ID Mommy

DIY Curious George / Monkey Birthday Party

2012-01-23T08:52:00.000-06:00

My baby boy turned two! Woah, did that time go fast! He can't get enough bananas and loves monkeys like crazy, so we of course had to give him a Curious George monkey party. Here's what we did if you're looking for any ideas!

Invitations
I used a Curious George image online and made these invitations. The inside says "Translation: You are Invited to...etc, etc."

Decorations
With a little creativity you can decorate with a theme without spending any money on licensed character party supplies...


Who needs expensive balloons with licensed characters when you have a plain dollar store balloon and a Sharpie? (Okay, it helps to have a mom who can draw too. But I also put a big "2" on one balloon and his name on another. You could even decorate them with stickers and let the kids help!

We had these Curious George fruit snacks for the kids, so I cut out the pictures from the boxes and sprinkled them around the buffet as decorative "confetti!"

To mimic the Man with the Yellow Hat, I bought these yellow party hats from Amazon and simply drew a black band around each one with a fat permanent marker.

Activities

Pinata made by Mommy! Paper mache on a balloon! The ears are made of a ring of cardboard from a toilet paper tube cut in half...one half taped on for each ear and then covered with newspaper and paper mache. I used some old wall paint we had left over to paint it and used a black Sharpie for the black details.

I printed out some of these free coloring sheets from PBS.com for the kids to color.

The Cake
I did a couple versions of cake...one was a banana shaped banana cake with cream cheese frosting. It turned out really yummy! But Momma loves chocolate and Mommy birthed the baby on baby's birth day, so Momma also made chocolate cupcakes and got her favorite kind of ice cream.

Here's the banana cake shaped and ready for frosting. It started as a 9 x 13" rectangular cake. Pretty ugly, huh?! It didn't want to come out of the pan, despite my heavy greasing and flouring job, so it split apart on me. But, hey, frosting covers a multitude of sins...

I just used a can of cream cheese frosting for this. First I did this white part.

I added yellow food coloring to the remainder of the frosting to do the rest, then used a black decorating pen for the details.

Here it is all done with some of the monkey cupcakes! Below you can see the cupcake process...

The Monkey Cupcakes:

I found the idea on Pinterest of course! But, I made a couple of my own tweaks with the faces.

Here's what you need to for the cupcakes (minus the actual cake). I tried this thing I saw on Pinterest and just added a can of Coke to a box of chocolate cake mix and they were yummy!

Chop a little bit of the side off of the mini Nilla Wafers for the ears.

Face parts ready to go on the frosted cupcakes

Use a regular Nilla wafer for the nose/mouth and the smaller ones for the ears.

Here's my tweak: I used upside-down white chocolate chips.

Then add the details with the black icing tube. I decided to make mine a little more fun with some different expressions!


Finished monkeys!

The Menu
We did a baked potato bar which turned out great. I tried another great Pinterest idea and baked the potatoes in my Crock pot. I know it takes way longer, but I loved it...one less thing for me to worry about right before or during the party! We put out lots of yummy toppings. I baked a pan full of bacon in the AM and made bacon bits, then we also had a bowl of shredded cheese, diced ham, sour cream, green onions, regular onions, and of course butter!

Of course there were plenty of bananas all over the place, and a bowl of Curious George fruit snacks!

We also had chips & dip, carrots & dip, clementines, etc. It was a great menu for a group, and everything could be done ahead of time which is always a must for parties!

I think the party went great...this cute smile says it all!

Here are some links to our past birthday parties if you're looking for other ideas:
Robot / Space Birthday Party
Circus Birthday Party
Thomas the Train Birthday Party
Monster Truck Birthday Party

Making "Ice Gems" With The Boys

2012-01-21T21:30:00.000-06:00

It's finally starting to feel like winter around here, which means more time spent in the house with the boys. I've been taking advantage of my Pinterest board full of ideas to do with my boys, and we decided to make these cool ice gems this week! (Thank you to my friend Cindy who pinned these!)

I won't post every detail since the original tutorial already does a great job with that! But here are a few photos of ours...

Adding food coloring to the balloons - I think I did 2 or 3 drops.

You do really need to stretch the opening over the faucet for them to fill up. Learned that the hard way before I read that detail!

The boys thought these were pretty cool!

I didn't quite trust them to fill a balloon full of dye but they loved holding, poking, and squishing them and helping me carry them outside to freeze!

We lined them up on the deck, right outside the sliding glass door so the boys could watch them freeze. I put them in a shallow cardboard box which worked great!

After two days Sammy just couldn't wait to unwrap them!

Here they are lined up on the rocks leading to the front door! So pretty!

This one actually had black food coloring. Turned out kinda neat!

Toby peeking out the window at the pretty "gems!"

The colors actually turned out really quite uniform in comparison to the tutorial. Too bad the balloon broke on the red one before it froze all the way...we would have had a whole rainbow! And what perfect timing...we unwrapped these on the day of little Toby's 2nd birthday party and they were really fun decorations to have outside as our family walked to the front door!

Thrift Store Re-Use Idea: Plant Clipping Containers

2012-01-20T09:46:00.000-06:00

If you're a plant person who takes small clippings from your thriving plants to turn into new plants, here's a little idea for you.

I used to put my clippings in old jars and cups by a window, and they never really looked great. But, lately I've been picking up pretty glass candle holders from the thrift store and using those instead, which makes the clippings look even prettier than potted plants while I wait for their roots to grow.

One of my favorite spots in our new house is this little window box right above the kitchen sink. It's a perfect spot for plants and delicate things to keep them out of the kids' reach. Plus, being in Minnesota in January, it's really nice to be able to look up while doing dishes and see green plants and colorful glass, rather than the usual brown and white.

A couple hanging candle holders from the thrift store, hung with little screw-in hooks in the window box "ceiling"

I love this little blue one that hangs on it's own stand

Colorful glass bottles work great too, especially for this straight bamboo!

There are so many cool options for your clippings if you think outside of the box! How about some pretty vases, or even wine glasses? So next time you're in the thrift store or at a garage sale, if you're a plant person, be sure to peruse the glass and candle holder aisles...the possibilities are endless!

Keys to my Past

2012-01-18T15:30:00.003-06:00

What was your favorite Christmas gift this year? (Okay, technically LAST year) One of my favorites was this old snuff jar:

"What?! A snuff jar?!" you say? Yeah...well, my favorite part was what it was filled with...dozens of really awesome old keys. The jar belonged to my great Grandma Brandt, and it was where she kept her keys.

Years ago I snapped this photo at the Minnesota State Fair of a wall that was covered with old keys:

I just love the texture and patterns in all of the keys, and wondering where they all came from. I love the various colors they've taken on and bled onto the wood as they endure harsh Minnesota winters. I printed the close-up photo and had it hanging in my cubicle for years.

Now that I freelance from home, and don't have to worry about my valuables being swiped from my desk (like my wedding ring was...but that's a whole other sad story), I thought I'd make my own real wall of keys. That was a year or two ago, and I've been searching for cool old keys at garage sales ever since. So far I have found a whopping two keys, for $1 each. At this rate it would take me FOR-E-VER.

Well, when my mom caught word that I was keeping my eye out for keys, she remembered that they had a whole jar of them stored away somewhere from my Dad's Grandma, and they gave them to me alongside other fun Christmas gifts!

...And here they are (most of them) on display in my studio, along with my shiny letter "G" and my collection of fortune cookie fortunes that are tucked under the plastic corner guard.

Keys are important. You'll know that all too well if you've experienced the panic that sets in when you realize you've locked yourself out of your car or your house. They protect the things that are of value to you. They are a symbol of adulthood. I so clearly remember being in high school when it was glaringly obvious who just got their driver's license because of the huge, clanking ring of keys they had swinging from their pocket for the world to see. They are symbols of independence. Your first car. Your first apartment. Yours and only yours because you have the key. They are a symbol of trust in whomever you may share them with.

I see bins and bins of old keys at the Junk Bonanza with my mom each year, yet I've never purchased any there. Sure, I could have bought this whole wall from one antique seller, just for the look. But now I have my own collection that has a lot more meaning behind it. (Thanks Mom & Dad!)

There are big keys and teeny tiny little keys. Black keys and silver keys and brass keys. Every one has a different design and unlocks some unknown object or door from my past. I look at the keys that are slightly twisted and distorted and wonder what that one got stuck in. I left the little strings tied on some of the keys because that's the way Great Grandma had them. I wonder what doors they unlocked, what clocks they wound up, what secrets they kept, and what treasures they may have secured...yet I find it delightfully ironic that in the end, the objects they unlocked are probably long gone, and the keys themselves are the treasures!

On a related note, here's a fun idea I came across on Pinterest via "Young House Love"...

A little shadow box displaying the keys to the places you've lived. Makes me wish I had kept copies of my old keys! After all, modern keys may look totally boring to me now, but who knows...my great grand kids may unlock everything with fingerprint recognition and may find my keys to be fascinating relics!

The Crumbs on the Floor can WAIT!

2012-01-17T19:03:00.000-06:00

Who doesn't want to lose a few pounds and/or get healthier, right?

My fabulous friend Jess found this great plan for an "8 week weight loss challenge" online, and gathered together a group willing to take on this challenge, myself included. In a nutshell, everyone who's in on it pitches in some agreed upon amount of money. Each week you earn points for doing various healthy behaviors (ie. drinking 64 oz of water per day, exercising 30 minutes a day, keeping a food journal, eating 3 servings of veggies, etc...). At the end of the 8 weeks there are 2 winners, one for the highest points earned, and one for the highest percentage weight loss. Those two winners split the pot.

I gravitated toward the idea because I knew that the accountability alone would help me, along with having a clear plan printed out to look at each day and blanks to fill in with points. So far so good...while I haven't earned every point possible every day yet, I feel like I'm making some great strides in taking on some good, healthy behaviors on a regular basis!

Looking at a daily list of guidelines has brought me back to when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD) in my last 10 weeks of pregnancy with my 2nd baby. For those 10 weeks I stuck to my GD diet to a tee. I counted every carb in ever meal and snack, wrote down every single thing I ate, had my scheduled amount of carbs every 2-3 hours, and checked my blood sugar and ketones religiously. To give you a little background, needles have been known to make me pass out. Yet I somehow pricked myself with a needle twice a day without hesitation.

So why is it such a challenge to follow this much much simpler 8 week plan?

Why do I struggle to push my workouts from my usual 10 minutes a day to 30? I don't have to count carbs or calories, and I don't have to make myself bleed every day. The difference is that with GD, I was doing it all for my baby boy. And if you're a mom, you totally get it...you'd do ANYTHING for your baby. I would eat nothing but pigs' feet and anchovies and stab my fingers with a needle 10 times a day for 10 weeks if that's what it took to ensure my baby was healthy.

I have discovered so far, in week 1 of this challenge, that my greatest challenge is convincing myself that I am worth the time. I am worth taking a half hour out of my precious few hours of the boys' nap times to work out. I can tell myself I'm doing this to look better for my husband, or to have more energy for my kids, but in the end I really need to find myself worth the time in order to make the time. There are SO many things that I need to pack into that short nap time every day being a small business(es) owner, not to mention keeping up the house and taking care of daily family upkeep, that it's very hard for me to put myself even ON my list, let alone at the top of it!

So far in this 8 week challenge I have made myself immediately do my workout as soon as the boys go down for naps, because I know if I start doing something else I'll get too into it and will lose track of time, and before I know it, they'll be awake and ready for supper.

The other day I was doing my workout in my living room (I love my kick boxing DVD's!). During my warm-up I was doing some push-ups and here was my view...

GROSS! The floor is seriously covered with crumbs from the boys' snacks. (Yeah, snack traps don't trap everything.) Every time I lowered my face to the floor I was met with a close-up view of crunched up whole wheat Chex. With every push-up I had to remind myself that my health is more important than having a freshly vacuumed floor all the time. While the lady on the workout DVD was saying "one, two, three, four" I was saying, "it can wait, it can wait, it can wait, it can wait."

And guess what...it did wait. It was all still there when I was done, and I was still able to vacuum it up. And the boys didn't get seriously injured or die from the crumbs. And my house doesn't look like it will be featured on "Hoarders." Go figure? Life still goes on even if I take a little time for myself. And I lost 3 pounds in week 1! Win-win!

Final Fun Friday Finds for 2011

2011-12-30T22:48:00.000-06:00

It's been way too long, and I realize the Friday is almost over, but here are a few final fun Friday finds for 2011!


Spinach Chips from Michele Made Me .... now on my to-try list!


Stegosaurus sox tutorial from Happy Together - definitely gotta try making these!

Squid dogs - found these on Pinterest and I finally tried them the other week...totally void of any nutrition but fun for the kids!


Super hero shoes...sold out on Etsy but what a fun idea if you can make them yourself!

Okay, I want to post more but it's getting late! Have a fabulous last day of 2011, everyone! See you next year!

DIY Monster Truck Birthday Party!

2011-12-26T21:55:00.001-06:00

One day this past summer Sammy got a little toy monster truck at a garage sale. When I told him what a monster truck was, he wanted to know more. So, I pulled up this YouTube video of a monster truck show. Ever since then he has been obsessed with Monster trucks, and has been talking about the Monster truck 4th birthday party he would like! Luckily the Monster Jam came to Minneapolis this month so he got to go with Daddy a few weeks ago, and it was a hit.

FYI, if your kid likes Monster trucks and you don't want to fork over the dough for a ticket, or want to get up close without buying an extra "pit pass," they have the trucks on display at auto parts stores around the city for the public to view for free! Just go to their website, click on your city/event location, and scroll down until you see the "Truck Display" list for locations, dates and times!

So, in keeping with my tradition of sharing my kids' birthday party festivities and ideas, here's what we did to throw a Monster Truck Birthday!

THE INVITATIONS

I did some Photoshopping to create this art which went on the front of his party invitations, which I printed at home and mailed out.

THE ACTIVITIES

I downloaded some free coloring sheets from the Monster Jam website for the kids to color and spread them out on the table with some crayons.

THE DECORATIONS

I bought one of these great inflatable floaties that looks like a tire for a decoration. Living on a lake I figured it would also double as a gift that he can use this summer! His mouth dropped open when he saw it! The garland you see above it I made with yarn and some flags and tires I printed out on the computer. I'll get them up on here soon but in the meantime, if you want them, email me at gretchen(at)gretchenfleener(dot)com and I'll send you the files to print your own!

I got a bunch of balloons at the dollar store near our house for $0.99 cents. You don't need to pay a fortune for balloons to go with your theme. I took a black sharpie and drew a monster truck on one, and wrote "The Saminator" on another!

Instead of buying a boring balloon weight, for the same price I got a fun squishy ball. It had a loop that was perfect to tie balloons to and it was a toy he could play with later!

THE CAKE

The cake was quite simple with the right "props!" I made a monster truck rally with some toy cars, and made a couple pieces on the computer that I printed out for the background and sign. Here are some progress shots...

