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December 13, 2009

a really fast + easy = candy recipe

I won’t lie to you. I do make a ridiculous amount of candy this time of year, some types more involved than others. The more complicated varieties come together when the elves are at school or in bed to avoid holidaycandymakingstress, a real condition. This however, is an easy recipe for delicious candy treats that even preschool elves can make by your side. Around here we call them reindeer noses. To make your own, you’ll need:

ring-shaped pretzels (can be hard to find…Meijer’s store brand has them or just use mini pretzels)
rolo candies
m&m’s

First, unwrap the rolos. Put the rolos on a baking sheet and throw them an inner tube/pretzel ringing each rolo. (If you are using a different shaped pretzel just place your rolo on top and call it a raft.) Place in a preheated 275 degrees oven for 4-5 minutes.

Remove from oven. Immediately press a m&m into the center of each melty rolo. Leave the candies on the baking sheet until they are cool and hardened.

That’s it…*really.* Place on a festive dish and enjoy!


*Linking some good advice here about embracing holiday baking shortcuts (and I’m totally with Jen on the 80% off gingerbread in the attic ; )

Filed Under: baking, kids
December 7, 2009

Tornados and gingerbread

Yesterday, with all the fixings, my three sugarplums spent the afternoon assembling and decorating the gingerbread houses left for them by St. Nick.

This has become a fun tradition that we do every year. I crank up the Christmas music and think about how (I’m sure) this will be a fond memory of their childhood.

This house had serious structural damage/crackage from the start. Perhaps St.Nick should think twice before being tempted to buy these a year in advance (you know when gingerbread house kits are 75% off and “he” reasons that no one eats the things anyway so why not save a little cash and keep them around until next year? eh hem.)

I found it quite humorous that the kits included the following note in the directions: “Do Not become DISTRESSED if your house cracks. Just repair with icing.” Same thing for roof slidage. Luckily no one became “DISTRESSED” and a very cheerful afternoon was had by all…even if this year our gingerbread village looks like it suffered some sort of unfortunate weather related event.
Filed Under: baking, kids
October 23, 2009

When a spider leads to a pumpkin

Inspiration is a funny thing. It begins as a spark and catches quick if you let it (kind of like a certain flu you may have heard is going around.) In the case of inspiration, it’s a good thing (the other, not so much.) I ‘ll admit that when I’m asked to help with 5th grade math I don’t jump quite as fast as when my 7-year-old son (or any child for that matter) comes to me asking for help with a craft idea. Brendan thought the spider pincushion I made earlier this week was pretty cool. He told me he had another idea for a pumpkin pincushion and wondered if I could help him make it. Let me tell you, when my sports driven-nintendo playing-legoite-son asks to make a pin cushion you had better believe it gets my attention.

We quickly gathered our supplies which consisted of orange fabric, orange thread, a bottle cap, fiberfill, black felt and a green chenille pipe cleaner. Then using the exact same technique as with the spider body, I guided him in the making of his one-of-a-kind creation. After Brendan had the pumpkin all sewn up, he cut the eyes and a mouth out of the black felt and attached with liquid stitch. Then, he cut a bit of the chenille pipe cleaner for a stem and inserted it in the top of the pumpkin. Finally, Brendan added a few pins to top off his completed pincushion. He was so proud he even brought it to school to show the class.

While this cute pumpkin is smile-inducing on its own, it’s the fact that it was created from a tiny spark of inspiration by a 7-year-old boy that makes me smile the most.
October 14, 2009

how about a little pattern with that smile?

This morning I turned around from my computer and saw this….a sight equal to about three or four cups of coffee for sure. WOWZA, did that ever wake up my eyes. Do ya think she picked that rug on purpose?! Let’s just hope she can find socks to match.
Filed Under: kids
October 6, 2009

Picture day Accusations

Today, I was accused of the unthinkable. I had an early morning trial for attempting to make my 7-year old, darling boy look “dumb” on school picture day. First, let me restate to the jury that I did not even think for a second that this particular 7-year-old gave one little hoot about what he wore as long as it was reasonably comfortable. Therefore, a lengthy picture day outfit consultation was not scheduled the night before like was with my 10 year old daughter.

