Colonel Reb Planter

Now I wish I could take credit for this awesome idea, but I found this cute Ole Miss inspired craft on Pinterest. Unfortunately, all the "pin" says is "uploaded by user" so I don't know who to give credit to!

This project is super easy and super cheap! I bought my two terra cotta planters at Wal-Mart for $2.50 each! Add in some paint brushes and blue, red, and white acrylic paint... this project only adds up to be about $8-10. 

Start with a basic terra cotta planter pot. I used a mid-size pot, so I could put some mums in it. But you could make this with any size you want! 

Turn one of the pots upside down, and paint a jacket, pants, and shirt onto the pot using red, blue, and white paint.

After the base coats have dried, use black Tulip Slicks (or puff-paint) to outline the outfit. Don't forget to add black outlines for the coat's lapel. 

On the other pot, use white and cream paint to make the Colonel's face. Grab your black Tulip Slicks again and outline the face and beard. Paint red around the top of the pot to represent the Colonel's hat. 

(The original photo used wood cutouts for eyebrows, a nose, beard, and arms... I just painted mine on)

(This is the original picture I found on Pinterest)

Give the Colonel a bow-tie by adding a ribbon around where the pots connect. Lastly, place some flowers in the top pot!

I love this craft, and it really adds some height to your table.

 Happy crafting and Hotty Toddy!

The South's Best Tailgate

Do you think The Grove is the South's Best Tailgate? I sure do!! Vote for Ole Miss in Southern Living's The South's Best Tailgate Competition. You can vote once a day until October 2nd, and Saturdays count twice... so go vote now!

Hotty Toddy!

Busy, busy, busy!

I'm sorry I haven't been posting recently! The semester is in full swing, and I've been super busy. I promise to post tutorials for making a football field platter, spray painting and chandelier, and sewing a burlap tablecloth soon, so stick with me! 
In the mean time, here are some new breakfast bites I've found. (Check out my older post "Breakfast in the Grove" for some more recipes ) The A&M game is an evening game, but the Auburn game has yet to be announced, so you might need to use some of these!

Mini Chicken and Waffles

-Mini Frozen Waffles (I recommend Eggo brand)

-Chicken Nuggets (Best with Chick-fil-A nuggets)

Cook the mini waffles according to the package, top with chicken nugget and a toothpick! Serve with honey or maple syrup. 

Donut Kebobs 

Just slide some donut holes or mini donuts onto a skewer and presto! I've also seen this done with fruit in-between each donut.

Sausage Pancake Muffins

-Pancake Mix

-Sausage

Brown the sausage in a skillet and drain. Spray muffin pan with Pam or use cupcake liners. Fill mini-muffin tins about 1/3 of the way with pancake batter. Place a small amount of sausage in each tin, and cover with the remaining batter. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes. Serve with maple syrup. 

Fruit Cups

A great way to serve a healthier breakfast treat! Fill cupcake liners with your fruit of choice and serve on a cupcake stand. 

(You can buy a cupcake stand at Walmart for about $10)

Safe travels if you're headed to Tuscaloosa for the game this weekend! Don't forget to wear blue to cheer on our Rebels! Hotty Toddy!

The Simple Things

It's easy to get carried away trying to make the most extravagant food for your tailgate, but the simple staple foods are usually everyone's favorites! Be sure to include some of these traditional tailgate bites along with your fancy foods. These are also great because most of them take very little time and prep, so you can have them in the oven while you work on your more difficult to make treats!

Pigs in a Blanket

-Cocktail Sausage

-Crescent Rolls

Cut the crescent roll triangles in half, place a cocktail sausage at the wider end, and roll. Bake according to the crescent roll package instructions. Easy peasy. 

Sausage Balls

Plain Chicken has a great post on how to make these. Also check her blog every Friday for "Football Friday" where she posts about a yummy tailgate treat!

Ham and Cheese Poppyseed Sliders

Chocolate Therapy's recipe for these Ham Slider sandwiches is my favorite for this tailgate staple. This blog also has some other great foods to try out in the Grove!

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." -Leonardo da Vinci

Hotty Toddy!

Sam's Club Stock-Up

Making a trip to Sam's Club soon? Here are some things to stock up on for tailgating season!

-Saran Wrap- You'll need plenty of this to wrap up all your tailgate treats!

-Tin Foil- One can never have enough tin foil, and you use it in almost every tailgate recipe. Buy it in bulk, stock in the back of the pantry.

-Crescent Rolls- Almost every tailgate has at least two recipes that use crescent rolls, so these cans of dough sell out days before gameday. While your tailgating friends will be frantically searching the town for this doughy goodness, you'll have plenty stored up!

-Paper Plates and Plasticware- Buying these in bulk aren't always pretty, usually just a simple white or clear. But if you're trying to save money you can buy them in bulk.

-Sam's Club is also a great place to buy your tent, tables, chairs, coolers, etc. if you haven't already, or need to add another one!

