left with a long tube.

Turn inside out. Pin the two inner layers right sides together.

This part is a little hard to explain but it's easier than my old way. Start sewing around in a circle. Keep pulling the fabric and sew until you are left with about a 2 inch hole. (For alternate directions that might be easier to understand, read my flannel infinity scarf tutorial!)

Hand stitch that opening shut and your scarf is complete. $4-5 and about 15 minutes. Not too shabby!

I'd take a poll of who modeled the scarves best. But I hate losing.

What's your latest addiction?

January 27, 2014

DIY String Art + Craft Night

January 27, 2014/ Michelle S

Oh, craft night. One of my favorite nights each month. Our craft night group marked our one year anniversary this month. We celebrated with delicious food, wine and crafts. Wait, we do that every month.

DIY String Art + Craft Night | Decor and the Dog

Each month, one person hosts. We all bring an appetizer or dessert to share. Each month we try a different craft. We've made yarn wreaths, embroidered tea towels, boxwood wreaths, pottery, rubber stamps, etc. Craft night is great for tackling crafts that have been on our lists but we just haven't gotten around to trying. Craft night also allows us to try crafts that we never would have otherwise. And my craft night group is made of some of my favorite people in the area. Aww, mushy.

I hosted this month. Our craft was string art.

Ike was super helpful. Here he is supervising my nailing. This was in between stealing food and a baby's blanket. He's a good host.

I have so many favorites about craft night but one of them is that we each take our spin on the project. So even though we all did hearts, they all look a bit different. (Well, except for Kim. I think she was in my garage beating her board to smithereens during this photo. We don't all win every month at craft night.)

Here's how mine turned out. I think it's quite charming.

A few people commented on Instagram that they wanted a tutorial. There are probably 100 better tutorials out there but this is how we did ours. None of us researched it. We just assumed nail, wrap string, done. And that was pretty much right.

Here are the supplies we used for our string art: nails (small is better), string, wood, hammer.

I started another one (that I need to finish). We traced our design onto the wood and then went to town nailing. It's probably best to space them evenly. I tried to do about a fingers width in between but it didn't always work out that way. Some of my nails are crooked. I call it rustic.

Once all of the nails were in, we wrapped the string. There was no rhyme or reason to this. I wrapped until it looked pretty. How's that for scientific?