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!