Author Archives: Jsi

About Jsi

“I just want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.” Be inspired. Inspire. Add your own touch and leave a little bit of beautiful you in everything you do.
Oct31

Party Like a Toddler

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His Majesty had a Halloween Party at play school yesterday, which gave me the opportunity to try out two new recipes that I pinned to my Halloween Board.

The first was a twist on our Valentine’s Day success: I call it “Monkey Munch”, but my husband, and the recipe that I used, call it “Puppy Chow”.  The other play school parents just called it “Really Good”.  The source of the recipe is a blog called Your cup of Cake, and it’s written by a college student at BYU.  She has tons of recipes for sweet treats, like this one for hot chocolate truffles.  Betcha Santa would take those over the same old chocolate chip cookies we leave him every year!

The recipe is very easy to follow.  The only thing I did differently was to mix the coated cereal and the powdered sugar in a (clean, unused) kitchen trash bag.  It’s bigger, so it’s easier to spoon the cereal into it, and there is more room to shake the cereal around and coat it evenly in the powdered sugar.  I just used one trash bag for the white chocolate mixture and one for the chocolate chip mixture.  I used about 2/3 of a big bag of Reese’s Pieces, but you could add M&Ms, candy corn, pretzels, whatever you want, to dress it up to your satisfaction.

The second recipe I tried was this pumpkin shaped cheese ball from Family Fresh Meals.  I served it with pretzels, crackers, bell pepper slices, and nacho chips.  It looked so pretty that people will think it takes you a lot of work to create it, but it doesn’t.  Not including the time it spent in the fridge overnight, it took me about 20 minutes, including time to cut up the peppers and set up the crackers on the platter.   It was a hit with the kids, and His Majesty tried to eat some of the leftovers with a spoon.

These two snacks went over very well with both adults and kids.  I still can’t get over how much toddlers eat, those little ones sat down around the table and gorged themselves to their little costumed hearts’ content.  Even so, these recipes make a lot of servings, so if you are watching your waistline, I’d definitely suggest that you have a plan for how to pawn the leftovers off on your friends generously gift the leftovers so that you aren’t tempted to overindulge.  These treats are can be dangerous!

Happy Halloween!

Oct27

We Got Boo-ed!

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Yesterday, I woke up to a container of candy sitting on our counter.

I didn’t recall seeing it when I went to bed, but my husband had already gone to work, and the boys were still sleeping, so there was no one to see me eating the candy ask about this mysterious can of treats.  I could see that there was a note inside of it, so I figured opening it was definitely the first step in scoring all of the good treats before the kids woke up finding out where it came from.

As it turns out, my husband had found the container on the front porch as he headed out to work, and brought it inside to share the surprise with us.  Beside the assorted candy, stickers, and spider rings (His Majesty’s favorite) this is what I found:

Isn’t that fun?  The printable sign and poem came from Organized Christmas, and Halloween cheer isn’t even the icing on the cake of this website. There are all sorts of holiday planners, crafts, recipes, and tips on how to make your holidays enjoyable, and not stressful, something that I think is definitely helpful.  As far as being “Boo-ed”, there are several different versions of the Boo sign and poem on the site, so you can pick a different one for every coworker, teacher, friend, or neighbor that you feel like surprising.

So now, we get to “Boo” a few of our neighbors, and pass along the Halloween cheer!  I’m letting the boys make up the goodie bags, so that both of them can be involved, but it will be Christopher and I who do the actual “drops”.

I tell you what, this simple act of kindness brought a smile to my face, and to the faces of my kids when they woke up.  Tensions are pretty high in my community right now because of the election, so it’s nice to have something silly and non political to take our minds off of the larger national and global community that we all belong to, and focus on spreading cheer in the smaller community that is our neighborhood.  If I can pass along an unexpected treat to a few neighbors, maybe it will brighten their morning like it did my own.

Who knows… If I’m feeling really neighborly when Christopher and I embark on our stealth-like journey to sneak treats to a few of our neighbors this evening, maybe I’ll choose to “Boo” someone with the opponent’s sign in their yard…

Maybe ;)

Oct24

It’s Getting Hot in Here

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Hot coffee, that is.  And coupled with the gorgeous near eighty degree temperatures we’ve been enjoying here in the Piedmont, and I was actually hot, too.

