Earth Day Activities - Post Yours!

Trying something new here again!

April 22 is Earth Day. We try to be eco-friendly here all year and I try to implement new ways to go green and minimize our footprint as often as I can. April and Earth Day always bring those thoughts to the forefront and help us remember to renew our efforts.

We love to use recycled materials in our crafts and I thought it would be fun to turn this post over to you and let you show some of your favorite Earth Friendly activities and projects! So, please check out the linky request below and add your creations! I can't wait to see all the great projects!

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman

I'm hooked.

I've been an infrequent visitor to The Pioneer Woman's blog for years (that will immediately be rectified). This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to her book signing at the wonderful Tattered Cover bookstore in LoDo. It was really to promote "The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--A Love Story" but I was smitten with the cook book "The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl" (I know better late to the party than never, right?) Anyway...

The cook book... is amazing!!! I can't stop looking at it! And drooling. It's not the kind of cook book you only want to flip to a few earmarked recipes and promptly put back on the shelf. No, no, no! It's a work of art and a fun read as well as a cook book!!! Every page is beautiful. Ree is beautiful, her family is beautiful, the ranch animals are beautiful and the food illustrated in the recipes is scrumptious! I can't wait to try every recipe! I am serious, every single one!

While we were waiting for our turn to have our books signed and I was flipping through the book I joked that I should do a Julie/Julia with the book and do every recipe. The girls I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with thought it was a good idea so when we finally got to meet Ree we told her my idea. She was so sweet and said "Oh, I'm not worthy!" But I beg to differ!

I've only recently (the past few years) started to broaden my horizons in the cooking/baking department. Ree's recipes are not intimidating. The ingredients are all readily available and the step-by-step pictures make it fool-proof. Well, I say that with only two of the recipes under my belt, but so far they are a testament to that statement!

I expect my book to become well loved, food stained and eventually start to fall apart, which goes against all forms of book care and etiquette I am sure (and I hope that doesn't offend you Ree!) This book will be my go-to for so many occasions. So thank you Ree! I can't wait to try all the recipes and surely bring smiles to those eating in my kitchen!

Crayola Crayon Maker™: Review

This is a new direction for me, writing a review post. I am exited about this and I hope to make it a regular part of the blog for the new year!

I just spent the last few hours with my son making crayons with the Crayola Crayon Maker™. Santa thought that would be a fun activity for Z. Of course he knew I had some ideas about using it as too, and that made it a no brainer! Now, will it live up to the hype and expectations of a 6 year old (box recommends for 8+) and a crafty mom?...

The machine takes a 60-watt candelabra bulb. No biggie, except the bulbs I had on hand were 25 and 40-watt. So we had to wait for a store run to get the bulb. Wish I had checked that before hand. But the boy was so busy with all his toys on Christmas that waiting for this one wasn't too painful! The bulb is easy to insert. Just a few screws on the top of the machine and you're in. The instructions say do not over tighten. Replace panel and screws and you are ready to go. It's that simple. It's a plug-in unit so there are no batteries. Bonus! You just have to be careful of where you use the unit as it does take about 30 minutes for the melting a cooling process, so it's a good idea to have it somewhere the cord will not be a hindrance.

First gather all the broken bits of crayons you have. The kit comes with 8 crayon, 2 each of red, yellow, green and blue. But surely you have a pile of pieces! Now here is where I get to interject the "I told you so" from the instructions... it says to only use Crayola crayons in the machine. I had to test that little bit of advice right off the bat. After all, a crayon is a crayon right? Wrong. (Ok, I actually already knew that... but I had to try it anyway to see what would happen =) It's true, the Crayola crayons are a much better product (than those you get from restaurants and dollar store and such). The non-Crayola crayons don't melt as smoothly and end up kind of bubbly and goopy. They don't set as well either. So stick with the Crayola for this machine and use the others for wax-paper stained glass projects! (Hmmm... perhaps another post to come soon with the how-to on that!)

Ok, so you have your Crayola crayons de-papered, broken into smaller bits if necessary and are ready to go. There are two trays to work with and each makes two 1/2 sized crayons. Just in case you were thinking that you were going to get full sized crayons like the box seems to indicate. A little bit misleading. The kit comes with two holders so you end up with a full sized crayon that can be different colors on each end. I'm hoping that you can get these little holders separately, but on a quick look I didn't find them.

