Modge Podge Pictures to Wood

I want to do this with a bigger piece of wood and create the canvas look but today I made a puzzle instead... 

I got myself nine 2x2x2" blocks and six 6x6" photo's. I cut each picture into 2x2" squares. I painted my blocks and modge podged a different picture to each side. And there we have it, a family photo puzzle!

So Simple!

(I'm actually tucking this away and giving it to my daughter for Christmas. So, Shhhhh!!)

To check out the post from Pinterest just click HERE

Coloring Pages

How fun is this?! You can upload any photo you want and have it turned into a sketch, print it and wah-la!!! A fun coloring book for your kiddo's and also a GREAT way to show them pictures of family members that don't live nearby! 

Here is a sample I used from my personal photo's. I think it turns out pretty good and my daughter thinks it's pretty cool that she recognizes who she's coloring!

I was pretty excited that this actually worked so I printed 12 and just stapled them together for a little coloring book.

To find the original link just click HERE

** Once you get click on the link above you'll have to click on the link found on her page just under where it says, 'step 1'

** When I uploaded my pic I clicked 'save' underneath and it wanted to charge me. So, then I just right clicked and saved the image that way. Then just print!! 

Salt Dough Prints

On the actual pin on Pinterest it suggested doing this every year for a stepping stone path in your garden.

 After making it I feel like the only purpose for this would be for an activity with your kids to make and paint but I even then, it takes THREE hours to cook. I don't feel like it looks pretty, it felt more flimsy than expected and mine is currently residing in my garage can.

 I felt a little guilty throwing my 2 year old's hand print away but, meh, I'm over it.

I suppose for older kids they could use this to mold something, cook it, and paint. But, definitely NOT for stepping stones in the garden. I personally will never be making this again...

(FYI On the website where this idea originated she doesn't write anything about making these for stepping stones, That's just what the caption said on the pinning chain off Pinterest.)

To look at the original link just click HERE

Flat Iron Holder

Isn't it beautiful! Not as beautiful as my bathroom counter is going to be without the staple of a 'cooling down' flat iron that is ALWAYS sitting to the right of our sink.

 I think my husband will appreciate this more than me! :)

I was going to go out and find some really cute heating pad to make this with and then I got thinking.. Why?! So, I walked into my kitchen, took a look  at the stack of heating pads I have that I hardly ever use and found   this bad boy... This took me about 5 minutes to make and I will probably smile at it each morning when I slide my hot flat iron inside and tuck it away!

To find the original link just click HERE

Zucchini Oven Chips

Tonight we tried these as a side to our grilled chicken sandwiches and they were the perfect addition! 

I think it's fun to find new ways to cook zucchini and this one will definitely be added to the rotation!

To find the recipe just click HERE

**I feel like I put to much of the breaded mixture on mine. They were still good but next time I think I would lighten it up.
** Also I think that if you didn't want to use the bread crumbs it would be just as delicious with just the cheese and seasonings.

** Instead of using shredded parm. cheese, I had a fresh block of Parm. that I just threw a little chunk in my blender and and it ground it up the way you'd buy it in the shaker. I felt like I got the fresh taste but it was distributed more evenly that way.

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps

Ok, so this may look like just another regular burrito or enchilada or something.. It's totally not! 

I'm not a big rice person but I'm married to one so I thought I'd take one for the team tonight and try this out. The first words out of my husbands mouth were, "Oh hello Taco Bell!" (meant as a compliment, just to clarify)  :) 

But seriously, you know how things are just delicious and not homemade tasting when you go out to eat and you wonder why your's never tastes like that?! (Maybe that's just me) But this was delicious and I was really proud that I made it because it had so many different tastes inside. Seriously, so good!!

To find this recipe (and trust me, you'll want to find this recipe) just click HERE

*** So a few things I did...

-I didn't have fresh cilantro because I had just put all mine in the freezer to preserve it so instead I took my frozen (already in oil) cilantro and used that to cook with my meat separately in a frying pan.

-Also, I didn't want to use chicken so I cut up little pieces of steak and it was obviously delicious.. You really can do so many different things with this recipe. I Love it!

-I also didn't have sour cream and I was concerned it would be dry without it and it definitely wasn't. It would be great with sour cream or guacamole but it definitely stands on it's own as well! 

Seriously try this! 

Puffy Paint

This project is definitely kid tested and kid approved!! 

