A Few of My Favorite Pins ~ Fall

We've been crazy busy here trying to wrap up football season and get ready for Halloween. One of these days I'll get a post up in time for people to use it for the season it was intended for. I'll do better at Christmas. In the spirit of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and all things Fall, I thought I'd share a few awesome Pins I've found to get you in the "spirit" (pun intended - I'm a sucker for a bad joke). Don't hesitate - Pin them all.

Favorite Pin #1 - Pumpkin Stamp Art


From http://www.makeit-loveit.com/


You need:
Orange and/or red paint (I used the crayola kind)
Empty toilet paper tube (3 kids... we always have an empty one laying around!)
Newspaper (trust me... go get some newspaper)
Twigs and leaves from your back yard

Cost: It's so cheap! You already have the toilet paper (hopefully). If you get desperate, feed some prunes to your kids and you'll have the empty roll in no time. The paint will run you around $5.

To do it:
To make the Stamp: If the steps are confusing, I made a little picture collage below to help guide you along! 1) Take the empty roll and cut it in half lengthwise, so you have two, shorter rolls that are about the same height. 2) Take one roll and snip off about a half an inch all the way down the side. 3) Tape the roll back together on the side and squeeze it a little so it makes an oblong shape (like the eye of Sauron) 4) Set the eye of Sauron inside the other toilet paper tube and glue them together at the top. 5) Let it dry a bit and you're done with the stamp part!
To make the pumpkin art: Dip the stamper in the paint (I just squirted it on some newspaper). You have to get quite a bit of paint on there before the pumpkins look very good. I think the 3rd or 4th one turned out pretty good. My 5-year old was able to do it all by herself (in fact... she wouldn't let me help). After the paint dried, we found some little twigs and leaves from our yard and glued them on. We think it turned out pretty well! They are super easy and something your littles can do all by themselves (mostly).

Pretty stinkin' easy!

My 5-year old's creation. Masterpiece!

Favorite Pin #2 - Pumpkin Crispy Treats

http://cincyshopper.com/pumpkin-rice-krispie-treats/From http://cincyshopper.com/

Confession: I didn't actually use the recipe on this site, but I love this idea of making pumpkins. I used the recipe from my blog post here about Rice Crispy Apples (combined with my post about the Best Rice Crispy Treats Ever). I figured they're pretty much the same thing... different color. So I substituted orange jello... read below.

You need:

1 stick of butter (real butter - it matters)
1- 10-ounce bag of marshmallows
6 cups of rice crispy cereal

1 small pkg. Jell-o powder, orange flavor

Red and Yellow food coloring to make orange (optional)

More butter or non-stick spray 

Cost: These are so cheap to make and make you look like you're a domestic genius! You'll probably spend between $10-$15, depending on sales you hit. I keep my cupboards stocked at all times with Rice Crispy makings... for emergencies.

To do it: Ever since I found the magic recipe, making Rice Crispy treats no longer makes me want to throw the saucepan across the kitchen. I love making them! And they always turn out soft and chewy, like they're supposed to. Do your pan first - line a baking dish with wax paper; probably doesn't hurt to coat it with Pam spray. Then brown the butter until it turns brown and smells nutty (sounds weird, but it works!). Remove from heat, add marshmallows and melt them (put back on the turned-off burner if they're not melting). Toss in the jello powder and food coloring (if you want it orange-ier) and mix that in. Then add the Rice Crispies and mix until they're all gooey. Shape the mixture into balls about the size of your palm (like a kiwi size). While they're still warm, stick the tootsie roll in the top. Viola... pumpkins. After they dry, if you want to get really fancy, you can draw a leaf on with icing or make one out of a fruit roll-up. At our house, they're usually gone before this can be done. Serve and soak up the compliments! Here are mine. Just call me Domestic Goddess.

   My 5-year old loved helping me make these for church!


Favorite Pin # 3 Pumpkin Oranges and Ghost Bananas


From http://princesspinkygirl.com/

You need:

Bananas, cut in half (I also cut them in half lengthwise, so they had a flat bottom and it made more)

Chocolate chips (regular sized and mini sized)

Cuties or mandarin oranges, peeled

Celery

Cost: I think I spent a total of about $15 on all of the ingredients (but I had to make enough for about 20). The little bit of extra cost is worth it because they're cute AND healthy! Other parents will love you.

To do it:
Ghost Bananas: I made these for my son's Halloween party at daycare (I had to bring fruit but I couldn't bring JUST fruit!) These looked easy enough and I loved the idea of fruit instead of all that candy! My three monsters are going to get enough of that anyway. I sliced the bananas in half lengthwise and through the middle, so each banana gave me four pieces. I think in the picture above they only sliced one way. What can I say... get the most out of what you have. I'm stingy like that. The chocolate chips just stick in there to make a face, but don't push too far or your bananas will start to break. Also these are not a night-before preparation. You'll want to make them as close to consumption time as possible. Otherwise you have brown ghosts. No one wants a brown ghost.
Pumpkin Oranges: Easier than the ghosts, if that's humanly possible. Snip a few celery slices so they look like stems. Peel the oranges (time consuming, but not hard - my 5-year old was an orange-peeling champ!). Stick the celery in the hole. Done! If you're storing them: We put them in an air-tight container with a tiny cup of water to keep them a little moist and then stuck them in the fridge. Worked like a charm!