For each tray you need enough pieces to amount to two full sized crayons. This is where you get to be a little creative with the colors you end up with. You also have to use your basic color mixing knowledge. Red + Yellow = Orange. Blue + Yellow = Green. Red + Blue = Purple. Orange + Blue = Brown. Etc. If you put a wide spectrum of colors together you will get muck every time. The instructions say to use mostly light with a little dark. We used a pretty even amount of Red and Yellow with a hint of Pink in one tray and an even amount of Red and Blue with a hint of Pink in the second.

Now you are ready to make the crayons! Shut the see-through lid and turn the lever to turn on the bulb and start the melting process. The lid locks at this point so little curious fingers can't open it and get burned. That 60-watt bulb heating up the metal plate and trays does get hot. Adult supervision for little ones is a good idea! Older kids should be able to handle it with no problems. Once the time is set you get to sit there and watch wax melt. =) It takes about 15-20 mins. The instructions say you can give it another 1/2 turn if after the first round if the crayons aren't fully melted. We had to do this with the non-Crayola crayons (don't do that!) but the Crayola melted perfectly in the time allotted.

Once the timer gets to the part where the bulb turns off it's time to tip your trays up to pour into the molds. Easy! Six year old handled that like a champ! Then you get to wait another 10 mins for the timer to fully stop and the crayons to cool down. The lid unlocks and everything is cool enough to handle. We found that they still weren't quite cool enough to take out of the molds at that point and put them in the fridge for a while. Meanwhile we tore the paper off some more crayons to get ready for the next batch.

Once the crayons are completely cool, open the mold and the crayons pop right out. Place one piece on each side of the holder and color away! Even though the first batch was made with inferior crayons it was still fun to see what colors came out as you drew. They colors don't perfectly blend together so you get a swirly effect and one minute you are coloring with a dark orange and the next a lighter orange. The purple we mixed went from red-purple to indigo. You have the potential for lots of vivid combinations! Crayola even has some color combinations you can try here Color Recipes

Over all, I give this little gadget a thumb and a half up. I am reserving the other half for the 1/2 sized crayons. It would have really been fun to have full sized crayons and make your own labels for them. I think the draw of making your own crayons and the "science lab" aspect is super cool. It puts you in the realm of being creative not only with the material output but in the process of making those materials. It's a lesson in mixing color and a real time experiment for "how stuff is made". It does take quite a bit of time to make four half sized crayons buy there will always be broken crayons and rainy or snowy days that need to be occupied!

I know, I know... a pumpkin? We made orange and purple... of course pumpkins! =)

If you HURRY you can get a $3 rebate from Crayola. Must be purchased by 12/31. And the Crayon Maker is on sale on the Crayola site for $21.99. Santa got ours at Target for $24.99. You can also check your local hobby stores. Be sure to look for their discount coupons. Hobby Lobby often has 40% off coupons on their web site. Michael's has 40% off mail circulars and Joann has online and flyer coupons, plus they accept both Hobby Lobby and Michael's coupons!

I hope you have enjoyed this review and found it helpful. If you have or get a Crayola Crayon Maker™ I'd love to hear your thoughts and experience. This post was not sponsored by Crayola®. I have not been paid to write this post. I genuinely wanted to provide my opinion of the product. =)

Sweet Holiday Gift

Need a cute, inexpensive gift for the holidays? Then I've got the perfect solution for you (courtesy of a brilliant idea from my Mother-in-law)! A cut-as-you-go cookie strip complete with scissors to snip the yummy treats . All you need is a roll of cellophane, ribbon, small safety scissors and cookies (pre-made or homemade).

WHAT TO DO:
Cut out a strip of cellophane long enough for several cookies (5-6) and wide enough to wrap around the cookies about 2 times. This size will vary, depending on the dimensions of the cookies you use. I used small pre-made gingerbread cookies. Leave enough space between the cookies so that it won't crowd them when you add the ribbon. It's a little tricky to roll all the cookies evenly especially if you have a long row. An extra set of helping hands may be needed.

Tie ribbon between each of the cookies all the way down the strip including under the last cookie. Leave the top untied - you can seal the top with a creative header card. I used the Stampin Up! Top Note die for the header card itself and a stamp and ribbon to top it off. You can get as creative as you like for that part. The die cut piece is folded and placed over the cellophane and stapled shut. The stamped image covers up the staples.

Last tie the scissors to the bottom. Voila, you have a perfectly adorable gift and a terrific way to showcase handmade cookies too. Your recipient will have a hard time deciding whether to display or eat your sweet gift!