It’s only fair that since I test drove a pumpkin frappuccino recipe last week, I should extend the same courtesy to another coffee house fan favorite, the pumpkin spice latte.  It took some planning though because it involves using hot- i.e. freshly made– coffee and… I’m about to make a confession here…

I don’t know how to make coffee.

In all fairness, my husband took the liberty of writing out instructions for me to actually use the coffee maker,  but he didn’t include an exact measurement for how to actually MAKE the coffee.  He just wrote out what button to push, and where to put the water, that sort of thing. He also showed me how to use the French Press, just in case the one button operation of the electric coffee maker proved to be too complex for me, but when you use a French Press, how much coffee you measure out is even more taste specific, plus you then have to factor in how long to let the coffee brew before straining/pouring it.  He says that he doesn’t know how I will want my coffee on a given day, so he can’t tell me how much coffee to use, which is silly because I want it just like he makes it.

Well, that’s not exactly true.   In reality… I just want him to make it for me.

So on weekends and his days off, he makes me coffee.  In the French press, which is the best way to make it, according to him, and he’s a “real” coffee person.  He doesn’t add sugar or sweetener, just a drop or two of half and half, and that’s it.  He likes the taste of regular old coffee.  Imagine that.  Anyway, yesterday, I took full advantage of his coffee making perfection and tried a twist on this recipe for pumpkin spice latte  from Recipe Girl.  I wanted to incorporate almond milk and splenda brown sugar and sugar substitute, but I did keep a little half and half to add a little fatty goodness. I’m not a dairy free girl, I just try to cut carbs wherever possible, and there are less carbs in a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk than a cup of cow’s milk, but hardly any carbs in a small amount of half and half.  Fat is my friend.  Carbs, not so much.  I wish my taste buds would remember that little rivalry as much as my hips try to remind them.

Here’s what I used (in addition to coffee, not shown):

1/2 cup  unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1.5 tablespoons pureed pumpkin

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon Splenda brown sugar blend

1 cup coffee, HOT

2 tablespoons half and half

1 tablespoon splenda sugar substitute

whipped cream to top

nutmeg to garnish

While your coffee is brewing,  mix together the first five ingredients in a microwave safe cup.  Mix them up well so that you don’t have any large clumps of pumpkin or spices.

Microwave for 1-2 minutes, but keep close by and especially don’t take your eyes off of  it during the last 45 seconds or so.  When it starts to bubble and foam up, it’s done.  If you wait too long, it will foam up all the way to the top of the cup and bubble over– I know this to be a fact because my microwave is so high up that I can hardly see it, not to mention that it has some sort of frosted glass design, so I can’t see inside clearly even when I’m standing on a stool, and it DID foam over for me.  It was a quick clean up, but still, it’s avoidable if you are able to see inside your microwave.

Combine the milk mixture and the freshly brewed coffee in a big mug (mine will hold 16 ounces).  Add your half and half and splenda and stir.

Top it with whipped cream and nutmeg.

Enjoy your yummy “frou-frou” coffee, as my husband calls it, without even having to get out of your pajamas.  You can probably make this at home in less time than it will take you to get through the coffee house drive through!

Save the rest of the pureed pumpkin to use in one of the hundreds of pumpkin recipes you can find online or on pinterest.  Here’s a board I found that lists nothing but pumpkin recipes!  I’m sure you can find at least one that makes you want to get back in the kitchen!  According to Still Tasty, canned pumpkin puree that is stored in an airtight glass or plastic container will keep in the fridge for 5-7 days.

Oct23

Halloween Bag-Stravaganza

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After my kids got me into the Halloween spirit, I decided to score some free fabric (a fellow homeschool mom was giving a bunch away), and make them each Halloween bags.  This project turned out to be easy, because not only are there very few cuts to make (my least favorite part of sewing is cutting the fabric), but the seams are all straight, and bags are easily modifiable to the size and level of complexity that you are trying to achieve.  The most difficult part of making these bags was choosing which tutorial to use.

