Thank you Mezzetta for sponsoring this post and inspiring me to make a new holiday twist on an old classic recipe!

I'm so excited to share my very first soup recipe with you guys today, especially since my mom makes one of the best homemade chicken noodle soups around. But this isn't mom's soup, this is a new take on an old classic and a new holiday recipe I'm making with Mezzetta. Do you guys think it will beat out mom's chicken noodle?! 

How gorgeous are the bright colors of Mezzetta's products, they're so pretty to look at just sitting in the jars! I love roasted bell peppers so I grabbed those right away, then I called my husband to find out if it was green or black olives that he liked, and as you can see he likes the green ones! I was intrigued by the peperoncini and decided to grab those as well!

When I looked at the peppers and olives I purchased, the first recipe that came to mind was a pasta salad. But that just didn't strike me as a cozy and warm holiday recipe that I would want during this time of year.

Winter always reminds me of mom's chicken noodle soup, but that takes too much time to make when you have guests over for the holiday season. That's when I thought of the frozen meatballs and tortellini I had in the freezer....and on came the light bulb! 

Holiday celebrations and holiday family gatherings usually last more than one day, especially when your guests have traveled far to visit. So that means you're going to need more than a day's worth of food to feed them. Luckily I'm here to save you and your hungry guests with my meatball tortellini soup featuring Mezzetta roasted bell peppers, peperoncini, and olives! {Not the typical ingredients for meatball tortellini soup, but I was excited to experiment and make a Mezzetta twist on an old favorite!}

If you love making holiday soups, platters, and dips for your family, and have tons of holiday memories filled with good food, stop by Mezzetta to enter their daily holiday memories gift basket giveaway.  

Bonus: Before you go shopping to gather the ingredients for my meatball tortellini soup, stop by the Mezzetta website and grab yourself a coupon! 

Recipe Ingredients: 

2 cups of frozen meatballs {thawed} 

3 cups of tortellini 

4 cups of beef broth {you can also use chicken or vegetable broth}

1/2 cup of green olives {sliced or diced}

1/2 cup of roasted bell peppers {diced}

1/2 cup of peperoncini {sliced}

1/2 tsp. of parsley 

dash of salt & pepper 

Directions: 

• In a large pot bring the stock to a boil. Stir in the meatballs. Turn down the heat and let simmer for five minutes. 
• Add in the green olives, roasted bell peppers, and peperoncini. Simmer for another three minutes. 
• Stir in the tortellini, parsley, salt, and pepper. Simmer for another three to five minutes. 
• Remove from heat, serve, and enjoy! 

Mezzetta has a meatball tortellini soup on their website featuring their hot cherry peppers and garlic everything spread that I can't wait to try next time around.

You really can't go wrong with adding any of your favorite vegetables to meatball tortellini soup, or even using chicken sausage instead of meatballs.

Do you have a favorite soup recipe that you make during the holiday season? 

Frozen Inspired Christmas Centerpiece - Krylon Mini Mystery Box

Who doesn't love getting a box full of mystery craft products in the mail...#happymail?! 

When I received Krylon's Mini Mystery Box I couldn't wait to open it up to see what was inside and get started on creating something with the pieces they sent. Inside the box was a mini craft crate and adorable wooden buttons from Walnut Hollow, a strip of burlap, two pieces of white fabric, and two cans of Krylon short cuts spray paint in Antique Bronze and Bonnet Blue. 

I love craft crates and was super excited to see this mini one in the mystery box. The burlap was another item I was happy to work with, but what was I to do with the two pieces of white fabric?!

I turned to Pinterest and searched for craft crate centerpiece projects and stumbled upon many creative ideas for the holidays that included mason jars and evergreen cuttings. That's when the idea of using mini bottle brush trees came to mind. How I got that from what I saw...well inspiration strikes where it strikes...right?! 

It only took a few seconds to turn the white and green trees I purchased from the Dollar Tree into blue ones with Krylon's short cuts spray paint, and I couldn't be happier with the results! 

I love...love...love the way the antique bronze spray paint turned the plain, yet beautiful, craft crate into well an antique masterpiece! Thank you Krylon for selecting these two gorgeous colors to send me. 

As you can see I finally came up with a plan for the white fabric. Luckily I have a craft room filled with Christmas craft supplies from past holiday projects, including the scrapbook paper ornaments you see on the tree in the background! 

Among my Christmas craft supplies was a pack of holiday stencils that included a snowflake, and that's when I knew my Frozen inspired Christmas centerpiece was really going to come together. You can't call it Frozen without snowflakes! Oh, and the reindeer...I do wish I had a snowman though! 