What a Weekend!

What a weekend it was! I've heard people calling this past weekend "The South's Biggest Party", and it truly was! Oxford transformed into one large party with over 100,000 people packed into our small little town. It was truly a weekend to be remembered.
The Grove was so packed together, it was hard to see all the wonderfully decorated tents. Tents were placed pole-to-pole, I don't think there were any spots of open grass to be seen.

As much fun as this weekend was, I am looking forward to a slightly smaller crowd for the next home game. Since we have a couple weekends away before the next Grove event, this is a perfect time to be working on some crafts for your next tailgate!
Over the next two weeks I'm going to be bringing you some tutorials (with pictures) so you can craft away for the A&M game. Keep checking back to see my tutorials on making your own football field platter, a new pennant banner, my attempt at spray painting a chandelier, sewing your own ruffled burlap tablecloth, and lots of new yummy recipes! Hotty Toddy!

Trash Can Day!

Happy Trash Can day Rebel Nation! You all know what that means... tomorrow is GAMEDAY! I'm am so excited for this Texas game I can hardly stand it! 

I know you all are super busy getting everything ready for the Grove tomorrow. However, if you are one of the lucky few to have some free time, here's another fun craft you can whip up. These canvas/burlap footballs only take about an hour to make (so easy). Both Great Day Design and My Heart's Desire have wonderful tutorials with pictures! 

If you don't have time to whip one of these up before tomorrow and just have to have one, go to Olive Juice on the Square. They have this precious door hanger that is perfect to hang on your tent. One of my sweet friends owns this store, and she carries all sorts of cute things from Mississippi pottery to locally made jewelry!

Remember to show our Texas visitors how wonderful and charming The Grove and Oxford can be! Hotty Toddy! 

Chalkboard Paint

The Longhorns have begun their descent on Oxford!! If you're anywhere near the Oxford area, you will have noticed the traffic is beginning to pick up and there is a lot more orange. The Texas have arrived and the whole town is buzzing about it! If you have a Twitter account, go search the hashtag #TexasGameRumors, trust me you will laugh your pants off. (If you don't have Twitter than you are probably thinking "What the heck is this girl talking about?! Hashtag-a-what?")

With just two night left until gameday, I hope you all are hard at work getting things ready for the biggest tailgating event this year! If you have a little extra time, here are some cute chalkboard ideas to add to your tent! Chalkboard paint is super easy to use, and you can even make it yourself! A Beautiful Mess has posted a great tutorial on how to make your own chalkboard paint, and in any color you want!

Use your homemade chalkboard paint to make some cute food signs for your tent! These are great because you can re-use them every game!

You can also use the paint to make a menu to attract Grovers into your tent! Be sure to come up with some fun creative name for your treats!

You can also use a chalkboard for other things in your tent, like a Hotty Toddy sign or post the football schedule up (with all the Rebel victories!) You can also write up a catchy phrase for each week. I've seen "Free Beer for BYU Fans" and of course "Free Corndogs" during the LSU weekend. 

Remember to stay safe this weekend with the massive crowd in town! Hotty Toddy!

Tailgate Transportation

One of the most daunting tasks on gameday is getting all your yummy Grove treats and decorations to the Grove in an organized manner. Security will let you drive your car into right up to the Grove and park for a few minutes to unload, but believe me this is the biggest hassle and ends up being more trouble than it's worth.
So I began to wonder, how can I walk all my tailgating goodies up to the Grove from my car that's parked a quarter mile away? Solution: an old trunk. I attended summer camp every year growing up, and my old camp trunk has been sitting in my parent's garage for years. So I decided to upcycle my trunk and turn it into The Tailgating Trunk!

Before

After

This trunk works perfectly to transport Grove stuff because it has WHEELS! I just throw everything in there (food, decorations, etc.) and wheel it up to the Grove. It can also be used for seating once you get it up to the Grove. 

How to Paint It:

For the base coat I used a navy blue spray paint with a primer. It took about two coats to cover the entire trunk. After the spray paint fully dried, I used basic acrylic paint to add the decorations. It was super easy, and only took about 2 hours plus drying time! 

Here's a few other cute ideas for transporting your food up to the Grove. Little Birdie Secrets has a great tutorial on how to make your own insulated casserole cover. Grab some Ole Miss fabric and get to sewing! 

I found these cute personalized tupperware food carriers at Sugar Magnolia in Oxford. You can also buy these sorts of tupperware containers at Walmart or Bed, Bath, and Beyond. If you know how to make vinyl labels you could make this yourself! Or even grab your paintbrushes and paint them!

The University of Mississippi has put out this little reminder to fans to really show Texas how southern hospitality works down here in the South. Here are a few reminders they would like all of us Rebels to keep in mind this weekend. 

Hope everyone is having a great week of preparation for this weekend! It is expected to be the largest Grove event in Ole Miss history so far, so get ready!! Hotty Toddy!

Bigger in Texas, Better in the Grove!