 My daughter LOVED this (not so much the taste of it)  but she had a ball painting with this stuff! I gave her her own little paint brush and let her go to town. I think she liked painting with her fingers more though! 

She got to help make it, and choose what color she wanted it and this is our final product...

Such a fun project with everyday house hold products!!

to find the original link that I used just click HERE

No Helium {needed} Balloons

I came across a pin the other day indicating that baking soda and vinegar would actually fill a balloon and have a helium effect. I may be throwing myself under the bus here but I was curious if it would work. 

So, I took a good ole' diet coke bottle and put it to the test...

I poured the baking soda in first then the vinegar and immediately placed the balloon on...

This is as big as it got. Ha. 

So, it doesn't fill the balloon let alone make it float as if helium is inside...

(On this particular pin it explained what to do right on Pinterest. I tried to find the original post and was unable due to it being erased.)

It's pretty anti-climatic anyway...

Homemade Oreo Cookies

LOVE THESE! So easy, fast and are perfect cookies to have little 2 year old hands helping! 

These are seriously delicious and have gone WAY to fast for a house of 3! 

To see the recipe just click HERE

**They really won't look done after 8 minutes but take them out. They will be the most moist cookies you've ever eaten!

I'm gonna have to always have devil food cake and frosting in my cupboard for a 'rainy day'!

Freezing Fresh Herbs

Well, now that summer is winding down I thought I should probably stock up on my fresh herbs and figure out the proper way to store them. Of course, Pinterest came to the rescue!

For the past couple years I've planted my own herbs and always had delicious, fresh herbs on hand. This year I was distracted by moving across the country for my husbands job and didn't get around to planting them. I did however go buy a basil plant and planted it at home because I didn't want to go with out that. Then my daughter and I went to visit family for 2 weeks and I forgot to remind my husband to water it sooooo, I came home to a very black, dead basil plant. Boo!!

Anyway, the dried herbs you buy at the store don't do anything for me and herbs can get expensive during the 'off' seasons so I'm excited about this.

Basically, you cut your herbs how you normally would want them in your meals and put them in ice cube trays with olive oil.  Once they are frozen just toss them in a marked container or baggie. Yay! This took me about 20 minutes tonight to do a bunch of cilantro and basil. Now I just need to get me some parsley and I'll be set!

To check out the very informative site just click HERE

** There are a few different ways to do this and depending on how you plan on using your herbs would determine if you'd freeze them in oil vs water, etc... 

The link above is a great site to read all about it! 

DIY Hooded Towel

My 2 year old has literally grown out of every single pair of shoes she currently owns. Along with a TON of other things she has recently decided to grow out of her baby hooded towels were among those things.

 Sooooo, I made her a 'big girl' towel using a regular bath towel, a hand towel and about 30 minutes of my time. I was happy with how it turned out.

She seems to like it :)

To find the step by step tutorial just click HERE.

I am by no means 'a sewer'. I like to sew anything that I can make little mistakes and you can't tell by looking at the finished product. This is one of those things!

Definitely a beginner sewing project!!
** I didn't add the ribbon on the hood to mine because I wanted it plain but it wouldn't have been difficult.

Happy Sewing!

Oat Flour Pancakes

So, this post is a little bit different than usual... Ever since experimenting with new and different crafts and recipes via Pinterest I've become more 'daring' with experimenting on my own recipes... Some times it works well and we love it and other times we end up at Chick-Fil-A.

This morning I wanted to have pancakes for breakfast but didn't want to eat something fatty sooooo I tweaked my Grandma's famous pancake recipe and this is what we came up with...

1.5 C oat flour (I just made my own by putting rolled oats in my Blendtec)

1.5 tsp baking powder

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp oil

1 beaten egg

1 C coconut milk

I put the egg in the bowl first and beat it with a fork for a second then added everything else.

yields about 5 pancakes

** We replaced syrup with a little agave over the top. YUM!

Homemade Edible Glitter

I had big plans for my edible glitter but alas those plans were ruined when I opened the oven to the same, dull looking stuff I put in there...

 It looks like food colored salt huh? Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

This was the picture that went along with my pin from Pinterest. This is what I was expecting. 

Oh, booo!

(Picture courtesy of planetpals.com)

If you'd like to check out the link just click HERE

Cleaning With Vinegar

My family and I headed to the beach for a fun overnight trip so I decided to put this to the test since we'd be out of the house. I took a couple baggies poured a bunch of vinegar and tied them on our shower heads...