I baked a 9x13" chocolate cake and frosted it with chocolate.

I used a toothpick to trace out the oval track, and brownies (you could use cake too) to form the ramps.

Then I frosted the "track" with dark chocolate frosting.

Next I added some graham cracker crumb "dirt" and drew tire tracks with a tooth pick.

Finally, I added the monster truck, cars, candles and paper signs! (then took off the foil strips and added decorative details to the edges)

The finished product

THE PINATA
I always have fun making pinatas. My mom used to make us pinatas for our birthdays. Hers we would whack with a stick in the basement, which was always bittersweet as she put so much time into them!

I started making these ribbon pinatas previous years, because we just didn't have a room big enough to let blindfolded kids swing a stick in. You can see more on how to make them work in my robot/space birthday party post, but basically each kid takes turns pulling a string until one gets the string that opens the trap door to release the candy. It's all made out of a cardboard box and toilet paper tubes, paper mache and paint!

THE MENU
I didn't really tie in the menu with the party theme this time...being the day after hosting a big Christmas turkey dinner, I tried to go a little easier on myself this year. I did lasagna which works great to assemble ahead of time and feed a crowd, some frozen garlic bread which was a hit, salad, and one of my favorite cheesy corn crock pot recipes from my sister in law. We had plenty of food, between that and my "appetizers" of fruit, veggies, cheese, meats and crackers!

THE GOODIE BAGS
The kids use their goodie bags to collect their pinata candy in...

I always use simple paper lunch bags for goodie bags, then print my own party theme labels on sticky backed label paper to decorate them. The bags each had a toy monster truck, a pencil with cars on it, a blow-up beach ball, a little jar of bubbles, and some candy. Here are some links to other monster truck party favor ideas...

Next up...little Toby's 2nd Curious George birthday next month! Stay tuned for photos from that one!

Check out the links below to see some of our previous parties...
Robot / Space Birthday Party
Circus Birthday Party
Thomas the Train Birthday Party

Christmas Preparations...

2011-12-23T14:54:00.000-06:00

Well, I haven't posted much lately...sorry! I've been busy with some fun Christmas face painting gigs, and of course getting ready for Christmas and my winter babies' birthdays! Here are a few things I've been up to...

I always make tons of Christmas cookies, a tradition passed on to me by my mom. This year I tried a couple new recipes, but this one is a definite keeper: Cookies & Cream Fudge!

Ooooh, just looking at this photo makes me want to get some out of the freezer and indulge myself...

The boys had fun making our "play dough cookies" again this year, and we also made some salt flour dough ornaments that I can't show yet because they are going to be Christmas gifts! But maybe I'll make a post out of it for you all for next Christmas!

We are now in the midst of hosting out-of-town in-laws, and with Christmas eve tomorrow, then Christmas day, followed by Sammy's birthday on the 26th, I'm one busy Mommy! This is really the first year I have actually FELT my age due to the holiday busy-ness. I have been so physically exhausted and sore all over my whole body for the past week it's nuts! But, hey, Christmas is awesome because Mommies make it awesome, am I right?! I'm still having a blast!!

I'd love to post a bunch of fun Christmas project ideas, but, well, I'm exhausted. I have, however, found a lot of fabulous ideas from younger, less exhausted moms on Pinterest lately and you can check them out on my "Stuff to Make with the Boys" board!

Have a very merry Christmas and happy new year, and stay tuned for my review of our big 4th Monster Truck birthday party!

Homemade Teacher Gift Ideas

2011-11-17T13:28:00.000-06:00

I had a friend ask me yesterday if I had any ideas for teacher gifts that she could make. I'm still a year away from having teachers to get gifts for, but I can see how the cost can quickly add up when your child potentially has multiple teachers and teacher aids! So, what a great, timely idea for a blog post! (thanks, Kim!)

I pulled several ideas together from my Pinterest boards and some of my previous blog posts. Here's what I came up with so far! I'd love to hear if you try any of these and if they go over well! These are great ideas for ANYBODY, by the way, not JUST teachers, if you're looking for some fun homemade gift ideas!

Bake cookies and wrap them up in empty Pringles cans!

Make hot chocolate dipping spoons! This would be great paired with a couple packets of Swiss Miss!


Felt apple coasters! So cute!


Fabric wrapped hangers! Everyone has clothes to hang, right? This is a great way to recycle fabric scraps from other projects too.

And speaking of hangers, this is posted as a wedding dress hanger, but I was thinking it could also make a cute teacher gift, whether it's hung on a wall as a decoration or actually used.


Framed initial made from crayons! I've always loved this idea. You can often find shadow boxes in thrift stores too or you can use a regular frame and skip the glass. Here's another idea to use pencils!

Cookie cutter fudge! A treat to enjoy now and a cookie cutter to use later!

Try blinging out a clipboard!

Peppermint bark always makes for a pretty presentation! Try doing a search on Allrecipes for bark. You can try peppermint, or maybe a chocolate mint, etc...maybe try a few and do a little sampler of a few kinds in a tin! I also LOVE this nutter butter bark recipe.


This would be a fun twist on those jars of cookie mixes...make your own spice mixes! These would make great teacher gifts, of course with a label that looks cuter than a piece of tape ("Seasonings Greetings?"), and maybe some cute fabric covers over the lids. Take a trip to Whole Foods to buy spices WAY WAY cheaper by bulk.

Cute felt pencil toppers! I'd love to post a link to this to give the creator credit, but it was shared on Pinterest with a link to a blog that is only shared with invited readers. (If this is yours, let me know and I'll be glad to credit you!)

Another broken Pinterest link here, so I can't share a tutorial unfortunately. But these are coasters made from cheap 4" tiles from Home Depot. Cut scrapbook paper into squares to fit, adhere with mod podge, and put felt on the bottom! Sweet!

Apple cake pops! Cake pops can get real time consuming, from what I hear. But if you're up to the challenge, these are totally adorable!

I wish I could knit, then I might try this cute knit apple! But you could do this with crochet too. Cute to use as a pin cushion, or just a cute decoration!

What kind of business woman would I be if I didn't promote my own products?! ;-) I've sold quite a few of my Junk Mail Gems letter magnets to people looking for teacher gifts. For $1 per letter you can spell the teacher's last name, or choose words like "teach" or "learn," etc.

I also sent out a Facebook message to my fellow teacher friends. Suggestions included things that they can really use as opposed to gifts of the knick-knack variety. Also, you can't go wrong with gift cards! But don't sweat the expense...they seem to me to be just as happy to have a hand written note, a picture made by the kids, or just a heartfelt verbal "thank you!"

Are you a teacher? I'd LOVE it if you would comment on this post with your favorites and least favorite gifts to receive! (And feel free to shoot down any of the ideas I've found!) I know it would help out a lot of moms!

For more ideas for teachers and other family and friends, be sure to check out one of my posts from last year which has more fun ideas for homemade gifts!

Dear Random Blonde Mall Woman,

2011-11-04T21:43:00.001-05:00

This post is for all of you moms who have had some stranger lecture you on how to parent your children in public. And you, random blonde woman in the mall. Especially you.

So tonight I was a the mall in the Apple store waiting for someone to help me get a new iPhone. Fifteen minutes into waiting for help the boys were getting antsy and wrestless and naughty. This happens every time we go to the Apple store. They hate to sit and wait in the stroller and I don't blame them. They were in a double stroller, Sam behind Toby. So, naturally, Sammy starts to kick Toby in the head, and poke his ears with chopsticks from our previously enjoyed dinner at Big Bowl. (Typical entertainment idea that pops into the head of a toddler.) Figuring that it probably would NOT benefit Toby in the long run to have chopsticks shoved into his brain, I immediately grabbed Sammy's hands, yanked the chopsticks out of his grip, and yelled, "Stop it, Sam!!" I think my husband grabbed his chin and turned his face toward his and also yelled "stop it!" Seems like a normal reaction to protect your youngest child from being turned into a vegetable, right?

My hubby decides to go take the boys to the soft play area while I continue to wait. They had a BLAST and I'm wishing my phone hadn't taken 45 minutes because I wanted to play with them too! But, as I'm wandering around looking at stuff, this random blonde woman comes up to me and says, "excuse me, it's probably none of my business but...." oh, here we go. I should have stopped her right there and said, "you're right, it's not!" But, being the civil person I am, I smiled, nodded, and listened. She went on to tell me that "when you were dealing with your kids just then, EVERYONE was watching!" (in my head: "um, so what?! I care about my kids' safety more than the opinions of random strangers!") She goes on, "I just wanted you to know that it really bothered me to see that..." (uh, once again, so what?! Who the heck are you again? Oh that's right, some completely random stranger in a mall who knows NOTHING about me or my kids!) ... "and you know children are a GIFT!" I resist the urge to punch her in the face, figuring that it wouldn't help my case that I happen to be an insanely loving and quite capable mom.

Well, I was in such shock and disbelief all I could say was, "uh, okay," and "I didn't hurt anybody." And to her last comment about children being a gift, as she walked away from me I added, "Believe me, I KNOW THAT." She of course had no interest in what I had to say as she walked away while I was talking. But after the fact of course I have all these things running through my head that I wish I had told her.

So, random blonde woman in the mall, if you ever come across this blog post, here is what I'd like to say to you:

#1 - Yes, you are absolutely right, it IS none of your business how I parent MY CHILDREN.

#2 - I have never hurt either of my kids, nor do I ever plan to. ever. If I were abusing my kids in public, then yes, you may be the hero of the day. Didn't apply here.

#3 - You are telling ME that children are a gift?! You have no CLUE what we went through to get our two most precious gifts in the world and have a heck of a lot of nerve to even suggest I don't know that with every fiber of my being. Yes, they are precious...too precious to ruin by lack of discipline or by a foot to the skull.

#4 - You say you and "everyone" in the store were "watching." I'm sorry to hear how concerned you are with what strangers think. Must be a lot of pressure for you. But did you happen to notice that one child was about to scramble the other's brain with a pair of chopsticks?! Because I think if these gifts are so precious I wouldn't want one of them mutilated by the other. And I'm guessing you didn't turn your head until we were yelling "stop it" and had no clue what we were trying to stop.

#5 - And heck, as long as you're here, why not take a stroll through my blog history. You may notice how much I dedicate my life to my boys. How I spend every waking and sleeping moment with them as a full time mom. How I put their best interests above my own on a daily...no, minute-ly basis. See how happy, well adjusted, loved and blessed they are.

I am actually embarrassed to say that I let her get to me at all. That on my way home I was so infuriated and that tears were welling up in me at the thought that anyone on the planet, even a complete stranger, was doubting that I did not love and cherish my precious boys more than life itself.

To you, random blonde woman, and all random people who think they know how others should handle their children and feel the need to tell them, I tell you this. Unless you see someone actually ABUSING a child, not preventing physical harm like I was, Keep your opinions to yourself, because that's all they are...opinions, first reactions with absolutely no background information or context. If the first words out of your mouth are "it's probably none of my business," that's your flag to shut your mouth. I understand you probably had good intentions, that you do have kids yourself, and that you were looking out for my kids, and I appreciate that. But take a second to think before you judge someone you don't know based on nothing more than the information you gathered from the one thing I did that was loud enough to catch your attention in a crowded mall. Somehow I am thinking the giggles, cuddles, kisses and hugs I gave my kids that very same night in the very same mall didn't catch your attention.

And to all of my wonderful friends and family on Facebook, thank you for helping me cool my blood from a boil to a simmer. I'm hoping it'll be lukewarm by morning. ;-) And from here on out I'm gonna try very hard to tune out clueless strangers and only tune into those who actually know me and my kids and care about us. And our brains not being scrambled by chopsticks.

DID I MENTION THE CHOPSTICK BRAIN SCRAMBLE THING YET?! Sheesh.

Halloween, IDMommy Style

2011-10-31T15:07:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!!! Here's some random Halloween fun going on in the IDMommy's house today...

Sammy as Clifford

Sammy wanted to be Clifford, and since I found I could buy a like-new costume on ebay for less than I could buy the material, I didn't make his. But, I did make the little yellow tag that says "Clifford" as it really needed that! I just used two pieces of yellow felt sandwiched together and sewn on the edges, then wrote the letters with black fabric paint.

Toby loves Curious George, so I had fun dressing him as the Man in the Yellow Hat! I got a new witch hat at the thrift store, spray painted it yellow, and added a band around it with some black vinyl I had in my studio. The boots, pants, shirt and belt were also from the thrift store. I had to take a couple trips to find yellow pants but found some! I did have to make them shorter and smaller around the waist though as they were too big. For his belt (which you can't see here) I just got an adult sized black belt, cut it shorter, and punched new holes in it to fit him. The yellow shirt had a couple blue stripes sewn across it, which I removed with a seam ripper.

Here's a close-up of the little bit of sewing I did on the shirt. I just made a fake collar on the front and a little tie, an then glued some black felt polka dots on it. It came out okay! I couldn't find a yellow tie anywhere so this worked. I just cut the shapes, folded the edges in and ironed them, then sew the edges and voila! Faked dress shirt and tie!

We did our pumpkins this morning so I'll have to share pics of those too...

Sammy isn't too interested in getting dirty so I scraped the insides loose and he helped scoop the guts out into a bowl. That was about the extent of his interest in pumpkin carving this year so I pretty much did all the work, which is fine, because I love carving pumpkins!

We saved a bowl full of seeds to roast later. You can find a recipe on my Junk Mail Gems blog here, as well as instructions and recipes to turn your pumpkin into pie and bread after Halloween.

If you're new to pumpkin carving, here are a few tips...

1) as shown above, don't just cut a circle, put a "V" shape somewhere around your circle. This will help you line the lid up perfectly every time when you cover it. Little trick I learned from my dad!

2) Cut at an angle as shown above. If you cut straight, your lid won't sit on top; it'll fall inside!

3) Make sure you cut the hole big enough for your hand to get in, and more importantly, out of the pumpkin to clean it out!

So, Here's what I did this year...

Toby loves George, as we've established earlier, so I made him a George pumpkin! I was gonna just do a face, but found this image of George floating away on his kite on a Google image search and liked it. I used some brown acrylic paint and a sharpie for the black.

I can take NO credit for this great lantern design idea...I found it on Pinterest! The original link can be found here, on Country Living. Such a fun idea. I didn't use their templates but they are easy enough! I used a drill for the little holes and a permanent marker for the black. Much simpler than they look.

And last but certainly not least, the semi-truck monster truck pumpkin! Sammy is currently obsessed with monster trucks, and wanted a monster truck pumpkin. We scrolled through images of monster trucks on the web and chose this one that looks like a big rig. I think my new favorite pumpkin carving tool is my cordless drill! I used it for all the round lights, and also for the corners of all the spots I cut out. I used some paint pens for the color and the metallic silver, which worked great!

After a little pumpkin carving, fun with Play Doh, and playing in the yard, we had lunch. I made some "super special cheesy Halloween toast"...