Favorite Pin # 4: Candy Witches Brooms and Hats

Picture from Pinterest

You need:
Straight pretzels
Reese's PB cups, unwrapped (we always have these... for emergencies too)
Chocolate kisses, unwrapped
Mint or other flat, chocolate cookies (Oreos would probably work if you scraped the frosting off)
Frosting, colored purple

Cost: This will cost you around $10-$15 for all of the ingredients. Totally do-able and not too bad for a special day or show-and-share snack if you have to throw something together at the last minute (I guess I'd know from experience...) 

To Do It:
Brooms: There's not really a lot to it, take the pretzels and stab them into the PB cups. Done. Seriously easy. I think my pretzels must have been "too big" because my PB cups kept breaking. Solution: I carved a little hole in the top of each cup (stabbed it and rotated the knife to make a hole) and then stuck the pretzel in.
Hats: For these, put the mint cookie, flat side down and squirt some frosting on there (like a quarter-sized amount). Drop the kiss on top and squish it down a little. I got the best result if I squished down and twirled the kiss at the same time. It made the frosting hat band more circular. Super easy and a cute little snack for my monsters in about 10 minutes (or less). You can't go wrong with this one! I'm going to try it again with the "Pilgrim Hat" version. Stay tuned!
These were so, so easy that I made some for my son's daycare party AND for my daughter's class Halloween party. Mom of the year right here!

Here's my hats and brooms - I did orange and purple. I'm so festive.


I wanted to do one more (Inside Out Caramel Apples, below) but I ran out of time. I wanted to get these up before Halloween actually happened... and that's tomorrow, so... I'll post an update later. Caramel apples are for fall anyway... I still have another month for that.

Favorite Pin # 5: "Inside Out" Caramel Apples - Stay Tuned - these look like I could totally mess them up. They deserve their own post.

Tips for a "Good" Pin

This is going to be short and sweet, but before I delve into it too much, I am definitely not trying to sound like I know everything or that I am doing it all right (that couldn't be further from the truth!). I do not deign to think that I am a Pinterest expert by any means. I have, however, learned from experience, and from looking on Pinterest. A lot. Seriously... it's a problem.

Here are just a few tips for a "Good Pin" (and why I think that). Really... take it with a grain of salt and if you have better or different suggestions, by all means - share!

1. Include a good description I don't know how many times I've found the best idea on Pinterest and then I click on the picture, and it says something like "cake" (well, duh... that's why I clicked on it!) It's beyond frustrating. Now... some pins are obvious... like this one

Grapes... Goldfish... Clothespin. Viola!

But if it's not the "Captain Obvious" of Pins, make sure there are instructions, either on the website you pinned it from or in your own description. I really like the ones where the directions or the recipe is in the picture, like this one...

Easy to follow instructions

 2. Speaking of Descriptions Here's another problem I have (which... I might be the only one who has this problem because I'm a huge airhead), but I always find something so awesome and then when I Pin it, I don't read the existing description (hasty!). Make sure you change it, if needed, and use words that will help you remember what it is. Because, after all... that's the whole of the point of Pinterest (well... actually it's only half the point... read on). It'd be a really big shame if you pinned something like this...

...and the person you Pinned it from just said... "Yum!". It's happened. To some people. Do your fellow Pinners and your followers a favor and put a good description in. It saves people time... the other half, of the whole point of Pinterest. This is getting weird...

3. Pin from the Website/Blog This also relates to #1, and I know this might seem obvious, but I can't tell you how many times I have found a great idea on Pinterest, and then I click on the picture (for instructions on how to do said awesome idea) and it is just the picture. Then I have to try to go to the web address, find where on the blog or website this amazing idea was originally posted, and then, sometimes, I find the instructions. Save your followers and yourself some headaches! Make sure your Pin isn't linking to just the picture, but to the meaty part! It's the meaty part you want!

4. Videos Don't forget the power of the video! While Pinterest was probably originally intended to keep pictures for later use, the website supports videos too! That's right... you can Pin a video, and even play it right on Pinterest. This is so helpful for those "video tutorials", like this one on how to fold a t-shirt in less than 2 seconds. Seriously... watch it. It will save you all that time you spent on Pinterest!

5. If you like it, Pin it It doesn't cost anything, aside from a little time (a lot of time in my case). But it really isn't that much... unless you get sucked in, like I do... every day. But it is so frustrating to find a great idea, think "I'll save this later", and then not be able to find it again. I've done this before and sometimes I do re-find the great idea, but many times I don't. Learn from my mistakes!

6. Pins with Printables Pin them! Pin lots of them! If you have kids, these are great! They can make a crafty, thoughtful person out of any Pinnner! All you need is a printer and some paper in most cases, and they do the work for you! What's not to like? I did this one last year for both daughters' teachers.

My kids' teachers loved this - and I barely had to do a thing!

7. Pin it more than once If you like it, and it fits in several of your Boards, Pin it more than once. There's not really any reason not to, and that way both you and your followers can find your great ideas in many different places. I think I have this Pin on three different boards. Because... why not?

8. Hashtags Use them! The purpose of a hashtag (it's a pound sign!) is to make it simple for others to search for something that has a common topic. I try to "hashtag" a lot of my Pins and this is why... If someone is looking for a freezer meal, for example, and I have put a Pin of this quiche in my "Good Eats - Breakfast" folder and I hashtag it with #freezer, when they search "freezer" in Pinterest, my quiche Pin can pop up because of the hashtag. Nifty, right?

8. Make sure you're Pinning to the right board Wait... no one does that... right?!? Well, some people do. It happens. When you're getting into the Pinning groove and getting lost in the world of Pinterest, it's easy to overlook which board you're Pinning to. It's worth a double check. It would just be weird if this Pin were on, for example, a "Recipes" or "Food" or "Good Eats" board. People would start to talk...

