Thursday, December 31, 2015
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
30 Day Full Body Challenge for the New Year!!!!
Whose ready for another challenge to start off the New Year with?
A group of friends and myself just finished doing a 30-day squat challenge recently and as of today are finishing a 14-day plank challenge. And so, I roped them in to doing another one but this time making it a full body challenge. I think we are all up for this one! I am excited to get started on January 1st.
I made up my own schedule so that it actually looks like January 2016 and I like to have my challenges be free of images of people. So, here you have it. Who's in?
Monday, December 28, 2015
Pinterest Inspired Craft Projects
Time to check off a few of the projects on my Pinterest Boards as DONE! If you don't already follow me on Pinterest, please do. Follow me on Pinterest!
One afternoon, us mommies decided to have a lunch playdate and I just had enough of only doing projects with the kids. I wanted to do something for me, by me. A t-shirt scarf had been in the back of my head for a long time and it felt SOOOO good to make it, have it turn out just how I anticipated. I didn't realize that project was weighing on me. I felt such a sense of accomplishment after we finished them. I made a brown scarf that came from a tutorial from Shwin and Shwin. My friend made her gray scarf from an image that was just a pinned image, so I don't know who to give the credit to. She might need to start a blog and pin her own tutorial because she figured out re-purpose a men's t-shirt and make the scarf. Smart lady!
The idea and basic tutorial for this giant felt flower came from Sewing In No Mans Land and ironically the tutorial was to hot glue the pieces and not sew them. I am sure it is much faster to hot glue all the pieces, but I was afraid it might not hold up if I had to wash the hat, so I hand stitched each piece to each other. I thought it turned out really cute!
No Knit Scarf from Martha Stewart was pretty easy to make. You are simply tying a bunch of knots.
One afternoon, us mommies decided to have a lunch playdate and I just had enough of only doing projects with the kids. I wanted to do something for me, by me. A t-shirt scarf had been in the back of my head for a long time and it felt SOOOO good to make it, have it turn out just how I anticipated. I didn't realize that project was weighing on me. I felt such a sense of accomplishment after we finished them. I made a brown scarf that came from a tutorial from Shwin and Shwin. My friend made her gray scarf from an image that was just a pinned image, so I don't know who to give the credit to. She might need to start a blog and pin her own tutorial because she figured out re-purpose a men's t-shirt and make the scarf. Smart lady!
The idea and basic tutorial for this giant felt flower came from Sewing In No Mans Land and ironically the tutorial was to hot glue the pieces and not sew them. I am sure it is much faster to hot glue all the pieces, but I was afraid it might not hold up if I had to wash the hat, so I hand stitched each piece to each other. I thought it turned out really cute!
No Knit Scarf from Martha Stewart was pretty easy to make. You are simply tying a bunch of knots.
Friday, December 25, 2015
Merry Christmas from Save Green Being Green!
Merry Christmas from Save Green Being Green!
LOL! After I made this, I realized that my daughter looks the exact same. Well, that is because they really don't have much to choose from for "girl" clothes for a child on the program. I hope they change that for 2016.
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Monday, December 21, 2015
12 Books of Christmas at the 5.0 AR Level
5.0
Babar and Father Christmas by Jean de Brunhoff (.5 pts)
Christmas by Catherine Chambers (.5 pts)
Grandfather's Christmas Tree by Keith Strand (.5 pts)
Rags and Riches: Kids in the Time of Charles Dickens by Mary Pope Osborne (1pt)
Robot Santa by Dean Koontz (1pt)
Star Mother's Youngest Child by Louise Moeri (1pt)
The Carpenter's Gift: A Christmas Tale about the Rockefeller Center Tree by David Rubel (.5 pts)
The Christmas Ghost by Janice Lee Smith (1pt)
The North Pole Penguin by Christopher Payne (.5 pts)
The Stable Rat and Other Christmas Poems by Julia Cunningham (.5 pts)
The Twelve Days of Christmas in Michigan by Susan Collins Thoms (.5 pts)
Woodland Nutcracker by Avril Tyrrell (.5 pts)
Christmas Divinity Candy
I am not going to pretend making divinity is easy. It can be if you have patience and follow this recipe exactly. It can be very easy to screw it up and overcook or under cook the mixture. So, take your time and make sure you have a good candy thermometer to use. You could add nuts to this candy, but I like it plain and I add food coloring to give it a fun color for the holidays.
Christmas Divinity Candy
From Betty Crocker Cookbook
2 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
Cook sugar, corn syrup and water (use 1 tablespoon less water on humid days) in 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking, without stirring, to 260ºF on candy thermometer or until small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water forms a hard ball that holds its shape but is pliable.