I ultimately found my inspiration for His Majesty’s bag through this amazing tutorial at Just Another Hang Up.  If you email the woman behind the blog, Suzanne, she’ll even send you the pattern, which is as good as it gets.  I wanted a bag with a wide opening, appropriately sized for His Majesty to carry without trouble, but also large enough that he didn’t have trouble putting his goodies into the opening, and I wanted it to be simple.  I’m not talented enough to do justice to Suzanne’s bag just yet, but with enough practice, maybe I’ll get there.   However, while I didn’t use her exact specs (I used scrap fabric, and I didn’t want to take the time to line it), I definitely  used her tutorial, which was extremely helpful because it has wonderful pictures to help guide you step by step.  It was a big help as I wrapped my brain around what I was doing, pinned everything together, and then actually learned to do box corners (way easier than I thought it would be).   Here’s what I ended up with:

He’s already had a chance to use it this year!

The total cost for this bag was free, since I mentioned I’d scored the fabric from a woman who was giving it away, but if you buy some, you’ll need less than 3/4 yard of fabric, which will still be pretty inexpensive.  One big thing that I wanted to point out was that some bag tutorials that you may come across will have you use one big rectangle of fabric folded up to form the body of the bag.  This would not work with the fabric I had, because one side of the finished bag would have had the images upright, and one would have had them upside down.  Luckily, I realized this before I had even pinned. Check your fabric before you start sewing to be sure that this isn’t a problem, if you use a pattern that calls for a method like that.

Christopher wanted his bag to have a drawstring opening.  He also wanted it to coordinate with his costume.  This year, he is going as Peeta from the Hunger Games.  What is more appropriate for a Hunger Games costume than a Mocking Jay themed Halloweeen Bag?

The motivation for this bag came from the perfect drawstring bag tutorial at The Mother Huddle.  It says “easy 15 minute” bag, and indeed, it was easy, and honestly took me about 15 minutes.  My husband had his doubts, but I proved him wrong this time!  The longest part of making this bag was cutting out the freezer paper stencil (using this pumpkin carving template), and then waiting for the paint to dry so that I could get the full effects of the project.  Total cost for this bag:  under $5 (3/4 yard remnant fabric for $3 and gold fabric paint on sale for $1).

Both boys are pleased, and I’m pretty proud of myself.  His Majesty will have several more opportunities to use his bag over the next week, and Christopher has declared that he plans to use his bag “all the time, not just on Halloween”.

As for me, I’m pleased to say that perhaps you can teach an “old” dog new tricks.

Oct22

Halloween Wreath

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I haven’t done much Halloween decorating this year, and it’s not for lack of pinspiration.  I have a whole Halloween Board.  There is no shortage of ideas to make your yard spooky, scary, or just plain fun.

Yet, I’ve done nothing.  Am I lazy?  Am I busy?  Yes, to both, but that’s not the real reason why I haven’t been busy decorating.

The answer is that I’m hostile.  And I’m hostile, quite honestly, because it’s an election year, and I feel like the core principals of our nation are under attack.  Because of that, I’m very fearful of the future, and as a result, I have felt a serious lack of festivity when it comes to things like decorating for Halloween

But my kids’ haven’t lost their enthusiasm.  So, I stopped reading political articles, got out the Halloween bins and got busy.

Their excitement was contagious.  Before I knew it, I was digging out stuff to make a wreath.  You know how much I love wreaths. Especially when I can make them myself.

Here’s some ideas for getting your front door in the Halloween spirit.

Image of Halloween Boo Wreath from Lil Maddy Designs on Etsy.

Lil Maddy Designs on Etsy has amazing wreaths.  Isn’t this one fun? But alas, this wreath is seriously professional grade, I am no where near talented enough to pull this beauty off, especially at the last minute.  Plus, I didn’t have tons of tulle.

Then there is this one from Craftaholics Anonymous.

I love this one, but I didn’t have burlap, letters, or scrapbook paper to decorate the letters.

Which lead to option 3, this wreath from Lion Brand.

Image of spider wreath from Lion Brand.

I could potentially pull this off, but I didn’t have grey yarn, although I did have black… and I had plastic spiders.

So, that’s where I started off.  Wrapping a 16″ wreath form in black yarn– while I watched this weeks Presidential Debate.

Then I got out my fake spiders.

And my spooky sheet, which I figured could work in lieu of a spider web (which the kids had already spread all over the front bushes, plus I thought maybe it would hold up better than the cheaper stretchy spider web material).

I wrapped the “spooky sheet” over the wreath, and tucked the ends in at the back.

Then I hot glued the spiders on the “web”, and added a few plastic spider rings for good measure.

At this point, it met approval from both Christopher and His Majesty, so I hung it on the front door.

