Meal Planner

I know, I know. Neither papercrafting or jewellery today. But as I was pondering what to write about I ALSO happened to be working on my meal plan/grocery list, and I realized, DUH, I had something to share. :-) I mean, when I saw the idea for the first time I thought it was GREAT, so hopefully someone out there will agree with me and find it useful, too!

I have some friends who are far too artistic and one day saw a post on Facebook from their company, Ollibird, about a meal planner. Well, I happen to have a degree in kinesiology and am studying to be a bona fide health care professional, so I LOVE all things health-related, and to me, meal planning fits in that category.

So I clicked on their link to see what was up.

Sheer genius. I LOVE it. And then I started surfing around and found other design options for the same thing - a beautifully designed weekly menu planner you print out and pop into a frame, then write on with an erasable marker.

I can't tell you how much I love these, and how WONDERFULLY the fun, bright colours will go in my kitchen!!

Buuuut...even at a measly $10, with neither my hubs or I working right now (BOO to layoffs!), I couldn't justify spending the money, even though I was looking at this for myself and a friend as a Christmas present. (I TOTALLY will purchase one as soon as I have a job - I LOVE LOVE LOVE the colours of the 'bright & mod' planner! SO FUN!)

So...I made my own!

It's not NEARLY as fun and fancy - I don't have any of the mad skillz the Ollibird group do, but I can click and drag shapes in Google Docs like a superstar; here's what I came up with:

I then bustled my butt over to WalMart, where I found some fabulous black frames for like, a buck, and grabbed a black "lumocolor" marker (you know the kinds your profs use on overheads in lectures?).

Voila!

I currently have two weeks' dinners planned out on it - necessary when relying on outside assistance for groceries, OY! - and LOVE that each day instead of trying to rack my brain to answer "what should I make for dinner" all I have to do is glance over at my meal planner and get started. It's wonderful!

Feel free to download my amateur version, above, but definitely look at the fun options Ollibird has to offer - they are only $10 (USD) and you can print them as many times as you like! AND they're way prettier than my perfectly adequate copy.

Happy Thursday, everyone, and get your meals organized! It's FABULOUS!

Repurpose and Upcycle Things in Your Home

With the end of the winter season for those of us in the northern hemisphere in sight, our minds naturally turn to spring. As we open the blinds and pull back the draperies in our home, that's when we see it-- Dust! Clutter! Disorganization! Everything in our home now tells the story how we hunkered-down this past winter and were too cold to do anything.

Then we get a brilliant idea-- SPRING CLEANING. And that, my friends, is when we go crazy trying to make-up for lost time by cleaning and organizing every nook-and-cranny. We pull out the garbage bags or boxes for trips to the local thrift store, and we open up garbage and recycling cans for everything else. Although I can write an entire post about where our thrift store items actually go, instead I'll let you read this March 8th article found on GOOD, and write about repurposing and upcycling items already in your home: egg cartons, aluminum cans and glass jars.

The words REPURPOSE and UPCYCLE may not be found in the dictionary, but they are becoming commonly used in the English language. To repurpose or to upcycle something is to give an item new life other than its original intended purpose. To recycle is good, but most products in the marketplace that claim to be made of post-consumer waste are still made with 70% new materials. To repurpose an item reuses 50- 100% of the original item--much better than the average 30% used in recycled goods.

Let's Begin! 

Simple and yet oh-so-helpful!

Egg Carton.
Original Purpose: Place to safely hold eggs to prevent cracking.
Upcycled Purpose: Organizer.

We like to craft. We like to decorate. We like to build. Isn't it nice when our beads, needles, piping tools or screws aren't mixed up? Next time you begin working on a project, use an egg carton to keep you organized!

PS- Muffin tins are also great organizing tools too!

Step four: Can, towel, nail and hammer.

Aluminum Can.
Original Purpose: Preserve your vegetables and fruit for consumption.
Upcycled Purpose: Lantern.

Did I mention we like to craft? Here is a fun craft that only requires:
an aluminum can
water (ice, actually)
towel
hammer
one nail
tea light

1. Remove paper wrapper from can and thoroughly wash inside and out.

Step 6: finished product.