I also used the blue spray paint on the little heart buttons from Walnut Hollow, so cute right?! The burlap added the extra rustic element I was looking for and only took two lines of hot glue to secure.  Once I came up with an idea it was easy to see how all the items in the Kyrlon Mini Mystery Box could work together.

I still felt like it needed a little something more and dug back into my Christmas craft supplies to see what I could find! I really love the way the Merry Christmas sign completes the look. 

What do you think? Do you like the ornaments inside the craft crate or the bottle brush trees? Either way, you'll have yourself a Frozen inspired Christmas centerpiece that will only take about 15 minutes to put together, who doesn't love that?! 

What are some holiday crafts you're working on? 

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day! 

DIY Christmas Ornament Wreath Party

Turn on the Christmas music, grab some eggnog or hot apple cider, bake your favorite holiday cookies, and call your friends over so we can get this DIY Christmas Ornament Wreath Party started!

Isn't she pretty?! I smile every time I walk by this beauty! I have been dreaming of making one of these for a few years now and with the help of a few ladies from my women's group I was able to make a party out of it. 

We have about thirty to thirty five women in our group, but usually only ten to fifteen of them have flexible enough schedules to participate in events like this that take place during the week night. So I emailed everyone in the group a few wreath ideas and the majority voted on making a Christmas Ornament Wreath. 

I read a few different tutorials and even emailed Jessica from Four Generations One Roof for advice on how many ornaments to buy. Some bloggers used 80 to 100 while others used less. But it really all comes down to the size of your wreath and the size of your ornaments. I ended up purchasing 18 inch straw wreaths and followed some tips from Melissa of The Happier Homemaker's post as well since she used a straw wreath for hers.

Items You'll Need:

Wreath Form

Shatter Proof Ornaments

Low Heat Glue Gun

Ribbon (optional)

Decorative toppers (optional) 

I was concerned about the plastic that covers the straw but read in the comments on Melissa's blog that she left the plastic on to contain the straw. (Note: If you can't find the answer in the post, read through the comments...someone usually asks the same questions that are on your mind!) 

Another question we had: Do you leave the caps on the ornaments or take them off?! Jessica from Four Generations One Roof took hers off and faced the top downwards. It really helps to take them off so you have more room to work with and can place the ornaments closer together. But after a while it was getting to be a little annoying since the shatter proofs have caps that don't pop off as easily as glass ornament caps do! 

Another great tip I read from Jessica is to not only hot glue your ornaments to the wreath, but to each other as well to make them more secure. Note that in my items needed list is a low temp glue gun. Well, I only had a high temp glue gun and when it got too hot it started melting some of the plastic ornaments so I had to be careful with how much I used and only glued them to the wreath! 

You can see a few empty spaces in my wreath still, so I may be purchasing a few more small ornaments to stack on top. (Tip: If you don't want to worry about this wrap your wreath in colored yarn or ribbon first.) There's really no right or wrong method to how you start gluing on your ornaments. I started with the center ones, then the top and worked my way from there. We had a mix of large ornaments, medium, and small ones. The large and medium sized ones were from Walmart and the small ones were from Dollar Tree. 

As you can see everyone had their own method, and some ladies used just red and gold ornaments while others used red and green, or all three colors like I did! 

You can also purchase decorative toppers like holly leaves to cover those empty spaces. 

We actually ran out of red and gold ornaments since they were the most popular colors so a few of the ladies finished their wreaths at home and have been emailing me the final look!

I love the way everyone's turned out, each one is so different and unique. I'm so glad I could share this Christmas craft with the ladies of my women's group. 

I saw these little owls at Walmart and couldn't leave without them! But then today I stopped by the Dollar Tree and saw a reindeer ornament, these owls may change out next year! I am obsessed with Christmas reindeer decor right now. Have you seen these vinyl reindeer crafts from Two Thirty-Five Designs?! 

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AHH... I just love everything Allison from Two Thirty-Five Designs does and all of her Cricut deer designs! I need to find out if any of my cartridges have reindeer on them! PS, I'm also linking up with her for her Casual Friday link up!

So next time on the blog I may feature a reindeer craft, or something else I have in mind for DIY Christmas gifts this year...shh!! 

I hope you enjoyed my DIY Christmas Ornament Wreath. Do you make your own Christmas Wreaths? What are some designs you are crushing over right now? 

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?! What are your plans, are you staying home to cook or going as a guest? Either way, I hope you have a lovely holiday with your family. 

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great weekend! 

Also linking up with the Party Palooza and Weekend Re-Treat link parties!