Teacher Appreciation Week- Flowers

This week is teacher appreciation week and I've decided to do paper crafts with the kids for each day! Monday is 'thanks for helping me grow' so you give the teacher flowers. I made some flowers and then had the kids draw a picture of flowers. Here is the final result....

The kids love to draw so this was something I knew they would love to do. The flowers were fun to make as we'll! 

I started out by cutting 3 different sized flowers, all the same shape. The I used glue dots to stack them.

After that you just bend the petals up how you want them then stick another glue dot on the back and let the kids place them wherever they want! 

The boys were very happy with their gifts!

Tomorrow is "you're so sweet" and we will have another paper craft blog for that as well!

The Best Homemade Play Dough

Homemade Play Dough

The kids had so much fun playing with this and it was really easy to make!

I got all of my supplies ready, put them all in the pot. (except for the food coloring)

I didn't get any pictures of how it looks while you are cooking, it was to fast! 

Divide into smaller sections and add coloring. 

Once it has cooled off enough for the little ones to play with, they them go to town! Even the big kids loved it! We only have a few cookie cutters but they still had fun creating their own things with it!

Play Dough

2 cups Flour

2 cups Water

1/2 cup Salt

2 Tbsp Vegt. Oil

2 tsp Cream Of Tarter

Food coloring

Add all ingredients to large pot, in no particular order....turn on the heat and stir constantly. The mixture will become lumpy, but just keep stirring, it will smooth out. Once it becomes a large ball of dough, that is no longer sticky, remove it from the heat. Let cool for a few minutes, then kneed until smooth. This is when I added my colors, so I could make one batch different colors.

I found the original recipe on We Love Being Moms! Blog. She is a lot braver than I am! I definitely couldn't do 10 different recipes in the same day! I'm so happy I found her blog! I hope you all enjoy!

Vegan Chocolate Coconut Cake

I LOVE CHOCOLATE!!!! and coconut.....but more importantly CHOCOLATE!!! I have stopped eating dairy products and have tried to do most of my baking Vegan. I decided to make a chocolate cake for a birthday breakfast, so I started to do some research for the perfect recipe!

First place I went was Pinterest....and this is the cake that I found.  http://joythebaker.com/2012/02/simple-vegan-chocolate-cake/

Perfect little bundt cake! It doesn't even need frosting! Just a little dusting of powdered sugar and you are good to go! This cake was done just as the recipe in the link above.....however, I wanted to give it a little bit of a kick so I made it again, this time I used some coconut extract in place of half of the vanilla extract.

It was a huge hit! My husband LOVES it! Then when the next birthday rolled around, you know what cake got made! 

He is such a goober! Happy Birthday to my Cat-Man!

Vegan Chocolate Coconut Cake

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup warm coffee

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coconut extract

Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a pan with oil and dust with cocoa powder.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  In a medium bowl, whisk together coffee, coconut oil, and both extracts.

Add the wet ingredients, all at once to the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  The batter will be relatively thick.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

A Break from Crafts

Now it's not what you think, I did not want to take this break. The cord for my magic machine decided to stop working, so I'm taking a break while I wait for my replacement to arrive.

During this extremely long break(really only 2 weeks) I've been able to spend more time with the children! I've been able to help them find their passion and help them achieve their goals. It really doesn't take much. We asked our kids what they want to do and went from there. We told them that we are not going to play 5 different sports and be running around everyday of the week. We wanted them to think of something they REALLY wanted to do. Our oldest said skateboarding which made his daddy really proud, so he took him to buy a skateboard! Since that day, we have spent the majority of our free time at the skate park. If we are not there, then they are practicing their ollys in my living room. 

Our middle son hasn't decided what his passion is yet, but he also enjoys the skate park!

Not to mention our baby loves it too!!!!

Do you know what your passion is? What about your child's passion? The best part of this whole experience is seeing the look in their face when we go to the skate park! They all just light up! It's the best feeling in the world!

Toddler Club House/ Reading Nook

I have boys! And boys LOVE clubhouses!

We have had a Pack-n-Play in our closet for MONTHS!(if not a full year) I tried to sell it, but then it just ended up in the back of the closet.

Today, my youngest son dragged the bag for it out of his room and it reminded me of seeing this repurpose on Pinterest! I mentioned it to my husband and he demanded that I get up and make it for him!