Well, it’s not my favorite wreath, but I am horrified of spiders, so I think the fact that they now greet me when I come in the front door is part my reservation about this entry way decor.  But my kids–especially His Majesty–love it.  His Majesty is all about spiders and bugs these days.  And, I definitely think it’s pretty creepy, so it fits the Halloween bill.

Do you or your family really get into Halloween decorating?  Do you prefer fun decorations, spooky decorations, or a combination of the two?  Any decorating ideas you want to pass along?

Oct19

Pumpkin Frappuccino

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I’m one of “those people” whose idea of coffee is a little bit of coffee and a lot of cream and (sugar free) flavor syrup.  I try not to consume a lot of carbs that 1) I can’t chew and 2) that aren’t dessert, so every year at this time, I get serious pumpkin frappaccino envy every time I pull up to order a coffee.  They don’t offer a sugar free variety.  And that really sucked for me, and no doubt for diabetics.

Until I saw this pin for how to make your own low calorie, high flavor pumpkin frappaccino over at Peanut Butter and Peppers.   This is a great site to peruse if you are looking for low calorie spins on your favorite meals and treats.

This recipe couldn’t be easier.  Honestly, the hardest part was figuring out how to freeze the coffee my husband made the night before I made these.  I ultimately used tupperware containers, but that was a mistake, I had to wait way too long for it to thaw enough in order for it to reach down to the blender blades.  Next time I won’t be lazy, and I’ll dig out the ice cube trays.

I slightly modified the original recipe to accommodate what was in my pantry and here’s what I used, in addition to the partially thawed coffee.

Here’s the very complicated process for creating this delicious frozen coffee.

1 1/2 cups coffee, frozen, partially thawed

2 Tbsp. pumpkin, canned

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, ground

2 tsp. splenda

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

whipped cream to garnish

Toss all of your ingredients, except the whipped cream, in the blender.  Blend until it is all nice and smooth.

I guess the color of the paint really lives up to it’s name: Pumpkin Butter!

Pour it into your serving cups (This recipe makes 2 servings).  Top with whipped cream.

Enjoy.

It’s that easy.

When you’ve had your fill of pumpkin (anything is possible), try the Peanut Butter and Peppers take on the Gingerbread Frappaccino.

Ahhh, autumn, my favorite season. Beautiful, cooler temperatures, and tons of seasonal goodies to tempt to you get a little too comfortable in those yoga pants.

Bring on the gluttony.

Oct12

Saving Money at Disney World

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Earlier this week, I showed you the t-shirts I made for His Majesty for our trip to Disney World.  They served as souvenirs, for a fraction of the cost, and he loves wearing them.  I was pretty excited to do something so fun for so cheap, so I went on the hunt for a few other ways to save money on our trip.  I found this pin for  It’s All Good in Mommyhood, which linked to a post  with several helpful suggestions.  The bloggess, Jodie, is a Disney pro, having traveled there dozens of times, and some of the tips were really practical for my family. For instance:

1.  She doesn’t recommend getting Park Hopper privileges added on to your ticket, which saves you a few dollars.  Park Hopper privileges allow you to visit more than one park in a single day without using two of your park days.  For instance, if you went to Magic Kingdom in the morning, and wanted to do Epcot in the evening, if you had Park Hopper added to your tickets, you’d only use 1 day of admission.  If you didn’t have Park Hopper added on, you’d use 2 days.  However, if you want to leave and return to the same park later in that same day, you can still do so even without the Park Hopper option.

Now, I questioned this, but I took her advice. And you know what? I was so glad that I did.  We were thoroughly EXHAUSTED from the parks every day.  The last thing I wanted to do was go to another park when we’d already been exploring one all day.  That saved us about $150.  Even if I had only been traveling with my husband, I can’t see wanting to do more than one park in a single day, let alone with the family in tow. We planned our park visits around where we’d booked our character meals.  If we had a meal booked in Animal Kindgom on Thursday, we went to Animal Kingdom on Thursday, and that was it.

2.  Pack a cooler for the parks to save money on snacks.  We took this a step further and packed lunches on the days where we didn’t have lunch booked in the parks.  Disney allows this, so long as you don’t bring in a large cooler.  We brought a small soft sided cooler for the cold stuff, and also a backpack with the snacks, first aid stuff, hand wipes, sunblock, etc. We packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples, shelf stable puddings, granola bars, crackers, cheese sticks, pretzels, cherry tomatoes, yogurts, all sorts of typical lunch stuff.  We also brought in water bottles, and filled them up at drinking fountains throughout the park.  To change it up from time to time, we brought individual Crystal Light packets, which are easy to pack, and certainly cheaper than buying lemonade at the parks.