So, that's our day so far! The boys are resting up now so they'll have lots of energy to go trick-or-treating with Daddy after supper!

Hope you and your family have a fun and safe Halloween!!

ID Mommy Tip: Blaze Orange. it's Not Just for Hunters Anymore!

2011-10-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

I think many moms would agree that one of the most tiring things about taking your kids out to busy, crowded places is trying to keep your eye on them. I've always tried to dress my boys in bright colors whenever we go on a play date to a playground, or any other place with lots of kids, so that I could easily pick them out of a crowd.

Recently I picked up this blaze orange hoodie at a garage sale for a buck, and boy does that thing stand out! I guess those hunters know what they are doing when it comes to visibility.

A couple weeks ago he wore it to our visit to a local orchard, where we went with some friends from church. Hmm, what do you think...can you spot my kid in these pictures?

It seems like such a trivial little thing, but wow, I have to say that simply lifting my eyes and immediately spotting my child took away so much of the stress that comes with keeping track of my kids!

Now if only I could find one just like it in Toby's size, I'd be all set, as he was the one I had to really chase after...heck, I could almost sit down and have a conversation with another adult and possibly even get one coherent thought out of my head without interrupting myself by frantically scanning the crowd!!! Now THAT is one mind blowing benefit of blaze orange hunting gear!

Making Tie Dye Shirts for Halloween!

2011-10-26T21:59:00.000-05:00

Sammy and I had a blast making some Halloween tie dye shirts a week or so ago, using a kit I got at Michael's with my 40% off coupon. They also had t-shirts for $2, but you could easily use any old white shirt or pick one up at a thrift store!

First I had to wash the shirts, with no fabric softener. I pulled them out of the washing machine and, leaving them wet, we put rubber bands on them...

One for Sammy, one for Toby, and one for Mommy!

Sammy got a kick out of the plastic gloves!

The kit was super easy...just add water to the bottles which already had powdered dye in them, and shake! Then apply with the bottle. I was picturing myself having to mix up buckets of dye and do it out in the back yard, but this was nice, neat, and simple enough for this almost-4-yr-old to do with a little help!

Sammy applying the orange dye up to the rubber band

Finishing off the dye

I set them on a foil lined cookie sheet, with a piece of plastic wrap over them, for 8 hours or so.

Then comes the fun part...opening them up and seeing how they turned out! The instructions had some cute ideas for jack-o-lantern and spider web designs and we pretty much followed those closely. I kindof made mine up as a spinoff of Sammy's pumpkin shirt, with 3 pumpkins...

Then after you wash them and dry them you can add some designs with the fabric paint. The kit also came with a glow-in-the-dark paint but I just used this black:

Here are our 3 shirts all done! Toby won't fit into his until at least next year, as the smallest shirt Michael's had was still too big for him. But, I think I like his the best, with the spider web!

IDMommy Tip: Use QR Codes to Share Recipes at Parties!

2011-10-16T14:10:00.000-05:00

Here's a fun idea I came up with about an hour before we were to have some guests over for BBQ last night...using QR codes to share recipes!

We do a lot of entertaining, and there are always a few people who ask for recipes. So, I figured, rather than digging them out and making my guests copy them down, leaving the party to go make a copy in my studio, or trying to remember who to email them to afterwards, I'd give this a try!

All I did was Google "QR Code Generator" and there are many sites that will generate the code for you. QR Stuff was the site I used. Since most of my recipes were already online, either found on Allrecipes or via Pinterest links, I simply found the links to those recipes and generated a code that takes you to that website. Then I downloaded the code, pasted it in Photoshop, and printed them out with the names underneath them. I cut them out and taped them by each dish. (You could just print these and leave off the recipe title too, skipping the whole Photoshop thing)

There were a couple recipes that were not online, just from my recipe box. So, I chose the "plain text" option. I still haven't even tried that one out so I'm not sure how it reacted on people's smart phones. But, it was a really fun idea to try out and a great way to easily share recipes!!

Fun Fall Projects: Egg Carton Pumpkins!

2011-10-12T09:43:00.000-05:00

Here's a little egg carton project you can do with your kids this fall! I've been looking for egg carton crafts because I have quite a stash of them built up, and this one has been popping up all over Pinterest so I thought I'd give it a try!

Spray paint the bottom of an egg carton orange

Cut apart the sections

Cut off the bottoms of each egg section. Try to get them as flat as you can so they'll match up when you glue them later.

Poke a little hole in the middle of the tops of your pumpkin

I had these fake leaves around so I cut some of them off to put on our pumpkins

Put a dot of glue on the little hole you poked

Stick on your leaf! You could make a leave with fabric, paper, pipe cleaners, or whatever else, too! I also added a little piece of the wire stem from my fake leaves for a stem, which you could just use a stick or pipe cleaner for too.

Put some glue around the edges of one of the halves

Stick 'em together

Add a face! Sammy had fun coloring on these with a Sharpie. You can also add google eyes!

Wordless Wednesday: Fall Colors on the Dakota Rail Regional Trail

2011-10-05T14:24:00.000-05:00

I took the boys for a bike ride yesterday on the Dakota Rail Regional Trail which runs by our neighborhood. A great chance to take in fall colors AND get used to my new digital camera!

Happy fall!!

ID Mommy Project: Baby Food Jar Jack-o-Lanterns

2011-10-04T18:49:00.000-05:00

So today I was reaching for my blaze orange spray paint in preparation for a different pumpkin craft for the boys to do after nap. Staring back at me on the same shelf was my stash of empty baby food jars, which have been screaming for re-use. Then it hit me...hey, I could mask off some jack-o-lantern faces, paint them orange, peel off the tape, and set them over a battery powered candle....and voila! (Yeah, I know, I'm weird...these are the things that pop into my head!!) Turns out they actually came out kinda cool! So here it is!

You'll need orange spray paint, masking or painter's tape, baby food jars (or any glass jar, really), and scissors or an X-acto knife. Optional: Something to make leaves and/or a stem with

Thoroughly clean and dry the baby food jars. Then turn them upside down and make faces on them with masking tape. I cut these shapes with scissors, which was a bit clumsy but worked. (You could also put the tape on the jar first and cut the shapes right on the jar with an X-acto knife.)

I made three of them today. Make sure to burnish the tape...rub them down so the edges are really stuck so the paint doesn't get underneath.

Next, spray paint them orange. Make sure they're upside down. I did the faces on the upside down jars so there wouldn't be overspray inside the jars and the faces would stay clear.

It may take a couple coats. Once it's all dry, carefully peel off the tape. I like to use the sharp point of my X-acto knife to grab the edge of the tape so I don't scratch the part I want painted.

You could stop there if you want. I found some old fake flowers and snipped a few leaves off and glued them on top. I'd still like to add a stem of some sort but I'm not sure what to use yet. Maybe a real stick?

Now just set them on top of a little battery powered candle! Cuteness!! You could do these right side up too...just keep the lid on or tape off the opening while spray painting so you don't get paint on the inside. (If you get paint inside, the cut-out faces won't be clear)

Fish Bowl Roundup!

2011-09-26T13:46:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's because I painted a goldfish bowl on my 2nd cousin's cute "baby bump" last week, but lately I've been noticing some really cool fish bowls out there. Doesn't every kid have a pet goldfish at some point? Or a beta? I know I had plenty of both when I was little, and even got into saltwater fish in college. But, there's no reason you can't let your kids learn the responsibility of pets and still enhance your home! With these bowls your fish can double as cool modern decor.

Check out this wall mounted fishbowl. Wish I had seen this back when I used to have a fish themed bathroom!

This bowl is shaped like a fish...I'd have to name my fish Jonah if he lived in this bowl:

These fish bowl bookends would hold up your copy of Moby Dick nicely (or more realistically in my house, "One Fish Two Fish"):

I'm sure I've already posted this one before, but had to include it in this post...the Umbra FishHotel!

This Fishscape glass fishbowl is super awesome, and while I'm certain that never in my lifetime will I spend $140 on a fish bowl, it's fun to imagine. (This one of course would not be handled by the kids!)

Looking for a more thrifty way to house a fishy? Check out the aisles of your local thrift store, and think "outside the bowl" a bit. How about a clear glass pitcher? Or some other cool glassware on a stem? Chances are you'll find plenty of ideas at the thrift store, and if not, I almost always find standard fish bowls, tanks, and aquariums there!

Okay now, I just need my 3 year old to start asking for a fish so I have an excuse!!

Fun Fall Project Tutorial: Marbled Leaves!

2011-09-19T23:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, so a few days ago I had put Toby down for bed, and we had one hour of "Sammy time" before he too went to bed. I proposed two options:

1) Watch his new Thomas movie (just got at a garage sale for $2) and eat the new "magic" blue popcorn (I got for free with coupons)

or

2) Do a craft project with Mommy.

To my surprise (and delight), he chose option #2! So, I dove into my Pinterest list of things to make with the boys, and decided to try making these cool marbled fall leaves!

Here's how we did it...

First I found a scrap of white poster board in my office, and just used scissor to cut some random leaf shapes. (If you don't want to freehand it, you could use real leaves as templates, or pull some leave illustrations off the web too)

Next I covered a plastic food container lid with shaving cream. I used a knife to spread it like frosting so it would cover the whole lid. I found I didn't really need this much, but it worked...

Next we took some of my acrylic paints and squirted them around the shaving cream. I used a little bit of gold paint which added some nice sparkle...

(Sammy is smiling big because the paint container farted! Aah, little boys...)

Now we took a wooden skewer and swirled the paint around in the shaving cream. Fun for kids!!

Then, lay your leaf on the paint and gently press it down:

Then carefully lift it up. It looks pretty thick and goopy and you might think, hey, this doesn't look like the picture!!

Take a flat edge of a knife and scrape off the shaving cream:

Voila!!

These turned out pretty cool I think for our first try! These would be extra cool if done on both sides, sprinkled with a little glitter, then sprayed with some clear coat and strung together into a garland!

A Special Garage Sale Find: Mary's Craft Box

2011-09-15T14:55:00.001-05:00

Today's "garage sale finds" post is not quite like any of my other posts bragging about my great deal, but more about the humbling experience of my special find!

I went out garage saling with the boys this morning, as I often do on Thursday mornings. On our way back home we decided to stop at just ONE more sale, even though the car was pretty well packed with a large kids' picnic table I had just purchased, among other things.

This sale was full of all kinds of interesting things. There was a huge 10 gallon tote full of little matchbox cars, and Sammy had a blast digging through them. We took home as many monster trucks as his little hands could hold.

But the bargain that got me most excited was a huge Rubbermaid bin marked "Arts and Crafts." The sticker on the box read "$5 for all." Inside the bin were more smaller bins full of interesting items. There was another bin next to it for the same price, so I figured I'd take this larger one, being the bargain hunter that I am.

Below is a photo of the bin and contents, AFTER I spent an hour sorting through every item, tossing out little scraps & dried up paints, pulling out all of the already finished crafts, and re-organizing. There were beads, scissors, a glue gun, ribbon, pom poms, puff paints, wood pieces, you name it!

But the interesting story here was not in this great bargain I had, but the story behind it. I told the woman at the sale that I'd take that big green bin full of craft supplies. She said, "Oh, great! I had a little girl with Leukemia and that was all we could do to keep her busy!" She followed me over to the bin and started piling on more plastic storage containers full of popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, and other supplies. "Here, take these too! Your boys can have fun with these..."

I went home happy that I had scored such a great deal, but sad to think of another child who had to go through something as tough as Leukemia. Pulling a small bag of colored feathers out that still had the $5 price tag, the price I paid for this entire box, I thought to myself, I'd spend hundreds on craft supplies for my kid's too if they were battling cancer and it distracted them from that harsh reality for even a moment.

As I sorted through the items in the bin I couldn't help but think of Mary, the little girl who worked so hard on the dozens of finished ornaments, pins, earrings, and other items in the box. I pulled out this little guide to the "Craft Show Extravaganza and Bake Sale" at Children's Hospital from November 2001:

I found some unopened packages of "Specially Hand Made By Mary" labels.

(If anyone out there named "Mary" would like these, let me know and I'll send them to you for free! I just couldn't toss or donate them!)

I couldn't help but think the whole time I sorted through these items about just how blessed we are to have two healthy boys. How lucky I am to be stocking up on craft supplies to keep them busy when cooped up this winter...not because they are stuck in a hospital undergoing chemotherapy, but because their feet got cold and wet with snow that soaked their boots after building snowmen and sledding for so long.

I don't know if Mary won or lost her battle with Cancer...I couldn't bear to ask her mom. But I sure hope she had one rockin' successful craft sale at table #42 in the Children's Hospital in November of 2001. Her listing in the directory says "former patient," so that give me hope that she won her fight, and I hope it never returned!

I gently stacked most of the little crafts and ornaments in my charity donation bag, but decided to keep one ornament to hang on our Christmas tree. This one I thought captured the hand made nature of Mary's crafts the best:

I plan to hang this ornament on our tree each year as a reminder of just how lucky we are to have healthy kids who are here in our home with us, making enormous messes every 5 seconds, dirtying tons of laundry from playing, and eating us out of house and home. Thank you, Mary, for this valuable reminder. How very blessed we are!!

Fun Fall Projects: LEAVES!

2011-09-13T11:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we were in the 80's...last night some big winds blew in, and we're in the 60's. I think fall has officially blown in! Fall is my favorite season yet it never lasts long enough in Minnesota. So, we try to take advantage of the cooler temperatures with outdoor activities, and celebrate with fall bbq's and of course fall projects with the kids! I've recently become addicted to the instant creative gratification overload that Pinterest provides, thanks to my wonderful friend Michelle, and as a result I am posting a bunch of fun looking leaf-themed fall projects to do with the kids that I found there!

These wax paper fall leaves look really fun and easy, and a great way to use those little stubs of broken crayons in the bottom of your crayon bucket.

These decorated leaves look like a really fun and easy idea. This blogger used paints and a brush, but these could easily be done with paint pens, similar to the rocks we did this summer:

Here's a cool way to make prints using leaves:

This looks SO cool and I can't wait to try it...marbled leaves using acrylic paint and shaving cream!

I used to make stuff out of salt dough all the time as a kid. Here's a cool way to incorporate leaves by making prints in the salt dough:

This is another easy, fun idea that doesn't require a lot of work or tools...glue leaves to paper and then use your creativity to turn them into fun animals and people!

Or, you can use just the leaves themselves to make leaf animal collages:

Here's something you could hang on your front door year after year...an initial made with fall leaves. This one uses those dyed leaves you can get at craft stores, which I'd recommend, as real leaves would quickly turn brown and crumble...

And don't forget about some of my previous projects that utilize leaves....an outdoor nature collage and a cool fall leaf placemat!

Okay, so if you've been to Pinterest you know you can probably find hundreds of fall leaf related crafts, but these were a few favorites I found recently. I'll post some more fall project ideas later and try to group them by theme. In the meantime, have fun with some leaves and enjoy this weather while it lasts!