When I learned the truth this morning I was shocked. Brendan DOES care what he wears on picture day and Brendan will no longer wear something that is “knit and yarned “…said while making circular finger motions to describe the offensive garment(s).

Thankfully, we managed to settle out of court on a navy blue, button down. Simple. Classic. No “yarn” involved. Brendan smoothed his negotiated picture day shirt and said he liked his look. Then he put on his backpack, turned and headed out the door. Now let’s just hope he smiles.
Filed Under: kids
August 27, 2009

A book by any other cover would not be the same

Back-to-school week is something I’m never ready for. Going from “what should we do today” to a scheduled day beginning with breakfast at seven and ending later that afternoon with activities and homework to follow is quite a jolt. Taking the time to sew fabric book covers last night was definitely not on the schedule, but maybe that’s why I wanted to do it so badly (rebellious I know.) It might not have happened, if I hadn’t stumbled upon a relatively easy tutorial for fabric book covers over at CRAFT moments before we tackled book covering homework. All of those bare texts needed to be protected from the daily assaults of grade school.

Bright and interesting patterns will keep my eager students homes away from home nicely decorated. We even used a pink, fuzzy kind of fabric that will make a soft landing spot for a head should the plight of “The Ancient World” become too overwhelming. Just giving them another reason to love their books.
Filed Under: kids, projects, sewing
August 24, 2009

i love back-to-school?

hmmmm…still undecided over here. While I do appreciate having more time for uninterrupted work, I’ll miss the laid back days the summer brings. I think my kids have mixed feelings too. They love seeing their friends and moving up a grade, but at the same time school is a full-time job with work involved. My kids (with the exception of the preschooler) go back tomorrow so we’re spending the day making sure we have all of the supplies on the list.

In addition to the first case back here, I finished sewing personalized pencil cases just in time for my other two back-to-schoolers. They got to pick their fabric and I took it from there.

My second grade boy…what more can I say?

In the spirit of back-to-school, I’m including my lunch survey which ran in the December/January edition of Family Fun. You can go to Family Fun to download a copy or since you’re here scroll over to the right in my “Printables” section. Click on lunch survey to read about the inspiration and then click on the survey itself to print. Fold this up with a pencil and place in their lunchbox. You’ll find out all kinds of tidbits about those first days of the new school year.


Another tradition we’ve had around here is a back-to-school cake. There’s nothing like a cake to sweeten a special day. For this cake, I used the basic plan of the Family Fun School Bus cake. Since we don’t have bus service, our method of transportation is minivan carpooling. I adjusted the school bus cake as necessary including the “harried mom driver.” I think we’re almost ready. I love back-to-school. And repeat.
Filed Under: baking, family, kids
August 10, 2009

An open and shut case

Right before we left for vacation, I finished this project. After acquiring several sweet pillowcases back here in the height of yard sale season this has been a wannabe project on my list. The Internet is a gold mine of pillowcase projects, however I found the instructions for her toddler size dress on page 128 of this awesome book.

Supplies needed were a pillowcase, a pack of extra wide (1/2″) double-fold bias tape, 2 yards of 5/8″ ribbon, 1 1/4 yards of jumbo rickrack, thread and a sewing machine. I will say that the black checked pillowcase was initially a hard sell to Miss Pretty-in-Pink. However, I convinced little Nora that her favorite color would be the perfect accent for the sophisticated black. She considers herself a fashionista so she looked at me with a huge amount of trust and agreed that black is the new pink (when mixed with pink.)

After gathering my supplies, I cut off the top (the closed end) of my pillowcase. I then used a J shaped pattern to cut an armhole on each side of the top of the case.

Next, with two 15″ lengths of white bias tape, I binded the armholes (binding=strip sewn over or along an edge for reinforcement or decoration.) Then, I finished the top of the dress by creating a casing on the front and back (casing=a narrow passage for a rod or cord, as in a curtain or the waistband of a garment, made by folding over a small strip of fabric at its edge along its width and sewing it in place.)

note to experienced sewers:
please disregard the definitions of these basic sewing terms I know you know. I define only for newbies like me who are still learning the language.

As promised, I added a hefty piece of hot pink rickrack to the bottom of the pillowcase. I straight-stitched right down the center of the rickrack all the way around starting and ending at a side seam. The smocking you see was already part of this pillowcase…an extra bonus.

