Upcoming projects: maybe just dreaming

I know in my opening post I discussed my huge passion for pictures and the desire to be better.  Well - for Christmas, my wonderful in laws and parents helped to make this happen.  I recieved filtered lenses, a hood, how to use photoshop book, how to take stunning photography book, and two tripods and a remote for my camera!  (on a side note; we finally got a camcorder too! no more ten second videos! Or at least they'll be much clearer.  And Jackson LOVES talking to it!)  Also, I have signed up for a 3 hour - Mom's Night Out - How to photography your wee ones.  I haven't picked the date to go yet, but I am quite excited!  So while I kick my butt on the elliptical I am reading up on the best way to take pictures - hopefully you'll be able to tell in the results :)

So there are a few upcoming projects that I would like to work on:

Jackson has so much art work from school.  Some of it finds its way to recylcing (please don't tell him) but there is so much of it that I just love.  If I dont hang it up on our door to the garage fast enough (this is our only magnetic spot in the house) then he takes it off the counter and continues his creative thoughts with scissors, markers, etc.   Or he suggests it hangs on this wall or that cupboard (i'm not up for ruining paint :))  So I am looking for ideas on how to display artwork.  I saw some on Pinterest - a half chalkboard / half artwork wall.  Super cool - I dont know that my house has a wall that supports that (perhaps when we finish the basement).  But I'm thinking of a small wall that I could put some picture frames on and either frame the picture or have just the frame and put the pictures in there where they can rotate in and out.

A perfect thing to create when we finish the basement



This seems do able upstairs



 

This is my wall now - the only one that I think could really work??

The other thing I want to do is figure out a way to display family pictures in my home.  My sister in law Ashlee is so creative, I just love her huge wall and creative frames that she updates when she has new pictures of her boys taken.  I dont have a cool empty wall like that.  But I do have one wall that doesn't contain a window or a fire place in my living room.   Below is a picture from pinterest - I think I'm going to smile real pretty at Chris and see what he thinks :)  Then I can do the majority of the pictures in Sepia with a pop of color.  Our wall is a tan shade - so we'd have to pain the shelves to match.  And I really like the idea of adding one or two framed quotes that don't actually sit on the shelf, but just above it.    I tell you, when we finish our basement - I could really run with it!

This is my absolute favorite.  But white does not work with my house.  I would imagine it should either match the trim or the walls?

My living room now.  See if the toys were gone and I got one of those cool therapy style lounge chairs, it could be great.  Also you can see to the right my door to the garage - art work displayed!

Anyway, those were some things I have been thinking of doing.  Also I saw this and think it is a must!  I think I'll plan to do it with Chris, Paul and Jackson.   And my dad, Jeff and Alex (sam, too?)  - this is just really neat.

And I can't get over how cute this is! I might have to start dabbling at old wood and fun stenciled quotes! :)

Well, until next time.  Thanks for hanging out and reading - I hope that I have some fun things to show for this!   Any input or ideas are welcome! 

Lactation Cookies, Melting Crayons, Fleece Blankets, Baby Food, Holiday Treats

Life has taken up much of my time (as it should) and Chris has also claimed our internet during times of children sleeping (stinkin' playstation).  BUT I have been hard at work and involving the kids as much as possible in the process.  In this edition of my incredibly insightful blog you will find tid bits on Lactation Cookies (and the review), how to melt your broken crayons (and the ways NOT to melt your broken crayons), Successful Baby Food - she finally eats it! - and the ways to freeze it, how to make your own tie-knot fleece blanket and finally some cute holiday treats with almond bark and marshmallows!   If you're looking for some but not all of this - just keep scrolling! - each section is highlighted.  Following this blog, I will share my upcoming plans - and I'm looking for some creative ideas as well.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies

The Recipe:

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons flax seed meal
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 2 -4 tablespoons brewer's yeast

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Mix the flaxseed meal and water and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
3. Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar well.
4. Add eggs and mix well.
5. Add flaxseed mix and vanilla, beat well.
6. Sift together flour, brewers yeast, baking soda, and salt.
7. Add dry ingredients to butter mix.
8. Stir in oats and chips.