My Adventures in Not-so-Extreme Couponing!

2011-09-07T13:47:00.001-05:00

So, check this out. Here's what you can get for about $14 regular price at Rainbow Foods:

...and here's what I got this morning for $14 at Rainbow Foods, saving over $31.00:

I think we're set on Hamburger Helper for a while! How did I do it?

- Rainbow had a 10/$10 sale on Hamburger Helper and Progresso soups. (oops, I know, I got 1 extra soup today!)

- I had a few manufacturer coupons to spread among each item (a couple "$1 off 5 Hamburger Helpers", etc)

- I went on Wednesday: Rainbow doubles manufacturer coupons with face values of up to $1 ($2 max savings per coupon; they double up to 5 coupons and I had 5)

- Toothpaste was free! (on sale for $0.99, I had a $0.50 coupon that was doubled, so they gave ME $0.01)

- And there's more.... that's not counting the money I'll get off of gas from their rewards card, or the other $4 in coupons that printed out on the register for my next trip.

I know there are much more experienced couponers out there who could probably get the store to pay them to take this food, but considering the difference between using some coupons and not using any, this got me excited enough to blog anyway.

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn this into a couponing blog, but I thought it was about time I share my recent adventures in couponing for those of you moms who would like to try it but are overwhelmed by the idea! I've only been trying to utilize coupons for 3 weeks but have already seen some massive savings.

I caught a 10 minute glimpse of an "Extreme Couponing" show probably a year or more ago. I was amazed at how much people were saving, but at the same time found it totally overwhelming, even being the bargain hunter I am. Seeing videos of people dedicating entire rooms in their house to their stock piles, pouring through circulars through the wee hours of the morning, spending 30 hours a week strategizing shopping trips and digging through dumpsters for coupons just didn't seem worth it to me, or at all possible while raising 2 boys and running 3 businesses. I still do not understand the extreme couponers who have hundreds of deoderant or toothpaste tubes for themselves...At some point doesn't stuff expire and then you're just wasting it? But I do love the stories of people who donate their deals to more needy families, charities, or to send to our troops!

So I decided that hey, this is TV. People wouldn't watch it if it weren't "shocking" and "extreme." But I didn't have to be "extreme." I don't have to dedicate my life to accumulating "stuff." I just wanted to save some money. I decided to at least subscribe to the Sunday paper and get in on SOME of these deals. I'm finding that without being SO extreme, I'm still saving $60-$100 in a week!

Sure, there are people who somehow stock pile hundreds of copies of store circulars...I'm not sure how they do this but I'm not interested in dedicating THAT much time on it. I don't want to miss out on my boys' childhoods because I'm held up in the basement with a pair of scissors. But here's what I've been doing, which hasn't been all THAT time consuming, and has really paid off so far...

1) I get the Sunday paper.
2) I pull out the coupons and the store ads for Target, Walgreens, Rainbow & Cub.
3) I clip the mfr. coupons for any product I think we'd use. (brand loyalty goes out the window)
4) I organize them in my little alphabetical file that I got at Target for under $5 that fits in my purse:

5) I flip through the store ads and see where I can match up a store coupon, a manufacturer coupon and a store sale on the same item. (Couponers call this "stacking")

6) I make a list for each store's shopping trip for the week on my shopping list app on my iphone, and put the coupons that go with that shopping trip in envelopes labeled for each store:

Really high tech, huh?

Here are a few things I tell myself to keep myself from turning into the crazy coupon lady:

- You don't need to clip EVERY coupon. For example, skip the dog food coupons if you don't have a dog...unless you have a pet owner friend to donate to.

- You don't need to spend a ton of time on this. One hour a week WHILE watching TV or in the car or doing something else will save a lot of money! My suggestion to get started: Pick up one Sunday paper at the gas station, and start by matching up coupons/sales from just one store's insert. I'd try Walgreens or Rainbow as they seem to get the best deals for me so far. See what you can do, and if you like it, try two stores the next week if you have the time!

- You don't need a massive storage room. If you have plenty of shampoo already, either don't go buy more for a while, share your coupons with a friend, or donate some to charity! And if you DO have the room to stock pile enough stuff to take care of your family for a year, more power to you! Who knows, it could come in VERY handy if someone loses a job or you get into another tight spot!

So there's one example of one store I have been saving a lot of money on, and how I've been going about it. So far I've already had a few instances where a store actually paid ME to take something, which gets my bargain hunter's heart fluttering. I know I'm a total newbie, but each week I seem to be saving more and more off my total bill. So my point is this: If you want to get in on saving money, you can do it without going so extreme and still make a big impact on your budget in the end! So give it a try and see what happens! You've got nothing to lose except space in your pantry!

Friday Randomness...

2011-08-26T16:37:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, my posts have been few and far between lately! I'll spare you another email full of excuses and just get to the postin' already! I have a bunch of randomness to share.

First, we had a family photo shoot at our home a while back, which was a birthday gift from my fabulous hubby, and was done by the most fabulous Erin Johnson. (You check out her MOMtrepreneur interview on the right column of this blog.) It was such a perfect gift for me...a way to capture my sweet little boys' childhoods, and also to celebrate the fact that we survived (barely) a year of fighting to sell our home to get to this wonderful new (old) home on a lake! I think if you look closely you can see the relief in our faces. There are SO many GREAT shots but I'll just post a few favorites...

All of us by the shoreline...love the sepia tone!

Sweet little Toby was losing his patience with this photo shoot stuff...started to tear up and retreated into his "Monkey." This one really captures his sensitive side!

My boys (and "Puppy") on the dock! Believe me, I'm about as close as I could be without being in the photo here! :-)

In my Paintertainment world, I've already shared about the county fair that has kept me busy...I've had several other face painting "gigs" this past week too, and am currently in the process of adding new products from 3 new vendors to my store! But I'm most excited that the first copy of my new face painting book just arrived in the mail yesterday and is now available for sale! I've had so much fun making this book!!

The other thing I wanted to share unfortunately has no photos with it, but I promise it's not to boring. ;-) Over the past month or two my hubby and I have sortof evolved our evening routine and it's been awesome. In the past we've gotten the kids in bed by 8, and then often spent the remaining 3 hours of our evening zoning out in front of the TV. Granted, I am usually doing other things at the same time, like emailing, crocheting, or whatever. But sitting in front of the TV for 3 hours is just not the best use of our time.

So, without going into the lengthy story of how it evolved, here's what we're doing now:
8:00-9:00 - "The Productive Hour" - We both spend time getting something done on our to-do list.
9:00-10:00 - "The Deck Hour" - We sit on the deck with a beverage, no computers, and TALK!
10:00-11:00 - "The Vedge Hour" - We vedge out in front of the TV.

It has been so simple yet so awesome in so many ways. At the end of the night, instead of feeling like a vegetable, we feel satisfied that we've gotten something accomplished. We have some quality time to connect and talk about our day without interruption. And we still get to watch the Tivo'd shows we like. Often times the deck hour will extend right up until bedtime and we skip TV all together. I suppose in the winter "The Deck Hour" will have to turn into "The Living Room" hour or something.

So there you have it. A small change in our routine that is really a life changing thing, I think! I know it may not work for everyone, but I thought I'd share it as a great way to cut a little TV out of your day, get stuff done, and stay connected to your spouse in the chaos that is child rearing!

Have a beautiful weekend everyone!

Trying to Re-Enter "Normal" Life Again!

2011-08-17T14:18:00.000-05:00

I'm BAAAAAACK! I recently got sucked into the whirling vortex that is "August" for face painters...the last month of summer where everyone crams in their events! I have emerged, though teetering around a bit with a kink in my back and my previously broken wrist throbbing again, to live to tell about it!

Well, okay, so August isn't over yet. We're only a couple/few weeks into it. But, August marks the Dakota County Fair week for me. This is the only county fair that I paint at, and for good reason...the 12 hour days painting coupled with over an hour's drive one way makes for a very long and tiring week! This year was my 14th year painting at the fair, and I believe the 8th (?) year that my most fantastical and talented mom has shared the booth with me!

Our whole family at the booth!

2011 turned out to be a good year, especially when compared to 2010, which was my 2nd least profitable year ever. So, that was pretty awesome. The amazing weather every single day played a big role too I'm sure. This is the first time I can recall making it through the fair without a massive and dangerous storm! (making me most happy to say the "whirling vortex" is completely figurative!)

It was a really fun year! I added a book of full-face and hand/arm designs which were a lot of fun to do, and I took advantage of any "down time" to paint up my own arm and get some fun photos for my work samples which I hope to post up soon. I think my favorite this week was this chicken I painted on my hand.

buck. buck. BUCK-AWK!

If you'd like to check out more photos from the fair, check out my latest Fair Recap post on my Paintertainment blog. I've also recently shared a few more fun hand designs. I'm working on a book right now that will show step-by-step photos to paint 18 really fun hand designs, and hope to have that published very soon!

So, that's what I've been up to lately. I still have several face painting gigs in the next few weeks, and more requests coming in through September. But, for now, I'm enjoying getting back to "normal life" again for a while! And VERY excited to receive the fruits of my summer labor, my new Macbook Pro, just ordered today by my Mom (yup, that same "most fantastical" woman mentioned earlier), who just so happens to be an Apple Specialist at the Mall of America's Apple Store. Now that's one cool Gramma if I do say so myself! Thanks, Mom!

Sammy loves his Angry Bird!

Monarch Butterfly Re-Wind: From Egg to Worm!

2011-08-03T13:00:00.000-05:00

I love it when I can do something super fun and educational at the same time with my kids, and watching monarch caterpillars turn into butterflies has been one of those things. Just a couple days ago we got to release another butterfly that we watched transform and hatch in a jar!

If you enjoyed my recent "Our Very Hungry Caterpillar" post, this one will re-wind back to an even earlier stage in the butterfly's life...a single egg! I was out the other day picking milkweed leaves to feed our 2nd "very hungry caterpillar," and looking on the undersides of the leaves it only took me seconds before I spotted an actual monarch EGG. They are incredibly tiny, perfectly round little specks on the underside of the leaves, and are only about the size of a period at the end of a sentence. Here you can see it next to my zoomed-in fingertip:

I put it in a little bug cage and a couple days later, sure enough, "out popped a very tiny and very hungry caterpillar."

I can't get over how tiny these things are. This one above is maybe 1/16th of an inch long at the most. He's so tiny, I have to stare for a while, inspecting every inch of his little cage to find him. Yesterday I had to stretch a piece of pantyhose over the top of the lid so he couldn't crawl out of the air holes!

So, we've currently just let loose our 2nd monarch, are watching our 3rd caterpillar eat and grow that my parents gave us last weekend, and now have this teeny speck who will be our 4th! So amazing to watch, and what a cool nature lesson for the kids!!

So, if you want to find some yourself, just look for milkweed. Here's a photo I took of some of ours last month:

Right now the plants are starting to grow their pods. I used to love opening up the milkweed pods as a kid, letting loose the silky seeds in the wind! But, you can be pretty sure if it's milkweed if you break off a leaf or stem and this white "milk" oozes out:

So next time you're outside and come across some milkweed, take a peek under those leaves! If you come across any tiny white eggs, it's a great way to teach your kids about the miracles of nature, and just how tiny and fragile we all start out!

How to Harvest, Dry, and Preserve Fresh Basil

2011-07-28T14:23:00.000-05:00

I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like to lately! Two reasons: 1) it's SUMMER and we live on a LAKE! (no brainer), and 2) it's my busiest time of the year for face painting!

But, I thought I'd squeeze in a little sliver of time today to post about...BASIL! I got a bunch of herbs for Mother's Day, and have been really enjoying growing them in large pots on our deck. There's something just so wonderful about cooking a meal for your family in the summer, realizing some fresh herbs would be perfect, then stepping out on the deck in your bare feet and picking some right then and there.

Fresh herbs are expensive in the grocery store, but that doesn't mean you have to spend the money. You can grow them year round in pots, indoors and out! I haven't tried growing herbs indoors yet, but just might have to try it this winter.

So, I have a nice, full pot of basil, but it's growing like crazy and I am not cooking enough to use it all up. If you have the same "problem," here are a few tips to harvest and preserve your basil.

Harvest your basil often to keep it growing. You can simply pluck off the leaves individually as you use them, but there are a few ways to harvest and preserve larger quantities.

Harvest your basil in the morning...they say around 10 am-ish is best...after the morning dew but before the heat of the afternoon. This is when the leaves' essential oils are at their strongest, and the leaves are the most flavorful.

Cut the stems just above the bottom one or two pairs of leaves. This will encourage your plant to keep growing more basil for you to enjoy while you preserve what has grown!

Don't let the plant flower. You won't get as much if it flowers, and flowering can also alter the taste of your basil. If you see one starting to form, pinch that sucker off. Here's a photo of a flower starting to form on one of my plants:

If you want to grow new basil from seed for the next season, you can leave the flowers grow to harvest the seeds at the end of your season.

Dunk the plants in some water to wash off any bugs, spider webs, or dirt that may be on them. Usually there's at least a little dirt that jumps up there on those leaves when the rain falls or when you water your plants.

Shake off the excess water and lay them on a towel to dry off.

From here you can decide how you'd like to save it:

Dried:

Tie a few stems together at the base. Be sure to tie them tightly because the plants will shrink as they dry.

Hang them upside down somewhere in the house to dry, then store them in airtight containers or bags. If you can't wait a week or two for them to air dry, you can use a dehydrator as well. Many herb enthusiasts believe that they'll retain their flavor more if you air dry them versus a dehydrator or warm oven though.

Once they are dry, you can store the whole stem in a bag or container, or snap off each leaf and store them individually, or go as far as to crush the leaves up and store it in little pieces much like you get in the jars at the store. However, storing them whole and breaking them up as you need them will help preserve the flavor and aroma.

Dried basil makes a wonderful gift, whether given in bunches or in a pretty jar with a decorative lid or label.

Frozen:
Here's a fun little trick I learned online to preserve your fresh basil.

After you've washed it, pick the leaves off and chop it up, just like you might if you were going to put it straight from the plant into your cooking.

Put it in a bowl and mix it up with some olive oil. (You can also do this with just water instead of oil if you don't use the oil in your cooking)

Freeze little olive oil & basil "cubes" in an ice cube tray.

Once they are frozen you can pop them out and store them in an airtight container or ziploc bag in the freezer.

Just pull them out to toss in your cooking whenever you need it!

Other methods of freezing basil:
- Just freeze the whole, fresh leaves!
- Make a paste: Puree the leaves with a little oil in your food processor, then freeze flat in a baggie. Break off pieces of the frozen paste as needed.

