Posts Tagged ‘Fun for kids’

• Another use for Wheatgrass…

  Date: 2010.06.13 | Category: Crafting | Response: 9

  What do you get when you combine a goofy picture of your kid with a bunch of Wheatgrass seeds?

  

  Best.Homemade.Gift.Eveh.

  

  My daughter’s class made these for the school Open House last week. Just picture 18 of these crazy-haired kids making faces at you as you walk into the classroom.

  

  I sure love this crazy kid.

  Just had to share.

  Carry on.

  

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• Bringing your lunch is now cool again

  Date: 2010.06.07 | Category: Crafting | Response: 66

  Look what I bought!

  
  

  Yup, a sewing machine!

  Costco has them for like 180 bucks, and I’ve been saving for one so I bought it.

  And I LURVE it. A lot. I’ve never had a nice machine. Never. Last one I had I bought used at a sew shop like 11 years ago and it was craaaaap-y.

  This one can do all sorts of fancy stitches and came with all these different feet things that I don’t even know what they are used for.

  I’m not really a seamstress. No, let me rephrase. I’m NOT a seamstress. My mother can sew and is great at it, and she taught me how to sew. She also put me in a sewing class when I was a kid for a week one summer (loved it!). So basically I can do basic sewing.

  I didn’t need anything super-fancy and this machine is purrr-fect..

  In fact, I finally bought a machine for one reason. This:

  

  Capri-sun bags!

  

  Seriously. I saved up and bought my machine so I can make cute bags out of capri-sun packages.

  

  Yes, I made the lunch sack. Isn’t it stinkin’ ca-ute?!!!

  

  These are really easy to make. And if I can sew one together, I’m pretty sure most people can sew one together.

  

  

  I figured I’d give it to my daughter because it seems a tad girly, but my son saw it and wanted one too…

  

  And then there were two capri-sun lunch sacks.

  

  Apparently Beverly Hills has never seen or heard of capri-sun bags and lunch sacks because I have all the parents (and other kids) at the school flipping out over these bags! I’ve had several moms ask me to make one for them. Niiiice.

  I’m going to eventually put them in my etsy shop (after I get moved from CA to TX this month) but for now, if you reeeeeaally want one, can’t live without one, and don’t want to make one yourself, I’ll make you one for $20 (shipping included). Just email me.

  I was on such a roll that I decided to make a pencil holder as well.

  

  It probably would have been nice to trim off all the extra thread before I took the pictures. Oops.

  

  I don’t know why something made from trash is so cute! Seriously. I’m just dying. They are adorable.

  

  How do I acquire all the capri-sun pouches? That has been tricky! If you have any tips on how to get lots of pouches, please let me know.

  Most of them I’ve been saving for months. I’ve known for awhile that I’m going to make lots of crafts with them. I’ve got several nieces that would love a purse for their birthday!

  I told my kids for every pouch they bring home from school from their friends, I’ll give them 10 cents. My hubbs thinks that’s a total rip off, but I had to make the deal sweet enough that my kids would actually cooperate. I’m considering volunteering in the school cafeteria just so I can scour the garbage cans after lunch each day.

  *~*~*~*~*

  I’m all about giving credit where credit is due, so here is how to make the bags, and also links to where I got the ideas from.

  To make any capri-sun item, first you have to clean the pouches.

  Cut a slit in the bottom of each empty juice bag. I just snipped it with a pair of scissors.

  
  (Image courtesy of Skip To My Lou.)

  Next, you have to wash them. You can do it by hand but it’s easier to just load up the dishwasher.

  
  (Image courtesy of Enchanted Art.)

  And then to make the lunch bag, you can follow the tutorial at Thrifty Fun.

  

  To make the pencil cup holder, there’s a great tutorial over at My Montessori Journey.

  

  I’ve made a few more fun things with capri-sun pouches so check back soon for another installment!

  Have you ever made anything from capri-suns? Tell us about it in the comments section! If you have any links to posts you’ve made I’d love to see them and might even do a capri-sun features party!

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• My I-thought-I-had-an-original-idea ice cream cone cupcake pan

  Date: 2010.06.03 | Category: Baking | Response: 90

  Remember my Cupcakes in Cones?

  

  Cute, right?

  I decided to make a pan prototype to bake my cones in.

