Noah's Ark Baby Shower

We decided to do a Noah's Ark theme for my daughter's baby shower since that is going to be the theme for the nursery. The shower was held at a local restaurant and we used their outdoor garden room.

The Noah's Ark cake and letter blocks spelling Samuel's name.

 The centerpieces were Noah's Ark Birdhouses that I found online.

 My daughter and I.

 The cookies were placed on each place setting along with animal lollipops.

Mason Jar Salads for the Week- Greek Salad, California Orange Salad and Glowing Green Salad

So my hubby and I have been eating chicken with salad each night. He usually does the preparing and chopping and it takes him quite a bit of time each night. So this weekend we decided to try the mason jar salads. I made 10 quart size jars and 4 different salad types. I am including the pictures and the links to the sites I found them from.

Note: I added a small piece of folded paper towel to the top of the greens before closing the jar. TO preserve the salads longer.  I'll update and let you know how they tasted and lasted.

Greek Chicken Salad in a Jar

The greek salad recipe is from this site:http://moneysavingsecretsblog.com/recipes/mason-jar-greek-chicken-salad-recipe/      I added Kalamata olives to the jars as well.

Glowing Green Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette

Recipe: http://producewithamy.com/2013/09/07/glowing-green-mason-jar-salad-with-avocado-vinaigrette-dressing/

I didn't have Kiwis or Green apples so I added red apples. I made a jar of the vinaigrette it says it will keep for a week.

 California Orange Salad with Gorgonzola

Recipe: http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/1225150-Marston-s-California-Orange-Salad

I didn't have raisins so I added dried cranberries instead. Instead of blue cheese I added gorgonzola and I added chopped strawberries.

I also made my own salad dressing. Whisk together  balsamic vinegar, olive oil, a bit of lemon, a tablespoon of honey, salt and pepper. 

Our 2013 Christmas Village

Quick Thanksgiving Centerpieces

These were quick and easy centerpieces that I made to decorate the tables at Thanksgiving.
Materials
 $1.00 pails from the Target dollar aisle
pieces of styrofoam
glue gun
old yarn or moss
autumn color artificial flowers
Fall pack of scrapbook paper

1. Cut a small cube of styrofoam to fit inside each pail.
2. Put a dab of hot glue at the bottom.
3. Select the scrapbook design you want to use. Cut out design and wrap around pail. Put a tiny bit of hot glue to attach paper.
4. Insert artificial flower
5. Use old yarn or moss to cover the white styrofoam cube. I used some yarn I had lying around because I was out of green moss.
6. I cut out a tiny saying and taped it to the handle of each pail.

                  

Final Product

Quick and Easy Christmas Pins

So I was at Dollar Tree last week and I saw these cute claymation kind of mini ornaments. The 4 pack was $1.00. So I bought a couple of packs. Then I bought the bar pins at Michaels. All you have to do is center the bar pin on the back of the ornament, then peel and stick. Then cut off the fish line loop at the top. That's it your little Christmas pin is done. This is a quick, cheap and easy little trinket that you can give to others during the holidays. I was also thinking that depending on the pin, you could use a black sharpie and add the person's name if you wanted to.   Also, to make the pins more secure you can glue gun the bar pins to the back of the ornament instead of peel and stick. But the peel and stick is great for a kids project. I'm planning to hand these out at the school Christmas party. Maybe I'll create some sort of stand to display them. I haven't decided.  In total I think the total cost per pin is 26 cents.

Dollar Tree ornament pack

Bar Pins 

                       

Peel and Stick

Selection

Front and Back

    

Final Look

Homemade Coconut Lip Balm Recipe with Peppermint and Cinnamon

My daughters and I went to a presentation of Ava Anderson http://www.avaandersonnontoxic.com products a couple of weeks ago and they discussed all the toxic and hazardous chemicals that are found in our day to day skin care products.  We were horrified. Especially since my oldest daughter is expecting and my youngest daughter suffers from severe allergies to most skin care products from soaps to oils. I started  doing some research and I found many sites with recipes on how to make your own products. Stay away from anything that says Fragrance on it stick to essential oils if possible. I decided to do it with my little one Maya that is 9. It was a fun project that also helped her learn some science along the way.  We started with a simple one on how to make lip balm. The first time we tried it we didn't have beeswax but we decided to make it anyways. It turned out very liquidy and the only way to harden it was to keep it in the fridge. Maya didn't mind it, she enjoyed taking it out of the fridge about a zillion times a day and putting it on, but I didn't think that was too practical.

I went ahead and ordered some more ingredients, bottles and small cases from bulkapothecary.com.

We tried the Natural Tinted Lip Balm Recipe found at http://wellnessmama.com/5837/natural-tinted-lip-balm-recipe.

I am inserting  a photo of the recipe that I hand wrote along with a couple of notes.

 

*Make sure you thoroughly wash and dry all the containers you will be using before you start.

*When everything starts melting it takes a while for the beeswax pastilles to dissolve. For a bit I thought I had done something wrong because the shea and coconut dissolve so quickly. However, the beeswax pastilles just took a little longer. When they melt they completely dissolve and no longer look like pieces of rice in your mix.

*Maya and I would have preferred it mintier but my husband David said he liked it like that. He says that he doesn't like having lip balm taste like anything. So I guess we can make different batches for guys and girls. I think next time I'll add 20 drops of the peppermint oil.

*I didn't take pictures while doing it. I'll try next time. You need to make sure an adult is the one pouring the hot liquid mix into the jars. My little girl did the labels and helped scoop some of the ingredients but when it came to heating the liquid on the stove she stayed clear, because it gets very hot.  It did cool pretty quickly.  We tried putting liquid food coloring to tint it but it would not mix with the oil I guess because it's water based, and oil and water don't mix. We tried adding some cinnamon powder to give it a light tint, but I don't think I added enough and when it cooled some of it looked like it had tiny specks of cinnamon on the top. So I have to work out the kinks on that. 

Maya wiped any excess or spilt balm from the sides.  However, it tasted great and was very smooth on the lips. Overall we were very happy with the results.

Our finished product with labels. We called it CocomintC because it has coconut, peppermint and a little cinnamon.

Coconut Peppermint Cinnamon Lip Balm

We use the P-Touch label maker Decomode #1 for the style and font you see on the labels.

Making Vintage Wedding Table Number Frames

Since I was going for a rustic vintage look. I decided to make my own table number frames. I bought some plain wood frames at Michaels about 14 of them. Then I painted and crackled them to make them look old. I got the idea from a great web site. I will try and find it and post the link. I bought all the supplies at Michaels. www.michaels.com

Step 1: Paint frames a dark brown color and let dry. I used Dark Chocolate Acrylic paint.

 Step 2: Pour some white glue to make your own crackle.

Step 3: Paint a thick layer of glue over the wood frames. While the glue is still wet you will paint with your top color.
















Step 4: I used Snow White Acrylic Paint.

 Step: 5 While the glue is still wet. Paint over the glue with the white paint. Then let dry before applying next layer. As the glue dries it will crackle and split the top white paint.

Step 6: I   painted a light layer of  Buttermilk Acrylic Paint to give it that old antique look.

 Step 7: I had printed the table numbers on vintage looking scrapbook paper and then inserted them into the frames. I used different types of papers to give it a bit of an eclectic look. The scrapbook paper was called "Be Mine" stack which I bought at Michaels.

The finished product. I also did the same technique on the flower box bases. I'll post that as well soon.