2. Fill can 3/4 full with water.
3. Freeze overnight.
4. Lay towel down on kitchen counter or table. Use nail and hammer to make holes in frozen can, starting from the bottom to the top.
5. If there is still ice in the can when all holes have been made, melt ice and dry.
6. Place tea light in bottom of can and enjoy!

Glass Jar.
Original Purpose: Preserving sauce or other condiment.
Upcycled Purpose: Fancy storage container for dried pasta, sugar, powder laundry detergent, etc.

Although not as messy as the activity above, this is still a fun crafty project that looks oh-so-pretty when complete. This upcycle requires:
one jar (I used a glass spaghetti sauce jar) with lid

Step six: finished product.

sand paper
drill
screw & cabinet know/ fixture
vinyl sticker labels (optional)

1. Remove paper wrapper from jar and thoroughly wash inside and out. Don't forget to wash the lid!
2. Remove the stamped label/ wording on the lid top with sandpaper. We want this to look pretty, right?
3. Using drill, make hole in center of the lid.
4. Attach decorative knob to top of lid using screw.
5. Apply vinyl sticker label to outside of jar.
6. Fill jar with desired dried item, attach lid and enjoy!

Super Mario Cake

I have a very dear friend who is also a gamer. So with his birthday in mind I made him a Super Mario Bros. cake. Thought I would share my results with you here.


First I tinted all my fondant. Then I rolled out the blue for the sky. One thing to keep in mind when using fondant is to not roll it too thin...it will tear. As well, when trying to smooth the sides work your way around the cake an inch or so at a time and continually lift the skirt of the fondant to prevent getting wrinkles.



Then I started to add the details. I apologize that I don't have more pictures of the steps I took. Keep in mind things like perspective when layering shapes onto a cake. I did the background hills and clouds first and then added in the other elements.


Everyone thinks you need to have a lot of fancy tools do do this sort of thing but you can use common kitchen tools like scissors and a pizza cutter, knives--all sorts of things to make what you want. Also remember that the internet is your friend and if you are unsure of how something should look then take advantage of it. I added all the little elements like bricks, warp zone tunnels, piranha plants, a goomba, coins, a mushroom to grow, a star to go fast. There were actually more elements than there was room on the cake! Here is the finished product! I'd love to know what you think and if you have any questions I'd love to answer them for you!

Summer: A Plan of Attack

Summer break will soon be upon us.
Sooner then any parent would like to think or even believe!
I feel that a little structure makes for a much more enjoyable and fun summer break.
In fact, structure might be too rigid a word for some -- lets say a plan of attack.

I want my boys to have a fun summer that isn't full of playing video games or watching tv.
However, I still want them to be engaged and to have a little bit of education oportunities to stimulate their brain so that they are ready for the next school year, come fall.

I did a whole post on my summer routine for a friend of mine last fall, if you want to read more, you can visit my home blog at the Peterson Party Page. There I break down what I did every day with my boys during the summer. Including a morning devotional (of sorts) and the workbooks I used.

Below is the books that we will be using this summer.
Summer Bridge books are amazing (and I've actually been surprised that the boys teachers' haven't heard of them).
You can purchase them at almost any bookstore or educational supply store and even online from the publisher itself.

The worksheets take very little time (so the kids aren't dreading doing some school work every morning of summer break) and they are one sheet front & back of spelling, math skills, reading, fitness....the creators did a spectacular job with these books.

I am taking it one step further this summer.
Now, you might be thinking that I'm a little too organized for your taste if I already have my schedule ready for the summer.
The reason that I am, is because I know that if I don't begin planning and organizing my summer now, I won't get it done and then I'll listen to "I'm bored" all afternoon, every afternoon. And I'll kick myself for not being more prepared for the summer.

So I won't mentally kick myself I have done a little scrounging on Pinterest and other websites to create a daily schedule of an extra thing to do each day -- mostly during #3's naptime (at least the "at-home" activities are.).
I've planned a different day for a different activity: games, science, crafts, cooking, library & or field trip.
I've also included the website I found the activity on so that I didn't have to write out all the instructions (if they were long), or where I needed to reserve something.

If you would like to create your own, I found the template in Word, in the template menu under "planners" and just inserted everything you see here.

If you would like a copy of your own in PDF format, click HERE.

If you would like a copy of your own in Word format, click HERE.