  Yup, I made a prototype. And I was going to mass-produce it and sell it on HSN and become a billionaire, er, or at least a thousand-aire.

  But my dreams were crushed when I realized someone else already designed one. And it was better than mine. And they already mass-produce them.

  So much for my big break.

  BUT considering I wasted so much time making my pan, I’m going to show you it anyway. And you can make one and save yourself $15.95 (plus shipping).

  

  I bought this cheap tin pan from the 99 cent store. It’s going to be the frame for my awesome one-of-a-kind cupcake cone baker.

  

  I took a sharpie and measured out a 3 x 4 square grid. Then I traced around the base of an ice cream cone in the center of each square. After that I cut each square out with a utility knife on a cutting board. The tin is so craptastic from the 99 cent store that it was really easy to cut.

  

  Once my circles were cut out I just flipped it over and put it on a cookie sheet. Now it’s ready to load with ice cream cones!

  

  Brilliant, right? I guess that’s why the pan was already invented – like YEARS ago.

  

  And just for fun I took a picture of what it looks like from the underside. Clever.

  So there you have it. My I-thought-I-had-an-original-idea ice cream cone cupcake pan.

  *~*~*~*~*

  And now for a 2nd tutorial on how to make Cupcake cones. Because I love them so much. And these turned out cuter than my original ones. And because I bake so infrequently that when I do I feel the need to show everyone that I can actually bake and be domestic in the kitchen.

  

  Fill the cones with batter. The easiest way is to put all your batter in a large gallon-size ziploc bag, snip the corner, and squeeze the batter into the cones.

  

  Rearing and ready to go. And in case you are wondering, I did not use gross batter with dirt in it. I used Funfetti batter. If you’re going to make cupcakes in cones, at least make them F-U-N, right?! I bet those ca-ute rainbow cakes would look adorable in the cones too.

  

  Bake them the same way you’d bake cupcakes. Follow the directions on the box. Yes, the BOX. Do you actually think I bake from scratch?! Hahahahaha!

  

  I took the awesome ice cream cone pan off the cookie sheet and set it on the cooling rack to dry. My I-thought-I-had-an-original-idea ice cream cone cupcake pan works great to hold the cones up while they cool.

  *~*~*~*~*

  Now for the icing. This part is really REALLY FUN!

  Like I did for the batter, I LOVE icing cupcakes the same way. It’s cheaper than buying a decorator set, easier to clean up, and looks super duper ca-ute!

  

  Fill your zip-lock bag with icing. USE A REAL ZIP-LOCK BRAND BAG. I used a generic one and when I squeezed the icing out the bag exploded on me. And that was really a treat to clean up.

  The easiest way to fill the bag is to put the bag inside a cup and wrap the edges of the bag over the cup (like putting in a trashcan liner). Then just take a butter knife or an icing spatula thingy and scoop the icing into the bag.

  

  When the bag is full, just take it out of the cup and zip it up. And when I say that I bake sometimes, what I really mean to say is that I buy all the pre-made boxed stuff and then I pretend to bake. Why make from scratch what Pillsbury has already made for me and frankly tastes better?

  

  Okay, so Pampered Chef sells these little clippie things that I am in love with. But they are pricey. So I’ve found a cheap solution. Did you know you can get a ha-uge bag of clippies that are identical to the Pampered Chef ones at IKEA for like $1.99 a bag? Yup. And there are 3 different sizes. And I use them every.single.day. For everything.

  So anyway, after I zip-locked the bag, I added a little clippie to hold the icing even tighter in the bag. And also to make sure my zip-lock didn’t pop open.

  

  Once you’ve got the icing in the bag just snip off a tiny corner. Now it’s time to PIPE.

  Honestly, I LOVE the look of this piping way more than any other tip you can buy. And it’s way too easy.

  Just start on the outside edge of the cupcake and start squeezing the icing in a spiral motion towards the center. It should take about 3 full rotations.

  

  Aren’t they cute? Okay, some of them look like crap, but I was still getting the hang of it. But ideally, they are really super cute.

  

  And then if you add sprinkles and stuff they instantly become about 100x cuter. No?

  

  It’s taunting me. Just looking at it is making me salivate. Too bad we ate this batch about 2 weeks ago.

  

  Ah-freaking-dorable. You can’t get much cuter than this.

