Jello Playdough

Coco here....

Soooooo I have a couple of bored little kids today, and I thought I would try another pin I've been eyeing.

Jello Playdough!!

The link from the original pin is:

Source: playdoughrecipe.org via Kate on Pinterest

I made a few amendments, based on the comments.  By the way, tip for any sort of pin activity, ALWAYS READ THE COMMENTS!!  It will invariably save you a lot of grief...  The recipe omits to mention that you need to cook the ingredients,  and per the comments, make sure that it is on LOW heat, this stuff burns easily.  I also used a large non-stick frying pan (as suggested in the comments) and I'm glad I did, as I'm pretty sure it made clean-up a thousand times easier.  Here are the supplies I used.  (all stuff I already had lying around, which makes it about 12000 times more likely that I will actually do something):

I used Olive Oil instead of Baby Oil.  A. I already had some. B. My kids aren't inclined to eat play-dough, as a rule, but they know this one was made with Jello, and it would not surprise me if they gave it a try.

I mixed all the ingredients together, threw them in the pan, and stirred.  And stirred.  And stirred.  It took a while.  Once it balls together in the pan, plop it out onto a piece of wax paper.  Don't be an idiot, like I was, and put it on the wrong side.  *sigh*  Oh well, it was an easy enough fix...

Ok, the dough has cooled.  Be aware, you will need to add a LOT of flour to get it into non-sticky play dough consistency.  There is also a lot of kneading involved.  Much like a fairly sticky bread dough.  Here are the results:

It doesn't look like much, but the kids are currently playing with it, and seem to really like it.  The olive oil also means that my hands feel smooth and soft after all that kneading. ;)  I don't know how well it will keep, but the comments suggest that an airtight, refrigerated container will keep it pretty well.  We shall see....

Verdict:  Success!

Microwave Cleaning Made Easy

                                                                     Source: onegoodthingbyjillee.com via Kate on Pinterest

The microwave is one of my least favorite things to clean.  But thanks to the this super easy tutorial, I may actually not  mind cleaning my microwave

All I needed was 1 cup of vinegar (which I buy in bulk at Costco because it seems you can do just about anything with plain ol' vinegar!), and a cup of water. Microwave for 10 minutes. Wipe out the microwave. 

NO SCRUBBING

NO EFFORT

Could cleaning a microwave get any easier??  You can bet my microwave will be clean from now on! 

Here is a photo of my results.  

Shower Caulk Mold Removal

Hi everybody!  This is coco, and it is my first post!  When my bestest bud told me about her idea for this blog, I thought it was an awesome idea, and promised to contribute to it. Erm, three months ago.  I'm not what you might call "super on the ball" these days...  At any rate, I was mucking about on pinterest last week, pinned a few totally awesome ideas, and realized that I will never ever do them.  Ever.  Soooooooooo, I am going to try to start actually doing some of the things that I'm pinning.  *Gasp*  I know.  Quelle concept...  I figure on trying one pin a week, or thereabouts.  That should be doable, as it can be any sort of pin, including recipes, and those are easy to try. 

So.  For my first pin......  (there is a drumroll going in my head, for what it is worth)

Shower Caulk Mold Removal!!

Source: thisblessedlife.net via Kate on Pinterest

I know.  Ew.  I can't stand mold in any form, and the mold that grows on the caulk around a bathtub just makes me start to imagine huge mold colonies forming behind the tile on my bathroom wall.  ew ew ew ew ew.  It is so hard to get rid of, being constantly exposed to moist heat, i.e. mold nirvana...  Hence my excitement when I came across this pin!  The idea is: take a cotton perm coil.  Soak it in bleach.  Line the caulk on the tub with it.  Leave it overnight.  In the morning, remove it, and scrub the heck out of the tub.  Enjoy your sparkling clean, 100% mold free tub.

Let's hope it works that way....  (fingers crossed)

Here is the gross gross before:

My Supplies:

I put bleach in the pie pan, soaked the coils in them, and squeezed them out.  I didn't have them in the photo, but I wore rubber gloves...  Then I laid the cotton along the lines of caulk, and let it sit all day.  My house smelled like a swimming pool.  Was it worth it? See for yourself....

The Results:

That is a crappy picture, taken with my phone, but in person it is even more impressive.  By the way, that involved ZERO scrubbing!  I will be doing my bathtub next...........


Verdict: TOTAL SUCCESS

No Sew Tutu!

I adore little girls in tutus.  For my daughter's birthday, I wanted her to wear a tutu but didn't want to spend a fortune buying one.  I'm so glad I didn't, because once I looked at this tutorial, because a no sew tutus  are incredibly easy to make. I bought the tulle at Joanns, so all I had to do was cut the fabric into 6" thick pieces.

After posting a picture of my tutu on Facebook, I got a lot of interest from others about making tutus, which lead to me being approached by a bride to be about making a tutu dress for her flower girls.  Using the basic idea as the tutu I made for my daughter, I came up with this: 

However, this time I bought the tulle on spools, so I had to cut required length instead of width.  Then I added ribbon to help keep the dress up, and a removable flower clip.

I apologize for the poor photo quality. I tend to finish projects late at night and am too tired to snap a good photo! 

Father's Day Gift Ideas

If your husband is anything like mine, trying to figure out the perfect father's day gift is a nearly impossible task.  There is nothing he needs.  The things he wants are far out of my price range nor my ability to shop for (new tuba, new computer, new nook... you get the idea).  So I am opting for all kid participation gifts this year.  Cute, and frugal!

My favorite idea, and you probably saw these around mother's day are the printables where you ask kids questions about their parent, and they fill in the blanks.  I found this one and printed it out for my kiddos, but there are plenty out there to choose from.

My 3 year old son's answers

  My 5 year old daughter's answers

My daughter also insisted on drawing a picture for daddy.  This is our family, watching madagascar 3 at the movie theater... Doesn't get much cuter than that! 

 

I also really liked the road shirt idea.  The image I had re-pinned from another user does not take you for a link.  Simple idea - get a plain shirt, buy colored sharpies. Draw pictures and a road.  If you child is more of a train enthusiast, no reason you couldn't draw train tracks instead of a road. 



 There are many other ideas that are inexpensive and easy for children to help with.  Most involving candy, so if your husband is a health nut or allergic to chocolate, you may want to avoid any of those ideas.  My personal favorite is the candy bar letter. I bought poster board today and will hunt down the necessary candy bars tomorrow! 


Whatever you decide... crafts, a nice dinner out, or a fun family outing, I wish all the fathers out there a fantastic Father's Day 2012!!

Baby Photo Prop Sac

I have been asked by local pregnant friends and photographers about baby sacs for newborn photography and searched online for a pattern.  I found this pattern over at Knit Together Designs. 

As with any pattern I find for free online, I try to change it up a bit so that when I sell a product, it isn't the exact replica of someone else's pattern.  Do not ask me what I did... I have forgotten.  I wrote down what I possibly did, but since I wrote it AFTER finishing the product (fail!) it is not exact. 

This pattern was great... to begin with. Loved having a guideline as to how many stitches to cast on, size of needle.  I was not, however, a fan of the bottom part of the original pattern.  I wanted something a bit more solid and not as curly, so I did something similar to the top of a beanie. 

Striped Baby Blankets

I was asked to make a baby blanket for a customer and for the life of me could not find my favored pattern.  So after searching patterns online, I found this one from Red Heart.  Simple and adorable!

Seriously, this pattern is perfect for beginners, or for someone who wants an easy project.  The only challenging part of this pattern was I didn't want to do a knitted border, so I learned how to crochet from a good friend so that the edges looked nice.