We also ate most of our breakfasts in our condo, with the exception of the one breakfast we ate at O’Hana.  We had cold cereal, hardboiled eggs, and oatmeal, quick meals that we could eat before heading out to the parks nice and early.  I don’t know how much this saved us, but I’m guessing it saved us about $300 over the course of our 8 day trip. Not bad.

3.  Bring souvenirs with you.  I already mentioned the shirts, but you won’t believe how much Disney stuff you can find online at places like Ebay.  I bought Mickey Mouse ears (the hat type), 20 trading pins, a Disney autograph book, and a Hidden Mickey book to make the waits a little more fun for us on Ebay for about $50, including shipping.  I was pretty pleased with myself.

But that’s not all I did.

My kids didn’t trade the pins (His Majesty wouldn’t even let me look at his, he was that obsessed with them, so no way was he trading them), but they were fun to wear in the parks, and to have to take home as a memento of the trip.  In order to wear them, they needed a lanyard.  So did I buy one online, or snag one at one of the 3,000 gift shops in Disney World?

No, I did not.  I made them, using ribbon purchased at Walmart for $3/roll, a spare ring from an old keychain, and about 2 minutes of sewing.

Start by looping off the length of ribbon you want your lanyard to be, overlapping the ends, inserting the key ring, and pinning the ribbon with a few straight pins at the bottom. 

Here’s a better picture of the pin placement.

And here’s what the back will look like:

Then sew the bottom up. I used a straight stitch… because it’s the only one I know how to use… I also went over the rows a few times to make sure that the stitches were nice and sturdy.

 

That’s it.  Then put your pins on. I put all of them on this one to show how many it can hold, but each kid only got 10 pins when we went to the parks.  They were actually kind of heavy, so I don’t know that any more than that would be comfortable to wear all day.

 

Then present them to your kids for approval.

 

Or not… Apparently I should wait until Christopher “does his hair” and changes out of his pajamas before I photograph him… Or so he suggests…

So, now you have a few ways to save money at Disney with a little bit of planning ahead and some minimal sewing skills, if you feel so inclined.

What are some ways that you save money on vacation?

 

 

Oct9

Mickey Mania

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We did it.

Again.

We took the kids to Disney World.

The last time we made the journey to the “Happiest Place on Earth”, Christopher was 6.  He loved it, aside from the usual meltdowns associated with not being tall enough to ride various rides, and ignoring the middle of the day meltdowns from being tired, hot and sweaty. I enjoyed it because he enjoyed it, but I didn’t feel the need to go ever again.  I figured a kid should go once, and that was enough.

But then His Majesty was born, and with a 10 year gap between him and Christopher, there was a shrinking window of when we could go and have both kids enjoy themselves without making it too miserable on my husband and myself. Don’t get me wrong, Disney World is great, but we’re not exactly “Disney people”, and running through theme parks with a toddler in a stroller isn’t exactly our idea of relaxing, but as with most things, we’re willing to do it for our kids to enjoy it.  Plus, my Grandma had never been, so that added some extra incentive on my end.  Next to watching my kids experience something new, I absolutely love taking her on new adventures.

In preparation for our trip, I took the opportunity to make His Majesty a few Mouse themed t-shirts using a freezer paper stencil method I’d pinned from Urban Pioneer Story.  You won’t believe how easy this it was.

I started with two plain cotton t-shirts that I bought at Hobby Lobby for $6.  His Majesty chose the colors– he wanted a pink and a blue.  I printed the mouse ear profile on regular paper, and cut it out with scissors, and then traced it onto the dull side of a sheet of freezer paper (which I purchased at the grocery store in a huge roll for under $5), and cut it out with a razor knife, giving me an intact stencil. Then, I ironed it, shiny side DOWN, onto the shirt, resulting in this:

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You want to leave a little extra freezer paper around your stenciled shape, to allow you to easily paint while protecting the clean part of the shirt. Next, I put a sheet of cardboard inside the shirt (I used an empty cereal box folded down to be flat), and used a round sponge paint brush to apply black fabric paint to the inside of the stencil.  At the edges I pressed down with the brush, and brushed towards the inside of the shape, to keep from moving the edges of the stencil.  I painted two coats, letting it dry for about an hour in between coats. Image

The next day, I peeled the freezer paper off, leaving me with this.