Food for Fido... not for you!  

So there you have it. My inexpert opinions on what makes a good pin. Again, take it or leave it. It's just one Pinterest enthusiast's thoughts. And I am a Pinterest addict. Do they have Pinterest Anonymous? Anyway... hope it helps save you and others time.

Happy Pinning!

Starting a Freezer Meal Exchange Group

I have recently gotten very into freezer cooking and here is the reason why. My loving coach-husband who has coached football as an assistant coach for the last 10 years, recently got the head coaching job at our local high school (Go Tigers!). As such, I have been stockpiling like a maniac chipmunk trying to get ready for football season. Stay tuned for a lot more posts about the freezer meals I've made (I have everything from mini cheesecakes to crockpot freezer meals to fajitas). Right after I got this brilliant freezer idea into my head, a friend of mine on Facebook, who recently became a new mom, inquired about anyone who wanted to do a freezer meal exchange. I had thought about this, but had never had the go-get-em enough to actually organize one. So... THANKS ANGIE! Thanks to her (and three other awesome friends) we now have a freezer group. I pinned these two guides recently, and they are great guides for how to get a group started. But I hope this post will give you a good idea too!

Disclaimer: I wish I would have taken more photos along the way, but I didn't know this was going to turn into a blog post until later. So... sorry for the lack of photos!

THE PIN(S): These are two great guides, which you could use to start a freezer meal exchange. I have yet to actually exchange meals with my group, thus... this blog post. I'll tell you how easy it is (I'm expecting extreme ease since I'll get five meals when I've really only made one!)

Pic from http://www.eazypeazymealz.com/

Pic from http://www.mealplanningmagic.com/

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Whatever ingredients you'll need for your recipe. See the link for the recipe I used below.
Gallon sized freezer bags or other vessels for freezing
Friends (we have five, but I think anywhere between 2-6 would work... any more and it could get too hard to make all the meals, any less and, well... you would be doing it by yourself!)
Freezer

Before I get too far, I will tell you that there is a list at the end of this post of tips I gathered from my experience. When I started, I had this really grand plan for what I was going to make (I have found so many good meals!), but I encountered a few hurdles before I even made my meal. Read on...

One thing that is really important before you start is to set up a meeting with your group members. I wouldn't have thought of this, but Angie did (thank goodness!). We wanted to set some guidelines for how we wanted to do the meals, when and where we would exchange the meal, allergies and likes/dislikes, etc. I didn't know all of the ladies very well, so it was nice to get together and meet everyone first, plus determine some of those preferences. PLUS, I got to hold the sweetest little baby (got my baby fix!) while his mama enjoyed her coffee.

So we all met for coffee to determine some guidelines. I hadn't even really thought about different diets because my family will eat anything (or if they won't... they don't eat - my middle child experienced this the other night). Angie mentioned that her husband didn't like mushrooms. That's easy; I could just leave them out of hers. But another lady in my group, Robin, asked for little or no dairy. My sister doesn't do well with dairy, so I took the challenge as something that I could make for her. Plus, if she comes to visit (hint hint!), I can make one of my exchange meals for her. Perfect! No dairy and no mushrooms isn't too hard as a lot of the freezer meals leave out the dairy anyway (it doesn't freeze really well). Another thing we determined was that my family (at 5) was going to be the biggest. We decided to make all the meals big enough for five people and the smaller families (one of my friends is cooking for one!) would just have lots of yummy leftovers. You can see the importance of having a pre-meeting to determine some expectations.

Hurdle #2 had me thinking a little harder. One of the members, Angie, messaged the group a few days after the first meeting we had to let us know that her husband had recently been diagnosed with diabetes. She was so sweet and told the group that she would bow out, but we all had the same mutual feeling: we can work with this! All that being said... it was feeling a lot more challenging. No dairy AND no carbs? In the words of Barney Stinson: "Challenge accepted!" Angie told us that her hubby had to limit the amount of carbs he could eat (so no pasta-based dishes) but that he could have small portions of brown rice and grains. After a little digging on Pinterest and other sites, I determined that this would really not be that difficult. While a lot of freezer meals have carbs in them, many of the ones I found could be easily modified to leave them out or they didn't even have that many in the first place. The silver lining? These meals were going to be very healthy! It's a bonus I hadn't thought about plus my aunt, who doesn't do well with gluten, can also come and visit (hint hint!) and enjoy these meals.

So after all of the hurdle jumping, I made my one meal (Coconut Curry Chicken). I will blog about it later because it is so, so good! I made one meal, but multiplied it by the number of members in my group. Including me, that's five. I had to make sure I made enough so we could keep one in our freezer, but if you run out of ingredients, you could take yourself out of the equation. I wanted to make it easy on my group members, so I made a crock pot freezer meal. I love this idea so much because not only is it already chopped and done, but when you cook it you just set your slow cooker and come home at the end of the day to an amazing meal (and this one is amazing!). This took me around 2 1/2 hours to chop everything and put it into bags. I did use a mini food processor to chop the onions because they do not get along with my eyes (cue Justin Timberlake...). I felt so accomplished when I was finished!!

While I was busy, so were my counterparts!

One of my group mate's meals... all ready for the freezer

With freezing meals, you want to make sure you always write out the instructions for how to prepare the meal, and this is especially important if you're giving them to other people. Something I didn't think of (but thanks to my awesome exchange group...) is to print out and share the recipe you used. There are a lot of reasons this could be useful, not the least of which is so the people you give your meals to have a reference point to refer back to in case some question comes up. Another good reason is so if they really like your meal, they can make it again!