Got any of your own tips and tricks for drying and storing fresh herbs? Do tell! I'm still a newbie myself and would love to learn more. :-)

"The Robot Project"

2011-07-18T14:57:00.003-05:00

A couple weeks ago I was tucking Sammy in for bed and he looked all serious after we finished our bedtime story and prayers. With a sigh he said, "Mommy, I have a lot to do." I asked him what he had to do, and he proceeded to list off all of the things he needed to do...build a scarecrow that moves from a windmill like on Curious George to scare birds away from his carrot garden, build a new house with a "high ceiling" out of his Legos, and build a robot. I laid there in his bed for 45 minutes as we had an in depth brainstorming session about what to put on the robot he had to build, and I finally cut off the conversation with a promise that we'd make a trip to AxMan Surplus the next day and I'd help him build his robot.

The next morning, the first words to come out of his mouth as he stepped out of his bedroom were, "We're gonna build a robot today!" So, after church we dropped off Daddy and Toby at home and headed to AxMan.

Ax-Man is a strange, wonderful, and magical place for a specific group of strange people like myself. A land of colors, textures, and bins and bins of unknown objects just screaming for a use. Even if you don't buy anything, it's entertaining just to read the funny hand made signs that illustrate the various made-up purposes for each item.

I think the only thing more excited than a kid in a candy store is my kid in Ax-Man. Both the fact that the ideas in his little head keep him up at night, and that he was so deliriously happy in Ax-Man were concrete proof that he is MY child!

Sammy was on the verge of being uncontrollable in his excitement. Two feet into the store I had to start pulling him along to see what else there was. "Here's something!" he'd yell, take two steps, "I found something!" We didn't have a lot of time, as we encroached upon lunch and nap time, so it was quite a challenge to get him to keep walking through all of the aisles to fill our basket.

He had a blast picking out knobs, buttons, gears, springs, you name it, to stick on his robot. My plan was to make a cardboard "body" to attach whatever he found to, just like I did as a kid. You can see here he has Thomas face paints on his arms, which I did the day before. (I can't go do a face painting gig now without him asking to be painted too when I get home!) About 40 minutes later we got to the checkout the guy ringing us up handed him a few Ax-Man temporary tattoos. "He looks pretty hard core with those Thomas tattoos," he said, "so I thought he might like these!"

In the end we left with a brown paper bag full of $29 worth of random robot parts!

By then we were way past lunch time, and even getting into nap time. We stopped at Burger King for lunch since it was the only place I could find nearby. Over burgers we talked about the robot project, and how Mommy and Daddy met each other 16 years ago working at a Burger King.

Back at home while Sammy napped, I found a cardboard box and spray painted it silver.

It was tough, but we waited until little brother Toby went to bed before we dumped out our bag of choking hazards all over the kitchen table and began our robot assembly. I saw several items that I never knew made it into our shopping basket, but of course Sammy knew right where he wanted them!

This light was the most expensive piece at $4.95, but definitely a highlight of the robot, to be placed on top of his head like a police car. Sadly, after just a few minutes of running, the light stopped spinning and it made an awful noise that scared Sammy, so we had to remove it. If I ever make it back out to Ax-Man, maybe we can exchange it. :-(

We had to put the tattoo in his favorite place to put temporary tattoos....on his belly.

Here is the robot at the end of night one. We stayed up and worked on it until Mommy was too tired and Sammy had to go to bed, but added more over the next two days. There is a door in the back where Sammy put a few items inside. He has reflectors and gears for his eyes and nose, knobs that turn, switches that click, spring arms, an on/off switch, and a clear calculator that acts as a window into the inside.

Here he is showing Daddy his cool new robot. We decided to name him "Yorbo," like the robot on a recent episode of Curious George. The first night he took him to bed, then asked me to take him away, then he asked for him back again. (He has sortof a love/fear relationship with his toy robots) But, he now is a beloved addition to his bedtime companions, and is the first "toy" to be put up out of little brother's reach in the morning so he doesn't "wreck him!"

Our Very Hungry Caterpillar!

2011-07-13T13:51:00.001-05:00

Here's a very cool way for you kids to get up close and personal with nature and learn about how caterpillars transform into butterflies!

A couple weeks ago my mom brought over a monarch caterpillar in a jar for Sammy. Each year she and my dad find them on their property and will put one or two in a jar to watch it transform into a butterfly. Sammy's caterpillar built it's chrysalis before he made it to our house, so my mom emailed photos of his progress...

Here he is eating a leaf and, of course, pooping it out! These caterpillars like milkweed plants. We have a bunch in our back yard but unfortunately couldn't find any of these guys this year. Maybe next year! But that's where you want to hunt for them.

My mom puts a stick in the jar which is usually where they build their chrysalis, however, this guy decided to use the jar lid instead. Here he is starting to attach himself.

These little things just always amaze me. They're so pretty and green and I love the little gold "details!" It's almost like a little gold zipper across the top. This is how it looked when she brought it over, and we've been waiting for our butterfly to emerge, which happened today!

Last night it started to turn black...actually, the chrysalis doesn't really turn black, it gets clear, enabling you to see the black of the wings inside.

Here's what it looked like this morning. You can definitely see it is a monarch now!

We left to take Toby to his 18 month checkup, and when we returned we found this...

So, for a half hour we all forgot how starving we were for lunch, and went out on the deck, where we opened the jar and enjoyed the tame-ness that comes with a newly hatched monarch!

"Wow, this is cool! Almost makes me forget about you holding me down while the doctor tortured me with that enormous needle, Mom!"

Climbing on Sammy's hand

Okay, so I went a little nuts with the camera. But hey, how often do you have the opportunity to take close-up photos of a live butterfly?

(Of course it was only a matter of time before we had to introduce our butterfly to Puppy!)

By this point it's wings were starting to dry enough to flutter around the deck. This part of our deck is fully screened so it was like a little butterfly house for about an hour!

We ate lunch, played with him a little more, and then said our goodbyes when he was ready to fly away!

I'll try to remember to post a link back to this post next summer and give you a heads up that it's time to go caterpillar hunting!

IDMommy Project: Paper Truck Pattern

2011-07-11T15:15:00.000-05:00

I just made a new paper toy pattern recently for Sammy...a paper truck! I have made it available free for download on my design site. Print out the pdf and let your child color in the truck with his or her own custom paint job! Then, just score, cut, fold and glue until you have a cool new toy!

The free pdf has instructions and photos, but here are some more pics for your reference...

Pieces cut out and ready to fold! Be sure to score each fold line before cutting the pieces out...it'll make everything go so much easier!

Truck body piece folded and glued

This is the roof, windshield, and back window of the cab.

Window/cab piece attached to the main body of the truck

The bed liner, ready to install!

Bed liner glued into the truck. Now you're done! Leave the tailgate loose to open and close, OR glue it shut if you want it to stay in place.

Looking to step it up a little? Try making paper "loads" to haul. Cut out three sides of the doors so they open. Make a paper dog to ride in the back. Draw some bugs on the grill. Be creative and have fun!

Fun Friday Finds

2011-07-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Time for some fun Friday finds! Here are a few things that caught my eye this week...

Feel like the domestic ninja you are with this cool Gama-go Karate Lettuce chopper! (via Core77)

This is a good gift idea for the office worker (or origamically challenged people) in your life! Just tear out, wad up, and you're good to go!

I love this art history twist on an old puzzle concept...the Mona Lisa puzzle! This isn't as simple as it looks...each image is actually a reflection of it's neighboring piece, so the images change on each square depending where you slide them.

ID Mommy Project: Rock Painting

2011-07-07T17:37:00.000-05:00

My Father's Day post got me thinking about rock painting. But what can you do with painted rocks besides give them as priceless, treasured gifts? Well, besides just giving your kids a different surface to color on, here are a few ideas that came to my mind:

- Paint X's and O's on them for a fun indoor/outdoor tic-tac-toe game
- Spray paint them gold and make a treasure hunt with a map (my mom did this!)
- Use them to mark and label what veggies are growing in your garden
- Use them as garden/landscaping decorations
- Make custom paperweights

We ended up just making random images on them, used some for the garden and some just to play with. I decided to do this because I knew a rainy day was coming. So, the day before we picked some rocks out of the landscaping and washed them off.

This way they had overnight to dry well, and the next day we painted them.

I got some paint pens at the craft store and we went to town on our rocks! Here (above) Sammy is drawing some fire.

He wanted me to paint a fireman, a fire truck, and a hose:

After they were done I sprayed them with a clear Krylon spray to protect the artwork.

When the weather cleared up, we put a few in the garden, which looked cute as decorations in with the stepping stones!

Sammy also had fun picking them up and moving them around with his trucks!

So, see, you CAN have fun with just a pile of rocks!!

IDMommy Project: Paper Fireworks!

2011-07-03T14:23:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th of July Weekend everyone!

We had a great garage sale last Thursday and Friday, and I plan on doing a post with tips for holding a successful garage sale in the near future. BUT, this weekend is the 4th, so I had to post something patriotic!!

Last night I decided we needed some kind of festive 4th decorations...it's the one holiday I'm really lacking in decorations around here. So, I came up with this idea sortof last-second, but took some photos as I went along so I could post something in time for the 4th...paper fireworks!

Supplies Needed:
- Red, White & Blue Paper (try wrapping paper too! Or shiny paper, or even the shiny inside of a potato chip bag!
- Scissors
- Glue
- String
- Optional: star stickers, glitter

Instructions:

1) Find 3 pieces of paper...I used one red, one white, and one blue, all 8.5" x 11".

Fold each piece of paper in half lengthwise and cut along the line. Then take one of those halves and cut it crosswise, but not quite in half, so you have three different lengths as shown above.

Do this with all three colors/sheets. I used some sparkly red wrapping paper for my red above. Wrapping paper works great for these...it's sturdy, yet lightweight enough to arch nicely like a firework.

2) Cut each piece lengthwise into many strips, stopping about 1/2"-3/4" from the opposite side, so it looks like fringe. I tried regular scissors, and some special paper shredding scissors with multiple blades. You could probably even try using a paper shredder, if it allows you to back the paper out when you get close to the other edge.

Once you have all of your "fringe" cut, divide up the pieces so you have one long, medium, and short piece per pile, and you have a mix of red, white and blue for each pile. This will make 3 paper fireworks.

3) Cut a little scrap of any color of paper, roll and glue it to make a little tube about 1-2" long:

This "tube" will sit in the center of your firework to provide structure to keep it hanging somewhat straight, and give you a place to pass your string through to hang it.

4) The tube was an improvement I came up with after the photos so you don't see it below, but lay it down flush with the un-cut edge of the shortest "fringe" piece and glue as you roll up the fringe around the tube.

...so it looks like this (with your "tube" inside):

5) Now line the rolled edge of your small fringe up flush with the un-cut edge of your medium sized fringe piece, and repeat the previous step...rolling it up and glueing it as you go:

...like so!

6) Repeat again by rolling up the largest fringe piece.

...so it looks something like this:

Now when you hold the glue'd side and hold it up, the fringe pieces will naturally fall like a firework:

If you wanted to, instead of starting with the tube of paper and hanging these from the ceiling, you could start wrapping your "fringe" pieces around a wooden dowel or skewer and make fireworks on a stick. Then you could stick them in potted plants, or wherever! But, here's how I made mine hang from the ceiling...

7) If you choose to hang them from the ceiling like I did, make a paper "bead" for the firework to sit on. I used some thicker paper and cut a star, then used a needle to thread a piece of string with a knot on the end through it:

8) This is optional but I stuck a star sticker on it to cover up the knot and hold it in place:

9) Pass your needle and string up through the bottom of your firework, through that paper tube you made and rolled everything around. Tie a little loop on the end of your string and use that to attach it to wherever you wish!

DIY Father's Day Gift Ideas

2011-06-15T17:15:00.000-05:00

Father's day is coming!! There are a zillion Father's day gift ideas out there, but here are a few that have recently caught my eye...

Got a coffee drinking dad? I love this "Manly Java Jacket" idea, made to look like muddy tire tracks. Very cool and useful too!

I love the agate-like look of these keychains made of polymer clay.

Got a dad who knows his way around the shop? I do, and one year I made him a sawblade clock similar to this one. I attached some nuts to the face as well to mark the hours.

Got a dad who appreciates wine? Mine makes wine and one year for his birthday I made him a wine cork cork board similar to this one. You can Google more ideas for wine corks, which can be turned into trivets, keychains, name tag holders, etc!

Setting a special table for dad? Try folding the napkins like shirts! (See some previous posts to make some great cupcakes for Dad too...bbq grill cupcakes and cheeseburger cupcakes!)

My dad likes to joke about his gifts from me... "at least it's better than a ROCK!" This is because I actually gave him a rock one year. Not just your average rock, mind you, but a rock that I colored on with markers. He still has it though, so I'm thinking hey, maybe a rock isn't half bad for a gift. After all, he probably isn't still hanging on to the package of underwear that Mom picked up for me to give him for Christmas in 1987. Here's something a little more "fancy" as far as rocks go.

You still have a few days to make something fun with the kids for Dad, so hopefully this helps give you a few ideas you may not have seen before!

IDMommy Project: Animated Paper Bird Tutorial!

2011-06-09T19:22:00.000-05:00

Ever since I was little I used to fold these bird mouths out of paper. It's super easy to make the mouth itself, which pops open and snaps shut when you squeeze it gently in the right spot on the top and bottom. As a kid I remember eventually stepping it up by adding a little paper pole for a handle, and threading some string through it to make it string operated, like a puppet. A couple weeks ago I made one with Sammy, only I added a body for it.

As an afterthought, we even made some quick paper bugs for his bird to eat, since we got to talking about what birds eat... (see how much fun learning can be?!)

Chomp-chomp...num-num-num!! Mmmm...protein!

Of course, now I'm kicking myself for not working in some animated flapping wings, which I have completely engineered in my head, but he loved it as-is. So, I thought I'd document the process and make up this tutorial so you can do it with your kids too! These photos are of the pieces I made and cut out of construction paper. I have put together a free pdf for you to download, which has patterns for all the little pieces. You can either print it out and use it as-is (since I did it in color), or you can print in black and white and use it as a template/stencil and cut out your own construction paper pieces. If you use construction paper, you can mix up the colors and make a blue jay, a red cardinal, etc!

So, maybe in the future I'll make a paper bird 2.0 with flapping wings. Or a little paper nest full of baby string-operated birdies. But, for now, here's how you make this one...hope you like it!

Materials Needed:
- Patterns (download here)
- Paper (colored construction paper, or white paper you can color, or my printed template)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Tape
- A piece of String or yarn
- Crayons or markers, if desired

Instructions:

1) First, make the bird mouth itself. You really could just stop after this step and have a lot of fun with it if you want! I used a 9" x 6" rectangle which will fit best with the rest of the body pieces on the template. But, you can use a full sheet of standard letter sized paper if you want a larger one. Below are some instructions to fold it. You can get a larger, printable version in my template.

Was that part confusing? If so let me know. I can make a quick video of it! (warning: You'd have to watch me clumsily fold with a cast on)

2) Cut a little hole in the bottom of the bird's mouth, on the center fold about half way between the front and back. This is where your pole and string will attach through.