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Oh boy.  I was excited.  And so was His Majesty.

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But for the pink shirt, I decided that I wanted to try something a little different, using spray paint, gaining inspiration from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom.  So this time, I used the shape of the ears as my stencil, and painted around them with spray paint (again, be sure you put a piece of cardboard inside of the shirt, as the paint will soak through). I held my hand about 10 inches away, and sprayed a light coat of paint, keeping my arm moving the whole time to avoid blotches and drips. Image

ImageWhen I pulled the stencil off, I basically did a happy dance. Image

His Majesty was pleased as well.

ImageI liked the results of the spray paint method so much that I decided to do it on the back of his blue shirt as well. You can only use each stencil once, so I cut another one out.  It’s so easy, though, that it’s hardly a big deal.

ImageAnd that’s how I made two shirts for Disney World in a breathable fabric (helpful, given that it was 90 degrees and all kinds of humid during our trip… I was melting, MELTING!!) for a fraction of the cost we’d pay at the park. And, these are one of a kind.  I’m proud of them, and His Majesty loves them.  For the record, I offered to make some for Christopher, but he deemed himself too cool for them.  He did, however, request that I make him a shirt with The Hunger Games symbol to go with his Halloween costume– He’s going as Peeta.

This method is amenable to any shape that you want to create.  You can do words, names, whatever your heart desires.  Once you have your paint and your freezer paper, you can probably even make a shirt for everyone in your family with supplies left to spare.  Birthday shirts for your little one?  Done.  Shirts to show support for your kid’s Little League team?  Done.  Bring it on, baby.  The sky is the limit with the freezer paper stencil shirts!

I made one other cool thing for our Disney trip, and also did some preplanning for our trip that saved me a little money and gave my kids some extra fun along the way.  Stay tuned for more on that this week :)

Sep24

The First Boo-Tiful Halloween Craft of 2012

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Oh my gosh, I am so excited to show off my friend Melissa’s handiwork today!  She’s been bitten by the Pinterest bug, and my Facebook newsfeed has been full of all sorts of treats and crafts that she’s created for herself and her sweetie up north in PA.  As soon as I saw her awesome Halloween Topiary, I begged her to let me feature it here, and she was kind enough to let me.  Thanks, Melissa!

She drew her (p)inspiration  from Courtney at A Diamond in the Stuff, which is a fantastic blog that is loaded with amazing DIY-able home decor creations.  Seriously, what this woman can do with Mod Podge and some thrifted furniture is unreal, you’ve got to check it out.

Pumpkin Topiary; Source: A Diamond in the Stuff

(Courtney also has an Etsy Store, just in case you’re running out of time to create your own awesomeness from time to time.)

Using faux pumpkins, Krylon Glitter Blast spray paint, a hot glue, a basket, wooden skewers, and craft letters, Melissa made her own version in under 3 hours (including time spent waiting on the paint to dry between coats:

To this:

Don’t you just love it?  What a great way to jazz up an entryway, or a porch, especially if you don’t want to decorate with anything that might be too scary for your little Trick or Treaters.  Melissa says: “From start to finish this was an easy craft and I recommend it for beginners! I used simple pumpkins from Walmart, glitter blast spray paint, and all of the accessories were from Michael’s! Simple, easy, fun & makes a great decoration!!”  The cost for her materials rang in at about $45, the bulk of which was in the cost of the Krylon Glitter Blast spray paint (which has an awesome color selection and just flat out rocks, but is a bit steeply priced if you are going to use more than one color for a project.  I wonder if there is a cheaper alternative out there that could still achieve the glittery finish?).

Great job, Melissa, and thanks for sharing your work!

You can see more of Melissa’s favorite (p)inspirations and follow her in all of her greatness to see what else she finds and creates here.

I can’t believe it’s time to actually start making some of the fantastic Halloween creations that I’ve been pinning all year! I’d better get it in gear!! Thanks for the push, Melissa!

I’d love to feature your creations, too, so if you make something you saw on Pinterest, take pictures, and let me know that you’d like some of the spotlight!  Email me at verypinteresting(AT)GMAIL(DOT)com, I’d love to see your masterpieces.