The Review:

So on this website it claimed how great these cookies were - it had all the possible stars it could get.  And I love, really love, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (hold the raisins please).  Have you ever had Pot Belly's oatmeal chocolate chip? You must try them. So so good! 

Well these were not Pot Belly's cookies.  I did not love them.  With a glass of milk I was able to eat a whole cookie.  I am guessing the brewer's yeast did not add a flavor I loved to the cookie.  But other things I did that maybe weren't so helpful - I used Old Fashioned oats, next time I could try the quick cooking.  I am pretty sure flaxseed doesn't have a whole lot of taste going on.

On the other hand, my in laws, Paul and Patti came over the next day - I said "would you like to try one of these lactation cookies?" - described them and sure enough, they both tried them and did not hate them.  At all. In fact, they didn't even need a glass of milk.

I had wanted these cookies to help increase production.   Brewer's yeast, oatmeal, and flaxseed are all components that should help.  I fear I wasted $10.00 on a jar of the yeast.  But I think that really good oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (mixed with flaxseed), a glass of Gatorade (I swear it helps, G2) and the Brewer's yeast pills should work (those go down a lot quicker).

 

Melting Crayons

http://www.instructables.com/id/ReUse-ReMake-Crayons/

Jackson had an assignment to bring in one homemade gift to Preschool to share for a gift exchange at Christmas time.  I reached out to my facebook friends and got some great ideas.  I settled on melting crayons, mod podging a crayon holder and printing off all of his favorite characters on the computer for a coloring book.   These were all things that Jackson was very involved with - and it made it a lot of fun for him to give his gift to a friend (who seemed to really like it). 

I went to Michael's and found the Mod Podge and a ABC soap mold.  We dug through his crayons and ended up breaking a lot of perfect good crayons.   I attempted melting them in the microwave.  Instead I melted the bowl and the glass bowls were too hot.  So instead I followed the directions in the above link.  Thanks to many who collected cans for me (chris, dan, patti, megan) - we put the broken crayons in the bottom of pop cans and put about an inch of water in the pan, heated up and within 2 minutes of stirring they melted!

Tips:  it takes about 2 crayons to fill the letters (give or take) - white can really help out if you're making a solid color (light blue was still light blue) - adults use a sharp knife to slice down the middle of the crayon then let the little ones peel, it works so great versus just trying to peel.

For the container.  We cut the bottom of an oatmeal container and Jackson went to town "painting" on all kinds of pieces of paper and his favorite stickers with the mod poge.

And here are the results:

Christmas Snowman & Reindeer

(feel free to recreate for upcoming holidays)

www.makenmold.com

This was SO much fun to do with Jackson.   We made these holiday treats on a stick!  As you read below, I did not choose to buy some of the make n' mold products, but instead used almond bark and found some Wilton sticks.  But this gives you and idea - I just used it as a basic guideline.  I am thinking this would be really fun for Valentine's day, birthdays and St. Patrick's day.  Add your own spin and twist on decorations!

Reindeer Pops

SUPPLIES
   8 Large Marshmallows
    8- 6” Make’n Mold Lollipop Sticks (5005)
    Make’n Mold Microwavable Dipping Tray (5700)
    Make’n Mold Milk Chocolate Flavored Candy Wafers (6130)
    Make’n Mold Red Vanilla Flavored Candy Wafers (6190)
    16 Tiny Twist Pretzel Knots
    16 Candy Eyes
    Wax paper lined cookie sheet
    Make’n Mold Decorators Bottles (5106)
INSTRUCTIONS
Insert a lollipop stick into the side of each large marshmallow.
Lay sets of two pretzel knots onto the wax paper lined cookie sheet, so that they are touching each other.
Melt Make’n Mold Milk Chocolate Flavored candy wafers in Microwavable Dipping Tray according to package instructions.
Dip each marshmallow into the melted candy wafers, tap off excess. Place the flat side of each dipped marshmallow onto a set of pretzel knots.
Apply candy eyes. Chill 10 minutes.
Melt Make’n Mold Red Vanilla candy wafers in the decorator’s bottle, according to package instructions.
Squeeze a small red nose onto each reindeer. Chill an additional 5 minutes.