One thing that we also had come up is that Lindy, messaged us all and told us she had unexpectedly been called in to work the day we were supposed to exchange meals (she found out about a week before). It was really not a big deal. She brought her meals to my house and I stuck them in my freezer until the exchange date. Then I just kept one of my meals in my freezer for her, and one of her meals in my freezer for myself. When we exchanged, I brought the other three meals (for Shannan, Robin and Angie) to the exchange.

As mentioned before, we decided on a pre-determined date for our exchange meeting (about three weeks after our initial coffee get-together so we had time to cook and freeze). I don't know how our group is going to do it moving forward, but for the first one, Angie offered to exchange at her house. She has a new baby, so we all agreed this would be easiest. I'm not sure what my group will want to do, but I think the "rotating hostess" method would work really well where a different person hosts the exchange at their house.

All of our meals all stacked up together 

All of our meals stacked up together

COST: $$ The cost of this totally depends on you. I think I spent a total of around $35-$45, but I got five meals out of it, so you have to take that into account. I put it as pretty affordable because $40 is a lot, but when you factor in how many meals you get, you're really only spending $5-$9 per meal

DO-ABILITY: Considering I got five different meals that I can just un-thaw and cook, no stress, I would say this was incredibly easy! As long as you can chop, portion and write, (and spare a couple hours) you can do this!

THE SKINNY: If you have a few friends who want to join together with you, this is definitely they way to go! I don't know why I didn't do something like this earlier! Again, it's such an easy way to get five meals out of one and it's good for camaraderie.

THE GOOD: You get a bunch of meals and only have to make one! Plus it's a great excuse to get together with your friends. It does come with a few challenges, but as I mentioned above, it was really easy to get through the obstacles we encountered.

THE BAD: You will literally be chopping and cutting for about 2-3 hours. So hunker down and put a good movie or audio book on the 'ole tablet and chop away. I would definitely invest in a small food processor. You can pick them up for less than $20 and it is totally worth it if you're going to do this a lot. Here is the one I have.

PIN OR BUST?: Pin it! Pin both of them, and share this blog post, while your at it! This post is authentic, real-world, trial-and-error, experience you can use! Learn from my mistakes and challenges... And then go freeze with friends!

THE LAST WORD: As promised, I have compiled a short list of good tips to keep in mind. If you have a go-to place, this would probably be it. 

Go To List!
1. Pre-Cooking Meeting: Very important. Set up a date you can all meet for coffee (gives you a good excuse to drink coffee together!) and decide on some ground rules and expectations.
2. Dietary Needs: Make sure at the first meeting you outline any dietary needs your family might have and to note down the needs of the other families in your group. Make sure you keep an open line of communication to let the group know of any new changes in your family's diet.
3. Portion Sizes: I didn't really think about this when we first started, but portion sizes are important. As I said, my family was the biggest in the group, so our group decided to make enough in all the meals for five people and everyone else would have leftovers. Your group could do it however you please, but make sure to make it an expectation!
4. Instructions: I always write in permanent marker on my bags, and it makes it really easy. You'll want to make sure your cooking methods/temperatures are on there, times for cooking, and any other pertinent information. Make sure you put the date on there also! Most freezer meals will last up to 6 months, but I've found that you'll probably want to eat them within 1-2 months (you can stretch it out to three, but they're better in the first two!).
5. How to contain it: Again, something you might not think of, but if all of the meals are "contained" the same way, it makes for easier hauling to and from the pickup site as well as storage when you get all the meals home. We decided to freeze everything flat in gallon sized freezer bags. All of the freezer meals I've made tell you to freeze in a gallon sized bag, but the key is to freeze it flat (not in a lump, if that makes sense). I stacked mine in the freezer on top of a cookie sheet and it worked very well.
6. Share your recipe: Again, something I did not think of, but definitely a really great idea. Print out your recipe and hand one to everyone in your group. This serves a few purposes. First, if they like it, they can save the recipe for later. Second, they can read the ingredients so that in case there is something in there they are not sure they can eat, they are aware it is in there.
7. Set up an exchange place/time: Make sure you set up a specific time and place. Some groups will use the same spot and time and do a once-monthly exchange. With how schedules change, I didn't think this was a good idea for our group. We set up our first meeting, but I am expecting that it will probably change both location and time. Do what is easiest for your group!
8. Communicate!: Definitely set up a communication line within your group. We did this in a "group message" on Facebook, so that everyone could ask questions, give and get pointers, and stay on the same page. Anytime you're doing something with five people (or how ever many...) communication is key!

I am so excited to try this again with my exchange group. Hopefully all of them are willing to keep at it too! If you have either frozen meals or done an exchange group, leave a comment and let me know how it went, give tips or suggestions, etc.

Happy Pinning!

DIY Mason Jar Soap Dispenser *BONUS* DIY Foaming Hand Soap

Again, I'm apologizing for not posting sooner. I have a bucket full of excuses I could use... mainly that the sale of our current home and purchase of our next home totally fell apart, and we've been trying to rebound from that. Even more reason to make our existing bathroom look new!

Since I have more time on my hands now that it's summer and I have time to think about these things... I was looking at my soap dispenser the other day (yea, that's weird...) and noticed it was pretty boring. It was just your regular, run-of-the-mill store-bought soap dispenser. When I got married and bought my house I always envisioned that it would be one of those houses with neat things in it... like soap dispensers that are unique. Unfortunately, the vision in my head doesn't match the reality of my house (I decorate my family room with toy bins instead of elegant vases and in place of the picture collages of my travels, my walls are adorned with the faces of my little cherubs...). It's okay, I figured I can add a unique or elegant touch here and there.

