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Okay, I know that this isn't a craft, or anything, but, hey, for me it kinda was! Considering the fact that I created this document from scratch, that's considered a craft by me. :D







So, I created this because I've been having a hard time sticking to a menu with my son. I went and bought some laminate (a roll cost about $8 at the university, so I'm sure it's cheaper elsewhere), a plain clipboard, and a dry erase marker. I printed and "laminated" it, then put it on the clipboard. Now, I can put new info on the sheet each week, and not waste a huge amount of paper. If you want to edit my version, at all, please feel free to email me. I can send it to you via Dropbox. :)










All you have to do to download the menu is to CLICK HERE!

Paper Lunch Bag Accessorized!!

I made some gift bags out of brown paper sacs. I'm sure they sell white ones, but I had brown ones. The first thing I did was get a paper sac, some contact paper, and I cut the contact paper into Easter designs. Simple enough. Then, I put them onto the paper lunch sacs. Here is the result:

I'm sorry, it's not a better picture. I scanned it into my computer.

Dying Eggs for EASTER!

I remember growing up, and not being able to afford those expensive egg dying kits. Even still, I’m too broke to afford those really cool ones that let you make eggs gold, or whatever. I can’t help but wonder, though, if I would buy them if I COULD afford them! I still grew up relatively poor, with LOTS of kids, so I am a thrifty person. Here are a few ideas of how to decorate your eggs for less… and it’s still REALLY fun!

1. Get a white crayon, have the kids color on the eggs, and then dip them in the egg dye. Wherever a crayon marked the egg, it stays white.
2. Instead of buying egg dye, use food coloring. You can even get different hues of the same color by adding less or more food coloring.
3. Use coffee mugs for the egg dye. That will make it so it can’t be too deep, and less area for the egg to drop.
4. Cover the table with an old newspaper. This will protect the tabletop, and, hopefully, absorb some of the moisture. If you live where it’s warm outside, just do it outside! That way, anything that spills will go in the grass.
5. Put the egg, with food coloring, into a Ziploc. This will be mess free eggs.
6. Ziplocs also work great for glittering the eggs. Drop in a Ziploc some glitter, then put the wet, dyed egg into the Ziploc. The glitter will naturally stick to the egg.
7. Use the empty egg cartons to store the dyed eggs. This idea also works great if you want to let them dry in the cartons, since they absorb moisture.
8. Paintbrushes are a great way to get the custom look without spending a bundle.
9. I, personally, like to get the cheap stamps from Michael’s crafts or Walmart, and stamp on the eggs directly. I usually dye the whole egg, and then stamp in a darker hue of the same color. Ex: Pink egg, with Red stamp. –I recently got the idea to glue foam stickers to the tops of bottle lids to make stamps. I will be trying it this year! (Website with idea is here.)
10. Stickers are generally pretty cheap, and they make a dyed egg look so NICE. Plus, kids of all ages can use a sticker. :D
11. Place several wet eggs into a dry bowl, then drip food coloring onto the eggs. I like to do this with multiple colors, and it has a really cool effect. You need to take out the eggs fairly quickly, or you will get gathering dye on all the bottom ones (a big ring or a solid, dark section. Not pretty!).
12. Tie rubber bands around the eggs, then drop them into the dye. The rubber bands usually keep that section of the egg white. As soon as the egg dries, take off the rubber bands. Viola!

I hope these ideas help you out. Please let me know how they work for you, and, if you can think of other suggestions, please shoot them my way!

Until next time,

--Danyelle

Dishcloth Bunnies--Great for EASTER!

I recently got asked for some cheap, and easy, crafts people can do with small children. Well, my mom has always made these... well, since I can remember. I tried to take as good of pictures as possible. If you make these, and take better ones, please send them to me so I can post them. I will credit you, of course! I don't have googly eyes or pom poms, but you would add them to this creation (or leave them off if you are making them for REALLY young children that may try to eat them).



Okay, first, you gather your supplies:

Washcloth

Ribbon

Egg

Scissors

Googly eyes and PomPoms (If you're going to add them).

Lay cloth diagonally, and roll from one corner to the next. Your wash cloth should look like this: 

Now, pinch corners together, to make your washcloth look like this:

Fold the top part back, until the corners are about 2/3 the way up. It should look like this:

Tie ribbon around area your fingers are holding it. It should look like this:

Now, you will want to move the stuff around a little bit, so that the face looks more even, and the ears are both facing the same direction. Then, it will look like this:

Put egg in back, and Viola! You are done!