3) Next, make a paper tube. This will act as the handle, and house the string that animates the bird.

a) Roll up some paper into a tube, about 1/2" in diameter. I'd roll along the long side of the paper you're using, so it's like 11" long-ish. Glue it so it stays in a tube.
b) Cut four slits on one end, maybe 1/2" in. (These will form tabs for gluing)
c) Stick the end with the flaps up through the bottom hole you cut in the bird head.
d) Fold those flaps down and glue them against the inside of the mouth.

4) Attach the string to the bird. I glued the eyes on at this point too....you can do that whenever.

a) Poke a tiny hole in the top of the bird's head, in line with the bottom tube/hole. Put your string up through it and tie a knot.
b) Put a piece of tape over the yarn/thread end to make sure it'll stay put.
c) Glue your beak piece over the top. Do one on the bottom too. Sorry, I know I only drew one on my pattern...but you can cut two of the same pieces out if you want a top and bottom!
d) Glue the tongue inside the mouth on the bottom, so the holes line up. Now thread that piece of string through the hole until it comes out the bottom of your tube.

5) Make the tail and glue on the legs.

a) Cut out the body shape and fold it in half along the dotted lines. Cut out and fold the tail in half lengthwise.

b) Fold across the short end and cut that little slit if you haven't already (which enables you to bend it when you glue it in the next step)

c) Glue the tail to the back of the bird. The template shows you where.

d) Finished tail! Glue the legs on now too. Glue them on the INSIDE of the folded body.

6) Now attach the body...

a) Glue the belly on the front of the body. Slide the handle/pole down through the hole you've cut in the folded body.

b) Glue the pole to the back so it's centered down the middle.

c) Put some glue on the front of the pole and on the edges of the wings and body.

d) Glue together the body.

7) Now PLAY!

Make some paper bugs to eat, or make a family of birds & perform a paper puppet show...then sit back and marvel at the fact that you can make your own fun toys out of paper!!

One Handed Motherhood

2011-06-07T15:30:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed I haven't posted in a while. The reason is two-fold...one, I was out of town for a week visiting my in-laws in Arizona. Two...I broke my wrist just hours before hopping on the plane. So, not only have I been absent, but the splint I was wearing made typing (one handed hunt & peck) painfully. slow.

What happened? Well, it was a glamorous story really...it was Memorial day, and I was taking out the garbage. Let's just say that traction-less flip-flops don't mix well with a smooth, concrete garage floor that has been wet by rainfall. I'm sure I was a sight to see, my legs flying out from under me, landing on my wrist (left, thank goodness) and screaming in pain. My first instinct was to not act TOO horribly injured, so as not to freak out my kiddos.

I could still wiggle my fingers but wasn't sure if it was broken or just really, really, REALLY, really hurt. I moaned and groaned around the house for about an hour, teetering between the options of racing to the ER and hoping we still make our flight, or just swinging by Walgreens on the way to the airport, picking up a wrist brace, and dealing with the whole thing out in Arizona. Being that our crappy insurance requires we pay 100% of ER visits, you can see why I didn't want to chance a trip there just to be told it was sprained, and then be handed the same brace I could have gotten at Walgreens for a fraction of the cost. But, after an hour of ice and still wanting to throw up ever time I moved a molecule, we packed up the kids, two Lunchables, and headed for the hospital.

To make a long story slightly less long, I got a splint and a sling, and we made it on our flights, with instructions to visit the doctor for a cast upon our return a week later.

Let me tell you though, traveling with two toddlers, 8 pieces of baggage, one grumpy husband, and a cast that needed a special TSA inspection was no picnic. But, we made it through, and even managed to create some great memories and photos.

All in all, I am very thankful for a few things... 1) that it was my wrist and not one of my kids', 2) it was my LEFT wrist and not my right, and 3) it happened while I had my husband around 24 hours a day for a week. (And here I thought changing a poopy diaper on my wiggly 17 month old was hard with TWO hands!)

I am happy to announce that as of yesterday, I have a new cast which allows me to use my fingers. Imagine my joy when I was finally able to shave my right armpit again!! However, I still have yet to gain the strength to hook my own bra on in the morning. My husband did not like doing my ponytail for me (way too girly!), however, for some odd reason doesn't seem to complain about "hooking me up" every morning. Now, what to do when he leaves town this weekend...go bra-less, or keep it on until he returns? I'm frankly not excited about either option.

I told Sammy he could help me paint my cast, and I decided to go with this x-ray view of my arm/wrist. We did it with acrylic paint, and I used a little iridescent paint for some shimmer. Now I can point out exactly where my break is! And when people ask me what I did, I can tell them I stepped on it, and have fun seeing their reaction. For now, my designer head is FULL of ideas to improve the design of arm slings, so if any manufacturers out there are looking for someone to improve their product, contact me!!

Rainy Day Project: Paper S'mores

2011-05-23T15:25:00.000-05:00

This idea totally came from Sammy. He thought of the idea of making paper smores while we were making paper garland. And since I had just finished telling him that we could make ANYTHING out of paper, we had no choice but to do it!

Supplies needed:
- Glue (note the price tag: brand new bottle for $0.49 at Goodwill!)
- Scissors
- Corrogated cardboard (we used an old box on it's way to the recycle bin)
- Construction paper (white, brown, red, orange, yellow)
- Rocks

We started with the paper smores. I got out some graham crackers for reference.

We used the corrugated cardboard for the crackers because it has more rigidity and thickness than just paper. Cut two squares and use a pen to add the perforated line and little holes for some realism!

Then we just took a strip of white paper to make a marshmallow, and a piece of brown paper for the chocolate. This, of course, is "Sammy's" brand chocolate.

Sammy assembling the s'mores (while eating a graham cracker)

Mmmmm...pretend yummy pretend s'mores! A little tip...turn the marshmallow on it's side for a more realistic "smoosh" effect when you put the top cracker on!

Well, we couldn't just stop at the smores. Contrary to what some rediculous microwave smores contraption manufacturers lead you to believe, you CANNOT make s'mores without a fire pit. So, the paper fire pit is up next.

Take some various fire colored shades of paper. I used red, orange, yellow, and a darker yellow. Cut them in strips. The length doesn't matter too much (these are the short length of the paper, 8 1/2" long). What matters is that the darker color (red) is the thickest strip, and they graduate to the lightest color (yellow) being the thinnest, as you can see above.

Next, cut some spikey flames on the tops of each piece of paper. Tip: to speed up this process, fold each strip in thirds or fourths and cut, unfold and the whole piece is done.

I actually ended up making two of the brightest yellow pieces (the skinnier strips). Next you're going to glue them together, end to end, to form one long piece. Make sure the flat bottom edges are lined up flush to each other. Glue them together in order of height, from the tallest down to the shortest flames.

It should look something like this above...a long strip with all of your colors ranging from red to orange to yellow and a common flat baseline.

Next you'll need to get your base ready to glue the fire pit to.

Cut a cardboard circle...ours is about 6 or 7" in diameter. Then make a circle of glue in the center where the fire will stick. Our glue circle was about 3 1/2" in diameter.

Now to make this thing 3 dimensional!

Starting with the red end, roll the entire strip of "fire paper" tightly around a pencil or pen.

Slide the pencil/pen out while holding the rolled paper together, taking care not to let the whole thing spring loose just yet.

Set it on the table and let go...it'll naturally want to spread out a bit.

The flames may catch on each other a bit so play with it a little to get it to spread out to your desired width. Then, pick it up carefully. Squeeze it tight if you have to, to keep it from slipping apart. If it does, no worries, just roll it up again.

Carefully set it on top of your glue circle on the base. Then you can fine tune the width and the positioning of the flames.

While the glue is drying you can go gather some rocks.

We picked some small ones out of the landscaping in the front yard. You could use marbles too, or even make paper rocks too...cut circles, or crinkle up some scrap paper into little balls!

Now squeeze some more glue around the fire where you want the rocks to go.

Stick the rocks into the glue around the fire pit!

Sammy picked up a little scrap strip of cardboard and put his marshmallow on it as a roasting stick! Now that's my creative little guy.

Now enjoy your fat free, calorie free s'mores! Here Sammy is trying the "smooshing position" of the marshmallow on it's side. ;-) Very authentic part of the s'mores experience.

After we were done he requested that I make a paper gazebo (since we have a fire pit in the center of our gazebo), but unfortunately ~~Mommy was tired~~ it was Sammy's nap time so we didn't get to that part.

Rainy Day Project: Recycled Paper Garland

2011-05-20T13:10:00.000-05:00

We have this sweet lady across the street who saves fliers and various pieces of scrap paper for my boys to color on. The other day we were visiting in our cul-de-sac and she ran back in the house to bring me a stack of colorful fliers. So, since it's raining and we're stuck inside, today I thought we'd utilize this colorful paper and make a project...paper garland! This is a great project to recycle scrap paper including junk mail!

Supplies needed:

- Paper (colored and/or white)

- Scissors

- String or yarn

- Toothpick or skewer and some tape (or a blunt plastic tapestry needle that's safe for kids)

- Glue

- Crayons, Markers, etc

- Hole punch

- Optional extras: paper edger scissors, paper crimper, paper punch, glitter, stickers, etc...

Our stack of paper from our neighbor. (It's all blank on one side)

So, basically we made various kinds of beads out of paper to string on our piece of yarn...

This project is great for short little attention spans because there are many different things to do...color, cut, glue, punch, string, etc. I started by having Sammy fill the white pages with colors. While he did that I got the string and "needle" ready...

I swear I use these bamboo skewers for craft projects more often than for cooking. I cut one in half and used some masking tape to secure one end of yarn to it, and had a nice "needle" that was easy for kids to use. On the other end I tied a bread bag tab just to keep the beads from sliding off.

Once I got that ready Sammy had a colorful piece of paper to turn into tube-shaped beads...

I cut it into a couple strips.

...then rolled them up the long way and glued it into a long tube.

Hold the tube with the seam against the table for a few seconds for the glue to grab hold and dry a bit.

I did this with pieces of the colored paper too. Some of them I let the writing show to add a little graphical interest...others I rolled so the blank side showed.

Now have some fun looking through the tubes or pretending they are walrus tusks or giant straws...

Next we get to play with SCISSORS! Cut the tubes up into beads!

...meanwhile, Toby is having a blast tearing up my kitchen. This is one of his favorite activities. But, since he's still at the crayon eating stage, I let him ~~trash the place~~ explore while we do projects.

I'm not sure where you even get these things, because I found them at a garage sale, but Sammy had a blast rolling strips of paper through this paper crimping tool. We then used the crimped paper in some of our other "beads."

Another type of bead we made was just a strip of paper folded back and fourth in a zig-zag...

...Then we used a hole punch to go through the whole thing. You can also easily make flat beads by cutting different shapes and punching holes in them. We did circles, squares, triangles, and of course, fish.

Here are some of our beads. It might be helpful to you to put them in two piles...the 3-dimensional ones and the flat ones. (an opportunity for your child to learn how to sort things) This will help with threading them, because it works best to alternate flat ones and 3-D ones. (thus preventing smaller tubes from slipping inside the larger ones) Then you can tell your child to alternate between the two piles.

A little tip, if you're making fish, you can easily make mouths with a hole punch only half way on the paper. ;-) Depending on your child's level of patience and attention span, they could even decorate/color each fish. (Milk this sitting-down-being-busy thing for all you can!)

Now you can really keep your kiddo's fingers busy with threading their beads on the string! Sammy didn't last for all of that part so Mommy finished it up. But I figure, hey, if I can get him to sit and work on something creative with me for even a few minutes every day, I'm doing my job!

Don't be afraid to let your kid's creativity take over and side track from the project. Their little heads are full of great ideas!! Sammy picked up one of his little "tube" beads and said "We can make it into a tiny little cup!"

...to which I replied, "That's a GREAT idea! I'll make a handle!" And, we made a tiny little cup. Well, proportionally it looks more like a pitcher, but he got a kick out of it.

Sipping some pretend water from our teeny tiny little cup! Sammy had another great idea too. When we strung a white tube between two flat squares he said, "Momma! It's a paper s'mores! Let's make paper s'mores!" (And of course, we DID, complete with a paper fire pit to roast over, but I'll save that one for another post!)

So you see, a little side-tracking is great for the imagination! Now, back to the project at hand...

Concentrating on stringing the beads. I think the long length of the bamboo skewer as opposed to just the end of the string made it easier to feed the string through the beads.

We got quite a string going!

Sammy showing off his awesome paper garland! If you don't have the patience to make a long string, you could also do these as little vertical dangling decorations too, much like the hearts we made on Valentine's day.

So much fun! I hung it on the underside of our fireplace mantle, where it currently waits for Daddy to come home to see!

There are an infinite amount of things you can do with paper. This is one project that ANYONE can do. Feel free to go nuts on your paper decorating too...glitter them up if you want! Heck, you can even throw in some cheerio's or dry pasta in there. Anything with a hole in it goes. Got little girls? Make it into a necklace!

This project can so easily be adapted to go along with any holiday theme! With Memorial day coming up, try making this with red, white and blue paper and cut some star shapes. You'll have some one-of-a-kind decorations for your Memorial day bbq and a great conversation piece! Put some supplies out on a little table if you have kids coming over and they can make their own to take home!

Enjoy those rainy days....Happy paper recycling! :-)

Rainy Day Project: Growing Paper Garden

2011-05-12T13:08:00.000-05:00

Okay, it's another rainy spring day in MN, so I thought I'd post this project I did with Sammy on a rainy day a couple weeks ago. I apologize that I have no kind of template for you to download on this one, because I totally made it up as I went along with stuff we had around the house. But, if you're up for "wingin' it" a bit, give it a try! I did take tons of photos so hopefully that helps!

Anyway, I was feeling extra super-mom-ish this day, which is NOT typical by any means, but I was determined not to let another rain day turn into a big Thomas and Friends cartoon marathon. In my effort to do something creative, resourceful, and somewhat educational, this is what I came up with...a somewhat mechanical "paper garden" that grows when the rain falls. (see the tie in to rainy days? Way to focus on the positive...flowers to come!)

So, I started by giving Sammy some paper and a flower shaped paper punch to keep his hands busy...

He had fun punching flowers out and coloring some with his crayons.

We just kindof experimented with random ways to make flowers. This one I glued onto a bamboo skewer.

While Sammy made flowers, I grabbed this box out of our recycle bin that held a huge assortment of Jelly Belly jelly beans I had gotten for my hubby a while back...

I cut off half of the lid...you'll see why later. If you can find a shallow box like this that doesn't have an actual lid, you can just cut a square hole on the top half of one side.

Next I grabbed a full sheet label out of my studio to cover the bottom half of the lid, in case we wanted to color on it or something, and to cover the Jelly Belly box art. Since it's all sticky-backed, I didn't have to worry about glue...

Trim the corners as needed so it wraps around nice...

I folded the extra flaps around the back, which also fixed the lid to the bottom of the box.

Here's the box, ready to house our paper garden!

Sammy still working on flowers and leaves! I gave him some paper shapers scissors and he had fun just chopping up paper.

