Spring Break!

I love link parties. I can browse all sorts of craft projects without searching out a ton of blogs. I especially like the new version of link parties with thumbnail photos next to each link. This one caught my eye tonight.

I can't wait to try this sometime. Paper bags, a foam wreath ring, and hot glue. Super cheap and I love the look! I think I'll leave the butterflies off, but we'll see.

Next week is Spring Break and hopefully the weather will cooperate so that we can do lots of fun stuff OUTSIDE! We sat down this afternoon and wrote out some fun things to do and put them into plastic Easter eggs. Zoo, Subway, Picnic at the park, Barnes & Noble... we'll do one of the activities each day. I love having Dallin home from school. We are looking forward to our week off and that means no blogging! Too many things to do now that it's spring!

The boys are very proud of their "little fields" of wheat grass that we grew. They are doing great!

Happy Easter!

FINALLY! A new purse!

I did it! I finally made myself a new purse. I loved my Eddie Bauer diaper bag, but I was ready for something a little prettier :) I found a pattern over a year ago and knew that this would be the one I would make myself SOMEDAY when I got a chance. It's so much easier to find time to make and sew things for my kids and other people.

I bought a yard of fabric and used scraps of brown for lining. I had plenty left over to make this little bag to go inside to hold all of those things that end up falling to the bottom of the purse....like a million pens. And even more fabric left over for future projects, like maybe a little skirt for Kaylee.

It has fun pleated detailing and a snap closure. And the best part about the pattern? It's FREE! Made By Rae has a wonderful printable pattern with easy instructions. It is a Buttercup Bag. Since I still have a little one in diapers, I altered the pattern to fit my needs. It is about 5" longer and 1" wider than the pattern. I also lengthened the strap.

My First Guest!

I am excited to have my first guest crafter on my blog today! This is Aaron. He is 4 years old and loves to create. Give him a basket of foamies, pipe cleaners, colored pasta, googly eyes and a glue gun and he goes into crafting mode. He prefers to do it all by himself without instruction from me.

I asked him to share with everyone how he made his Easter Egg penguin. Here is his tutorial :)

"Um, I cut out the feet and I cut out all of the other stuff and I put eyes on, and glued it on a Easter Egg. That's everything! And I cut out a fish."

He also shared a picture of his brachiosaurus. I love this little guy.

Thanks for stopping by Aaron!

Homemade Cream Puffs {For a Special Occasion}

My Sweetheart and I recently celebrated our wedding Anniversary. We had a nice dinner at home with the kids since it was a Tuesday night. I made these as a special treat. Cream puffs are so easy to make, but they don't look like it!

The recipe I use is very basic. And it's from Betty Crocker. You can fill them with pretty much anything. Mousse, sweetened cream, cool whip, even pudding!

Here is the recipe. Now you can go and make some!

Cream Puffs or Eclaires

1 c. water

1/2 c. butter

1 c. flour

4 eggs

Heat water and butter to a rapid boil in a saucepan.

Add flour and reduce heat to low. Stir constantly for 1 minute or until a soft dough forms. Add eggs all at once and beat (with a spoon) vigorously until smooth.

It doesn't seem like the eggs will incorporate, but they WILL. Just give it a minute.

Scoop balls of dough (I use a medium cookie scoop, the recipe says to use 1/4 c. of batter. I like my puffs smaller than that) and place on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake @ 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden and puffed up.

Let cool for 30 minutes.

To Fill:

Cut tops off of puff with a serrated knife. Pull the inside breading out.

Fill with whatever filling you choose.

Here is what I used:

2 c. heavy whipping cream

4T. powdered sugar

BEAT until soft peaks form. Do not over beat...you'll get butter!

Place the tops back onto the puffs and you are done!

OR

you can dust with powdered sugar, dip in chocolate or drizzle in chocolate.

Store in refrigerator or freeze for up to a month.

I thought I didn't like cream puffs. After I made my own several years ago, I realized that I just don't like the store bought ones! These are fantastic!

Trash to Treasure Kid's Table!