Excited that I was actually given permission to be Crafty while the kids are awake, I got up and grabbed the Pack-n-Play out of the closet and set it up. Then I grabbed the scissors!

I couldn't get a before picture.....He was to eager to get in his clubhouse! All I did was cut out the mesh from the front, and put a fitted crib sheet over the top of it! 

I got as close as possible, he won't notice the extra sticking out! 

See. He's so spoiled! Watching Yo Gabba Gabba on the laptop in his clubhouse!

This picture just shows that's all I did! Cut out the mesh from the front and put a fitted crib sheet on top! Your little one will LOVE their new clubhouse!

Minecraft Creeper T-shirt

We are coming up on the 100th day of school for Brayden, and they asked him to decorate a t-shirt with 100 things on it. Last year we did legos for him and googly eyes for his brother. This year, I was bored and wanted something to do, so I took this project over! I had a great idea! I would "stencil" some creepers on it for him! I googled 100th day of school tshirts, and saw that people put "100 days smarter" on them. I thought that was cute and used it! 

It looked kind of plain after that so I decided to add some of the creepers to the front.

Some tools of the trade! A pic and some tweezers! I put the other 80 creepers on the back....

This picture kinda shows you how I did it. I cut the design out with my personal cutter, then laid it on the shirt where I wanted it. I used a sponge brush and some Acrylic paint and just blotted the paint on. NO STROKES. You don't want the vinyl to peel up. And since this was my first try at this, and it will only be worn for a day, I wasn't to upset with the few mistakes I made.(he didn't seem to notice them anyhow!)

I hope you enjoyed this and I hope this inspires you to get up and be creative!

VEGAN No Bake Cookies

Growing up my mom would make the best No Bake Cookies! I remember her making them every year around my birthday! I would come home from school to them cooling off on the counter! BEST DAY EVER!!!!

Today I decided to try to make them VEGAN style!

Vegan No Bake Cookies

1 3/4 cups Sugar
1/2 cup Coconut Oil

1/2 cup Coconut Milk

4 TBSP Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup Crunchy Peanut Butter

3 cups Quick Oats

In a medium sauce pan, combine sugar, coconut oil, coconut  milk and cocoa powder.

Bring to a boil and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. 

Remove from heat, add vanilla, peanut butter and quick oats. 

Drop by spoonfuls onto wax or parchment paper. Let cool until hardened. 

You can even put them in the fridge to cool off faster! Store them in an airtight container! Don't worry, they won't last long enough to go bad! I hope you all enjoy them and let me know what you think!

Baked Apple Chips and Banana Chips

This year I have started something new. It's not a New Year's resolution, it's a lifestyle change! I know everyone says that when they don't want to be labeled as a resolutioner, but really, I'm trying to change the way we live. 

I'm a snack kind of person! I love to snack on foods all day long. Once we started to really look at the foods we eat, and see what is in them, I had to put all the snacks down. I was eating potato chips, crackers, granola bars, candy, pretty much anything we had in the way of snacks, I was eating it! You might be thinking, "those don't sound to bad." Well, they are not that bad, until you see how they are made. When I think of a granola bar, I think of the following ingredients, oats, nuts, dried fruit, honey and peanut butter. Yummy! When you look at what is in the granola bars you get from the store, it might have all of that yummy stuff in it, but it also has some other stuff that you don't need. 

Here is an example of the ingredients in the granola bars you get at the store. ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR????? Why do you put artificial flavor in granola bars? That's when I was done. I decided that if I wanted snack food or junk food, or anything in between, I was going to make it myself. I don't care how many added vitamins are in there, I don't want the other garbage that they are also adding to it. It defeats the purpose of the vitamins in the first place. 

I haven't made Granola BARS yet, but I have made No Bake Energy Bites, and those things are AMAZ-BALLS! And you can really just add whatever you have on hand! I didn't have the coconut last time, so I just left it out. And I added Craisins one time too! 

Waiting for things makes me snack a lot as well, and since we are "waiting" to see where we are moving to next, I need a lot of snacks! Chris and I made Banana Chips and Potato Chips earlier this week.

I don't have a picture of the Banana Chips just because I didn't have time to take it! They were gone before I knew it! These Potato Chips were cut with a mandolin and baked at 400* for 30 minutes, flipping after 15 minutes. 