'Before'

The idea was for the vinegar to clean my shower heads without any work. Sounds great, right?! 

It would have been great if it worked!! Below I have my 'after' pic. 

Not cool! I thought I was going to come home today to brand new looking shower heads.

Nope.

I'm a little embarrassed to post a picture of what my shower heads look like but it's all for a good cause!! :)

To check out the site from this pin just click HERE

...I'm off to clean my shower heads...

Homemade Coconut Milk

If you use coconut milk you need to check this out! 

I feel like we are constantly buying coconut milk and I was happy to find a recipe to make my own since I usually pay $1.99 a few times a week for this...

I made my coconut milk and put it to the test with our favorite coconut milk/ cocoa ice cream. As you can see, it turned out pretty good...

To read how to make your own coconut milk just click HERE

A couple things to note...

*In the instructions it says that after about 3 cups it starts making it a little watery. I totally agree. I wish I'd stopped (or used another 1/2 C. coconut) for the 3rd and 4th cup water. I feel like mine was too watery.

* Mine didn't create the coconut oil on top (which made me kind of sad). I'm wondering if it's because mine was to watery.

*My coconut milk tasted delicious to drink but we wanted to put it to our true test. Ice cream. We love our coconut milk ice cream but this time I felt like there was to much of a cocoa taste (I know, how is that possible!?) and I'm wondering, again, if it had anything to do with the coconut milk not being as thick to soak up the cocoa?? I'm not sure. Next time we make ice cream with homemade coconut milk I'm going to add 1/2 the cocoa and see if that makes a difference? 

*I don't have a food processor so I used my blendtec and I felt like that worked as a good substitute. I just used the 'pulse' function.

Easy Garlic Chicken

I'll be honest. I felt pretty good having my dinner in the oven and ready to roll when my husband walked in from work tonight. I opened the oven to get it out and my first thought was, "Crap, where are we getting dinner from tonight?!" It did not look pretty! I think it was the brown sugar that was bubbling and trying to burn... NOT ON MY WATCH! 

I dished it up and hoped for the best... It turned out to be a very moist, delicious dinner!  

To find the recipe click HERE

** I was expecting the brown sugar/garlic mixture to be a little thinner then it was, so don't let that fool you. I just frosted it right over my chicken breasts and we were good to go.

**Also, don't be alarmed (like I was) if you open your oven to a brown bubbling mess. I'm guessing that's normal because mine did that. I thought it was a goner but it tasted delicious! 

Glow Xylophone

I am 0 for 2 on my glow in the dark pin experiments.

We filled our 4 glasses with different amounts of water, placed our glow sticks inside and began playing music  watching for some kind of faint color to rise from the the cup aaaaaannnddddd, nothing.

 You can see in the pic below my little helper off to the left tapping the yellow cup. Yeah, we didn't have anything too exciting happening here...

This is what we were anticipating... 

(Pic above from playathomemom3.blogspot.com)

To check out the original site just click HERE

(This is a whole blog filled with ideas for entertaining kids)

One Minute Chocolate Cake

 First of all, these may only bake for 60 seconds but from start to finish I was in the kitchen for about 12 minutes and ended with a messy counter, measuring cups and spoons. For something that sounds so simple I don't like all the clean up before I can enjoy chocolate goodness!

Speaking of chocolate goodness.... I wish these were... These weren't that amazing. It was very dense and I felt they weren't worth the time (even as a 'one minute cake') or the mess. 

All I know is if there is chocolate anything left on my plate that speaks for itself.

To check out this recipe click HERE.

Also, I tried the 'Reeses Fudge Frosting' recipe she recommends for this cake. Also, not amazing.

If you want to try that recipe click HERE.

*** The only thing I changed  was in the frosting. It calls for maple syrup and I substituted it for Agave. The consistency seemed fine with the substitution and it definitely tasted sweet enough.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I must crave peanut butter a lot because I feel like every time I turn around I'm making peanut butter cookies.  

I am IN LOVE with these ones though!! A few reason why these are great:

1- NO BAKING! Perfect cookies to make on a hot/humid summer day.

2- I literally dirtied ONE dish to make them.

3- GUILT FREE. There are 4 ingredients in these cookies

 (which is also a plus...the less ingredients the better!)

