Top Looks From 2014

Holy cow I made it through another year of blogging! Thank you to all who take the time out of their day to read whatever I have blogger about. I truly appreciate all your love and support and hope you enjoy with 2015 brings here to Stilettos and Diaper Bags! 

Here are my favorite looks from 2014:

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So that's it, my top 20 looks from 2014! It was a fun fashion year and I think my style evolved even further this year. Who knew that at 35 years old with 2 kids I'd be documenting my daily style?! If you would have told my 25 year old self that, I would have laughed at you! ;) 

What's your favorite look from above? Did you use any of my outfit posts this year as style inspiration and try to recreate it?

DIY Christmas Gift Idea

Buying gifts can be a lot of fun, but sometimes it doesn't feel so personal. Sure, everyone loves a new scarf or bag, but lets get the creative juices flowing while saving some cash at the same time. 

I love making holiday ornaments and personalized items as gifts but this year  the Illinois Lottery helped me mix it up a bit. I  turned instant tickets into a Holiday gift for a friend or family member (18 or over of course!), you can even incorporate the tickets into your holiday decor or festivities! How fun is that?

What you need: 

-24 $1 holiday Illinois Lottery tickets

-4 pieces of red paper

-1 piece white paper

-tape or glue

-scissors 

-a marker or sharpie 

Directions:

-using white paper & scissors make a snowflake

-tape or glue all 4 pieces of red paper together

-tape or glue snowflake to center

-tape 6 tickets together on add to each side of snowflake

-write in your own special message

I love this! The gift ended up costing $24 and I used what I already had around the house to finish it. When I give it away my lucky friend will have 24 chances to win up to $200 per ticket! Fun, unique, and you can bet no one will be returning this gift (unless they have to go cash in their winnings that is!). 

Do you ever get crafty with your holiday gifts or decor? Would you love to receive a gift like this?

Follow the fun and see what others are making by searching #InstantGifts on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook too! 

It's Baking Season....

In the past I have hosted "cookie weeks" here on Stilettos and Diaper Bags. Baking Christmas cookies and making holiday desserts are a very important tradition to me. I think I love baking, specifically at this time of year, because it reminds me of my mom. That woman can cook and bake like no other! Every year she would bake 5-7 different kinds of cookie over the period of a few days after she'd get home from work. We each had our favorites and she made them all! 

I hope my kids now get excited when I bake around the holidays. This year the four of us will be baking a few recipes together as my hubby took next week off and the kids will be off for two weeks too. It's the most wonderful time of the year. ;) 

I thought I'd share with you two recipes I whipped up last week for my first Christmas party over the weekend. But first, here is a list of all previous Christmas baking here on the blog: 

Chocolate Snowball Cookies (gluten free) 

Coconut Chocolate Chip (gluten free & dairy free) 

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies (gluten free) 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

Carmel Fudge Turtle Cookies

Red Velvet Cookies

Chocolate Covered Pretzels with M&M's on top

Raspberry Ribbon Slices

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

Gluten Free Almond Spritz Press Cookies

Gluten Free Snickerdoodle Cookies

Gluten Free Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Gluten Free Layered Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Being in the last month of the Hormel foods extended blogger program (you can now follow our Hormel adventures on the Sisters Marie blog starting in January) I was over the moon to find Skippy peanut butter in my latest cooler of treats. 

I used Skippy Natural to make gluten free peanut butter blossom cookies. 

 

The finished product: 

 

After looking around on the Skippy website I knew I wanted to try to make the Peanut butter cereal bars. By just subbing for the gluten free version of the cereal, my son was also able to enjoy the dessert!  

Ingredients:

4 cups crispy rice cereal

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light or dark corn syrup

1/2 cup SKIPPY^® Creamy Peanut Butter

 

Directions: 

1. Line 8x8- or 9x9-inch pan with plastic wrap.

2. Pour cereal into large bowl.

3. In medium saucepan, bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Boil 1 minute; remove from heat.

4. Stir peanut butter into corn syrup mixture until smooth. Pour over cereal; stir to coat. Press evenly into pan.

5. Let treats cool 15 minutes on cutting board; remove from pan. Remove plastic wrap. Cut into squares to serve.

This recipe is recommended for 36 servings.

These turned out super yummy. Cut small because they are very rich (which is the best part!). 

What type of holiday treats do you bake up? Do you try new recipes each year or stick to tradition?

*You can check out my previous Hormel posts and recipes here, here, here,  here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, & here.

*I am currently a member of the Hormel Foods Extended Blogger Program and this post is part of my involvement in the Group. While Hormel Foods provides me material and necessary resources to complete various activities, all statements and sentiment in Stilettos and Diaper Bags are my own.

Chicago Bloggers Show you Holiday Style

It's that time of year where we will all be attending holiday parties as well as getting our NYE outfits ready. I don't know about you, but I like to know what I'm wearing far in advance when it comes to dressier looks. As a mother or two, it's hard enough to get everyone ready and out the door on time let alone trying to figure out what everyone is wearing the day of. I mean, do you want to be stressed out?! Just plan ahead of time and save the headache!

