Winter Wreath

Making wreaths is one of my new favorite craft activities.  I made one for fall, spring, and football season... over the course of the last 12-15 months... and although I managed to skip right over Christmas (maybe I'll have time to do that in August), tonight I made a winter wreath.  I had been intrigued by the tulle wreaths on pinterest and thought it would be fun to try one in winter colors. Silver and white, to be exact!

Inspiration came from here...

It was very easy to do.  The most time-consuming part was cutting the tulle.  And although some blogs recommended folding the tulle in half and looping it through itself, I found that it wouldn't stay put like that.  I went with tying knots.  

Think I'll leave the (store-bought) Christmas wreath up for a few more days before I switch it out for this one..

M & M cheesecake bars

I had my family over for dinner tonight and wanted to try a new dessert. I have no idea what makes these Weight Watchers friendly... And haven't figured out the points or the calories. But they were tasty! If you like cheesecake and like M & M's, it's a win win!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Bars

I am a lover of all things pumpkin. Well, except pumpkin pie, but that's another story for another day. 

This is a "lightened" dessert... When you cut it into 24 servings, only 115 calories per serving!

Idea came from here...

http://pinterest.com/pin/221239400417909876/

I will say that it definitely turns out more like "cake" than "bars." But still tastes good!

I don't think there's anything I would change next time around. This is an easy recipe to make and doesn't take long. 

I took this pan to a meeting at church and the overall vote was that the bars/cake/whatever tasted good! Give it a try!

Ritz Rolos

What could be better than sweet and salty.... Rolos and Ritz crackers... Baked in the oven?

We tried this on vacation this summer and were not to be disappointed. I have three nephews (plus other family members) who will vouch for the deliciousness!

Directions here...

http://pinterest.com/pin/221239400417496363/

Before baking

Watching and waiting...

Topping them off

Three thumbs up!

Microwave corn on the cob??

I had heard about this several times - especially this summer - but didn't try it until this past week. The instructions can be found here...

http://pinterest.com/pin/379991287280506197/

And here is your step by step in pictures:

Put corn in microwave, husk and all. 

Four minutes per ear...

Remove with hot pads and cut off end without silks.

Grab silk end and let corn slide out.

Silk free!

I have to admit that this method made the corn a little bit crunchier than when it's boiled. But it's much easier than husking and tasted great!

Football time!

I was ready for a new wreath on my front door. I have football on the mind - specifically Colts and Michigan State. I have always loved the look of these ribbon wreaths so I gave it a try. Here's the link that inspired me...

http://pinterest.com/pin/221239400417851946/

And here's my end result!

I may still add logos for the two teams. Or I may leave it as is. Either way, this was fun and easy to make!

I'm baaaaack! Strawberry Lemonade Cake

Tonight was our fantasy football draft.  I hosted and said I'd make something for dessert. I wanted to make something summer-y and looked back at old pins and found this.

My inspiration came from here...

http://pinterest.com/pin/221239400415556012/

And here's my take on it.

It looks good, tastes good, and was much easier to do than it looks, I think! I have always been intimidated by layer cakes... Not anymore!

From my heart to yours

This was another activity from the conference.  Could be done for random acts of kindness, could be done for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, or just for fun.

Step by step picture directions below... although as I kept doing it, I made them different ways.  Be creative and make it your own!

Balloon Painting

We tried this at a conference a few weeks ago and it was so fun!  The outcome was beautiful, and I think the final products would be as different as the people making them.  This could be very messy... but I did it without getting paint on me at all.

Source: handsonaswegrow.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Enjoy!

Decade Costume

I was recently at a conference where we had to dress up in costume.  For the party one evening, we had to dress like the decade in which we were born.  I talked to my sister and the ideas were flowing.  I could dress like Punky Brewster.  Or I could think outside the box and dress like this...

Source: google.com.au via Sew on Pinterest

The costume was a hit.  It was fun to make and it was easy to do.  I took a couple of hours one evening and put newspaper in between the layers of a shirt I already had.  Painted the board, cut and sewed the ghosts and Pac Man, and was all set.  I pinned the ghosts and Pac Man to the "board" the night of the event.

Maybe Halloween for this year is already done...

Easter fun

Yes, this is a little late, but I'm just helping you think ahead for next year!

