Fruit ice pops

Found these on pinterest and knew they would be a big hit with my kids, since they love ice pops!! We try to avoid artificial colors in our house since it makes my boys go a bit loco! We made them in the evening, and the first thing in the morning, the kids ran to the freezer to check if they were ready! I was able to save them for a playdate we had, and all the kids enjoyed them. The only thing I did differently was to cut the juice with water to reduce the sugar.

Original pin is from here
http://www.lilsugar.com/How-Make-Fresh-Fruit-Popsicles-18393455

Cut up fruit, we also used fresh strawberries and kiwi, some frozen blueberries and grapes I had in the freezer.

Fill the mold with the cut up fruit, then fill with juice/water mix, then add the sticks, we lost a handle, so made do with a Popsicle stick!

One of the kids enjoying the finished product!!

Cute homemade card

Found this super cute idea for cards to make from the kids for the grandmas for Mother's day.

Found the idea here
http://theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/2011/09/grandparents-day-card.html

This is the version we made, basically took some scrap paper, and then got the kids to do their handprints, added a photo, and voila, a super cute card the grandmas loved!! I also made extras so I could keep them for myself!!

Kitchen Chalkboard

Chalkboards are all the craze right now. I loved the idea of having a chalkboard on the kitchen wall but I just could not bring myself to paint the wall with black. I took down a bunch of pictures to re-decorate a couple months ago and this frame was left over. The inspiration hit when I saw it sitting at the top of the stairs, empty, and such a big beautiful frame. 

Taking out the glass was the hardest part (believe it or not) as the manufacturer put the tabs in after they put the glass in. Once the glass was carefully removed, I painted the backing of the frame (it was a light weight wood) with chalkboard paint (3 coats) and let it dry. Once it was dry, I placed back in the frame and hung up.  My only quirk with it is when I write against the grain, it takes a little more effort. But all in all, it works just as well as it needs to!

Viola! A beautiful framed chalkboard in the kitchen without painting the wall!

Mexican Pizza

Looking around on Pinterest the other day for a recipe, I came across a dish that looked SO good and easy to make! Out of all the ingredients I only needed the crescent rolls so I sent my husband on a quick grocery store run. The original recipe can be found here. The only thing I changed was no green onions and I put the tomatoes under the cheese. The kids (all 3 of them) had seconds and my husband scraped off the olives and had thirds on it! Also, we do not normally eat red meat but I thought I would stick with the recipe the first time through. Next time will be with ground turkey.

Pretty good, easy, fast dish if you ask me!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 envelope taco seasoning mix

2 (8 oz.) cans Pillsbury crescent rolls

1 (16 oz.) can refried beans (I used the jalapeño kind)

2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese or Mexican blend

1/2 cup chopped tomatoes

1/4 cup sliced black olives

4 green onions, chopped

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef or turkey and drain. Add any taco seasoning to the ground meat according to the package directions.

Unroll crescent rolls into rectangles. Place in ungreased 11 1/2 inch x 16 1/2 inch jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. Press dough over the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides to form crust. Bake at 375 oven for 11 to 13 

minutes or just until golden brown (this took about 15 minutes for me).

Microwave beans in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute. Carefully spread beans over warm crust creating a thin layer.

Top with cooked meat mixture, sprinkle with cheese followed by tomatoes, black olives and green onion. Return to oven for 3-6 more minutes until cheese is melted. Serve immediately. 

Custom initial

As I am sure you have seen the initial of your last name displayed is very "in" right now. I, personally, love the look but everyone has one. Thinking about what I could possibly do to make it stand out, I thought about scrapbooking paper! It took less than 20 minutes to do (which is good if you have little kids like me) all while being easy and inexpensive.

What you will need:

• Wooden initial - Mine was from Michaels and cost under $3 
• Scrapbooking Paper cut up squares - I have a bunch that I saved from other projects or you can just cut up 3 pages into squares and rectangles.
• Mod Podge
• Small Paint Brush
• Spray Adhesive

What you do:

• Lay your wooden initial down on a clean surface. 
• Pick up a retangle and figure out where it would fit best. You may need to trim here and there but really the more colors and shapes the better anyway!
• Mod Podge each strip with paint brush and lay down on letter. 
• Once you have them down go over the seams with more mod podge making sure to spread evenly to not leave white streaks.
• Take outside and spray with adhesive
• Let dry :-)

Super easy and you can customize to the colors of your home or room it will be displayed in.

ENJOY!

Magnetic Chalkboard

As I am sure you have all seen the oil drip pan magnetic board is all over Pinterest at the moment. I thought it was a good idea but I am not a fan of the bright silver hanging on a wall. After a lot of thought, I came to the decision to paint the pan with chalkboard paint. What an amazing deal to have a huge magnetic chalkboard for the kids for under $30!

Here are some examples floating around from Pinterest at the moment. You can click the picture and it will take you to the original source.

I set about on my project. Laying the oil drip pan flat on our outdoor table, we painted 3 coats of the chalkboard paint and let dry for 24 hours (it was in the sun also, so I am sure it dried pretty quickly). Afterwards, I brought it inside and hung up with no damage 2 way tape to the wall. I was a little skeptical it would hold but so far so good and it feels pretty sturdy. I kept staring at the board thinking it needed something else. Digging through our stash of paint, I discovered a paint sample 1/2 pint I bought in the oops paint section a while back (it was 50 cents and who can resist that?!). Taping off the edges of the pan with painters tape (I only use the green tape now!) and set about to paint the edges. I am very happy with the finished product, and so are my kids!

Oil Drip Pan - $10 at Walmart
Chalkboard Paint - $15 (for a lot more than I used so this can be used for several other projects)
Painters Tape - $0 (already had)
Paint - $0 (already had)
  TOTAL - $25