Toby wanted in on the action, so taped a piece of paper to the table for him to color on. He lasted a few minutes until he started eating the crayons.

While the boys were busy coloring and cutting, I cut a slit in the top and bottom of the box with an x-acto knife. I made this size to fit some green ribbon I had in my studio...you could probably use yarn or something too but I found the surface area of ribbon worked best.

Then I fed some ribbon through the slot...

...and wrapped it through and around the box like so.

Then I just used a stapler to secure the two ends together.

So, our garden needed rain to grow (hence the rainy day project). I was going to cut out blue rain drops from paper, but decided to personalize it a little more, and have Sammy trace his hand for the rain.

Okay, so he may not be the most "precise" when it comes to hand tracing, but it was cute anyway.

I cut out a couple clouds...two sheets at once so I'd have two identical ones to sandwich the ribbon between.

I glued one cloud on the underside of the ribbon, under the stapled area.

Then I glued Sammy's "rain" hand to the cloud,

...and glued the identical cloud over the top. So, you have the ribbon and the rain in between two cloud layers.

To make it easy for the cloud to pull up and down, I stapled loops to the ribbon just above and below the rain cloud. (I probably could have incorporated this with the one original ribbon but it was an afterthought! Remember, I'm making this up as I go...)

Sorry about the sideways pics...don't know what's up with Blogger! Anyway, you can see the cloud can be pulled up and down while the ribbon passes through the slots. So, next, I apologize I blanked on my photo taking at this part...but, here's what we did to make the garden part...

I pulled the cloud down as far as it would go.

Next, I cut a square piece of white paper for the "sky" and glued it to the back side of the back ribbon layer...the ribbon inside the cut-out top half of the box.

Then, I cut a shorter rectangle of green paper and put that on top of the back ribbon. So you're sandwiching the BACK ribbon now, just like you did with the cloud, only this time it's between a piece of sky and a piece of green grass.

Sammy and I then glued in our leaves and flowers to this green rectangular piece, to form our garden. Sammy drew a yellow sun in the background on the piece of "sky" paper, and asked me to draw some birds. We also stuck in some flower stickers. (another sideways pic...sorry!)

So here's the final goal...when you pull up on the top loop, the cloud comes up and hides the sun and the garden.

As you pull DOWN on the loop under the cloud, making the rain fall down into the ground, the garden full of flowers raises up in the background.

I really wanted to make the cloud disappear behind another layer, so it's not like some garden floating on top of a cloud. But hey, I was totally winging it, so I gave myself a break. Plus, his giant hand rain drops were wider than the box so it wouldn't have fit so well. You could just put a piece of paper over that though and make another spot for the cloud to hide!

Here Sammy is studying the many flavors of Jelly Belly's that were once in the box, illustrated on the back:

...and, here he is making it rain so his flowers will grow!

Cheesy...maybe...but at least it kept us all quiet and entertained...if only for a few minutes!! ;-)

Designer Desks to Support Orphans' Education in Nepal

2011-05-09T09:46:00.000-05:00

Check out these great desks, designed and built by 11 New York wood workers, artists and architects to support the education of orphans in Nepal. The desks will be auctioned off on May 12th at the Kids of Kathmandu’s fund raising event! (via DesignWire)

The designers:
Mark Righter of Cambium Studio, cambiumstudio.com
Daniel Moyer of Daniel Moyer Design, danielmoyerdesign.com
Brian DeRosia, brianderosia.com
Stephanie Beamer and Lauren Maccuaig of MADE, made-nyc.com
Eric Manigian, manigian.com
Andrew Rumpler of Nine Stories Furniture Co., ninestoriesdesign.com
Andrew Raible of Standard41, standard41.com
Ben Strear of Strear Built, strear-built.com
Bill Hilgendorf of Uhuru, uhurudesign.com
Alejandro Cabrera and James Cohen of Wadaly, wadaly.com
James Harmon of Workshop, workshopdesignbuildllc.com

Attention Procrastinating Dads! Mother's Day Gifts to Make With Your Kids...

2011-05-07T10:44:00.001-05:00

Dads! QUICK! Tomorrow is Mother's day and if you have little kids, you've GOT to help them make something for Mom! Equally as great as a homemade gift is knowing that Daddy spent some time making stuff with the kids, and that you didn't FORGET! ;-) What's that? You mean you did almost forget? No worries....it's not too late. Here are the magical words any Mom would love to hear today, or any day for that matter: "Honey, let me watch the kids...why don't you go out shopping or get a cup of coffee by yourself for a couple hours." Sweet...major brownie points for Dad and time to scramble and pull together a homemade gift! See how nicely that works out for everyone?

We moms love things that preserve our kids' little-ness...their little hands, their little toes...I remember the horror that gripped me when we brought Toby home from the hospital and I realized that they never made me any little footprints before we left. With Sammy, they were sure to take a little set of prints, which they no longer put on birth certificates, but just for the new mom to put in the baby book. What were they thinking?! Just because Toby's my 2nd in no way means I want to save his teeny footprints any less!! And how could I have forgotten!! I contemplated taking him back to the hospital just for footprints. I literally cried over it. Of course, I was all hormonal from just having a baby. But, my wonderful husband ran right out to Babies-r-us and bought me a beautiful frame, complete with a footprint kit, and all was well and right with the world again!

Here are some ways you can utilize your kids' hands in a little Mother's Day card or gift. We know that someday our kids will be big and have jobs and will order us our Mother's day gift from flowers.com. But until then, we'd love to be showered with these cute, homemade, priceless gifts that we'll likely end up saving in shoe boxes in our closet for years to come.

This is such a cute idea to turn hand prints into lillies...one I haven't seen before anyway!

Here's another twist on the lilly. This was posted as an Easter craft, but also would work for Mother's day. You can get a little pin backer at the craft store and Mom can wear it!

Got some (washable) paint on hand? Try making these cute paintings with both hands AND feet! (Warning: Do not leave a huge mess for Mom to clean up when she gets home.)

This one is really pretty, and while it may be too intimidating for dads to do anything involving fabric, it's a sure winner for Mom! You could also do this with paper, or even buy some flower stickers if you're not up to making these little 3D ones. (or even get some silk flowers at the craft store) Definitely a frame worthy idea!

I found this one on a Valentine's post, so you may want to tuck this one away until February. But, it would work for Mother's day too. I just liked this idea of forming a heart with two hands.

Here's another cute idea to incorporate flowers without actually making the hand flowers. Love it! Again, something you could do with silk flowers, flower shaped stickers, or even a flower shaped paper punch if you aren't up for cutting out flower shapes. (Trying to make this easy for you, Dad!)

Here are some more fun ideas to turn hand and foot prints into frame-able artwork, like this butterfly! These require a bit more artistic talent to pull off but are really cool.

Keep in mind that any of these hand print projects that involve paint could easily be done with fabric paint on something like an apron, a pillow, a tote bag, a shirt, a dish towel, whatever!

Last year I bought a stepping stone kit from a Michael's craft store and made a stone with each of my boys' footprints in it. I plan to do one every year, and with the 40% off coupons I get from them, it's a great deal! These have to dry for a while though, so if you're going to do this, start it NOW!(or save this one for next year) There are tons of styles out there and they come with everything you need. Some even enable you to put photos in them. I always see them with hands, but since it is a STEPPING stone, I thought it would be fun to do feet for mine.

Okay, so there you go, Dads, you have no excuses left! Surely you already have the stuff in your house to make at least some of these ideas. Now kick Mom out of the house and get dirty with your kiddo's! ;-)

Top 11 things I'd like for Mother's Day (in no particular order)

2011-05-05T09:55:00.002-05:00

1. A date with my husband [more than twice a year]

2. One full Thursday of garage sale-ing that is not limited by full bladders, full diapers, empty tummies, car seat buckles, strollers, and nap times.

3. Hugs, Kisses, and homemade cards from my sweet, sweet boys that involve hand prints, glitter, macaroni, and all that priceless, cheesy stuff that I admit I love. (photo above via)

4. 24 hours at home [by myself]

5. A visit from the magical potty training fairy

6. This super awesome overpriced refrigerator [yeah, right! And yes, it plugs in, but no, I don't mind.]

7. Everybody to clean up after themselves for just. one. day.

8. Somebody else to take over the kids' morning "getting dressed & fed" routine and evening "getting into bed" routines for a week so I can just do the funnest parts in the middle. [spell check did not underline "funnest'...proof enough for me that it's a real word]

9. A completed honey-do list [who am I kidding...can someone complete MY to-do list?]

10. An opportunity to go to the bathroom without an audience. [I'm flattered, but would prefer not to scar you for life, boys!]

11. A chance for my alarm clock to be the one to wake me up. [can I set it for noon?]

Eat, Shop & Play Without Throwing Your Money Away!

2011-05-04T14:39:00.000-05:00

This morning I had the privilege of presenting to my church's moms' group with my wonderful, creative, and resourceful friend Jessica VanMarter! Jess has inspired me in so many ways. Her encouragement and recommendations were what gave me the final "push" I needed to try out cloth diapers. (See Part 1, Part2, Part 3 & Part 4 of my extensive exploration of all types of cloth diapers if you're interested!) Every time I talk to Jess I learn something awesome, which is why I'm so glad she recently started her blog!

We had a a great time sharing our experiences and our tips and tricks for saving money in three areas of our lives as moms...eating, shopping, and playing! Jess shared many great ideas for saving money in the "eat" section, and really opened my eyes to the enormous savings you can enjoy purchasing bulk spices, among many other ideas! I shared my own tips and tricks for saving money buying other non-food items in the "shop" section, as well as some fun ways to have cheap and free fun with your kids. We really enjoyed sharing our tips and tricks, and learning even more great ideas from our audience!

As promised, we have the slide show available for those of you who missed our talk, and those of you who would like to check out the links inside. In general, the underlined text throughout the presentation are all web links. (for those of you who attended...I took out the Price is Right theme music and animations to help shrink down this file size!) We had to cut things short at the end so there are a few random tips and tricks still to see! For those of you who didn't make it, check out the slide show for a great rundown of what you missed! We purposely made this slide show in a way that someone who did not attend could still get all of the info they missed.

We also put together a "chicken challenge" and notes page which we handed out hard copies of. You can download a full color pdf here! The idea behind the chicken challenge was to challenge you to make one whole chicken, and then see how many meals you can stretch it! Don't be intimidated if you've never made a whole chicken...the first recipe is really as easy as it gets! We then show you how to make chicken stock from the carcass, and give two recipes to help use up the left-over meat. Give it a try and see how far one chicken can really go!

Keep an eye out here and on Jess's blog for more tips, tricks, recipes and links related to our talk today! We hope to put together a "beef challenge" and "pork challenge" soon as well!! Happy cooking, shopping, and playing everyone!

How to Properly Enjoy a Grapefruit!

2011-05-03T13:03:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me a while back that not everybody know how to eat a grapefruit. Okay, this is not really design related or motherhood related but I think everyone should know how to eat a grapefruit, so I thought I'd share. ;-) Grapefruit is a wonderful fruit to enjoy in the winter, because they are in season (in Florida) between October and June...a time when we Minnesotans are happy to enjoy something sweet, juicy, and tropical! It contains a lot of great stuff like vitamin C, antioxidants, and fiber.

I'm sure there are plenty of ways to eat a grapefruit, but if you've never had one, try this method. This is how I've enjoyed them my whole life.

1) Cut it in half, perpendicular to the core, so it looks like this. (I often split one with my hubby with our dinner, so I'll put each half in a bowl)

2) Use a small knife to cut around each triangular section, getting as close to the "ribs" as possible. Work your way around until all of the pieces are cut loose from the rind and the skin. You may come across a few large seeds as you go...just scoop those out and toss them.

3) Sprinkle it with sugar! It makes it sooo good and counteracts the bitterness that grapefruit can have.

(mmm...ready to eat!)

4) Serve the half in a bowl and scoop each section out with a spoon! YUM! Don't toss out all that good juice when you're done either. My mom always would squeeze a little on her spoon, sip it, squeeze a little, sip it, about a million times over until it was gone. I always wondered why she didn't just squeeze it all into a cup or the bowl and just drink it...yet I find myself doing it the same way now! ;-)

One other thing worth noting...If you are taking drugs you're unsure of, like beta blockers for one, check with your doctor to make sure it's okay to enjoy grapefruit, as it can increase the potency of some drugs and cause other interactions.

Now try it out and let me know what you think!! (Or share your own methods of enjoying grapefruit for all of us to try!)

Fun Friday Finds

2011-04-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've done this, hasn't it?! This tells me I need to slow down and spend a little more "me" time exposing myself to cool, inspirational stuff, which is how I come across my Fun Friday Finds. So, here are a few for this week!

One of my designer friends who always has her finger on the pulse of the design world recently shared this cool product on Facebook...a vertical, self-watering garden. Wouldn't it make a cool room divider?

Here's a kid related product design...Cap-Sack Kids! Sortof a fanny pack for your head, although these have replaced the function of making your butt look big with the much more useful function of keeping the sun out of your eyes. (Via Cool Hunting)

Well now, these little sushi memo pads are just cute, aren't they? (without the threat of salmonella of course) (via Josh Spear)

Love these 1950's style ads for 21st century technology created by agency "Moma São Paulo." (via ReubenMiller)

That's all for this week folks...have yourselves a wonderful weekend!!

What to do with all those EGGS?!

2011-04-26T12:48:00.001-05:00

Okay, so Easter is over, and you're left with a bunch of beautifully decorated hard boiled eggs. If you can only stand to eat so many plain eggs (we love 'em as snacks and lunch items!), here are a couple recipes to help you use them up! These are my two favorite recipes that utilize hard boiled eggs. It's a good idea to just pick up these ingredients when you buy your eggs to color, so you'll be ready to use them up after Easter! (which I forgot to do this year...time to run to the grocery store!)

Scotch Eggs

This is a recipe that I got from my mom. (Moms are the best people to get recipes from, right?!) It's one of those recipes I always loved as a kid, and was afraid to try for my husband when we were newly married for a couple reasons...1) he's a picky eater, and 2) he claimed to "hate" hard boiled eggs. He was skeptical when he first tried this, but it immediately became one of his favorite meals!

Ingredients:
8 hard boiled eggs, peeled & cooled
1 lb pork sausage
2 raw eggs
6 Tbsp bread crumbs
Can of 8 crescent rolls

Directions:
1) Set oven to 450 degrees. Mix sausage, raw eggs, and bread crumbs. Wrap eggs with sausage mixture, covering each egg. (Covering a slippery egg with slippery meat takes practice to perfect. I sortof mash the egg into a ball of sausage and cup it all in my hands, putting equal pressure around the whole thing so the sausage evenly distributes itself around the egg. Make them a bunch of times and you'll get the hang of it!)

2) Bake meat-wrapped eggs in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes on a cookie sheet. Drain. Cool 10 minutes. Lower oven temp to 375 for next step...