We came into posession of this little table top. For FREE. Derrick's boss is moving and didn't want it anymore. Derrick decided to transform it into a table for the kids. It was just the right size to go in the basement for crafting, or upstairs to use when little friends come over for lunch! We took the kids to Lowe's and let the boys each pick out a color that they wanted on the table. Then we got started.

Derrick painted the base green (which matches an accent wall in the basement), then let the kids start taping off random places on the table. Then Aaron helped paint over the tape with a coat of orange paint. Once the orange paint was dry, we cut out a bunch of fun sea animals and the kid's names out of contact paper. I used my cricut and the "Life is a Beach" cartridge, that I borrowed from a friend, for those. After applying the contact paper, Dallin helped paint the final coat...blue.

We did the same thing for the legs, only painted the 3 colors in a different order. The table didn't come with legs so Derrick bought wood and hardware and made some himself. It was fun to pull off the tape and contact paper and see the transformation!

Several coats of a clear polyeurethane and it was done! It was time consuming, but the kids loved helping and it turned out so fun and funky! It sits 6 children perfectly. We used it at Aaron's St. Patrick's Day party and it was great.

A picture of the kids trying it out for the first time.

Bunny Houses!

Or bunny cubes or bunny huts, because that's what they look like!

These were fun to make with the kids. I just made a bunch of square sugar cookies and used royal icing to glue them together.

Then the kids decorated them with necco wafers, jelly beans, mini marshmallows, etc. I love how they all turned out so unique.

 

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches, Slow Cooker Style---SUPER EASY

4 chicken breast halves (16 oz)
1/2 bottle of buffalo wing sauce (not straight hot sauce) (17 oz bottle)

(Our favorite is Texas Pete's Buffalo Wing  Sauce)

Combine in a slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours. Remove chicken breasts, shred. At this point, I'll put some shredded chicken to the side for the kids....it's less spicy (If you prefer a more mild flavor you can do this as well).


Then add the rest of the shredded chicken back into the crockpot with all of the wing sauce juices.
Mix around and serve on buns or rolls. Drizzle ranch or bleu cheese dressing over chicken. I like having them on these rolls. Although the ones in the photo were on buns.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

(a day early!)

We have been busy getting things ready for Aaron's St. Patrick's Day party tomorrow. He had so much fun hosting his Monster Halloween party, that we decided to do another one! It's a special thing for him to be able to do these little parties since he is at home with me this year. Next year he will be in preschool and will have all kinds of fun parties with his classmates.

He created the guest list and helped with the prep...which wasn't much. This was so easy to plan since we used the paper doll cartridge from my cricut for all of the cutouts. Aaron also painted a rainbow with a pot of gold for a decoration. He wasn't sure about it since it wasn't as straight as he wanted it to be, but I think it turned out great!

Tomorrow, each little friend is bringing a green snack to share. We are serving green kool-aid, chocolate covered peeps and a fun rainbow fruit platter. I found the idea in the March issue of Family Fun Magazine. There will be leprechaun paperdolls to put together, a treasure hunt to find a pot of gold, and little pots of gold with rolos and chocolate coins inside for each child to take home.

(little pots from Oriental Trading)

Hope everyone has a fun filled day!

Spring Topiary!

The boys and I had a great time making this little spring topiary. This was a 15 minute project (once I rounded up all the supplies that I needed). PERFECT for the kids to help with. Between the garage, Easter decorations box, and craft closet---I was able to scrounge up everything I needed for this project. My inspiration came from my incredibly talented friend, Brooke.

Here is the topiary that she made. I saw it and thought it was so cute and simple. We did a springtime twist on ours and if you'd like to make one too, here is how we did it!

Supplies: Styrofoam ball, dowel (you can see it has been used for something else before...same with the ball), Easter grass (we used the stuff made from paper), paint, pot, floral foam, accessories.

First, Aaron painted the dowel brown.

Dallin cut the floral foam down to size, with a little help. We hot glued it into the pot.

They alternated on who glued and who placed the Easter grass on the ball.

Once the stick was dry, Dallin poked it into the foam and added the covered ball.

A little trimming...

...and a little more grass to cover the floral foam.

