DIY Dinosaur Felt Bow Tie

My son is a HUGE dinosaur fan, which you probably have been able to figure out if you have been reading my blog for a while. I tend to foster my kids' interests and since he loves dinosaurs we are all about dinosaurs here. Honestly, I never thought I would learn so much about dinosaurs beyond knowing the name of about a handful. I know I have Soooooo much more dinosaur stuff to learn, but in the meantime I will keep crafting dino things for and with my son.

I had made my son an Easy Felt Bow Tie a couple months ago, and I did the same basic things for this one, except I did NO SEWING at all for this one. I bought some Fabric-Tac and reading about it in some other tutorial and thought I would try it on a small project (this one) instead of embarking on the bigger project I had intended it for. This stuff is amazing. Not only does it dry super quick, but it is very strong and supposed to be able to be washed (I haven't used it on anything I need to wash yet). I have made my daughter some beautiful loopy hair bows with this as well.

You can read the post on the Easy Felt Bow Tie to see just how that was constructed, but basically you just glue where you would have sewn previously. And it worked so easily to embellish the tie to make it a dinosaur. Oh, I guess I did sew on the googly eye because I had sew-on ones and I wanted to make sure that in anything came off it wasn't the eye.

Overnight Creme Brule French Toast

This is always a family favorite, so much so I even put it my husband's family cook book. If I am making this for more than just our family, I make the full recipe as listed below. If I am making it just for our family of four then I half the recipe and bake it in an 8x8 pan. This is delicious and we often serve a dollop of whip cream on top.

This is a great make-ahead breakfast and you just need to get up in the morning and toss it in the oven. You will impress everyone with how awesome this tastes. I just made this again for Christmas at my parents house.

Creme Brule French Toast

½ cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1 loaf of French bread, cut into thick slices
5 eggs
1½ cups half-and-half cream
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of cinnamon

Directions:

• In a sauce pan, melt butter with brown sugar and corn syrup until it is a smooth brown syrup
• Pour mixture in a greased 13x9 cake pan and cover entire surface
• Place slices of bread on top of the syrup mixture
• Mix together remaining ingredients 
• Pour egg mixture over the top of the slices making sure to cover the tops off all the slices, it will all soap in to the slices as it rests
• Cover and place in the fridge overnight 
• Bake uncovered at 350 degree for 30 minutes
• Remove from pan and serve immediately
• Top with whipped cream, if desired

Hand Built Pottery Wine Chiller

Does this look a little familiar? It should, because I made it to coordinate with this Tall Cylinder Vase I had made for a friend. I used similar glazes and technique in building this piece (although for this one I taped together two protein shake containers to get the height and width I was hoping would work), but they look a little different but still coordinate fairly well.

I am not sure if the glaze just went on thicker for the vase and thinner for the wine chiller or if I had carved in deeper to make the details, but you definitely see more details on this piece than the latter. It may even be a combination of both.

I love how this turned out so much! I currently have sitting my shelf at the art center, a wine chiller (using the same mold since it turned out just how I wanted) but with a different pattern. This one on the shelf will be one for myself. I had all these presents to make first and no time to make things for myself, but then I made these gifts and love them so much that I need to make some for our home too. I think this particular design would look great if I made on for our cabin too.

DIY Pop Art Water Spot Coasters, plus a GIVEAWAY for Tootsie Roll K-Cups #ad

This project is the perfect way to re-use your used K-Cups and make something useful out of them. I used K-Cups from Tootsie Roll Hot Cocoa K-Cups that have not internal packaging, so they are easy to remove the foil and rinse out to use for this project.

I thought it would be fun to come up with some crafts to re-use K-Cups with. We don't use a lot of K-Cups, but I do like having them for when my husband is traveling for work and I need a quick cup of coffee before taking the kids to school and volunteering. I also like that my daughter can easily make herself a cup of hot cocoa. Anyways - time to tell you how I made this project. 

4 Tile Coasters Cost Me $1.50 to Make!!!!!

When I say $1.50, that is my out of pocket cost from purchasing 4 plain white tiles from Lowe's and 1 piece of felt and 1 tube of point (I was out of red) from Wal-Mart to make these. I had all the other paint colors I wanted to use, so I only needed to purchase the one. I also had the brushes and Fabric-Tac that I used to glue the felt pieces on the back, as well as a can of Hi-Glass clear lacquer (going need to purchase that soon for an upcoming project.)

I need to paint 2-3 coats of each color on the tiles, letting it dry in between coats. Then dipped a K-Cup in paint and pressed it on tile allowing it to smudge and drip (if it did) to have it look like actual water rings spots.

After acrylic paint is completely dry, spray with the clear spray paint. I did 2 coats, allowing it to dry between coats.

When that paint is cured (allow 24 hours), glue down pieces of felt that you have cut just smaller than the tiles to the back with some Fabric-Tac.

I made these for our own use, but I thinking of having the kids each make one for their teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week in May and giving it to them with a box of tea. I was perhaps thinking of making a week's worth of gifts all along the "hot beverage theme". Stay tuned and see what else I come up with.

I love a good tasty review! Check out all those flavors included! All 3 flavors of Charleston Chew are also included!

My Thoughts:

My family and I have tried all of the flavors included in the Tootsie Roll Hot Cocoa for K-Cup Brewers: Tootsie Roll, Sugar Babies, Junior Mint and Charleston Chew (in the flavors of Vanilla, Strawberry, and Chocolate) and they taste awesome, just how you expect each of the candy flavors to taste in a hot cocoa version. My favorite is Sugar Babies, but that is because it is my favorite of the candies listed. I did have an issue of some of the cocoa mix being left in the Charleston Chew flavors, but it still made a full cup and just tasted slightly watered down. All the other flavors made full cups and pretty much emptied the K-cup. I would not hesitate to get this variety pack again for my family. I do love that it is a variety pack because we have so many choices and we can pick one that suits our mood that day. I did want to add that I compared the nutritional info on this with a name brand hot cocoa packet (from a box of 10 packets) and the amount of sugar in the K-Cup was less than half, plus it has 40 less calories and half the amount of fat. I thought these tasted better than the packets I have.