Beat egg whites in medium bowl with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Continue beating while pouring hot syrup in a thin stream into egg whites, beating constantly on medium speed. (For best results, use electric stand mixer, not a portable handheld mixer since beating time is about 10 minutes and mixture is thick.) Add vanilla. Beat until mixture holds its shape and becomes slightly dull. (Mixture may become too stiff for mixer.)
Drop mixture from buttered spoon onto waxed paper. Let stand at room temperature at least 12 hours, turning candies over once, until candies feel firm. Store in airtight container.
Friday, December 18, 2015
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Coconut Flour Crust & Review of Love Cooking Company PushPan
If you are trying to eat grain-free or gluten free, then you are sure to appreciate this recipe which fits perfectly in this Love Cooking Company PushPan that is sized 8"x2".
Coconut Flour Crust
1/4 C Coconut Flour
2 T chopped pecans
2 packets stevia
2 T butter, melted
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Stir until well combined. Press in to a greased pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool if topping with a no bake cheesecake.
Review of Love Cooking Company PushPan:
I had the opportunity to review the three Love Cooking Company pans above, but I was excited to share my coconut flour crust recipe with you, so I wanted to tell you about he PushPan first.
The pan is easy to use. It creates a liquid tight seal so it works great when making a cheesecake. It easily pushes out and I was surprised that I could relatively easily push it back in with cheesecake on top of it, that's if you don't serve it all at once.
Now that I have a PushPan that makes serving a no bake cheesecake recipe easier, and a tasty new cheesecake crust recipe I think my family will be expecting more cheesecakes in the future.
All thoughts, opinions and photographs and recipes are my own. I was provided the pans for the purpose of review but no monetary compensation was received.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Recycled Ornaments
There are 3 different ornaments here, 2 of which are spruced up Christmas Ball ornaments and one is repurposed bottle caps. The Christmas balls I bought from the dollar store in a tube of 12. For the Green "Elf" ornament I just glued on 2 red buttons from my leftover stash and some leftover fuzzy white yarn. For the Red "Santa" ornament I used some gaffer tape and folded it in the center so I could repurpose a pop top to and then taped it down.
The repurposed Snowman ornament was made by hot gluing bottle caps and a felt hat I cut out on to a popsicle stick and then painting it and gluing on a scrap piece of yarn for a scarf.
Monday, December 14, 2015
EASY 3-Ingredient Gingerbread Dip
Gingerbread Dip
1 box gingerbread Jell-O
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 C whipping cream
vanilla wafers, apple slices or gingerbread cookies to serve on the side
Directions:
Whip Together all ingredients until fluffy. Allow to chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Mixture will thicken as it chills. Serve with vanilla wafers, apple slices or gingerbread cookies.
Friday, December 11, 2015
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Spruced Up Store Bought Ornaments
These ones are these thick felt ornaments I bought at Target last year when they were 75% off and gave them a little bling by adding some sequins and gluing them on.
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
For Your Mistle-TOES This Holiday Season
This was one of the many little gifts we gave to the babysitter last Christmas. They are all sitting on a cute organza tie gift bag that I put then in.
It's just a cute little set including a pedicure foot mask, emery boards, lotion, sparkling red nail polish and clear nail polish.
Then I just tied it closed and attached a little card that read:
For Your Mistle-Toes This Holiday Season!
Monday, December 7, 2015
Easiest Fudge Recipe EVER!
Easiest Fudge Recipe Ever!
18 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
dash of salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Directions:
- Line an 8" square pan with wax paper
- Melt chocolate chips with the salt and sweetened condensed milk in a sauce pan until chocolate is completely melted
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla
- Chill for 2 hours or until firm
- Remove from pan by lifting up on edges of wax paper
Friday, December 4, 2015
Pottery Dinosaur and Butterfly Ornaments
These are ornaments I made for my children (they each have their own little Christmas trees), a niece and nephew and our own tree. I had been making a lot of pottery items and pottery is the one thing I do that no one else in my family does, so it's something I can make for them that they can't make for themselves. I started an ornament collection for my children from their first Christmas and gave them small (we're talking about 2.5'-3' tall) artificial trees and each year they get a new ornament from St. Nick but we also add to that collection some homemade ornaments. I also wanted them to have a keepsake ornament that their mom/aunt made. Plus, making ornaments are a easy way that uses a small amount of clay to test how some glazes work together.
I made these by slab rolling out clay and using cookie cutters. Simple to make and a big impact on the tree and their memories. I really how using a small piece of thick ribbon added to the luxuriousness of the ornament.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
FREE Lowe's Build & Grow Christmas Train
Don't wait long to sign up to make this Holiday Train at the Lowe's Build and Grow. I tried to sign up yesterday and it is already full at my closest Lowe's and the next closest one is an hour away. Needless to say, we won't be able to participate in this one on Saturday, December 12th.
