Monday, March 26, 2012

Easter Deviled Eggs

Get into the Easter spirit and dress up those deviled eggs in lovely spring colors. Just continue with your usual steps in preparing deviled eggs. Except soak your hard boiled egg whites in a glass, filled with water and food coloring, until you achieve your desired hue. I used three drops of each food coloring color. To make purple I used 1 drop of blue combined with 2 of red. My eggs were forgotten about, and left to soak for 45min. Next time I think I'll let them soak for only 15min. to get that softer pastel look instead. Once desired hue is achieved place them on a paper towel (top down) so the excess colored water drips off. This will prevent colors bleeding onto each other. Then fill with your favorite yoke mixture recipe. I used a pastry bag and Wilton's tip #32 for an extra touch. These colorful eggs will make a beautiful addition to any Easter dinner spread. Happy Easter!



Sunday, March 18, 2012

Mailbox Made from a Diaper Box

My son's recent infatuation with mail has inspired me to make this mailbox for him. I used a diaper box along with some tools, and supplies I had available lying around the house (glue, brads, a raiser, paint, foam stickers). Although I made this for my son, just for fun, it has also doubled as a educational tool. I put letters on each of the envelopes, but you can incorporate colors, numbers, pictures with names of family members, or even animals. Whatever it is that your focusing on at the time. I think this would be an excellent idea for children with a deployed parent. Any time they drawl a picture or write a letter for their deployed parent they can just drop it in the box. Also makes everything easily execrable to collect and mail for real. Might even be a great bonding activity for the child and deploying parent.



Friday, March 16, 2012

St. Patrick's Day Party Under $20.00

 I had some toddlers with their mommas over yesterday for a St. Patrick's Day party / play date. We made some magical leprechaun potion, and a rainbow craft fallowed buy some shamrock cookies for a snack. I did this all for under $20.00 with some additional decorations included.

Rainbow Craft


 Here is what you need to get started...
-paper plates
-different colored streamers
-cotton balls
-glue
You can purchase the streamers in just about any color at the Dollar Tree. They come in packs of two, so you will have plenty leftover to decorate or use for future parties, crafts, etc. I was very surprise that I found 100% cotton balls at the Dollar Tree too. That's a great buy. I think they're at least a few bucks in retail stores. You can Probably get paper plates at the dollar store as well, but I purchased these at Wal-mart for $2 and some change. There is more in a pack so I will have plenty left over for everyday use. I happen to have some glue on hand, but you can find glue at most places for a buck. I'm going to round up and say the craft all together cost about $10.00. And you'll have plenty of everything left over for future use. 

I provided all my guest with a paper plate full of all their pre cut and counted craft supplies. You'll need to cut 12 red, 10 yellow, 5 green, and 8 blue. The red are cut into large squares, yellow and green are rectangles, and the blue are small squares. And don't forget 4 cotton balls:) I cut the rainbows streamer tail after the kids were done and had the moms put them on. 


 This is the example I made for the kids.We started with the moms folding the paper plate in half and placed the stapler, and the kids stapled. Moms also applied the glue, one arch for each color, and the kids placed the different colors. This craft is perfect for practicing colors and counting. I punched some holes at the top of mine, and tied some string so I could hang it in the window. 

Magical Leprechaun Potion

Ingredients:
-baking soda
-vinegar
-glitter
-dish soap
-yellow food coloring
This is extremely easy, and I just used the ingredients available in my kitchen. I sprinkled some green glitter in a small bottle then filled it with vinegar. In the other bottle I added a small amount of liquid dish soap, and a few drops of yellow food coloring.


I had the kids add the ingredients in the bowel, one by one. First we poured in the vinegar, fallowed by the dish soap, and lastly we added one heaping scoop of baking soda. The potion foams up resembling a pot of gold with some green sparkles. I heard a couple of WOWS from the kids ;)

Shamrock Snack Bags
I purchased these snack bags along with the stickers and some window cling decorations at Micheal's for less than $3. Inside the bags are shamrock cookies made with the Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix (around $2) and a cookie press.  And there you have it, a festive St. Patrick's Day party under $20.

It was definitely worth it's weight in gold just to see this smile.






Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Goodnight Books

Here are some great "goodnight book" choices for toddlers...The Boy and the Moon was our favorite of the bunch. It was a clever story with unique illustration.