THE PIN: Confession: I didn't actually find this on Pinterest, but it is on there now on my "DIY" Board. I find a lot of the projects I like on other blogs as well. When I saw this I was immediately intrigued when it said "Homemade". In my mind that generally translates to "cheap", as a lot of times the materials can be found for inexpensive at the local garage sale or hardware store. As was the case with this one, I already had many of the materials from other projects I'd undertaken. It looked easy enough and it was SO PRETTY (for a soap dispenser...) Plus, as a bonus and I already had mason jars. Perfect!

Picture from www.domesticallyblissful.com/

FOR THE SOAP DISPENSER:
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

The top half of a Foam Soap Dispenser (I dismembered my foaming dispenser from Bath and Body Works)
Mason Jar with Lid
Hammer
Small Nail
Super Glue (I used Gorilla Glue because it's what I had!)
Tin Snips (pliers used to cut through tin) 

Newspapers
Spray Paint

Mason jar - I have a gazillion (because I think that one day I might actually can my own food... one day). Hammer and nail - the hubby has to have one somewhere. Super glue - always have that. Tin snips (these are optional but very useful... see below for why these are good to have for this project). Newspapers - everyone has those. Spray paint - I even have some left over from an old project. Fantastic!

Once I had all the stuff, this was actually a lot easier than it looked. If you don't want to bother with cutting the tin on the lid, you may have to enlist the help of your significant other or friend who likes acting tough and cutting things apart (we all have one!). First I rinsed out the top of the foaming dispenser (it takes some time, because the water recycles back into foam, but after awhile it's just foamy water) and set that aside to dry.

The next thing I did was make the top for the dispenser. I took the lid off the jar and separated the screw-top ring from the tin disc. I took the flat, round part and made a hole in the center so the foaming dispenser would fit into it. The suggestion on the original blog didn't work for me, so I just poked the tube of the dispenser through a Post-It, and drew a circle around the part on the dispenser that would need to fit through the tin disc. Then I wrapped the post it around the tin disc so I could use it as a make-shift pattern to punch a hole in the tin disc. Hopefully my picture and explanation makes sense. If not... comment and I will clarify!

Pattern for the dispenser hole

Once I had the pattern on the tin disc, I made the hole for the dispenser by poking holes through it with a hammer and nail. You will want to make sure the holes are as close together as you can get them. Once I made it all the way around the circle pattern, I broke a piece out of the middle of the tin disc using the nails and hammer to help. Once I could get them into the hole, I used tin snips to finish cutting (it was a lot easier and I wasn't afraid I was going to cut off my finger with the jagged pieces of metal). Mine ended up looking something like this...

I will try to add a picture of the tin disc with the holes in it - wanted to get the post up!

I placed the dispenser on top of the tin disc and glued it on with the Gorilla glue, then left it to dry while I started painting the other stuff.

I will also try to add a picture of the tin disc after I attached the dispenser. See comment above. :)

I used newspaper so my lawn didn't look like the side of a railroad car. I just used spray paint (in colors I had used for other things... the best things in life are, indeed, free!). I love spray paint because it is so easy and it makes boring things look so much nicer (most of the time...). I made two of these, one for me and one for my sis for her newly remodeled kitchen. So I painted her jar blue (to match her new kitchen) and my jar green. I used tan for the screw on lid and dispenser. I liked the contrast. Play around with the colors that will work for your house. I planned to do about two coats on each item, but ended up doing three. You'll want to make sure you turn them at different angles to get the coverage you want. Three coats turned out to be the right amount.

Post-paint

To paint the dispenser part, I used an old Windex bottle filled with water (to weight it down), stuck the dispenser in, tube down, so that I could spray it and get an even coat. You can use whatever creative tricks you can come up with! I painted the dispenser the same color as the screw-top ring (again, three coats).

Painting the dispenser

After that I just had to let everything dry. I don't like waiting, so I needed something else to occupy my attention. Enter: Homemade Foaming Hand Soap.

FOR THE HOMEMADE FOAMING HAND SOAP
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Water
Regular hand soap

That's it! If you're like me, you go to the nice-smelling soap and lotion place and buy ten thousand soaps (because they're on sale!) and then they sit under your cabinet for God knows how long. Okay... maybe that's just me. You can transform any regular hand soap into foaming hand wash with just water? Why could I have not known this years ago?

This is so easy it's almost stupid. 1 part water, 1 part soap. Viola! Hand wash! Once you mix them, you'll have to shake them up a bit, but it really is that easy. Once I got done with that, I still had to wait for my stuff to dry. It's okay... I have three kids to keep me busy. I actually forgot about it until later that evening. But it turned out so cute! I wanted to wash my hands over and over (yes... I'm that weird).

My sister liked hers too (I think...). Here's hers!

Next up... one for my other sister. She just moved into a new house too. Oops... just ruined her housewarming present. :)

COST: $$ In terms of DIY projects, it's actually really cheap. If you already have a stockpile of mason jars (for that canning you're going to do... some day) and spray paint (because you have to buy a different color for Every. Single. Project.) then it costs almost nothing. If you did have to buy the materials, I still think it would cost you only about $10-$15, including the soap to put in it.