  

  Are these fun or what?!?! My kids beg for them. They would rather me make these for their birthday parties than buy a cute cake.

  

  And if this post wasn’t fun enough already, I cut a cone open to see the middle of it.

  

  I want to say how fun this is, but I think I’ve way over-used the word “fun” in this post. And “adorable”. I think the inside of the cupcakes look so cool.

  So there you have it. How to make an ice cream cone pan, bake cupcakes in cones, AND how to ice cupcakes all in one post. Lucky you.

  

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• What goes around comes around

  Date: 2010.04.08 | Category: Crafting | Response: 29

  My husband took my baby girl (she’s 5) out one Saturday morning for breakfast. When they came home she had a vase with flowers in it – just for moi! Yay!!

  Hubs is sweet like that (for bringing me flowers, NOT for ditching me for breakfast)

  Eventually the flowers died (these things lasted like 3 weeks!) and I was left with this cute little vase.

  

  I’m such a sucker for little glass vases.

  So most normal people would probably just give it to Goodwill, but I buy from Goodwill, not donate to Goodwill. I think it would be morally wrong for me to actually give something to Goodwill. Besides, I’m waaay too cheap for that. My crap gets sold on Craigslist, thankyouverymuch.

  Rambling, sorry. Mmm-k, I found this cheesy sunflower and stuck it in the vase.

  

  A) the flower is too tall

  B) it needs some filler or a little somin’ somin’ (whoops, not that type of blog, sorry)

  C) it doesn’t stand up straight (no one likes a crooked flower)

  D) “Allison, are you really considering that fake flower for your home decor?” Why yes. Yes I am.

  Let’s start with A

  If you need to cut floral stuff-ffff don’t use a pair of scissors. Use some pliars that have a little cutter-thingy on them.

  

  

  Now that that’s taken care of, on to B

  I like to try out lots of different looks before I decide which one wins out.

  

  Rocks? I like the rocks, but you can still see the base of the flower which might be ok, but it’s totally buggin’ on me.

  

  Raffia? Oh geeze, for cryin’ out loud. Burn the raffia already.

  My mom is raffia queen, so it’s just in my blood to try to use it on every. single. project. Kinda like little painted wooden figures or puff-paint shirts. Some things are really just better off left in the 80’s.

  

  Moss? Considering it’s my 3rd and only option left, Moss it is!! I’m sure hubs is thrill-to-the-D that I chose moss instead of a trip to Michael’s. Again. For the 12th time this week.

  Okay, so on to C. Nobody likes a wonky flower.

  Yes, I just said wonky.

  Get out your glue gun – I prefer the mini cheapest-glue-gun-at-Michael’s gun. ‘Cause it’s cheap. And mini! Mini things are SO much ca-uter.

  

  Did you know you can get a pack of 25 glue sticks from the 99 cent store?

  

  Put a blob of hot gule on the end of the flower stem. This is not a precise science peeps. Just blob it on.

  

  Now cram your flower stem into the vase and hold it real still for at least 20 minutes. Don’t move a muscle or you will totally screw this up.

  OMG I kid, I kid. Don’t freak out. Just hold it for like 30 20 10 5-7 seconds.

  

  And that, my friends is how to make a stem stand up in a vase. You can also use that green foam floral stuff, but who wants to pay for that? And plus, you don’t want green floral foam stuff showing through your vase. Clean lines only.

  Now you get your moss and use a very fancy expensive tool to delicately place it at the bottom of the vase.

  

  Or you can just do what I did and use a butter knife and cram it in there. That works too.

  

  And there you have it. The cheap, cutting-the-corners, ubber crafty way to put a cheap flower in a free vase.

  Now where should I put it? The granite bar or the side table? (‘Cause that’s where everything else I craft goes, right?). Nope, not today. I’ve got a surprise in store for you today.

  

  The mantle-less mantle! Can you believe I was actually able to put something on a non-existent mantle?

  Good thing I cleaned up behind me before I took the picture… errr, uh, never mind.

  

  That is a dog on the couch, not some gross fur ball!!! (In fact, I’m considering having the dog be my next giveaway. Anyone want a cute Yorkie that refuses to be 100% housebroken?) And yes, that is a snorkel on the floor. Don’t ask. I don’t know. We don’t even have a pool nearby.