If you aren't making your own homemade hot cocoa and are using packets, this produces just as much waste. Although, you can re-use the K-Cup for this craft project and more that I will share with you later. There is no internal pieces to this k-cup like there is on coffee and tea ones, so this has less waste than those.

Product Description from Two Rivers Coffee

As America’s favorite chewy chocolate candy, the Tootsie Roll has remained unchanged since it was first introduced in New York City in 1896. Now, you can enjoy the perfectly balanced cocoa taste, lined with subtle fruit-flavored undertones, as a steaming hot cups of delicious hot cocoa.

The Ultimate Single Serve Hot Cocoa Experience.

This cocoa pack is NOT COMPATIBLE with Keurig 2.0 machines.

ONE LUCKY READER WILL WIN THEIR OWN

40 PACK OF ASSORTED TOOTSIE ROLL HOT COCOA K-CUPS

ENTER RAFFLECOPTER BELOW

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was sent the above product for the purpose of review. All thoughts, opinions and photographs belong to this blog. No monetary compensation was recieved.

Wordless Wednesday: Portland's Children Museum

Portland's Children's Museum

#ad Review: Running Armband for Samsung Galaxy

My Thoughts:

A new phone more than likely means you need a new armband, which is such the case in my position. The armband that I had been using with my old phone for the last few year was not the right size for my new Samsung Galaxy. So, I was excited to be asked to review this Running Armband for Samsung Galaxy by i2 Gear.

The price is perfect for this running armband. Right now it is $8.99 on Amazon. I love to see that it is under $10. I also love the pink color. I had a black one previously (with my old phone, new phone = new size = new armband) and I found it hard to find in my gym bag with all the other black stuff I had in there and the fact that the inside of the bag was black too. No more lost armband! The other improvement for me (over my old one) is that the elastic is thicker and doesn't curl as easily as my old one does. It fits comfortably. The curling made it so it would rub weird and leave friction marks on my arm when there was not a sleeve in between, so I am looking forward to that not occurring anymore,

Product Description from Airbundle

Compatibility and Use
Use your armband with the new Galaxy SII, SIII, S4 and S5 from all carriers. You can wear it over your biceps or on your forearm. The night reflector provides additional visibility for outdoor early morning and evening runs. There is even a slot for your house key which we all know can be a lifesaver. This armband is also great for high intensity workouts, spin class, yoga or even casual walking or outdoor activities.

Precision and Protection
The touchscreen is fully accessible through the plastic cover. The armband pouch and cover keeps your phone safe from impact and moisture while working out.

Size
This armband is lightweight and accommodates arm sizes from approx. 9 to 17 inches. Also we recommend that you use this armband without a case.

Material and Care
Made of nylon, velcro and neoprene materials. This armband can be safely hand washed and air dried after use. We do NOT recommend machine washing your armband as this could cause damage.

I was provided with the above product for the purpose of review on this blog. No monetary compensation was received. All thoughts, opinions and photographs belong to me,

Homemade Christmas Gifts

This holiday season our family has received so many awesome homemade gifts from friends and family and I wanted to share with you the hard work others have done. Maybe these ideas will help give you some ideas of your own for gifts that you want to make in the future.

This is my son with his Stegasaurus backpack and hat that my parents gave him.

This is my wooden door mat that my parents made for me.

This is my daughter with the quiver my parents made for her. Her arrows are all at home and weren't available for this picture, but she is anxious to use this with them when she goes to Archery practice.

Some yummy ice cream toppings that my parents made (well, probably just my mom.)

This is some homemade lavender-mint fabric softener that a friend made. I have already been using it so the cute tied on label is gone, plus 1/4 of the fabric softener is gone.

My MIL made me this present, which will go to the cabin with us. It is a table runner (folded in half in this picture), a button on towel, napkins, and potholders.

My parents made this wooden slide-in sofa side table for my husband. He actually has one they made him a couple years ago but we use it so often (usually the kids have confiscated it) that he really wanted to have a second one.

My MIL made this beautiful dress for my daughter and a matching one for her American Girl doll. 

My daughter made me this bracelet.

My son made these bird feeders for his grandparents.

What is missing from these pictures of homemade gifts we received are:

* Winter Survival Kit (we have already taken this apart to use, it had in it Kleenex, Airborne, Ricola cough drops, lip balm, hot cocoa, and tea) - from my parents

* Homemade Candies - caramels and peanut clusters made and given by a friend in book club

* Homemade Playdough with a cookie cutter- for my son from his preschool teacher

* Handpainted Snowman Jar filled with a tealight and candies made by my son while at preschool

* Elf/SantaCandy Jars filled with Hersey kisses and a little felt hat on top and black belt for the kids from my parents

* Hand painted picture of our cabin from one of my friends (this is still in process, I was just given a picture of the work in progress so I haven't actually received it)

Plus, I wouldn't want to forget about the gifts of time a couple of friends have given me. One friend treated me to a pedicure at a local spa and another friend took to to a dinner at a winery with thieving from the barrel. 

Gosh, I hope I didn't forget any homemade gifts. They are all wonderful and I really appreciate the time people have spent making those gifts and thinking of us. 

We also received lots of other wonderful gifts that we are extremely thankful to have received and feel very blessed to be gifted with. We are very fortunate.