DO-ABILITY: It was pretty easy. If it's your first craft project, it's probably not the one you want to start with but it's definitely do-able. The hardest part was punching the holes in the tin lid and poking it through so that you have a space for your soap dispenser to go through. I was kind of leery that i was going to cut my hand on the sharp edges. Tin snips work very well for cutting the hole once you have an edge you can work them into. They make the edge a little neater and less sharp. Since almost anyone can spray paint stuff (channel your inner graffiti artist!) that part is super easy. Other than that, you glue stuff. I think they teach that in kindergarten. :)

THE SKINNY: This was actually kind of awesome. I loved it mostly because it was so cheap and easy (wait... that sounded kind of bad...). I had mason jars sitting around (somehow they pile up in our garage) and a few soap dispensers that I sacrificed for the foam-pump tops. I had nothing to buy for it, which made it really easy to throw together. Plus, as an added bonus, I got to "up-cycle", which I am getting more into these days. Why buy something new when you can make something just as good out of old stuff?

THE GOOD: Super easy, super cheap, and most of the materials should be lying around your house (or at least in a good thrift store somewhere). Even if you did have to buy all of it, it's still not going to break your budget. You'll still be able to spring for that Starbucks latte. Plus it fits in with the whole "rustic chic" style that's so popular. I'm so stylish!

THE BAD: Punching the holes through the tin is a little difficult and you're likely to cut your finger or hand. Again, using tin snips will help with this. It's also a little difficult to get the circle cut exactly in the center of the tin top. It didn't really bother me that much (the off-center top made it have character!) but if it does, you might want to have a couple extra tin discs. Also, measuring how big the hole should be is a little tricky, but there are definite tricks to help you get it right (like I did above, using a sticky note that had been dipped it water to make an outline of the approximate diameter. It doesn't have to be perfect because it will be covered up anyway.

PIN OR BUST?: Pin it! Again, it's not for the rookie crafter, but it is definitely someting almost anyone could handle once you get your feet wet. It's so easy, really inexpensive, and it will add a little "rustic chic" class to your kitchen or bathroom! So much better than the dispensers your soap comes in!

ANY LAST WORDS?: I definitely want to try this in different colors and with different sizes of bottles. I think it would be fun to make a matching lotion pump to go with my new soap dispensers. I'm also curoius to experiment with different types of soap (the antibacterial ones with the little flecks in them?) to see how they work making them into foaming soap. There are so many different types of jars you could use... go crazy with it! And let me know how it goes! 

Happy pinning!

Apple Rice Crispy Treats

Rice crispy treats are my favorite and thanks to my No-Fail, Best Rice Crispy Treats Ever Recipe, I can make them all the time and they are chewy and delicious, the way they are supposed to be. Now that I have the recipe down pat, I was looking for ways to make them different or better (if that is even possible... who doesn't love just a gigantic, gooey Crispy Treat?!). So I was looking around for a quick snack to make for one of my girls' "Special Days" at preschool and I found a sweet little Pin.

THE PIN: These caught my eye right away because they were so stinkin' cute. They looked kind of tricky though. The piped leaf? I took a cake decorating class with my sister once and we failed miserably... I think we probably flunked out of the class. Not my thing. I was looking for something "quick and easy", and these looked like anything but... unfortunately my daughter saw me looking at them before I could click away and begged me to make them. The power of persuasion! They couldn't be that hard... right?

Note: The recipe I actually used was a little different from the one on the original post. As I said before, I wanted to use my tried-and-true recipe, so I altered it a little.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

1 stick unsalted butter (make sure it's real butter!)
1 10-ounce bag marshmallows (use the small ones!)
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 small pkg. Jell-o powder, cherry or strawberry flavor

25 small Tootsie Roll Candies

Royal Icing, Tinted green (I just used store bought white frosting, colored it green and piped it out of the corner of a Ziploc baggie... much easier!)
Baking spray
Wax Paper
Red Food Coloring, optional

If you've read my post about the Best Rice Crispy Treats Ever, the first part is very similar but there are some different steps...

Okay, so measure out the Rice Krispies, cut the marshmallows and Jell-o packages, and line a cookie sheet with wax paper first (trust me... do this first!) You might want to spray the wax paper with cooking spray, but that's your choice! Melt the butter until it's brown and smells nutty. It melts, then bubbles and foams a lot, and then calms down and starts to turn brown. If you pull it around the bottom with a spatula, you'll see it start to turn brown. Remove it from the burner and toss in the mellows and stir like you mean it until it's smooth. This is where it's different than the original recipe I use. After you get the mellows melted, dump in the Jell-o powder and stir until it's combined. Red Rice Krispy treats... cool!

So then you'll dump in the Krispies and stir to combine. Once you have it all mixed in well, you're going to start shaping them into balls. You have to do it fairly quickly because it will start to harden a little. Don't worry too much - you'll get it done. The other thing to know is that the mixture will stick to your hands big time. I just sprayed my hands with cooking spray (make sure you do this over the sink. Trust me... otherwise you will have an oily skating rink on your kitchen floor). As you shape them, once they're on the wax paper, take a tootsie roll and stick it into each one, like a little stem. It's way easier if you do this while they're still a little warm. Once they're all done, then you can let them harden a little.

This is the first thing I got...

But it looked like something was missing. Oh yea... the part I was going to stink at doing. I thought of using the "mint leaves" that were mentioned, but since I live in a small town that is 30 minutes away from the nearest Wal-Mart and 2 1/2 hours away from a shopping mall, I didn't think the local grocery stores would have them. So I improvised. I used white canned frosting, colored it green, and put it in a Ziploc bag to pipe one the leaves. They looked good enough!

