Muffin Tin Monday - Salad Bar

It's been a while since I have participated in Muffin Tin Monday. I use my muffin tins regularly... I just don't normally take pictures. But, I thought this one was fun and worth sharing.

We used our muffin tins for dinner this time! I made a little salad bar in the hopes of getting the kids to eat more salad. It went over great... while they didn't eat a lot of the lettuce, they at least tried it. Baby steps. They also enjoyed the other healthy choices.

Here's what I included: Broccoli, bacon bits, corn, slivered almonds, cheese, raisins, carrots, ham, bell pepper, turkey, pasta and peas.

At the end of dinner, almost all the cups were empty. Of course my husband and I had a little to do with that :)

Happy Monday!

Be sure to check out Michelle's blog Muffin Tin Mom where you can see other great ideas for muffin tins.

Kid Craft - Activia Monsters

The few weeks ago, my daughter had to come up with something that started with the letter "M". I went through all the things around the house I could think of (that would have been okay to take): monkey, money, marshmallow, etc. She shot everyone of my ideas down. So then I started just naming anything that started with "M" figuring we could figure it out... and we did. She stopped me on MONSTER!

Here's what we did. All you need is an Activia yogurt container (I peeled off the top part of the label so that it wouldn't show - the label was too hard to get off completely), construction paper, tape, glue (we used glitter glue because it seems to hold things better when they use a lot of glue), scissors, pipe cleaner, nail, markers, googly eyes, and anything else you can come up with to make your monster. We used sequins, foam stickers, colored pasta, random stickers (I would have passed on these, but she insisted), yarn and tissue paper.

What I did:

I cleaned the containers and cut the construction paper to fit around it (I just taped it in place). I chose to cover it in white so that she could decorate it on her own. Had I been making my own, I probably would have opted for a color... then I would have glued furry yarn all over. But I guess that's just me.

I also used a nail to poke two arm holes and I strung the pipe cleaner through it. Then I gave her the "blank canvas"

What she did:

She went to town! She chose some flower foam stickers which we cut in half. We sandwiched the pipe cleaner between them to make hands (see picture above). She glued on googly eyes and colored a nose. Then she covered it in random stickers. I helped her cut some yarn for the hair (I just cut about 5 pieces and tied them together in the center). She glued the yarn on top for hair. She also used some dried pasta for horns.

We made about three or four of them and sent them to school with her for show and tell. I understand they were a hit.

I also used the Activia cups to make penguins for the letter "P" - just cover with black paper instead of white. I cut wings from black and a face and tummy from white. The kids glued it all on, added googly eyes and an orange beak. I glued black and white furry yarn on top... but apparently the kids weren't interested in putting "hair" on the penguin.

I continue to save these containers as I think the possibilities are endless... and my kids love the yogurt. I think next, we'll be building a village!

Back in saddle again...

... I hope. I've gone through a long period of not feeling well, a perhaps bit of depression and just all together unproductiveness (yep, I just made up that word). It started with having all four of my molars pulled (not fun) and just spiraled from there.

But I'm back and I have tons to share. In that time I did my daughter's Rainbow birthday party, Valentines, lots of new items for my shops... and a few fun kids crafts.

Let's start with a new toy. For Christmas a good friend of mine gave me a Fabric Steam Press. She has a large one and was always telling me the time saver it would be for me. Especially since I hate ironing which I will put it off until absolutely necessary - which means it takes me long a long time to iron because projects have built up. And of course, I probably would have never bought it for myself.

So she's awesome! It's a Conair Fabric Steam Press. I read a few reviews... then decided to stop. It became evident that these reviewers were using this for something completely different than what I was going to use it for.

The reviews biggest complaint was it's size. Yep, it's small. Which is perfect for me since I currently lack space in my work area. Perhaps when I get more organized... and find more space, I can invest in a full size one, but really, the small one is all I need.

As you can see, it fits my items well. The surface is about the size of two irons give or take. I think my only complaint would be that it takes a while to heat up... but then again, I didn't really know what I was doing. It could have just been the setting I chose. I'll be playing around with it more.

I'm excited to see if this speeds up my production any. I often will let ironing (like the project above) sit for days... weeks even just because I don't want to pull out the iron and ironing board.

Etsy Saver

Not only do I sell on Etsy, I love to shop Etsy. And I love a bargain. So you can imagine my excitement when Etsy Saver came about. Rosalie Gale of Shower Art is the brains behind Etsy Saver, Unanimous Craft and Barter Sauce.

Etsy Saver is a collection of Coupon Codes offered by Etsy sellers. I've even been known to list a coupon code here and there. It's worth checking out.

Just wanted to take a moment to share this great site - and be sure to click on Rosalie's other sites, they are just as awesome! On each site she has a link so that you can follow her on FB as well. Do it!

I see rainbows in our future...

It's been settled. My daughter's birthday theme will be rainbows. We attended a crafty rainbow birthday party last month and I guess it made an impression. But she has her own idea of how it's going to go.

She has invited her entire preschool class - that's 18 kids not including ours. We have a decent size house, but it's winter in Washington, so there isn't going to be much room for overflow since we can't count on going outside.

She has requested one craft. And apparently that craft will be decorating their own party hat. I think it's a great idea - but I think we are going to go with stickers to avoid glue in a house with 20 kids and their parents.

She wants rainbow decorations and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. A pinata, cake, and games will in there somewhere as well. She has even gone as far as telling me what gift we are giving her.

I think this is the first party in a while that I have the theme a month before the party... which is exciting. This means I get to actually do some planning. I'll share details here as I have them. I'm hoping to include lots of handmade goodies!

A new year - more ideas!

This one came while I was finishing up with a thread color and knew that the bobbin was almost gone. Rather than pull it out with just a little left, I wanted to use it up. Of course, I don't like to waste even the tiniest bit of thread (I have a bowl that I keep pieces that are long enough for hand stitching - yes, it's an illness and I'm working on it) so I decided to experiment.

I sandwiched a piece of fleece between a scrap of recycled t-shirt sleeve and started sewing. Once I ran out of thread in the bobbin (it was just enough), I cut out the shape and embellished it by hand. I had enough forethought to include a loop of elastic on one side and made it into a cuff. Obviously I was happy with the result as I now have about 8 of them made and several more in the works. I'm thinking about adding these cuffs to the NueToMe shop. They are really comfortable. I had forgotten I had tried it on and wore it for about an hour before I realized I was still wearing it.

New Year - New Items

It isn't my plan to promote much of my store's happenings on this blog... but I am hoping to clear out some inventory to make room for all my new ideas. I'm discontinuing the Feathered Headband and the old style of Antennae (I have redesigned it) in addition to closing out some older items and seconds.

This means you can get some pretty good deals in the World of Whimm shop right now (I'll be doing this with the NueToMe shop as well, I just can't do them both at the same time!).

Starting next week I'll be posting some new, fancier masks (simple masks will remain available as well)... and I'm hoping within the next few weeks to get some more wings, antennae, tails and horned headbands up as well.