*NOTE: If the egg doesn’t fit, you can gently pull the hole to be bigger. Being gentle is what it’s all about here, or else it will fall apart. *

Tiger's Eggs--For the PICKY eater!

Okay, here's the story behind this one. I first realized that when you baste an egg, it looks much prettier. Then, in highschool quite a few years back, I had a friend over. I was cooking breakfast, when she came in and started ordering me around in MY kitchen. Yeah, it irritated me, too! Anyways, one thing that was GOOD (the ONLY thing, actually) about her trying to run the cooking was that I learned the trick you are about to learn! The reason I say this recipe is GREAT for the picky eater is because my nephews REFUSED to eat the eggs that I made them. I'm not sure why, since they'd liked em like that for YEARS! Anyways, I remembered that irritating day in highschool, and I asked them how they'd like TIGER'S EGGS??? Know what they said? YES!!!! AWESOME!!!

Well, it's quite simple, actually!

What you will need:

• Good frying pan, with a FLAT bottom, not overly curved up edges (no woks or anything like that). 
• VERY small pan lid (I prefer glass because it allows you to see when the egg is done, though my mom prefers a metal one. It's all about preference, here.)
• Plastic cup most the way full of water
• Salt Shaker
• Egg(s)

 Instructions:
Heat stove to med/high heat, and place pan on burner. After pan is heated, crack egg into pan, sprinkle salt onto egg, pour water into pan NEXT to egg, and place lid over egg and water. Watch as the egg cooks, since I'm not sure how long it takes to cook them to YOUR specifications. It doesn't take that long, though. Then, when egg is cooked to your preference, put on plate and serve. Enjoy!

***NOTE***
If you want LOTS of "stripes", apply lots of salt, if you want very little "stripes", apply very little salt. Simple as that.


Pictures were as best as I could get. Hope you enjoy. :D

Crescent Rolls--Accessorized!

I buy the cheapest container of crescent rolls, which here runs about $2.99 per pack of 8. Not too bad, considering this can be a multi-functional treat!

The ones I ATTEMPTED to take pictures of are lasagna-ish crescent rolls. They surprisingly turned out really well! I caution, though, to pay attention to the stars--they tell you what I found out as I was trying out this recipe.

What you will need:

1 pack of crescent rolls (or more)
Spaghetti Sauce (I like mine chunky, so I do a huge pot. That recipe will be coming on here next.)
Cottage Cheese (I used Fat Free. Also, it was on clearance--****Important clearance tip: Make sure you only get as much as you'll use, or else you aren't really saving money. You're wasting it.****)

Yes, that's all you really need. I turned the oven on to 350 degrees first, to preheat the oven. Then, I opened the crescent rolls. It's better if you roll them all out first, because as they warm up, they tend to stick together. Next, lay out a sheet of wax paper (won't stick to the rolls, and makes it easy to cleanup after). I did NOT do this step, as you'll see in the pictures. This helps cut costs lower, and helps the environment. But, do whichever you want. Now, you'll spread a thin layer of cottage cheese on the rolls (****Make sure you do a VERY thin layer, no curds should be on top of each-other. Otherwise, it will make the rolls too thick, and they won't bake in the center!!!). After the cottage cheese is on all the rolls, spread a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on top of the cottage cheese (****Same thing as the cottage cheese, keep layer as thin as possible, since it will not close and won't bake all the way through.****). That's it, relish if you want to, then line them about half an inch apart. My pan was fairly small, and I tested a few different types of crescent rolls, failed a few times, so I only had two in  my pan. That's okay. Fit however many you can. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, give or take a few minutes. Check on the rolls every few minutes AFTER 10 minutes has passed. Once the rolls are a dark golden color, they should be cooked all the way through, unless you made them too thick. Than you'll have to figure that out. :D (The ones that I made that were too thick were just popped into the microwave, though they weren't very pretty anymore.)

Some variations I tried:
Cheddar Cheese
Peanut Butter and Chocolate. (My FAVORITE!!!!)

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

I'm having issues loading pictures. I will attempt again tomorrow... I hope. :D