3) Open package of crescent rolls and separate. Stretch/flatten each triangle (use rolling pin if you need). Wrap the cooked egg/sausage ball and seal.

4) Bake in 375 degree oven for 12-15 minutes until light brown. Makes 8; serve warm. I like to sprinkle a little salt on them. My husband loves to add hot sauce. The kids love them as-is!

Son-In-Law Eggs

This is one of our favorite recipes from one of my Thai cookbooks. (We are big fans of Thai food) Again, it is one of my (formerly self proclaimed hard-boiled-egg-hater) hubby's favorites! But, I'm most proud that my already-set-in-his-ways father-in-law ate this up and took another helping, much to the surprise of his wife who also was certain he HATED hard boiled eggs! This one is a bit time consuming so I save it for more "special" occasions or when I have more time to cook. I usually serve this along side another Thai recipe, like Chicken Satay. But, we love it so much, it could be it's own main dish. If you don't ever make Thai food, there will be a couple ingredients you may not have on hand. Check out your local Asian grocery store for tamarind liquid/sauce/concentrate. Fish sauce you can usually find at your regular grocery store in the "ethnic" aisle, but like most "ethnic" ingredients, you can get them WAY cheaper at the specialty stores! (Plus they are VERY fun to shop around in!) I get a big tub of dried red chili flakes really cheap there too. We use it in a lot of dishes! Anyway, you may Google some substitutes for tamarind, like lime juice or orange juice or whatever, but don't do it. The real thing is worth getting because it is an important ingredient to get the REAL flavor of many Thai foods. I use it in my chicken pad thai too.

Ingredients:

Rice:
1 C uncooked rice (however much you'd like to make...we like jasmine rice. If you don't have it on hand, just make some instant rice and it'll be yummy too!)

Tamarind Sauce:
3/4 C tamarind liquid
1/4 C palm sugar (brown sugar works)
1/4 C fish sauce (cut some with soy sauce if fish sauce grosses you out)
1/4 C water
2 tsp coarsely chopped dried red chili flakes
3 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Eggs & Crispy Shallots:
Vegetable Oil to fry eggs
6 hard boiled eggs, peeled
1/4 C thinly sliced shallots

Directions:
Prepare rice: I just kindof wing it with rice. I'll start maybe 2 cups of water boiling, then add 1 or 1 1/2 cups rice, and let it cook. If the water is evaporating and your rice is still not fully cooked, just add a little more at a time until it's to your desired consistency. Make as much as you want for the people you're feeding...the tamarind sauce on the rice makes it good by itself even without the eggs! The general 1,2,3 rule is that 1 cup dry rice + 2 cups water = 3 cups cooked rice. I love to use jasmine rice...it smells soooo good, and we get a good deal on a huge bag (25 lbs!) at the Asian grocery stores. If you don't want to fuss with cooking rice, use the instant stuff...it's okay, likely nobody will notice! ;-)

To prepare sauce: Combine ingredients in medium saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Lower heat to maintain lively simmer and cook 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl to cool.

To fry eggs & crispy shallots: Heat about 3 inches of vegetable oil in a medium skillet or wok over medium heat to frying temperatures. Carefully lower eggs into oil and fry until golden brown and crisp all over, 5-7 minutes. Removed and drain on paper towels. Scatter shallots into the skillet and fry 1-2 minutes, until browned but not burned. Remove and drain on paper towels.

To serve: halve eggs lengthwise and arrange on a serving platter of cooked rice (Something with sides works best to contain the sauce, but large enough to spread out the eggs so they look pretty!). Pour sauce over eggs and sprinkle with crispy shallots, chili flakes, and cilantro, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Fun, FREE Twin Cities' Activity

2011-04-22T09:55:00.000-05:00

Sorry folks, I know I haven't posted much lately! I've been quite distracted, but for a good reason...after a year of H-E-double-hockey-sticks, we have SOLD our house! Next week we'll close on the one we're already living in and then we'll be back to being homeowners again and can get on with life as we like it! Yeah!! Hopefully you'll see more of me here soon.

For now, I thought I'd share this fun family outing we went on a couple weekends ago here in Minneapolis. We had a blast and it was all FREE!

First we ventured to a warehouse in Northeast Minneapolis (Suite 177 at 1620 Central Avenue NE) to see this incredibly huge Lego train layout. Local Lego enthusiasts put together 750,000 Lego bricks to create this totally original display (no kits allowed!), and one Saturday a month they open it up for public viewing from 11 am until 4 pm. We saw it on our local news station, and in hindsight, probably shouldn't have come for the first one after the news story. It was PACKED. More people than they have ever had.

My hubby had to wait out in the hallway with Toby in the stroller while I noodled my way through the crowd with Sammy on my shoulders. He doesn't look too thrilled in this picture, but he had fun, and was pretty excited to see all of the Thomas engines, and even a Harold the Helicopter with his blades spinning!

It was very cool though, and I'd highly recommend it....I'd just suggest waiting a few more months until the news story crowds die down so you can really get down on the train tracks' level and enjoy it!

Since we were already downtown and had more time before lunch, my hubby had a great idea to head over to Mill Ruins Park. We put Toby in the backpack and all went for a walk across the bridge over the Mississippi river.

The park and the trails are full of amazing views and it was very cool to see the river raging with all of the recent snow melt. OH, okay, I lied...it wasn't totally free...it was like a dollar to park at the park. Although, you may be able to find some free street parking on the weekends. I figure when I dig a little change out of the center console in the car, it doesn't really count as an expense. ;-)

So there's an idea for the next time you're looking for a fun, free family activity in our lovely Twin Cities!

Some AWESOME German Advertising

2011-04-14T13:01:00.001-05:00

These days there is so much advertising out there, it's literally impossible to get through an hour, let alone a day, without being bombarded by it. This is why I get really excited when I see an advertising campaign that actually grabs my attention and makes me want to look at every detail...especially one that uses print. These ads for a German job website do just that. I guess this campaign is a few years old, so I'm pretty late in seeing it. But, the fact that it's circling the web still is testament to it's success!

I can relate to these ads on so many levels. As a designer, I am in awe of the creativity. I consider this one of those "why didn't I think of that" kind of ideas. As a human being, I can relate to crappy work environments. And as a work-from-home MOM, I often feel like these people trapped inside their boxes...working away tirelessly, seemingly invisible to the people they serve who just think everything just appears at their command out of thin air. Sound familiar?! ;-) Enjoy!

Make Your Own Fake Spill for April Fools Day!

2011-04-05T16:30:00.000-05:00

I am wishing I had thought about it earlier on, but we did end up doing something for April Fools Day this year! Since Sammy has been a big hot chocolate drinker all winter, I thought we'd try making a fake hot chocolate spill to "fool" Daddy when he got home. Here's what we did.

Supplies: Cookie sheet, plastic wrap, disposable cup, real cup, white glue, brown acrylic paint, something to stir with, and marshmallows. (Oh yeah, and one super cute little boy.)

Step 1: Squeeze some white glue into a disposable cup. We just used one of these plastic party cups we had around, but a paper cup or empty food container would work fine too.

Step 2: Squeeze some brown paint into the glue. I used acrylic...I bet tempera would probably work fine too.

Step 3: Stir. You may need to add more paint and adjust the color as you go. I ended up adding a little bit of black too. Make sure it's nice and even so you don't end up with streaks of color.

Step 4: Put the end of a piece of plastic wrap inside the cup you want to use for the setup, and working over a cookie sheet (so you can move it all later), pour the glue into the cup. You could just use the disposable cup as your fake spilling cup, but we decided to use Sammy's mug with his name on it, since that's what he really uses for hot chocolate, to make it more real.

Step 5: Set the cup down, being careful that the glue stays only on the plastic wrap, and spread it around a little. The thinner it is, the quicker it'll dry.

Step 6: Add marshmallows! Sammy had fun sprinkling marshmallows into the "spill!" (and eating a few along the way)

Step 7: Wait until it dries. I am wishing I had started this a day or two in advance so it could properly air dry. We started it when Daddy left for work in the morning, and I had to point a fan on it all day to get it to dry. (after taping the saran wrap down so it wouldn't blow over on the glue!) I also had to peel it up and flip it over to dry the other side, because it was a little too thick to dry in time. This ended up making a wrinkly looking puddle, but it worked okay. (We did it on the cookie sheet so I could move it off of the table)

Step 8: Set up your trick! Peel off the plastic wrap and position your spill. Yeah, this looks really weird and wrinkly, which like I said, was from trying to speed it up with a fan!! But, the color turned out pretty well. I tried to convince Sammy that a spill on the carpet would be more dramatic, but he was set on doing it on the kitchen table!

Step 9: Fool your victim! Here's Daddy coming in the door from work, while Sammy points out, "Daddy! I made a big huge mess!!" I think he was actually fooled for a second, until he saw that it was kinda wrinkly and didn't sit flat on the table. Ha! Even if it did totally fool him, he probably wouldn't be too worried about it since he has a wife who cleans up these sorts of things. But, it was a really fun way to make the day fun for Sammy by doing a project and playing a trick on Daddy!

Later we went out for dinner and brought along his fake pile of peas from his toy kitchen. We put it on Daddy's plate...not sure how well it blended being that we had pizza and suddenly he had peas on his plate, but he was a good actor. ;-)

April Fools!

2011-04-01T08:56:00.000-05:00

It's April 1st and we all know what that means...everyone has a license from the calendar gods to play tricks on each other! I have fun childhood memories of us kids dishing up Dad's dinner plate with my mom's realistic food magnets off of the refrigerator. We would then wait with bated breath for the big moment of surprise as my dad would butter and salt the plastic cob of corn on his plate (which was clearly flat on one side and not even warm), lift it to his mouth, and then...BAM! Instant hilarity. After the laughter died down, he'd then reach for his half of a banana (make it a quarter of a banana, since it was flat on one side too), and the fun would continue. Boy did we fool Dad. Year after year. Or so his clever acting led us to believe anyway.

Okay, so April Fools may not be a "real" holiday, but why not take advantage of the opportunity to inject a little extra fun in your kids' day? I do recall a couple other pranks that my dad played on us... duct taping the inside of our jacket sleeves so we couldn't get our arms through: hilarious. Putting a rubber band around the sink sprayer so that is soaked Mom when she turned on the faucet: not so hilarious. (I think perhaps he was getting her back for the time she blended together play-doh into just the right color, and inserted it into my baby brother's diaper just before Dad went to change him.)

So...what to do now that I have a toddler big enough to possibly enjoy playing some pranks?

Family Fun magazine has various cute April Fools trick ideas online, with everything from printable pranks to craft pranks to food pranks and more. It didn't surprise me too much either that there are websites devoted to April fools pranks, like this one. Instructables has a great collection of ideas as well, including many for the office. AprilFools.com has a good list of safe pranks.

Props like my mom's realistic food magnets make for pretty safe tricks for kids to play, but why not make your own props to add more fun and make a project out of it? Here are some more links...
How to make fake poop
How to make a fake coffee spill
If your child has a toy kitchen, you could always use some of their toy food too to "fool" Daddy at dinner time.

You can of course always purchase some fake spills and other prank props for next year, like these...

For a little extra fun reading material, check out the top 100 April fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time over at the "Museum of Hoaxes!"

I'm not quite sure what we'll do this year as I'm still thinking about it... but will be sure to post some photos of whatever we do!! Have a fun and SAFE April Fool's day!

DIY Spring Decoration

2011-03-17T13:03:00.000-05:00

Since we've moved to a house that has a mantel above the fireplace, I've been having fun figuring out how to decorate it for holidays. The Valentine's decor was taken down a while ago and I've just finished decorating it for spring! Well, maybe. I keep tweaking it. But here's what I have so far.

I wanted to do something new for Easter, mainly because I didn't have a mantel before and didn't have anything that seemed to fit it well. I also didn't want to spend a lot of money, if any at all. So, I dug into what I had, repurposed a few things, made a couple small purchases, and ended up with this little hybrid of my "egg collection" and some real, live grass!

Originally I wanted to get some fake grass, but dang, that stuff is expensive. So, instead I looked around the house for some long, narrow containers to use as planters. I landed on these two drawer organizer things I had gotten at a garage sale for $0.50 cents last summer. I filled them with potting soil and grass seed from the garage, watered them, set them in the window sill, and a week later I had grass. Once it sprouted, it really grew fast!

I took some green construction paper from my studio and folded it to make these covers to hide the ugly manilla containers.

Then I rolled up some masking tape into loops and used it to stick some of this miniature white fence along the front. You can find this at craft stores or any store where they have little village decorations. I had some on hand from my Department 56 stuff (and more from my mom, who freelances for Dept 56 painting buildings!).

The only thing I purchased brand new was a box of these feather butterflies. I had aspirations to make a garland of butterflies that didn't work out quite as well as planned...well, it's still in the works. I got a package of them for 40% off with a Michael's coupon. I wrapped the wire around a wood skewer to get a "spring" shape, and shorten the wire without having to cut it, and stuck 'em in the grass.

The letters I made out of foam core. I found an image of grass using Google Images, masked out the letters in Photoshop, printed them on sticky-back label paper, slapped it on a piece of foam core, and cut them out with an X-acto knife. Then I spray painted some bamboo skewers silver, stuck the pointy ends into the foam core, and trimmed them to the height I wanted. Voila! Free but effective. (Well, free because I already had this stuff around)

I've never really found a great way to display my egg collection, until this year. They looked so underwhelming, tiny and short, along the long, horizontal mantel. But, the wheels began spinning when my 3 year old broke apart one of my old Junk Mail Gems craft show display pieces. Good ideas can come from breaking stuff! I noticed that the old brass candlesticks that I had painted silver, worked perfectly to hold an egg and give it height on a pedestal. So, I went to work recycling my already recycled displays, giving the candlesticks a fresh coat of silver paint, and using them to hold my eggs.

I tend to get a little spray-happy with my silver paint. I've used it to bring so many dated, brass decor items into this century. I didn't stop at the candlesticks...I picked up 4 little ceramic rabbits at the thrift store for $0.39 cents each, and painted them as well. I think my new bionic bunnies add a little extra Easter-y flare without being too cheesy and literal.

Overall I'm pretty happy with it...not bad for about $7! The candle sticks (and 1 bud vase) really helped the little eggs fill the space both vertically and horizontally, and I love having something "alive" as part of the decoration. Spraying all of the pieces silver helped tie all of the different silhouettes together.

I'll probably re-position things a million times between now and Easter, but then that's half the fun. I'm pretty sure my husband thinks I'm crazy when he sees me fiddling with my eggs AGAIN. But, hey, that's the price you pay when you marry an artist and designer. The wall sculpture above it I actually made 7 or 8 years ago for our living room (copying one that I saw for hundreds of dollars at a furniture store)...it's the color scheme of our carpet. But, it matches well with the spring colors!

We still have over a month until Easter, but spring starts in just a few days! It's not too late to get out an interesting container and plant your own green grass...see what you can come up with for a little "live" decor!