Happy Holidays!

Wicked Witch Hat Centerpiece

While searching the interwebs one day, for who knows what, I stumbled upon an image of an adorable witches hat with a floral arrangement on top. I've looked and I haven't been able to find it again. Needless to stay it was stuck in my mind and I wanted to make one for myself. Keep in mind, floral arranging is NOT my strong suit. Funny that when I was a little girl I thought for a while that I might become a florist. But I digress.

I figured the basics for putting the hat together would be pretty simple... a hat, some flowers and other embellishments. I picked up a hat at the thrift store for $1 that someone loved intensely for one halloween and then tossed like a Christmas tree. So special. Then BAM, it's on the thrift store shelf... (ahem, yes, I am altering and mixing in irrelevant movie quotes. back to the scheduled blog post).

To make the floral arrangement :
(1) take a piece of floral foam and cut it into a 5"x4"x1.5" block and then round the top corners to end up with a piece that looks like a half circle.

(2)Then use about a 24" length of black tulle and wrap around the block, covering twice and tie in a knot at the top. This will be used to float throughout the flowers and also functions to thread the decorative ribbon through that goes around the hat which secures the flowers to the hat.

(3) Thread 2.5 - 4" wide ribbon (depending on your preference) through the tulle leaving a short end sticking out of one side (keep it long enough it can be used as part of the decoration), loop around hat and run ribbon through opposite side leaving a small piece sticking out of that side. Tie knot in ribbon under tulle.

(4) Stuff hat with newspaper or bags to keep from collapsing.

(5) Use red, orange and yellow flowers (or your choice) along with branches and other wispy accessories and build your arrangement in the foam. Keep in mind the depth of the hat rim and make sure the flowers you use will not obscure the rim entirely (unlike mine which almost covers the whole thing). Also angle some of the flowers back along the sides to conform to the hat shape help conceal the foam block. Start with the largest flowers and build filling in with the smallest.

(6) Stand back and admire your lovely handiwork. Then find a table or special place to display your beautiful centerpiece. Add mini pumpkins, gourds, skulls, etc to decorate as you see fit.

I've scored a few more hats on my recent trips to the thrift store. Not sure how many I need around my house so you may see some end up in my etsy store (next year)! Have a beautiful Halloween!

Halloween Books II

I've had a request to do another Halloween Book round up and I'm happy to oblige!

The first book "The Dangerous Alphabet" is not so much a Halloween book as it is a creepy tale by one of my favorite authors Neil Gaiman. Follow along as two children and their pet gazelle travel on a journey underground with plenty of trolls, zombies, ghosts and many other strange creatures.

I haven't read these next two, but loved flipping through the pages and just looking at them.

"The Halloween Kid" I love the simplistic color pallet and graphics. It mimics a retro screen print look and evokes memories of days gone by. It is absolutely adorable.

"Ghosts in the House" Again few colors are used and the graphics are fairly simple. This one looks like wood cuts or etchings with tissue paper overlay.

If you have children, then no doubt you are familiar with "Good Night Moon." "Good Night Goon" is a delightfully hilarious spin-off using the same simple rhyme style. But the sweet little room is now a tomb and other fun changes like three little bears sitting on chairs are now three little mummies rubbing their tummies. I couldn't help but chuckle as read through. It's a perfect addition to the Halloween library.

"A Vampire is coming to dinner!" is a fun contradictory book where each page tells you a "rule" for how to handle Vampires. Like "put out the welcome mat" which everyone knows very well NOT to do - (if you don't invite a Vampire in, he can't get past the threshold). But when you open up page to reveal the illustration it's a fun twist on the rule and more appropriate to how we expect to handle Vampires (through recent Vampire lore anyway). In the " put out the welcome mat" scene there is a welcome mat at the front door for sure, but a bucket of paint (or holy water?) hanging above it, so when he comes in he gets doused. The illustrations are charming and the adventure through the book is sure to get lots of giggles.

"Scardy Cat Splat" is a fun new day in the life of Scardy Cat. My son has been fascinated with Scardy Cat since pre-school and this time he is trying to come up with the spookiest costume for the school Halloween party. It is a fun ride with all the silly, Scardy Cat antics.

There you have it! The Halloween book round up. I'd love to hear what you think about these books! Happy Halloween!

Summer Hibernation?

Yes, it's been a while... Coming out of Summer Hibernation! =)

Working on Halloween costumes and I'll post the progress soon. Here's a hint.