Final touches: tiny plastic Easter eggs and a ribbon.

They are so proud of their little tree--and I am too :) It was a great family craft. Thanks Brooke!

Corned Beef & Cabbage Soup

This recipe comes from Derrick's family. His mom used to make it and he made it for me when we were first married. It is delicious! Lots of flavor with such simple ingredients. I thought I would share it since St. Patty's day is just around the corner. We told the kids that is was Leprechaun food. Enjoy!

8 c. water

3 T. beef base

5 medium potatoes (red and yellow are good since you don't have to peel them)

1/2 head cabbage, shredded/chopped into tiny pieces

1 can corned beef

Chop potatoes into tiny bite sized pieces. Place in a large pot with water and beef base and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are very soft...almost mushy. We like our beef broth nice and strong. Start with 3 T. of the concentrated beef base and add more to your liking.

Add cabbage and cook another 5-7 minutes until cabbage is tender. Break up canned corned beef into crumbles and add to soup. It will break up even more once it is in the broth and distribute through the soup.

Linking this recipe to Skip to My Lou

Chicken and Avocado Soup

This soup is DELICIOUS! A new favorite over here. Flavorful broth and perfect for cilantro lovers. Since you add the avocado, cilantro and chicken in the end, you can doctor it up however you want. I LOVE avocado and would add 3 to one bowl if I could, lol. But that would take any low-fat factor out of it! So just add to your liking.

I found the recipe on Gina's Weight Watcher's Recipes. A beautiful blog with tons of wonderful low fat recipes. I am not on WW, but was concerned with my portion control when I was pregnant with Aaron so I started cooking some recipes with the calculated points and calorie counters. Delicious and guilt free!

Chicken and Avocado Soup

Servings: 4

5 cups chicken broth
2 cups shredded chicken breast
1 tomato, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 cups scallions, chopped fine
2 ripe hass avocados, diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped fine
4 lime wedges
2 tsp olive oil
salt + fresh pepper to taste
pinch cumin
pinch chipotle chile powder (optional)

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add 1 cup of scallions and garlic. Sauté about 2 minutes then add tomatoes and sauté another minute, until soft. Add chicken stock, cumin and chile powder and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered on low for about 15-20 minutes.In four bowls, fill each with 1/2 cup chicken, 1/2 avocado, remainder of the scallions, and cilantro. Ladle 1 cup chicken broth over the chicken and serve with a lime wedge.

Linking this recipe to Blessed With Grace

Framed Chalkboard Menu Tutorial

The easiest way to have a cute framed chalkboard menu would be to just buy a cheap chalkboard at a craft store and put it in a frame! I'm sure there is an easier way than how I did it, but this was part of my no-cost kitchen makeover that I did. So I used what I had on hand.

I had this old frame in our hall closet. I just painted it black to match the rest of the kitchen.

I covered the glass from the frame in white contact paper. I used contact paper vs. card stock because it would wipe clean if chalk got on it. My chalkboard paper was 8.5x11 and my frame opening was 11x13 so there was going to be a gap.

Then I attached my chalkboard sheet. I bought these a couple of years ago for the boys. They came in a 4 pack. They are 8.5x11 and are peal and stick. You can re-use them and move them over and over. I've moved them 3 times to different places in the house and they work great. The kids weren't coloring on them much anymore, so I took them off of the wall, attached them to some wax paper and put them in the craft closet for a later use. For this project, I just used 1 sheet. It feels like contact paper.


Using more white contact paper, I cut out letter decals using the Jasmin cricut cartridge and placed those on top of the chalkboard paper.

Then I put the insert back into the frame and added a wire to the back for hanging.

The final touch was a coordinating ribbon mod podged to the side and the MENU lettering, also using the Jasmin cartridge.

That's it! I am REALLY trying to get better about making a menu and sticking to it. I think it would help save money in groceries and would just make things easier vs. sitting with freezer open wondering what to make, what I feel like making, and scrounging to see what ingredients we even have! I have major problems with planning ahead. This WILL help. At least that's what I keep telling myself. And it looks cute :)