Enjoy.

Winter Marshmallow Creatures
SUPPLIES
    ¼ cup Make’n Mold Orange Vanilla Flavored Candy Wafers
    ¼ cup Make’n Mold Milk Chocolate Flavored Candy Wafers
    ChocoMaker® Candy Melter
    2 Make’n Mold mini squeeze bottles
    2 Writing caps
    6 Make’n Mold 6” lollipop sticks
    18 jumbo marshmallows
    Cinnamon candies (optional)
    Waxed paper
    Cookie sheet

INSTRUCTIONSPush three jumbo marshmallows onto each lollopop stick. The lollipop stick should not go all the way through the last marshmallow.

Melt vanilla and milk chocolate candy wafers separately in microwaveable dipping trays.

Dip marshmallows into melted candy wafers. Tap off excess melted candy wafers by tapping the marshmallow lollipop back into melted wafers horizontally, so the entire length of the lollipop taps the surface of the candy wafers (this will make your coating even.) Lay lollipops down on waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. Chill 10-15 minutes.

Once marshmallow lollipops have set up, melt dark and orange candy wafers. Fill mini squeeze bottles with melted candy wafers and draw details onto gingerbread and snowman characters. Dab melted candy wafers onto cinnamon candies to “glue” them on. Chill 5 minutes.

Tie Knot Fleece Blanket

So for Chris's work we had a name for Christmas and the little girl said her wish list was "games/horses" - the game was easy.  the horses, not so much.  So I was looking online at ideas of horses and thinking of sheets or pillows or something she could cuddle.  That is when I decided a Tie-Knot Blanket would be best!  I am sure the majority of you have made one, are cuddling with one and think this is silly to be so behind.  But for those of you who haven't made them - well you should!   We made her a blanket that had horses, it was really cute.  Then I decided it would be really fun to make one for each of Jackson's day care ladies to go with their gift.  Below you can see the finished results of two of them.  One of them is a Vikings fan! (woo hoo Vikings!)

A really easy how to:

Pick two fabrics you like together - fleece.  The woman at the fabric store tried to get me to purchase an even larger size.  I think these are plenty big.  For the 7 year old girl I chose 1.5 yards for each piece.  And for the adults I chose 2 yards.  Each fabric was on sale, so I'd guess each adult blanket ended costing me right around $20+. 

Lay them out on top of each other on a nice flat and clean surface.   Trim the pieces so they are the same size.  you can save some of the trimmings to tie the blanket together for presentation :)

Cut about a 3 inch square from each corner, easier to tie.  then be ready for sore fingers, or get really good scissors.  You'll cut each slice about 1.5 inches thick and the 3 inches deep.  when you've done this on all four sides you can start tying! Just tie each of the pieces together in a double knot.   When you've finished this, you're done! Easy as that.  For two of the blankets I folded and rolled them like a sleeping bag and tied them up with the scrap piece.   You can see the finished product below.   They just feel like nice gifts that are personal when you really think about what fabric the person would like best!   I highly recommend them!



This gives you an idea for size!  huge!  and little man took this fabulous photo :)  (fancy hair do, eh?)



Making Baby Food

& the clever ways to freeze it!

I don't have a whole lot to say about making the baby food.  Sophia refused it for the first two months of trying.  But just within the last 3 weeks, she's loving it!   Thank goodness.  So I took some time and "brewed" her up a whole bunch!   I followed the instructions in the Baby Bullet.  But really simple - steam your items (if necessary) - then add a bit of water and blend!  I used the silicone 6 spot freezer tray to freeze them.  But I do have ice cube trays with covers (as recommended by one of my wonderful co workers).   I wasnt sure what to do with them form there.  So i just put them in the breast milk bags that you can freeze!  this way I can label them with her name, date and what it is.   You don't want them to last more than a month.  Then I either melt them for about 15 seconds in the microwave or steam them.  She likes a lot of it cold anyways :)   Here it is!  And it stores perfectly in the freezer or deep freezer!