meet.make.2012 round-up.

Since starting meet.make.laugh. in February of this year, the three of us really have had a lot of fun getting together and being creative. As much as we enjoy putting together projects and trying new things, what we take home from it is the excitement of getting to spend time with friends. This experience alone is often even better then the craft end result! 

Besides sharing our crafting ups and downs, we have really enjoyed getting to know some of you out there in blog world. We want to thank you very much for taking the time to visit our little corner of the internet and leaving comments....we really appreciate it and you!

Here are some of our favourite posts from 2012!

meet.make.turkey buns.

One of my absolute favourite things about Christmas dinner isn't actually the meal itself.... it is the leftovers. Seriously.... the anticipation of a turkey bun almost makes me want to fast forward through the meal! (Almost)

I have spent quite a few years perfecting the formula for the best way to build a turkey bun... and here it is!

STEPHANIE'S PERFECT TURKEY BUN:

Ingredients:

• A white pull-apart tray bun 
• Turkey pulled apart into little pieces
• Stuffing (I know you are thinking.... What? Bread on bread? That's weird. Well it is delicious. The spices in the stuffing add to the final product)
• Gravy
• Cranberry Sauce

Now there are a few tricks to building the bun that make it into the perfect meal. First, make sure you heat up the turkey, stuffing, gravy, and bun separately (don't heat up the cranberry sauce). Everything needs different time in the microwave to get to just the right temperature for consumption of that item. Then assemble in the following order: bottom bun, stuffing, turkey, 2 spoonfuls of gravy, cranberry sauce, top bun.

After you have assembled, grab about 8 napkins, because this bun is MESSY. But it's worth it. It's delicious. 

Enjoy!

How do you use up your leftovers?

meet.make.merry christmas.

With all the holiday festivities and fun, this post is a day late.. But without further ado:

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MEET.MAKE.LAUGH.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas celebration surrounded by good company and of course, food! We sure did.

None of us travelled home for the holidays this year; a downfall of having chef and mechanic husbands working through the holidays. A benefit? The boys cook Christmas dinner while the ladies enjoy a few festive beverages! We love our little Island Family traditions, and enjoyed the wonderful evening! 

Wishing everyone a very happy holiday!

meet.make.ReinBeers.

Looking for an easy stocking stuffer for that hard-to-buy-for-guy, or a funny party favor? Conversation starter? We've got your solution. REINBEERS!

meet.make.wreaths.

Last Christmas, Cindy and I decided we would create the "oh so simple ornament wreath" seen all over the Pinterest boards. For us, it turned out to be a little bit of a Craft Fail, and landed in the trash after the holidays.

Please, don't be fooled by my photo editing techniques.
We shaped a metal coat hanger into a wreath/circle shape, then fastened ornaments along it. Note for future makers: 1. get more ball ornaments than you think you will need  2. shape your hanger wreath into a nice circle with pliers, not a flat pancake oval shape 3. patience.
While creating this post, Cindy informed me that she did not want to be affilated with her wreath, hence, no pictures.

This year I decided to tempt fate again and create the Yarn Wrapped Wreath, which again is seen all over the Pinterest boards and DIY blogs. The wreath is a classic necessary Christmas decoration that I really looking forward to making.

meet.make.salted caramel shortbread.

One of our new recipes for our annual baking weekend this year was inspired by this recipe for salted caramel shortbread. We were all really excited to try this out, because who doesn't love the combo of caramel and sea salt? 

meet.make.music: Christmas Edition

Getting ready in the a.m. - you bet we are jamming! Driving to and from work - the tunes are cranked. Sitting at work writing emails - the headphones are likely on.

Simply put - we LOVE music and are constantly sharing artists and songs with each other. So we decided to start a weekly music sharing series!

Every week, each of us will pick a song to share with all of you. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes not.

Share our love of music with us and tell us your favorite song each week!

meet.make.santa's secret martini.

