Guest blogger- Meet Kassi...

Happy Thanksgiving Hot Chocolate enthusiasts!!

SO many exciting things today...

For one thing- my parents and lovely Abuelita (Grandma on my mom's side) are heading up to Central Florida to have a kick booty family filled Thanksgiving dinner over at my sister's house! You know your typical spread- turkey, sweet potatoes, black beans and rice...

Ok, so maybe Cubans do it up a little differently. But you should all consider adding black beans and rice to your holiday menus! It rocks any occasion!!

Any hoot- I'm in charge of the sweets, which I'm sure will be a post in the coming week so I wont give too much away... Just know there's 3 different delicious desserts to be gobbled down (see what I did there? I'm so good at terrible jokes! Email me if you need pointers, I'm also very helpful!)

I also want to take a hot second to do this whole cliche "what I'm thankful for" shtuff. Count your blessings, people!! It's important!

*I'm thankful for a loving, supportive, and patient family unit that includes not just my relatives but also my amazing person and his family as well as my amazing friends. Life is too hard on your own and I am blessed beyond words to have so many people I can turn to when I'm in need of it. I'm thankful for my job and the fact that I do what I love. I'm thankful for an amazing bunch of followers that actively participate and make me feel like I've made a boat load of new friends and will potentially continue to do so. I'm thankful for such an amazing life. I'm always astonished by all of my blessings. I don't know what I've done to deserve this life but I'm unendingly thankful for every second of it!*

Aside from Thanksgiving festivities, while I would normally do a Window Shopping Spree today, I have a special treat for you! My first ever guest blogger- Kassi from over at Truly Lovely. She more than lives up to the blog name, she is such a sweetheart!! You will LOVE all the loveliness over on her blog so go snoop around! Plus, I have an awesome post up over there today on holidays in my neck of the woods!

So here she is!! Enjoy... :)

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Well hello there lovely Cup 'a Hot Chocolate readers!!

First off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

My name is Kassi and I blog over at Truly Lovely!

I am THRILLED to be here blog swapping with the amazing Miss Krystina today!! 

She's the Bloggie Bestie over on Truly Lovely this week, so when you're finished here you can find her guest posting over at our place!!!







Truly Lovely is an 'all things lovely' blog written by myself and my younger sister, Kayli!

We enjoy sharing all the lovelies in our lives including (but not limited to) crafts, recipes, stories, photos and more with our fun readers!!! :) 







You can click that picture to learn more about us but in the meantime I have a SUPER easy, SUPER quick crafty project to share with you all! It is Thanksgiving centered, but since that's today... You could also adjust it for Christmas, or just everyday with a silhouette of your choosing!




Thanksgiving Turkey Candles!

I started with my trusty Silhouette SD, two candles purchased from Wal-Mart, a can of Saddle Leather brown Krylon spray paint and some vinyl for my silhouette stencil. I used the FREE turkey shape that came with my Silhouette software and cut out two in the size I wanted using my Silhouette SD. 

I've said this before on Truly Lovely, but if you don't have a Silhouette you could just as easily print out a turkey picture (or if your artistic talents include drawing, draw one) and cut the stencil with scissors or an Exacto knife. 

Once the stencil was cut, I trimmed the excess vinyl. 

Carefully smooth the stencil down on your candle. 

You can see I used just plain white paper to cover the top and bottom a little more... 

You'll see why here in a second. 

Once the vinyl was on I grabbed the candles and my can of spray paint, then headed outside. 

I sprayed a few light coats over the turkey being careful not to get paint on the uncovered part of the candle until my stencil was completely filled in.

Let your newly painted candles dry for about an hour. 

See why we needed the extra paper! :) 

Once your paint has dried for a good while, peel off the stencil and let it dry awhile longer to make sure it sets. 

Then, because I had some blank space at the bottom of my candles I tied a brown ribbon around the bottom of each one. 

Now you can display your new Turkey Silhouette Candles for Thanksgiving! :)

Thanks SO much to Krystina for having me over today and for being the Bloggie Bestie at Truly Lovely this week!!! :) She rocks, right?!? Can I just say I love her blog name!

Got me craving a big ol' cup of hot chocolate right now!!! 

Hope you'll pop over to Truly Lovely and say hello sometime! :) 

OH, and we have and AWESOME Shabby Apple dress giveaway happening right now if you're interested! ;)

Have a lovely rest of the week dolls!!!

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Adorable, is she not?! I know!! And there's much more where that came from so make sure you check her out! Thank you, thank you, thank you Kassi for the chance to do my first guest post and for coming over here and gracing us with your loveliness!! It was such a pleasure and I had a blast! You rock, lady!

I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving with more smiles than family fights! :) 

And if you're a newer follower, don't forget to check out the Williams-Sonoma Hot Chocolate Giveaway before it's too late,

and be sure not to miss out on the Wish! {out loud} link up that will be starting on Sunday!!