Candy Corn Math

I have been "homeschooling" Spiderman with another kiddo his age this Fall...  I am always looking for new ideas, especially ones that cost VERY LITTLE.  Repetition is key, right?  So, I stumbled upon this idea, and I love it!!  It was very simple.  Took only a couple minutes.  The kids loved it.  We are working on "4."  So, I made 4 of them with 1, 2, 3, and 4 on them.  We practised some subtraction by having them count how many were left when they ate a candy corn.  The blog has a ton of great ideas.  Find it at notimeforflashcards.com.  PINTASTIC!!

Halloween Candy Wreath

So...  I am all about a big bang for my crafting buck(and time).  I pinned this, I think, last year.  However, I never found the time or energy to get it done.  We moved into a new home this year, and when I looked through my Halloween Board, I knew this one was perfect for Spiderman(my son) and I to take on...  It's also good for letting the neighbor kids know where the fun house is. 

I grabbed a foam wreath for a couple dollars and one of the BIG bags of candy at Walmart.  I chose the one with no chocolate so that I would not be tempted.  It was less than ten dollars, all told. 

We sat down and hotglued candy all around.  I started with the big stuff, and then filled in the holes with the smaller stuff.  It took about an hour, and it was a BLAST for Spiderman and I. 

The neighbors have all commented on how much they like it, and the kids?  Well...  I have a stash of leftovers to keep them from picking at it.  LOL  The project went well and looks great.  Just be sure to use enough candy and really get it filled in.  This one is PINTASTIC!!! 

North Pole Breakfast

Last year I was looking for a way to introduce the Elf on the Shelf tradition in our house. So, of course I turned to Pinterest and found the idea for the North Pole Breakfast. This blogger did an amazing job and I just tried to do the best I could.

I did the breakfast the weekend after Thanksgiving. We usually decorate the house Thanksgiving weekend so I knew we would have everything up. I started purchasing all the knick knacks in November. We talked it up so Henry knew that the Elf was coming at the breakfast.

It was like Christmas morning when he came down the steps.

We read the book about Elf on the Shelf and he named him Donald. After the breakfast we decorated our tree.

It was a fantastic morning and I highly suggest making this a tradition in your house.

Ornament wreath

Here is how the wreath started:

You take a wire hanger and ornaments that do not shatter and thread them onto the hanger. I went to the Dollar store and just picked through what they had. I bought about three different sizes and used red, green, silver and gold. In the tutorial they say to hot glue the tops on but I couldn't get them off to glue them. I did lose some ornaments later when I was moving them around but only about three popped off. I couldn't see a hole so I just let it go.

This is what the wreath looked like when I ran out of ornaments:

Back to the Dollar store I went hoping they still had some more ornaments that I had bought. Thank goodness they did and here is what the finished wreath looks like:

I just used a command strip to hang the wreath over the fireplace. I know it turned out great when even Charlie is impressed with my work. He even brought Henry over to look at it.

The whole project probably cost me under $10 and maybe took me less then an hour. I used close to 80 ornaments but they were all in packs of 5's or 7's and then the really small ones I used as fillers were packs of 14.

I'm really happy I decided to do this craft. It was fun, easy, cheap and looks great!

Berry Monogram: Pintastic!

As I was pulling together our winter and Christmas decorations last year, I realized that we no longer had a wreath for our front door. Living in a condo with shared stairway access means that we need to keep door decorations on the smaller side so that whatever hangs does not get banged up as our neighbors pass by with bags. This Berry Monogram tutorial I had pinned earlier in the year seemed the perfect solution, and fed my love for monograms: http://www.ourunexpectedjourney.blogspot.com/2011/11/let-decorating-begin.html



I found the letter at JoAnn's for around $2, an $0.89 bottle of red acrylic paint and purchased a berry garland to cut up from the floral department. In all honesty, I purchased two garlands plus some berry picks, not knowing how much I'd need. Let's just say I have enough leftover to make at least one more of this project (or three). One garland would have been plenty!

At home, I painted the monogram red. While that was drying, I clipped different sized bunches of berries from the garland using wire clippers. When the letter was completely dry, I used a hot glue gun to attach the berries. As I went, I chose pieces/bunches that would conform to the shape of the letter and filled in the center after it was outlined. Wherever there was a bare spot, I simply broke off a few berries, added a dab of glue and squeezed them in for fullness.



Once completed, I looped the wired ribbon around the top of the B, tied a bow and added it to our wreath hanger. Easy and loved the finished product!

Project time: 1.5 hrs
Cost: $10 (using coupon/sales)
Supplies:
MDF Monogram
Berry picks or garland
Acrylic paint to match berry color (optional)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Wide wired ribbon
Wire cutters and/or heavy duty shears

http://pinterest.com/pin/267612402828631855/

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Baked Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

Last night I decided to try this recipe for baked garlic brown sugar chicken. I followed the recipe to the 

Click for original recipe

letter. It's a super easy and simple recipe that only takes four ingredients (including the chicken!) It smelled amazing. The brown sugar/garlic mixture was more like a rub texture than a sauce, so we rubbed it into the chicken on both sides before putting it in the oven. I cooked the chicken for the recommended amount of time. It came out great. As you can see from my pictures, the sauce around the chicken burnt.  I think this could be rectified by adding water to the pan.

The chicken was good. On the outside. It was pretty bland inside though. My husband and I both decided that it would be better if the chicken were marinated in this mixture for a few hours before baking it (or grilling!). The sauce is delicious, but you don't get the full flavor of it by cooking it on the chicken for twenty-thirty minutes. I'll keep the sauce recipe, but next time we'll try marinating the chicken first.

Spicy [Chicken] Tortilla Roll Ups

 I was really excited about this pin for Spicy Chicken Roll Ups found on this blog. I literally had pin-nesia and pinned it four different times because every time I saw it, I wanted to eat my screen. As the resident Vegetarian of our board, I knew I was going to have to make a few changes to the recipe.

The first time I made it, I subbed a can of drained black beans for the chicken. It made my wraps watery and they were difficult to roll up but they were still delicious. The second time I made them with refried beans and they were a thousand million times better! They rolled up nicely, they stuck together well, and they were like crack. I made them for a game night and every single roll up was gone by the end of the night. Even our non-vegetarian friends were obsessed with them. They are just the right kind of spicy. Not burn-your-mouth-hot, but completely flavorful. They are so easy to make, even my husband can do it!

Super Delicious Spicy Roll Ups

Verdict: Super Pintastic and a hit with everyone.

-AM