  

  See that cute little red box in the right-hand corner? My adorable 9-year old sister made that for *me* and mailed it to me for Valentine’s Day. <3

  

  Next time I decide to do a tutorial on how to stick a flower in a vase, remind me to not buy the first flower I see that’s less than a dollar when I’m racing through Michael’s trying to get in and out before they close. Kinda a cheesy choice.

  On second thought, this vase is going to look just adorable in my 5-year olds room. Karma’s a bi… Oh, wait, I selected on my profile that this blog is G rated. Oops. How about this instead?

  Hey, what goes around comes around.

  Awww, I’m teasing. You all know I absolutely adore my kids.

  And in conclusion, the moral of the story is, once again, hot glue rocks.

  xoxo

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• Grandma’s Danish Pancakes

  Date: 2010.04.02 | Category: Baking | Response: 9

  I haven’t posted a recipe in awhile so here you go!

  “Grandma Pancakes”

  

  These are the best pancakes ever created – at least that’s my most humble opinion! We call them “Grandma Pancakes” because my amazing grandma would make them for us (if we begged enough) each time we’d go visit her.

  

  They are very similar to crepes and taste heavenly. I’m getting hungry for some just looking at these pictures!

  Okay, so how to make them…

  mix:

  1 3/4 C flour, 3/4 C sugar, & 3/4 tsp salt

  add:

  1 C milk, 1 C water, 2 eggs, & 1 1/2 eggs shells oil (take 1/2 of the cracked egg shell and use it to measure the oil. ~ 1/8 C oil)

  

  I’ve made these at least ten thousand times and my personal modification is to mix it all together in a blender.

  

  If you mix it in a bowl for some reason it seems to get clumpy. Maybe you awesome bakers out there know a secret that I don’t to keep those clumps out. Personally, I love just using the blender.

  Mix/blend until smooth. This mixture should be very soupy – not thick like regular pancake mix. If it’s too thick add a little water.

  Preheat non-stick frying pan on medium to medium-high. Spray cooking spray on pan before each pancake. Pour one ladle of pancake batter into skillet and tilt skillet around until entire bottom and sides of skillet are covered with a very thin layer of batter.

  

  Cook until browned on bottom then flip pancake and cook until dark brown (but not burnt).

  

  (Flipping is the hardest part.)

  

  Fold in half and then in half again.

  

  Serve with syrup.

  

  Enjoy!

  

  Here is a copy of the recipe that’s easy to copy and print.

  Grandma’s Danish Pancakes

  mix: 1 3/4 C flour,3/4 C sugar, & 3/4 tsp salt

  add: 1 C milk, 1 C water, 2 eggs, & 1 1/2 eggs shells oil (take 1/2 of the cracked egg shell and use it to measure the oil. ~ 1/8 C oil)

  Mix/blend until smooth. Preheat non-stick frying pan on medium to medium-high. Spray cooking spray on pan before each pancake. Pour one ladle of pancake batter into skillet and tilt skillet around until entire bottom and sides of skillet are covered with a very thin layer of batter. Cook until browned on bottom then flip pancake and cook until dark brown (but not burnt). Fold in half and then in half again. Serve with syrup.

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• A can of beans?

  Date: 2010.03.29 | Category: Crafting | Response: 30

  So the other day I made this jute ball out of a basketball and a floor mat. Remember?

  
  

  So I have a HUGE amount of jute floor mat material left over…

  

  …and I’m trying to figure out what the heck to do with it all (besides make another large jute ball for a future giveaway – check back frequently for deets!).

  Okay, so anyway, I’m trying to figure out what else I can hot glue this stuff too and the closest thing within reach was a just-washed can from beans or something. So natch’ I grab the can and start gluing. Wound you expect any different?

  

  

  You know what? I actually really like it! A lot.

  There are so many uses for it, but I knew right away exactly where I wanted it.

  

  

  It’s absolutely perfect for my kids’ art pencils.

  

  

  My daughter LUVs it! And the best thing is, it is so so so so durable!

  Next on the agenda… a few more to match for markers and pencils. I even have a few smaller cans (from tuna) that will be perfect for their little eraser collections.

  YOU can do this! Trust me! Just try it.

  *WARNING* I use a Pampered Chef can opener that removes the entire lid instead of cutting it off so there are NO sharp edges. MAKE SURE you have a can opener that does NOT leave sharp edges!!!

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