COST: $ pretty inexpensive. You could pick up all the ingredients for around $10-$12. A lot of them you'll probably already have in your cupboard.

DO-ABILITY: Making the Krispy treats is super easy, so throwing in a little Jell-o is easy enough. The hardest part was the mixture sticking to my hands while I was shaping them into apples. Using the spray on my hands made it a lot easier. As long as you can pipe the leaves on (and that was also pretty easy) you can do it! My kids didn't help with this one, since I made them at 10:00 the night before (like all moms who plan way ahead for things do...), but they easily could have. My husband helped put the tootsie rolls in - if he can do that, your kids could definitely manage! :)

THE SKINNY: I thought the cherry flavor would be weird on these, but it was actually really good. We couldn't stop picking the bits out of the bottom of the pot we used! Observe...

My husband stopped just short of licking the pot clean...

THE GOOD: They are so, SO good. They are very easy to make and the kids loved them! The tootsie roll unwrapping and sticking into the apples is a perfect job for kids to help out with, so the recipe is definitely kid-friendly. If you have a good Rice Crispy Treat recipe, these are a quick option for those morning when your little sweetie informs you that it is your turn to bring snacks (it took be about 30 minutes to make these). Plus, the ingredients are pretty cheap, so you're not going to spend next month's paycheck on them.

THE BAD: The mixture sticks to your hands really badly (I'm guessing the added sugar from the Jell-o makes it worse than the regular rice crispy treat mixture. Just make sure you spray the heck out of your hands with cooking spray (over the trash can!)

PIN OR BUST?: Definitely a good Pin to keep on hand for later. There are so many varieties you could do with this (green apples?) to make different goodies. Orange might be interesting too... or strawberry...

THE LAST WORD: I think I definitely want to try to make at least regular rice crispy treats with other flavorings to see how different ones might taste. Now that I know this is an option, my possibilities are endless! I can definitely imagine making little Rice Crispy Treat oranges (because how hard would that be?!). Go have fun with this one!

Happy Pinning!

Pin-able Snack Mixes - Summer Edition

Our family loves snack mixes. You can change them to fit almost any season or time of year (throw in some candy corn, Valentine's hearts or peppermint candy). Our kids have their "show and share" and "special days" at daycare and at school and snack mixes are so easy to throw together and toss in a gallon-size Ziploc. I didn't want to do 87 different posts on all the kinds of snack mixes we enjoy, so I thought I'd just do a one post on some of our faves. Hunker down... this is a long one. Feel free to come back later! :)

THE PIN: Well... there are several so my normal format won't work here. I'll just list my favorites and approximate cost. For do-ability, you can consider them all extremely easy, because basically you just dump everything into a bowl. How hard is that? If there are any special steps I'll make sure to note them. :) As far as Pinning these bad boys? Consider them all good Pins (otherwise they wouldn't be worthy of this post!) A couple of things to keep in mind here... some of my favorite mixes have ingredients that are "seasonal", so as I am writing this post in the middle of the summer, some of them just might not make the list... this time. I tried to pick "summery" mixes. That doesn't make them not worthy (cue Wayne's World... "We're not worthy... we're not worthy!"). Stay tuned for more Snack Mix Compilations. We love snack mixes that much! Here goes...

"Bear Lake Trail Mix"
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. Swedish fish
1 (18.75 oz.) bag traditional Chex mix
2 1/2 c. chocolate chip teddy grahams (*we used honey)
1 1/2 c. goldfish crackers (*we used the cheddar ones)
1 c. licorice bits (you can leave this out if you wish - good both ways!)
1 1/2 c. pretzel M&Ms (make sure you use the pretzel ones - it matters!)
2 1/2 c. Bugles

We made this for one of the kids' special days and it made such a ginormous batch that we had about half left over for ourselves. Let me just tell you, I'm so glad that it made way too much for 18 daycare kids to finish. We had no trouble polishing this off. One night as we were watching TV, I had a craving for some sort of salty/sweet combo and I remembered this sitting on top of our fridge. I only took a small bowl, but I told the hubby I probably could have eaten the whole gallon-size baggie worth. It is that good. This would be perfect for summer camping, road trips, or (as we use it) just to keep in the house for the kids (or myself... semantics). Way better than eating plain old Goldfish!
Cost: $$ If you buy all the ingredients it will put you back about $15, but it makes two gallon size baggies. Save one for your next road trip and it will STILL last you a few weeks.

"Thin Mint Puppy Chow"

I had never had "Puppy Chow" until college when my friend, Brandi, (or was it Michelle?...) introduced me to it. So, thanks to Brandi... or Michelle. I now know that "Puppy Chow" is a delicious treat for humans... not puppies. So... *Note: (It has to be said...) this is NOT for dogs... this "Puppy Chow" mix is for humans. Don't feed it to your dog! Unless you really dislike him...

This one takes a little bit of special preparation, in true Puppy Chow form. There is some melting and mixing to take into account, but nothing a beginner cook can't handle... as long as you can use a microwave and shake stuff, you're good. Also, it is made in two batches, so I separated out the ingredients below.

Ingredients:
Chocolate Part5 c. Rice Chex
1 1/2 c. semisweet or milk chocolate chips
12 Thin Mint cookies, finely crushed
1/4 c. powdered sugar

Put the Rice Chex into a big bowl (use the biggest bowl you have). Melt the chocolate chips for about 90 seconds in the micro, stopping halfway to stir (otherwise the chocolate could burn). While the chocolate is melting, put the thin mints into a baggie and use a rolling pin to crush them (perfect for kids to help with!) Once the chocolate is melted, pour it over the Chex and mix genlty until all of them are coated. Pour the crushed up Thin Mints and powdered sugar into a gallon size baggie and add the chocolate-coated cereal. Close the bag and shake the dickens out of it (kids are GREAT at this!) Lay the cereal out on wax paper to let it cool awhile.