I've seen this cute phrase all over town in the past couple days, and I just wanted to share it with you all! "It's may be Bigger in Texas, but it's Better in the Grove!" I love it! You can definitely make use of this saying in your tent this weekend! Maybe paint a little sign, or put it on a chalkboard!

(I found this cute burlap pillow case in Sugar Magnolia!)

Tent Decor: DIY Chandelier

Throughout the Grove you will see tons of chandeliers hung inside the most decorated tents. Some people pull out all the stops and bring their crystal chandeliers, however I think the cutest ones are the painted chandeliers! Here are two fantastic tutorials on how to paint a brass chandelier. You can find an old brass chandelier at most thrift stores, however if you live in the Oxford area I would suggest looking out-of-town because most stores over-price their chandeliers since they are in high demand for tailgating season! 

It's Just Laine's tutorial is great! And I love that she used Ole Miss red!!

The Tall Chick also has a great post about how to paint a brass chandelier.

Don't worry about your chandelier actually lighting up! (unless you have a generator and would like the to use it for lighting) Most people just put the chandeliers up for decoration, and you will even see some without the lightbulbs or candles in place of the lights. Good luck and have fun crafting! Hotty Toddy!

More Posts Coming This Week:

-Chalkboard Paint: How to make your own, and where to use it in your tent!

-Tricks to transport all your Grove gear to your tailgating spot on gameday!

Grove Games

Since this week's game is such a late evening game, you are going to need some entertainment to keep your Grovers happy. Here are a few ideas to keep those fans happy!

Cornhole is the ultimate tailgating game. There isn't much room in the Grove for this game, so make sure you find an area with some extra space for Cornhole. Hoosier Homemade has a GREAT tutorial on how to make a Cornhole Toss.

Once you've got the basic design built, you need to paint it up! Of course red and blue decked out with Colonel Reb or "Hotty Toddy" is a must... but here are some of my other favorite designs to gather inspiration from!

Monogram it!

Paint it up with your Sorority!

Replace the Hornet with Colonel Reb of course!

You'll also need some bean bags for your Cornhole! You can buy these at Walmart or Toys-R-Us, or you can sew your own! The Purl Bee has a great tutorial on how to make these bean bags. Use some red and blue or Ole Miss fabric!!

If you have kiddos at your tent, set up a little kids table with some coloring books and crayons! Here's a fun Ole Miss coloring sheet you can print off for the kids to color!

The Longhorns are Coming to Town

Two wins in a row for our Rebs, what a great way to start the season! Next week might possibly be the largest Grove event we have seen in years. With The University of Texas making its way to Oxford, fans from the great Lone Star State will be pouring into the Grove. This is definitely the time to show off our Groving at its best! Since we need to be in tip-top Grove shape this week, I will be blogging a post everyday to get you ready!

Since the Texas game is so late in the evening (8:15pm... yikes!), you're going to need some heavier apps and treats than you would for a normal game. Here's a few suggestions to hold over your tent goers. You'll also probably want to make a larger amount of food this game since there will be so much time and so many people in the Grove! Make sure to hit the grocery store early, especially if you live in Oxford!

Ham and Swiss Sliders

These are a tailgate staple, and therefore I imagine most of you are familiar with how to make them. The Hazar Family Blog has a great recipe and directions on how to make these yummy sliders.

Bacon Cheeseburger Bites

These are packed with protein to keep fans full and pumped up to cheer on the Rebels! The recipe is from Taste of Home. If you would like a healthier option, just leave out the bacon!

Chicken Tenders

Go ahead and make one thing easy on yourself... You can order chicken tenders from Abner's or Oby's the week before the game, and pick them up on gameday. But don't just put the box out! Add some Grove flair to those tenders! I love this idea of putting little toothpick flags on the tenders. Grab some red and blue scrapbook paper and tape them onto toothpicks to make these cute little flags! Also put your sauce in some cute cups!

Football Food

Walking around the Grove you sometimes get lost in the grandeur and forget what the actual purpose of tailgating is... FOOTBALL! Adding some football shaped treats to your spread will remind your fellow Grovers why we are celebrating!

Chocolate Covered Pigskin Strawberries

Get some fresh strawberries and some dipping chocolate and go to town! Then just use some white icing in a piping bag to draw the laces onto the chocolate. 

Chocolate Almond Footballs

One Fine Cookie has a great tutorial on how to make these football almonds from scratch. If you aren't feeling particularly domestic, go ahead and buy some already made chocolate covered almonds and use some white icing to pipe on the details. 

Pigskin Sliders

I haven't tried these yet, but I'm going to! The base is just a dinner roll (you could probably use part of a Pillsbury crescent roll) sliced open with a meatball placed inside. Then use pieces of mozzarella cheese to make the laces, and serve with some marinara sauce! 

Touchdown Deviled Eggs

Use your favorite deviled egg recipe, then put green onions across the top in the shape of laces!