I wanted to give something to my nephews for Easter.  Their cousins would also be at Easter dinner, so I wanted it to be something fairly small and inexpensive that I could give to everybody.  Here's what I found...

Source: bubblzinthed.blogspot.com via Nancy on Pinterest

So the ears didn't stay on long once they went to open the bottle, but it is the thought that counts, right?  Next year, maybe I'll just give them a bag of M & M's. :)

Family Movie Night: Tangled

We always try to have crafts and activities at the back of the Fellowship Hall for kids who just can't make it through the whole movie.

We were showing Tangled, so I went in search of activities that related.  Look what I found!



The kids loved them, and they were pretty easy to make.  Fun!

Smashed potatoes!

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Nancy on Pinterest

These were delicious.  Last time I was at IKEA, I bought a potato masher and I was itching to use it.  I used small red potatoes and looking back, I think I would have used baby red. Mine were kind of large, and took a little longer as a result.

I didn't use any spices - because I don't have many of those in my pantry.  So I was good to go with olive oil, salt and pepper.  The recipe called for kosher salt, I used sea salt.

Definitely worth a try!

Rainbow cake!

Two friends share a birthday on March 20.  We were going to be together, so a cake was in order.  When I was at tutoring on Monday, the girl I'm tutoring told me about a cake that she and a friend of hers had made.  You know what I did then... went to Pinterest to look for a recipe.  Here is what I found:



This was really easy to do.  Essentially, you make a white (box) cake according to the directions.

 

I then split the batter into bowls, added different colors of food coloring to each, and spread them in a bundt pan a layer at a time.  I was worried about stirring them together accidentally as I spread the layers out in case the colors would mix, but found out later they didn't really mix.

I also needed a glaze, so went with a recipe from here:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/vanilla-glaze/

The glaze didn't work as planned.  It seemed to be a lot of powdered sugar for very little liquid, and the recipe said, "Stir until creamy."  It wasn't getting creamy anytime soon, so I alternated adding milk and powdered sugar until it was a good consistency.  Ended up with WAY too much glaze, but it tasted good!

The final result was REALLY moist (yum!) and very pretty!

Definitely recommended!  Enjoy!

Balloon avalanche!

Scenario: We were going out of town on a youth retreat.  One of the youth in my group would celebrate her 13th birthday while we were there.  Something special had to be done, right??

Inspiration from here...

Source: diyhomepins.com via Nancy on Pinterest

It was a great success!  I definitely needed help to pull it together.  I had to alert the six other people in her room that once they went to bed that night, they needed to stay in there.  And that the birthday girl needed to be the one to open the door in the morning!  They agreed to do their part.  Also, there is no way I could have held those balloons in place AND taped all of the crepe paper to the door frame!  I had three helpers - all willing to stay up extra late to make the surprise happen.

She came out in the morning and was definitely surprised.  We were actually trying to fix some of them that had fallen out right as she opened the door, so I think it scared her a little to see us standing there. Oh well. She enjoyed it and will hopefully remember it for a long time!

Here's our final product...

Highly recommended as a fun way to celebrate a birthday!!

Thinking spring!

On a day when many schools are closed due to snow and ice, it seems only right to think about a spring wreath for my front door!  While I will not yet hang the wreath, it helps to think about warmer days on the horizon.

Inspiration from here...

Source: optimisticmommy.com via Nancy on Pinterest

You will need a Styrofoam wreath, plus these supplies...

And here's the finished product!

Okay, spring, time to pay us a visit and stay for a while!

Oven Hard Boiled Eggs

I had been wanting to try this for a while, and just got around to it this week.  The idea came from here...

Source: fitnessisyourfavoritepassion.tumblr.com via Nancy on Pinterest

I have to say I was skeptical because they take longer to make in the oven.  But it says they taste better, too, so it was worth a try, right?

I put the eggs in a mini muffin pan so that they didn't roll around as much...

One website warned that the egg shells would have brown spots on them once they were baked.  They did.

But it also said that once you put them in cold water to cool, the brown would come off.  It did, mostly.  I did notice that the eggs were easier to peel.  I also noticed that there were some brown spots on the actual egg (the outside of the white).  I didn't worry about it too much and I'm still fine several days later! :)

I used them in egg salad and didn't notice a major taste difference.  If you eat the egg straight, you might.  So I guess I'm indifferent on this one.  Might be worth it because they are easier to peel, but it depends on whether or not you have the extra time for cooking!