Embracing the two concepts of sequins and the color oxblood, seven Chicago bloggers got together to show you our idea of holiday style. We wanted to show a wide range of styles to fit whatever party or event you are attending in the next month or two.

We met downtown at the 900 North Michigan shops and starting having a fun photo shoot sponsored by two of my favorite online shops, Lulus & Shop Lately.

Lulus: "Since its inception in 1996, LuLu*s has grown from a mother-daughter dream to one of the web's most outstanding shopping experiences. We offer a select choice of clothing, shoes and accessories. Our brands consist of emerging new designers and our buyers travel the world so that you can find a style to call your own. We buy in limited quantities as many of our items come fresh from our designers' studios."


Shop Lately: A marketplace, giving designers and brands the opportunities to showcase their products.You can find clothing, accessories, shoes, and even beauty products on Shop Lately. There are new arrivals events every Monday and awesome sales events every Wednesday!
Insider Program: For only $9.00 per year you can get free shipping on all orders. Sign up for that here.


Here are the seven Chicago blogger showing your our sequins & oxblood holiday style:

Love Zahra, 101 Things I love, Stilettos and Diaper Bags, Sisters Marie, Sassy Mom in the City, Knocked Up Fabulous, Second City Mom,

The Christmas tree at the 900 North building is amazing. It's pretty much the most beautiful thing ever and I have been lucky enough to see it every year for the past five years now. It's not really a tradition as I have somehow ended up there each year for blogging events or shopping. Either way, I love the tree and I loved getting photos taken in front of it.

I think it's so fun to see how everyone has a different style yet we are all wearing the same "theme" if you will. I'm telling you all now, after seeing Zahra, I need a tutu in my life!

For my outfit, I went with more of a NYE look. This oxblood dress is a stunner for sure. You can't help but feel hum-a-la hum-a-la boom-ski in it as it's a bodycon that gives a little extra in the shoulder and the neck line.
I decided to add my sequins accessorie in the bag. To finish the look off I add all black to the bottom half, including these 6 inch platform heels, and lots of gold and green statement jewelry. Why can't you wear statement earrings, a statement cuff, and a statement necklace all at the same time? I was dressing for NYE and we all know that on NYE more is more. ;)

Dress: c/o Lulus // Triangle Ring: c/o Opaque Lion Shop Lately // Tights: Walgreens // Shoes: c/o Soho Girl at Shop Lately // Earrings: T+J Designs // Necklace: Lily Wang at Shop Lately (swap w/ Kaitlyn) // Watch: Fossil // Cuff: c/o Cob & Pen at Shop Lately // Bag: c/o Daisy Gem at Shop Lately 

We stopped for a mid-photo shoot coffee at King Cafe (I got a green tea latte) and decided to take a few shots of us in action. All the looks wear so wearable and comfortable to be walking around and sitting in. It kind of felt like we were on a mini holiday party ourselves!

(All photos by Giaskyler Photography) 

I love all the outfits the girls styled. I now want to shop for a tutu, and a sequin skirt, and those oxblood heels, and more jewelry now, but hey, I have a lot of parties to attend to so why not stock up before the items sell out?

What do you plan to wear to your holiday parties or events this year? Do you have your NYE outfit picked out yet?

* All of the Shop Lately items that all seven bloggers are wearing are currently on sale! Get them while you can, there are limited numbers and they sell out fast.

Recipe: Gluten Free Chicken Tenders

I'm always looking for easy gluten free dinner ideas and what's easier then the idea of shake and bake. Well, I decided to modify that idea and come up with my own recipe to fit my families dietary needs. 

Here is what you will need:

Gluten Free Rice Chex of choice (honey is great too!) 

2 eggs 

Organic chicken tenders

1 teaspoon turmeric

 

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Put 1 cup Chex in Ziploc bag and smash

-Whisk 2 eggs and turmeric in bowl

-Coat chicken tenders in egg mix and drop in Ziploc bag of crushed Chex and shake until chicken is coated on both side. Repeat this on each chicken tender and place in glass cooking dish. 

-Bake for 20 minutes and serve

A great side to use is Hormel brand garlic mashed potatoes. You simply warm them up in the microwave or on the stove top. It's fast, easy, and a crowd pleaser for sure! 

 

Here is a photo of the finished product:

My entire family loved this meal. My kids were happy because they thought they were eating chicken nuggets, and I was happy because I knew they were not eating processed frozen garbage! I love trying this dish with different cereals as coatings giving a new twist and taste each time. We also had a side salad (no pictured) and my hubby and I thought the meal was darn tasty too! 

Is this a dish you would try? Do you ever just wing it in the kitchen and try your own recipes to fit your families dietary needs?

*I am currently a member of the Hormel Foods Extended Blogger Program and this post is part of my involvement in the Group. While Hormel Foods provides me material and necessary resources to complete various activities, all statements and sentiment in Stilettos and Diaper Bags are my own.