Green Part
5 c. Rice Chex
1 1/2 c. white chocolate melts or white chocolate chips, you can use green melts if you want **
Green GEL food coloring (optional, but make sure it's gel) **
1/4 c. powdered sugar
Repeat all of the above minus the thin mints part (you don't use them for this batch). The amounts are all the same, except you use white choc chips or white choc melts instead of chocolate chips and you dye them green, if desired (but if you dye the white chocolate, make sure to read my side note below **).

** Heads up: When I melted the white choc chips, they were nice and smooth and ready to spread on to the Chex. Then I added the food coloring. It was a clumpy, green disaster. I tried adding milk... don't do this. It makes it worse. It was impossible to spread the chocolate out onto the cereal. Since I live in SmallTown, Wyoming, we don't have mint or green melting chips (enter: Amazon). I didn't want to wait two days for Amazon to ship them so I tried the food coloring in the white chips. I had to redo it. The second time I did it, I used white chocolate Almond Bark instead, which is specifically for melting and molding. Right on the package it said "If it gets too thick, add vegetable oil. Do not try to thin with water, milk, or butter". Good to know... I did thin it a bit with veg oil and it worked like a charm. Green Puppy Chow. Brilliant.

Thin Mints are both my husband and my daughter's favorite GS cookie. Girl Scout cookies and Puppy Chow combined into one treat... Who whouldn't love that? Aside from the one road block (had to redo the "green" part), it was pretty easy and sinfully good! If you're addicted to Girl Scout cookies, definitely give this a try!

Cost: $$ If the Chex are not on sale, this will also run you about $15. It cost me $20 because I had to buy a second box of Chex. Just the Chex and cookies are about $9 together... over half of your cost! It's worth it!

"Hershey's S'more Trail Mix"
Ingredients:
1 bag Hershey's melts (8 oz). - I couldn't find them in Small Town so I used two packages of mini Hershey's candy bars broken apart. Same taste.
1 c. Mini Graham crackers - couldn't find these (curse you Small Town!) so I bought Despicable Me minion graham cracker bites. They were fun.
1 can roasted/salted pecan halves - I left them out because my kids don't like nuts so this can easily be altered for nut allergies.
1 c. mini marshmallows

This one was just okay from an adult perspective. From a kid perspective (and I quote)... "BEST... DAY... EVER!" That coming from my 5-year old. So with the kids it was a big hit, and I loved it because it was super easy to throw together (and WAY less messy than the real thing!). All in all it was good for kiddos, but I'd definitely want to try to find another recipe for S'mores snack mix. Stay tuned!

Cost: $ I bought all the ingredients for this and it gave me two batches and I only spent $10 total. Love that!



My daughter helped mix it up, and she loved making little mini S'mores as we dug our way through this one. Big huge hit with the kids!






"Peanut Butter Brownie Puppy Chow"
Ingredients:
6 C. rice Chex cereal
1 C. milk chocolate melts or chips - I used 3/4 C. milk chocolate chips and 1/4 C. Peanut butter chips. YUM!
1/2 C. peanut butter, creamy
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C. brownie mix, from the box
Optional: Peanut Butter Brownies, Reese's Pieces, or Peanut butter cups (chopped) - I used Reeses pieces because I liked the way it added color!

You do have a few extra steps, but because Puppy Chow is so worth it, it doesn't matter. :) Melt peanut butter and chips together with vanilla extract, dump over cereal and mix, throw into a bag with brownie batter mix, shake like you mean it. Violà - done!




It's the whole puppy chow addiction again. Peanut butter is one of my all time favorite things. Put it together with chocolate and I'm in heaven! Put it together with puppy chow? Best. Thing. Ever! Might be my new favorite snack! Kids loved it. Hubby loved it. And it was easy for them to help. Love that too!

Cost: $ Chocolate chips, cereal, Reeses, peanut butter ... it's only going to run you about $10-$12. Definitely do-able and it makes a huge gallon bag (throw in a couple of cups more of cereal or some brownies chopped up and you can even stretch this one a little!)

 

"Patriotic Trail Mix"

Ingredients:

½ cup flat marshmallows (like Kraft Jet puffed Stacker Mallows) cut into 1½ in. strips and dipped into powdered sugar or corn starch to prevent sticking (don't do too crazy on the sugar... I put too much and it made powdered sugar be all over everything! - see my picture below!)
½ cup twizzlers strawberry or cherry twists cut into 1½ in. strips
1 cup mini square graham crackers (I used Golden Graham cereal instead because when I've made other mixes w/ graham crackers, they always get stale)
1 cup blue m&m's or a package of almond joy pieces which have blue in them (use Almond Joy pieces... the likelihood of getting blue pieces is higher :) )
1 cup cashews or other nuts (optional) - I didn't do it because I used Almond Joys



This was super easy. Cutting the mellows was hardest since they get so sticky. Dipping them in powdered sugar or cornstarch is definitely a good idea, just don't go too overboard, like I did or you'll end up with powdered sugar mess all over your entire trail mix! This is such a cute idea to throw together (literally took me five minutes!) for a good 4th of July party!
Cost: $ Not too expensive. I bought the cereal in stead of the grahams, and that probably cost me a few dollars more. All in all it was between $10 and $12.