We wanted to kick off our baking weekend in style this year... what better way to do it then a Christmas-y cocktail?

meet.make.ribbon santa ornaments.

Christmas is the perfect time to get your creative mind dancing. So many potential projects to make! Holiday goodies for yourself, friends, and family are always wonderful to create, but we decided this holiday season we wanted to do something for those who maybe needed a little extra cheer this year.

meet.make.crochet-along: granny square pillows.

 A month ago, the two of us decided to join in with The Curious Pug for her November crochet-a-long. The pattern for the month was a granny square pillow, and we were excited to tackle the project! 

Hayley's Granny Stripe Blanket

As Steph and I attempt to get through our Crochet-a-long November project, I've become inspired by Alycia of The Curious Pug to document one of my biggest projects to date!
While I have successfully crocheted a few baby blankets for dear friends, I haven't been brave enough to try the ominous task of a Queen sized blanket for my home. 

meet.make.white cranberry mimosa.

During Baking Weekend 2012, one of the things that kept us going throughout the day was a tasty, refreshing treat.... white cranberry mimosas! 

Happy Birthday Stephanie!!!

Happy Monday... but more importantly - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STEPHANIE!!!

We want to wish our wonderful friend a fabulous day full of sweet treats and surprises, and to take comfort in the fact that we are all getting old together :) We just got ID'ed the other day so we must be doing something right! 

Cheers to Stephanie for a fun and exciting year ahead! How about some DQ ice cream cake?! 

meet.make.baking weekend 2012.

Our favourite time of year has come and gone... but we must say that our ladies baking weekend 2012 was a delicious success! 

meet.make.music: track 10

Getting ready in the a.m. - you bet we are jamming! Driving to and from work - the tunes are cranked. Sitting at work writing emails - the headphones are likely on.

Simply put - we LOVE music and are constantly sharing artists and songs with each other. So we decided to start a weekly music sharing series!

Every week, each of us will pick a song to share with all of you. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes not.

Share our love of music with us and tell us your favorite song each week!

Crochet-a-long

We are really excited to take part this month in The Curious Pug's crochet-a-long! For the month of November, the project is a Granny Square pillow, which is something the two of us have been planning on tackling for months. Now we have some pressure and motivation to start and complete this project!

meet.make.DIY scarf hangers.

'Tis the season for scarves - our favorite fall accessory! 

Homemade or store bought, you'll likely never catch any of us without one. The dilemma - we each needed a better way to hang/store them. Piling them over a dining room chair, or storing them in a bin wasn't working anymore.

meet.make.music: track 9

Getting ready in the a.m. - you bet we are jamming! Driving to and from work - the tunes are cranked. Sitting at work writing emails - the headphones are likely on.

Simply put - we LOVE music and are constantly sharing artists and songs with each other. So we decided to start a weekly music sharing series!

Every week, each of us will pick a song to share with all of you. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes not.

Share our love of music with us and tell us your favorite song each week!

Happy Halloween!

When black cats prowl and pumpkins gleam;

May luck be yours on Halloween!

Every Halloween, we love coming up with group costumes. It is always so much fun to plan and dress up together. Unfortunately this year we had no opportunity to go out and dress up, so we thought we would share a couple of our past favourites!

Hayley, Steph, and Cindy as the 3 Blind Mice..... we didn't listen to the rhyme very well and forgot to cut off our tails! 

Lindsay as Tinkerbell, Steph as Captain Hook, and Cindy as Peter Pan! 

Cindy, Hayley, and Steph as the Queens of Cards! Unfortunately our Queen of Diamonds got the flu this year.... but this was still one of our favourites, perhaps because it involved a lot of little DIY elements?? Those pipecleaner crowns and card staffs were a blast to make. 

Wishing everyone a spook-tacular Halloween!

meet.make.bake

Our favorite time of the year is quickly approaching - Baking weekend with the ladies! And we couldn't be more excited!

