Swept up in the Spirit of Halloween

                                    Swept up in the spirit of Halloween
Aren't these so fun and festive?  The Dr. in our office has made these for all of the patients that come and visit our office this year.  The Dr. first saw these on Martha Stewart http://www.marthastewart.com/272757/witchs-broom-favors  I love the little twist he put on them with the fun colored bags.

"Dippy" St. Patty's Day Treats

I joined a linky party (my first one) I am so excited. A party right from my own home and I didn't have to clean a thing! Speaking of parties, last night was our monthly BUNCO ladies night out. My sister and I were on the same page and brought dipped St. Patty's Day treats. I made the shamrocks. My inspiration piece came from http://sunscholars.blogspot.com/2011/02/st-pattys-day-fun.html. They were super simple and fun to make with the kids so I thought I would share them here.

You will need:
CANDY MELTS
Green food coloring
Small pretzels
Wood skewers
Wax paper


I took some white candy melts (If you are fortunate enough to have a Winco close by, purchase these from the bulk section this way you can buy only what you need, and they are a little cheaper than from a Craft store) I put the candy melts into a microwaveable bowl and put them in for 1 minute on 50%. Take out melts and stir. Place back in microwave at 50% power and for 30 secs. Remove and stir. Continue to repeat this step until candy melt are melted. When candy has melted add 8 drops of liquid food coloring and stir until incorporated. This is where the fun begins.

Spread wax paper on working surface. Place 3 pretzels in the melt, flip them over so that you are coating both sides. Use the wood skewer to remove the pretzel by sticking the skewer in the little hole of the pretzel. Shake off excess. Now place the three pretzels so that the are touching. I also broke off a piece of a pretzel to form the stem of the shamrock. I dipped it in the melt and placed it at the bottom of the three full pretzels. Let the candy melt harden. Once hardened you can trim off any excess chocolate. This project is very forgiving. The kids loved dipping and I loved that I could trim off the blobs of chocolate.

*My sister used the same process for dipping the oreos pictured. My sister and I were discussing how we might kick it up a notch next time, and think it would be fun to use mint chocolate chips instead of the candy melts next time.

Parties I am linked up with:

Slime

What is that saying...you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Yeah well, just call me old dog. Last night there I was running to WINCO for Borax so we could make SLIME for Parks barter days today at school. Why do her projects always fall to me just as she is told it is bedtime?

Since my DVR was bidding me to come watch AI, I went simple (for me) and just slapped a directional label on a ziploc baggie and called it good. No fancy packaging. With the bright colors, they are still fun, and what kid doesn't like green slime that resembles boogers?

This project really is easy and fun for kids, so here is the link I used to make our "SLIME"

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000039

"HOO" doesn't love Valentines?

Land's "Owl" be your Valentine-
I love his sense of humor. Each owl needed a Mario Brothers moustache so he changed his beaks, and added flair to some of the girl ones. He also liked to make the eyes go all crazy.






Parks "Valentine you're a HOOT" (looks like one of Lands flair birds made it in the picture too)

Any one that knows me, knows that I love Valentines Day. This year I thought it would be especially fun to make our own Valentine Cards for the kids and their classmates. I perused the internet for inspiration and came up with a cute owl theme. I was concerned that it might be a hard sell to the kids, but they loved the idea. So I took to quickly getting the supplies, when reality suddenly hit. Now I am no Math expert, but I knew that at five hearts per card, and 50 cards to make, that I had just got myself into a lot of miserable heart cutting. Please won't someone restrain me the next time that I get a bright idea? There is a reason that kids don't just put conversation hearts into the little paper envelopes where every card and candy heart had been hand picked for each of their little friends like we did growing up. It is a lot of work when you can go to the store and buy a box of cards with two saying choices and the candy already attached. Lucky for me I remembered the generous offer of my favorite Aunt Teana from my last post offering to let me borrow her Cricut. Saved from hours of countless heart cutting, and we finally got to work.

It was actually a fun activity. My kids love to do crafts, and are really rather creative, and proud of their creations, in case you couldn't see it in the picture below.