Sep17

Getting Caught Up

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Whew, am I behind on blogging.  As life happens, sitting down to blog has taken the back burner for me.  Summer is just about over, our (home) school year is in full swing, and we have been packing our days full.  Christopher is involved in all sorts of activities, His Majesty is in play school a few mornings a weeks, and is able to tolerate being out and about for daily outings with friends, and my husband and I are enjoying the ride.  While I haven’t had time for much crafting, one thing that I have found time to do is to try a few new recipes that are worth talking about.

Pizza stuffed crescent rolls: Super easy appetizer, and a hit with kids and adults (don’t let make them ahead and then try to warm them up, they are definitely better a few minutes after they’ve come out of the oven).  Check out the recipe over at Plain Chicken.

Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies:  Salty and Sweet, these babies were a hit with my brother and his girlfriend when they visited us this summer.  I’d have taken a photo of them when they were finished baking, but they disappeared pretty quickly, and I didn’t get the chance!  Find out how to make them at Sugar Cooking (isn’t that such a great name for a blog?).  You know how after you drop regular chocolate chip cookie dough in rounded spoonfuls, it will kind of flatten out as it bakes?  I guess these won’t really do that, so I read the comments, and it was suggested that you flatten the dough out a little bit with your palm or a cup if you want them to have a thinner appearance.  It doesn’t really matter though.  People are going to eat in pretty much any form.

Chickpea and Tomato Basil Salad: Christopher is not a fan, but my husband, His Majesty, and I could eat our weight in it.  At least, His Majesty would eat his weight in the garbanzo beans (which is hilarious to hear him pronounce, by the way), as evidenced by this photo of him picking them out one by one and loading them onto his spoon.  The recipe is from Green Lite Bites, and it is a great summer salad, not to mention a good way to use up grape tomatoes, which, if you’ve ever grown them, you know can become an issue.

“P.F. Chang’s” Style Lettuce Wrap from Iowa Girl Eats:  Messy, and lots of prep work compared to my usual meals, plus you have to watch the skillet, which I’m definitely not used to doing, but oh boy, is it worth it.  These are incredible, and I mean incredible.

Make Ahead Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies: They are supposed to be a healthier recipe, and they don’t taste like a “real” cookie, which is why they are suggested as a breakfast cookie. I didn’t like the taste of them, personally, but His Majesty did, and they froze well, which made them very convenient to have on hand for quickie morning meals with very little effort or clean up.   You can read about how I made them at Parents Connect.

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle from Taste of Home: This is sinfully delicious, and way too easy to make for as amazing as it is.  Chocolate brownie and peanut butter cups, how can you go wrong?  You could do them in small plastic tumblers for an easy party dessert, too!

Sneaking Zucchini into Everything (and freezing lots of zucchini bread for winter):  Our zucchini crop peaked early this year, and then died off rather suddenly, but not before we had picked almost 100 of them.  I had to get creative with how to use it, so I took a cue from a pin of The Daily Spark and shredded it up like noodles so that I could then sneak it into pretty much every sauce I made.  This allowed me to serve my family an extra veggie serving without altering the taste of the dishes themselves.  Christopher, who doesn’t like zucchini served by itself also apparently doesn’t pay too much attention to what I do in the kitchen, or what’s on his plate, because he went most of the summer without realizing what was going on, and I never got a complaint out of him.  I just popped the “noodles” in the slow cooker about 45 minutes before we ate, stirred it into the sauce, and let it go.  This worked with cream based/alfredo sauces and red sauces.  

Another way I used up zucchini was by making a bunch of blueberry zucchini bread (see the recipe here at All Recipes).  I had to make a bunch because it is so good that we ate a whole loaf in two days, then another loaf went at a game night we hosted, and my husband wanted to take some to work and… well, you get the point.  As fast as I could make it, they ate it, which makes it a great use for extra zucchini– or any zucchini for that matter!

So, as you can see, while I’ve been absent from the blogging world, I’ve been busy in the kitchen, and in the home caring for my family, which is my true love.  As things settle, I hope to be able to pop on for more than a check in, but you know how life is, and how quickly days pass.  Before we know it, it will be Thanksgiving!

I’m sure you have been busy over the past several weeks, too.  What have you been up to?  Trips?  Books?  Lessons?  Let’s catch up!