About 3 years ago, we started an island tradition of hosting a weekend with the gals, baking up a storm for the holidays. We put our scrubs and laptops away, and fill ourselves with treats, all the cheesy Christmas music our hearts have desperately desired, and just some good old quality ladies time. 

We're not going to give too too much away though, as we will post for our epic weekend to come... 
What we do need before then though, is your help in deciding what to add to our list of goodies! 

Calling all you avid Christmas bakers out there - help us by sharing your favorite recipes!

meet.make.music: track 8

Getting ready in the a.m. - you bet we are jamming! Driving to and from work - the tunes are cranked. Sitting at work writing emails - the headphones are likely on.

Simply put - we LOVE music and are constantly sharing artists and songs with each other. So we decided to start a weekly music sharing series!

Every week, each of us will pick a song to share with all of you. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes not.

Share our love of music with us and tell us your favorite song each week!

meet.make.slow roasted korean pork poker feast.

So this wasn't our typical Ladies Night In... in fact, it wasn't a Ladies Night at all! 

This night was about as testosterone filled as it could get. It included some intense poker playing, beer drinking, UFC watching and meat eating. BUT no one says it couldn't have been a ladies night, there just happened to be a lot of males there as well. Though we love our girly crafty nights, we of course enjoy hanging out with our boys!

meet.make.music: track 7

Getting ready in the a.m. - you bet we are jamming! Driving to and from work - the tunes are cranked. Sitting at work writing emails - the headphones are likely on.

Simply put - we LOVE music and are constantly sharing artists and songs with each other. So we decided to start a weekly music sharing series!

Every week, each of us will pick a song to share with all of you. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes not.

Share our love of music with us and tell us your favorite song each week!

meet.make.lemon cookies.

I came across this recipe on Pinterest last week.... and immediately decided I needed to make these right away. I have a weakness for lemon flavoured things, and after a quick glance at the recipe I realized I had all of these things at home, so a trip to the grocery store wasn't even needed. 

My evening just got exciting. Baking lemon cookies, and so excited about it. 

meet.make.music: track 6

Getting ready in the a.m. - you bet we are jamming! Driving to and from work - the tunes are cranked. Sitting at work writing emails - the headphones are likely on.

Simply put - we LOVE music and are constantly sharing artists and songs with each other. So we decided to start a weekly music sharing series!

Every week, each of us will pick a song to share with all of you. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes not.

Share our love of music with us and tell us your favorite song each week!

meet.make.szechuan green beans.

A girly get-together was in order, so we took a trip to one of favourites, Moxies. But while skimming over the menu, we found out that they no longer offered one of our favourite sharing dishes.... the szechuan green beans! 

However this disappointment spurred our creative DIY mentality, and we were determined to make our own version to fill this void.

meet.make.music: track 5

Getting ready in the a.m. - you bet we are jamming! Driving to and from work - the tunes are cranked. Sitting at work writing emails - the headphones are likely on.

Simply put - we LOVE music and are constantly sharing artists and songs with each other. So we decided to start a weekly music sharing series!

Every week, each of us will pick a song to share with all of you. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes not.

Share our love of music with us and tell us your favorite song each week!

meet.make.wedding: Cindy and Josh

In honour of Hayley's upcoming wedding, we will be doing spotlight's on some past weddings we have attended. Most of these weddings happened pre-Pinterest... so we wanted to showcase some of the DIY's and unique features that the bride's (and groom's!) came up with all on their own. 

The couple: Cindy and Josh married on September 3, 2011 (Happy 1st Anniversary to us!!!)

The venue: Cherry Point Estate Wines

The photographer: Billie Woods Photography

The florist: Poppies Floral Art

meet.make.music: track 4

Getting ready in the a.m. - you bet we are jamming! Driving to and from work - the tunes are cranked. Sitting at work writing emails - the headphones are likely on.

Simply put - we LOVE music and are constantly sharing artists and songs with each other. So we decided to start a weekly music sharing series!