(fyi: this document is only for the 1st five weeks of the summer, if you want all my summer activy scheduling, contact me and I will send it to you)

The most important thing for a active, fun summer is flexibility.

I will also be making room in our schedule for musical theater camp for #2,

swimming lessons for #1 & #2,

and some camping fun.

Have a fun summer and make some great memories with your kids!

Cluster Necklaces

Hi, folks!

Holy geeze, it's MARCH! Crazy, eh? I don't know about where you are, but where I am we are having the most fabulously MILD winter EVER. I've missed being able to make a snowman with my kiddo this year, but I will take more winters like this over snowmen ANYTIME! :-)

With spring inching closer and closer I find myself turning ever so slightly away from my vast collection of scarves (I LOVE scarves) and back towards my increasingly fabulous jewellery stash! (I'm not going to lie, being able to make my own and having a small sellable inventory means I am NEVER at a loss for the perfect piece to complement whatever whim I'm having; it's accessorizing bliss. hahaha)

Here is one of my most FAVOURITE styles of necklaces to make and wear. It's an easy step up from the last how-to I shared with you, and goes with just about everything.

This particlar project was done for my darling dear friend who turned 14 last week. I chose purple as it has been her most absolute FAVOURITE colour since Justin Bieber came on the scene, and, honestly, it's a fabulous colour to work with. :-D

So, here's what you need:

• chain
• a whack-load of beads, charms, whatever you're adding to your cluster
• wire - I like to use 22-guage for this, because it's so easy to work with, but occasionally I use a chain that is so fine the 22 is too thick to fit through, so I'll use 24 gauge - I don't really recommend going thinner than that for this, but that's just me. I use 26 gauge for wrapping/weaving, not really for attaching. Anyway.
• wire cutters
• round-nosed pliers
• needle-nosed pliers

You're going to start the same way you started before, cutting a piece of wire long enough to go through your first bead but giving enough room to work on either side.  I'd say give yourself at least the bead's length plus 1 1/2 inches so you have lots of wiggle room, at least while you're learning. :-)

Then, this is a bit different - grab the wire with your round nosed pliers at the very end.

Then, turn the end of the wire up so it wraps around the pliers - you're making a little loop at the bottom that's going to be holding the bead on the wire. (If your bead has a big hole, make the loop bigger to accommodate it.  Generally this loop can be VERY tiny, and the smaller it is the stronger it will be.)

I like to bend my wire back a little so the loop is sort of 'centred' at the bottom instead of off-kilter, but it TOTALLY doesn't matter.  When I'm done, it looks like this!

Then, pop on the bead!  Sometimes when I do a cluster I like to use a nice big bead at the bottom and then build my cluster up above that - that's what I did here, so I have this giant purple agate going on the bottom.

This next part should look familiar - you're going to grasp the wire at the top and do the fabulous twist we learned before!

Grasp the wire above the bead with the round-nosed pliers

Bend the wire away from you over the pliers

Move the pliers in the bend from the side to the top

Bend the wire BACK over the pliers, and continue around to make a loop. Before closing the loop slip the wire through the end link of your chain.

Finish your loop by wrapping the end of the wire around the bottom of the loop above your bead 2-3 times.

Trim the tail off the wire.

Voila! The first bead of your cluster is attached!!  Then, all you do, is the same thing over and over with different beads. SO EASY!

I like to make most of my clusters pretty full, so I keep adding beads and charms until it's packed. This one used agate, amethyst, sparkly Chinese crystals, a tiny Swarovski crystal, glass beads, glass pearls, silver plated beads & charms...  Then I slip a jump ring or a slip ring on the top of the cluster, cut the excess chain off, and then put the NECKLACE chain through the ring and make it as long as I want - usually cluster necklaces I like to be nice and long so they sit slightly lower than the bust (which is why they don't work very well with scarves and winter bundles! BRING ON SPRING! hahaha)

And this was the finished product!  Isn't it gorgeous? (Even if I do gush about my own work...I love this one!)

For my bud's birthday I used a pin to shorten the chain and attached it to Scentsy buddy Ribbert (she has a thing for frogs, and a frog that smells like baked apple pie...let's just say this was a winner of a gift! hahaha BOOyah!)

Cute, right? I KNOW! hahaha

And that, my friends, is my big secret about how I make my most favourite pieces! 

Happy crafting!