I then threaded hot pink ribbon through the top casing in the front and the back of the dress. I pulled to cinch and then sewed the ribbon at each open end so that the ribbon wouldn’t come out (you know…like the annoying hoodie cords I find in my washing machine or catch my children holding…like those will ever go back in their casing.)


That’s it….finished! This easy project didn’t take more than an hour or so. Admittedly, if someone told me 6 months ago I’d be sewing clothing not only for me, but for my kids, I would have laughed and told them that they were CraZy. I had less fear about making a sculpture out of 250+ Red Bull Cans than pushing a pedal on a sewing machine (which I now know is ridiculous because can art is certainly more difficult and frustrating than sewing, but that’s another story.) The bottom line is if I can sew, anybody can. Case closed.
Filed Under: kids, projects, sewing
July 29, 2009

Fringed fleece pillows with personality

When my daughter and one of her best friends came to me eager for a craft, I took one look at the pillow-form-tower in my craft closet and pitched pillow making. It wasn’t much of a sell. These tweens were all about creating something to decorate their nests a.k.a. twin beds. I pulled out the fleece I had on hand and thought they could easily make no-sew fleece pillows. However, these girls wanted to sew. I couldn’t argue with that given my current sewing machine obsession, so I threw in an extra step to personalize the pillows with sewn initials. Then I reasoned, we’d transfer into no-sew mode to easily add funky fringe to the pillow edges.

First, we cut 2- 22″ x 22″ squares from the fleece…that’s 2 squares per pillow (BTW our pillow forms were 16″ x 16″.) Then, we used leftover fabric to cut out an initial for each pillow. If freehanding letter shapes makes you sweat, go ahead and use a computer to enlarge a single letter in the font of choice. Print out for an instant pattern. The girls also used a heart stencil to make a pattern for hearts they wanted to add. After cutting out all the shapes from the fleece, the girls pinned them to the center of their front pillow square.

Next, we sewed each shape on to the front fleece with a straight-stitch about 1/4″ in from the outer edges of the shapes. After that we zigzag-stitched the shape edges. I told the girls to have fun with it. Fleece doesn’t fray so things didn’t have to be perfect. Sure the stitching was to secure, but also to add personality. Perfection doesn’t have much character.

Next, we laid the stitched fleece square on top of the second fleece square. We measured 4 inches in from the edge all the way around and drew a white chalk line. Then, we cut 1 inch (approx.) wide strips up to that 4 inch chalk line snipping through both layers of fleece. The corner squares were discarded.

Finally, we sandwiched the pillow form between the two layers of fringed fleece. Beginning at one corner, we tied the front fleece square to the back fleece square by double knotting the corresponding front strip to the back strip. We continued around the pillow, double knotting corresponding strips, until we had the entire pillow secured.

And here they are…two really cute, personalized, fringed, super comfy, one-of-a-kind, fleece pillows. We created these pillows in a night making this a perfect slumber party craft. If pressed for time, the sewn personalization could be omitted, but for us that’s what made the pillows special. My daughter mentioned how she now wants to make two more pillows so she has all three of her initials to line up on her bed. Clever girl! I love that idea. I may need to make a fleece run.
Filed Under: kids, projects
July 26, 2009

FaNcy FeeT

Here’s a kids project that we’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Last summer around this time, I made it a point to purchase on-sale-plainish-flip flops with the intent to transform into something much fancier. So this weekend, we gathered poolside with a few other crafty friends and created several new pairs of one-of-a-kind summer footwear.

This is a great mobile project since all you need is a half yard or so of fabric, a pair of pinking shears and a pair of flip flops. To start, cut 1″ x 7″ strips with the pinking shears from your chosen fabric or fabrics. You’ll need about 30 or so strips depending on the size of your flip flops (like I’d be way more than 30 strips, but let’s concentrate on the kids shall we?!)

Next, tie your strips around the flip flop band starting from one side. Make sure to double knot. Push the strips close together as you go. Keep knotting strips until your flip flop is completely fancified.

And that’s it! Put on your fancy flops and head back to the pool before summer gets away. quick!

Filed Under: kids, projects

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