Yesterday I made some Apple Chips! I looked up a recipe on Pinterest and all I could find were ones that say to cook them for 6-8 hours......Ummmm, this mom doesn't have 6-8 hours. So I sliced them with my mandolin, dipped them in lemon water, sprinkled them with cinnamon and baked them on 250* for 2 hours, turning after 1 hour.

I watched the first batch like crazy! I didn't want the to burn. They started getting golden and the sides started turning in, that's when I flipped them. 

And it's just that easy! Use your favorite fruit and go for it! You will be supplying your family with healthy snacks and they don't have any added ingredients! No preservatives, no corn syrup, no artificial flavors! My kids love them and that is why I love making them for them!

Simple Teacher Gift

As a minimalist, I try to do simple gifts for people. Either something they "need" or something useful that anyone can use.

When the holidays come around, I always like to do something for the boys teachers. They do so much during the year for my kids, the least I can do is create something for them during the holidays! This year, I had a ton of ideas! I had some clipboards that I wanted to use, and I also got some plastic apples that I was going to do something cool with. My list of ideas goes on and on!

With my oldest in the hospital, everything was put on hold! When we got home, I took a few days to just relax and after those few days, I was ready to be crafty again! I knew I was going to do something small I just didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. I had purchased some clipboards on Amazon.com and had some ideas for saying to go on them. I looked at all of them and finally (I think it took me an hour) decided on one. I had my design all ready to go!

I got my clipboards ready and started cutting out the vinyl!

TA DA!!!!! As my youngest would say! All done! Not only is it simple, but who couldn't use a clipboard?? My kids use the extra ones I have all the time when doing their homework! At this point, it was kind of a little blah. I didn't want to put more vinyl on it, I just wanted to dress it up a little so it would be a pretty gift!

I made a card......(the design can be found in the Silhouette Store)

and then dressed it up with a bow!

Giving gifts doesn't always have to be big and glamorous. Sometimes we can just give something small and more meaningful. The teachers that we have had so far have been amazing. I could not have picked better teachers for my boys and I thank God for them everyday! This was just something small so they know I appreciate them. Plus it was fun making them!

Happy Crafting!!

Cleaning out your "closet"

Thinking about becoming a minimalist? Getting ready to move, and feeling overwhelmed with all the "stuff" that you have to go through. Don't stress! Stop where you are! Sit down and think about one part of the house.....your closet....the kitchen.....the play room......the entry room. Pick one and start there. Don't think that you have to tackle your entire house in one day. That's unreasonable. You need to start little and work your way around. Pick your room and go there, look around and see how many things are there. I'm going to use the kitchen as an example.

I walked into my kitchen, I see a pile of dishes in the sink and my cupboards are still full. WHY? Well, let me tell you why. If you only have 4 people in your house but you have 40 cups, there is no need for anyone to remember what cup they used 10 min ago. They can just grab a new one and not worry about it, that is until it's time to do the dishes! But if you only have 2 cups per person, everyone soon realizes that it's easier to only use 1 cup at a time. Same goes with plates and bowls. Having less means that you can't be lazy. You will be doing dishes as soon as you are done using the items, but then your kitchen will stay clean as well! You won't have to worry about having to do 2 loads of dishes because there were just to many to fit in one load.

Sometimes going through things to downsize is hard. It brings back all the memories from when you received the item, who gave it to you, when you used it and why you got it in the first place. I had a bunch of glasses from my high school homecomings and at first I wanted to keep all of them. I had so many good memories of going to homecoming every year! But that's all those glasses were for! I had all the memories, and along with keeping the glasses, I was also keeping the dust and the stress of cleaning them and moving them. After thinking about it for a few days I decided to keep the one glass from the year I graduated and let go of the other ones. I still have the memories of going to homecoming and having fun with my friends, I don't need a glass to remind me.

If there is something that you would like to hang on to, find a place for it. Give it a home. If you can't find a space for it in your home, maybe it's time to find it a new home!

Becoming a minimalist doesn't mean that you have to go through your house and let go of everything right now. It means that you have decided to change your way of thinking about material possessions. You have realized that there are more important things in life, like family and friends. Having less stuff to worry about gives you the freedom to spend more time with the ones you love and more time to do what you love! You are no longer held to the same standards as everyone else, you are not expected to have the newest and most upgraded items. You are not expected to have a collection of the coolest thing this week. You have become free from the webs of today's society.