Natural peanut butter

Dates

Almonds

Vanilla

Mix 'em all together and WAH-LAH! 

To find this recipe (along with a ton more yummy looking recipes) simply click HERE.

** I don't own a food processor so I made them in my Blend-Tec. In my blender the mixture was so thick that it kept creating air pockets making it difficult to blend (SOOOOO annoying). Not sure if a food processor does that or not but in the future I'd blend the almonds like she says and then add the dates THEN BLEND then add the PB and vanilla. I'm thinking that would have caused a little less grief rather than adding everything then blending.... all right, I'm off to eat another PB cookie!! :)

Watermelon Frosty

This smoothie intrigued me because all the ingredients it calls for sounded weird mixed together. Once I had it all mixed I thought it smelled weird. I tasted it. Meh.... I kept drinking and.... I actually really like it!

It definitely has a different taste but it's pretty tasty! I had to think ahead for this one so I could have my frozen watermelon chunks.  

Click HERE to check it out.

** In the future I would probably 1/2 the syrup or eliminate it all together.. I felt the syrup taste was a little to strong.

** When I froze my watermelon I cut out chunks and froze them on a cookie sheet covered with tin foil. Once they were frozen individually I threw them all in a bag. That way they didn't freeze into one big chunk.

Broiled Grapefruit

This morning we tried a new way to eat our grapefruit. We cut it in half, put a little agave on it and broiled for a few minutes. 

In the link off Pinterest it said that it would crystallize on top and taste like a delicious treat. Other than it being served warm and obviously not quite as bitter (since we added agave) we didn't feel like there was anything too special about it. 

If you want to check out the link. Click HERE.

Learning 'Parking Lot'

Lately I've been trying to do a little 'pre-preschool home-school' with the little Miss a couple times a week. Today we made a 'learning parking lot' to work on shapes, colors and a certain letters that she needs to improve on. I taped 4 papers together, found a few toy cars and asked her to drive certain colored cars to specific things. It was a fun, different way to learn the same ole' things :)

I found the idea from THIS site.

Key West Grilled Chicken

This was the most moist grilled chicken we've had in a long time!! So delicious!! 

I was a little behind getting to my dinner prep. last night so I only had it marinate for about an hour but that's all it needed. It really was so yummy! Plus I liked this recipe because it was all ingredients I usually have on hand! 

To find the delicious marinade recipe just click HERE

Minnie Mouse Hair Clips

In anticipation of our upcoming family vacation to Disney World I wanted to make my little girl a little something to wear around the parks. I pinned these on Pinterest a while ago and tried them out today. 

After some hot glue gun burns all over my fingers I came out with these...

I'm almost as excited about these as I am to take my 2 year old to meet Minnie!!

To learn how to make these just click HERE

*** I glued mine onto alligator clips right behind the ears so you couldn't see it as much.

*LOVE*

DIY Candy Bowl

Well, I am not quite sure what happened here. I went to Joanns with a 25% off my entire purchase coupon (so excited!!) and found this cute bowl and long skinny vase to glue together as a new candy dish, decoration... thing. Anyway, I used crazy glue, let it dry upside down, went to check on it and this is what I found!! 

I have no idea what this white film stuff is and how it crawled up the glass, inside the vase??? I barely lined the lip of the vase with glue before sticking it all together!! 

I'm not sure if it's because I used a hollow vase instead of a candle stick, or if the crazy glue did it?? But, I'm pretty sure you'll see this again after I decide if I'm going to paint around the base or modge podge fabric around it... Decisions, decisions...

To find the site where this idea originated from simply click HERE

Corkscrew Ribbon Bows

I have been wanting to learn how to make these for forever and was excited when I came across the pin on Pinterest!  They were a little time consuming for me but I'm excited to get them all done!! I'm still working on some for the upcoming holidays but got this cute brown and pink one done this evening. 

To see the instructions just click HERE

** In the directions it says that you HAVE to use 100% polyester ribbon. I thought that was going to be tricky to find but come to find out while standing in Joann's almost all the ribbon there is 100% polyester...

** I wish that I'd bought more than just one dowel, 3 would have been perfect! I think the dowel cost me $0.39 and I could have saved a lot of time baking more ribbon at once! 

** At first I cut my ribbon every 8 twists but I felt like that looked weird and went back and trimmed it all. I think that 6 twists are perfect (3 on each side of the bow)