Every week, each of us will pick a song to share with all of you. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes not.

Share our love of music with us and tell us your favorite song each week!

meet.make.spiced blackberry mojito.

Whether you're a mojito lover or not, we are pretty sure you will L.O.V.E this drink. We chose blackberries by default as the raspberries and strawberries were sold out. Not knowing what to expect, we completely winged it and were left wanting more! 

We are now are converted to the dark-berry side. We might be on to something here...

A tasty effortless, fool-proof drink for us amateur bartenders out there! 

meet.make.music: track 3

Getting ready in the a.m. - you bet we are jamming! Driving to and from work - the tunes are cranked. Sitting at work writing emails - the headphones are likely on.

Simply put - we LOVE music and are constantly sharing artists and songs with each other. So we decided to start a weekly music sharing series!

Every week, each of us will pick a song to share with all of you. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes not.

Share our love of music with us and tell us your favorite song each week!

meet.make.sandals.

Over on Her New Leaf, Kira started a new project called myDIY:

myDIY is a collaborative online crafting party designed to inspire creative thought and interpretation. Each month, a material or topic will be posted along with several bloggers’ interpretations of the idea.

meet.make.fig bites.

Here on Vancouver Island, figs are in abundance this time of year. They aren't a usual suspect on our grocery lists, but we wanted to try to make something that uses these tasty treats. 

This is a great appetizer for your ladies night in, or any potluck gathering you may attend! It is a very quick goodie to make, so if you need to put something together fast and flattering after work this will do the trick. Lastly.... it is seriously delicious. Sometimes the ingredients speak for themselves and you don't need to do anything to them! 

meet.make.music: track 2

Getting ready in the a.m. - you bet we are jamming! Driving to and from work - the tunes are cranked. Sitting at work writing emails - the headphones are likely on.

Simply put - we LOVE music and are constantly sharing artists and songs with each other. So we decided to start a weekly music sharing series!

Every week, each of us will pick a song to share with all of you. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes not.

Share our love of music with us and tell us your favorite song each week!

meet.make.pillow cases.

Pillows to a couch are like shoes to an outfit. They compliment and complete the look. A great staple pair can be worn with a variety of outfits but with normal wear and tear, they start looking used and abused. A pair of new shoes can make you feel and/or look like a new person (for us women... or me, at least!). 

meet.make.music: track 1

Getting ready in the a.m. - you bet we are jamming! Driving to and from work - the tunes 
are cranked. Sitting at work writing emails - the headphones are likely on.

Simply put - we LOVE music and are constantly sharing artists and songs with each other. So we decided to start a weekly music sharing series!

Every week, each of us will pick a song to share with all of you. Sometimes there will be a theme, and sometimes not.

Share our love of music with us and tell us your favorite song each week!

meet.make.white sangria.

Part 3 of our summer mocktail series! Oh Wait.... there is alcohol in this one.... 

meet.make.wedding: Stephanie and Pat

In honour of Hayley's upcoming wedding, we will be doing spotlight's on some past weddings we have attended. Most of these weddings happened pre-Pinterest... so we wanted to showcase some of the DIY's and unique features that the bride's (and groom's!) came up with all on their own. 

We figured the best way to start off this series is one of our own weddings.... next up is Cindy's!

The couple: Stephanie (me!) and Pat got married August 2nd, 2009... and we just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary!

The venue: The Inn at Laurel Point, Victoria, BC

The photographer: Brandon Patoc Photography

The florist: Bella Fiore Custom Floral Design

meet.make.thread art.

It was a holiday long weekend, and in our world, that means.... craft time! We didn't know what we wanted to make, so a trip to HomeSense was in order to find a little inspiration. After wandering the aisles, we came across some random cheesy bathroom framed art, and figured it had potential to turn into something cool.

meet.make.lace jewelry.

A project we've been saving for a while now and finally made the time (aka we got up the guts) to try it!