IDMommy Tip: Use QR Codes to Share Recipes at Parties!

Here's a fun idea I came up with about an hour before we were to have some guests over for BBQ last night...using QR codes to share recipes! 

We do a lot of entertaining, and there are always a few people who ask for recipes.  So, I figured, rather than digging them out and making my guests copy them down, leaving the party to go make a copy in my studio, or trying to remember who to email them to afterwards, I'd give this a try!

All I did was Google "QR Code Generator" and there are many sites that will generate the code for you.  QR Stuff was the site I used.  Since most of my recipes were already online, either found on Allrecipes or via Pinterest links, I simply found the links to those recipes and generated a code that takes you to that website.  Then I downloaded the code, pasted it in Photoshop, and printed them out with the names underneath them.  I cut them out and taped them by each dish.  (You could just print these and leave off the recipe title too, skipping the whole Photoshop thing)

There were a couple recipes that were not online, just from my recipe box.  So, I chose the "plain text" option.  I still haven't even tried that one out so I'm not sure how it reacted on people's smart phones.  But, it was a really fun idea to try out and a great way to easily share recipes!!

Fun Fall Projects: Egg Carton Pumpkins!

 Here's a little egg carton project you can do with your kids this fall!  I've been looking for egg carton crafts because I have quite a stash of them built up, and this one has been popping up all over Pinterest so I thought I'd give it a try!

Spray paint the bottom of an egg carton orange

Cut apart the sections

Cut off the bottoms of each egg section. Try to get them as flat as you can so they'll match up when you glue them later.

Poke a little hole in the middle of the tops of your pumpkin

I had these fake leaves around so I cut some of them off to put on our pumpkins

Put a dot of glue on the little hole you poked

Stick on your leaf! You could make a leave with fabric, paper, pipe cleaners, or whatever else, too! I also added a little piece of the wire stem from my fake leaves for a stem, which you could just use a stick or pipe cleaner for too.

Put some glue around the edges of one of the halves

Stick 'em together

Add a face! Sammy had fun coloring on these with a Sharpie.  You can also add google eyes!

Wordless Wednesday: Fall Colors on the Dakota Rail Regional Trail

I took the boys for a bike ride yesterday on the Dakota Rail Regional Trail which runs by our neighborhood.  A great chance to take in fall colors AND get used to my new digital camera!

 Happy fall!!

ID Mommy Project: Baby Food Jar Jack-o-Lanterns

So today I was reaching for my blaze orange spray paint in preparation for a different pumpkin craft for the boys to do after nap.  Staring back at me on the same shelf was my stash of empty baby food jars, which have been screaming for re-use.   Then it hit me...hey, I could mask off some jack-o-lantern faces, paint them orange, peel off the tape, and set them over a battery powered candle....and voila! (Yeah, I know, I'm weird...these are the things that pop into my head!!)  Turns out they actually came out kinda cool!  So here it is!

 You'll need orange spray paint, masking or painter's tape, baby food jars (or any glass jar, really), and scissors or an X-acto knife.  Optional: Something to make leaves and/or a stem with

 Thoroughly clean and dry the baby food jars.  Then turn them upside down and make faces on them with masking tape.  I cut these shapes with scissors, which was a bit clumsy but worked.  (You could also put the tape on the jar first and cut the shapes right on the jar with an X-acto knife.)

 I made three of them today. Make sure to burnish the tape...rub them down so the edges are really stuck so the paint doesn't get underneath.

 Next, spray paint them orange.  Make sure they're upside down.  I did the faces on the upside down jars so there wouldn't be overspray inside the jars and the faces would stay clear.

 It may take a couple coats.  Once it's all dry, carefully peel off the tape.  I like to use the sharp point of my X-acto knife to grab the edge of the tape so I don't scratch the part I want painted.

 You could stop there if you want.  I found some old fake flowers and snipped a few leaves off and glued them on top.  I'd still like to add a stem of some sort but I'm not sure what to use yet.  Maybe a real stick?

Now just set them on top of a little battery powered candle!  Cuteness!! You could do these right side up too...just keep the lid on or tape off the opening while spray painting so you don't get paint on the inside.  (If you get paint inside, the cut-out faces won't be clear)

Fish Bowl Roundup!

Maybe it's because I painted a goldfish bowl on my 2nd cousin's cute "baby bump" last week, but lately I've been noticing some really cool fish bowls out there.  Doesn't every kid have a pet goldfish at some point?  Or a beta?  I know I had plenty of both when I was little, and even got into saltwater fish in college.  But, there's no reason you can't let your kids learn the responsibility of pets and still enhance your home!  With these bowls your fish can double as cool modern decor.

Check out this wall mounted fish bowl.  Wish I had seen this back when I used to have a fish themed bathroom!

This bowl is shaped like a fish...I'd have to name my fish Jonah if he lived in this bowl:

 These fish bowl bookends would hold up your copy of Moby Dick nicely (or more realistically in my house, "One Fish Two Fish"):

I'm sure I've already posted this one before, but had to include it in this post...the Umbra Fish Hotel!!

This FishScape glass fish bowl is super awesome, and while I'm certain that never in my lifetime will I spend $190 on a fish bowl, it's fun to imagine.  (This one of course would not be handled by the kids!)

Looking for a more thrifty way to house a fishy?  Check out the aisles of your local thrift store, and think "outside the bowl" a bit.  How about a clear glass pitcher?  Or some other cool glassware on a stem?  Chances are you'll find plenty of ideas at the thrift store, and if not, I almost always find standard fish bowls, tanks, and aquariums there!

Okay now, I just need my 3 year old to start asking for a fish so I have an excuse!!

Fun Fall Project Tutorial: Marbled Leaves!

Okay, so a few days ago I had put Toby down for bed, and we had one hour of "Sammy time" before he too went to bed.  I proposed two options:

1) Watch his new Thomas movie (just got at a garage sale for $2) and eat the new "magic" blue popcorn (I got for free with coupons)

or

2) Do a craft project with Mommy.

To my surprise (and delight), he chose option #2!  So, I dove into my Pinterest list of things to make with the boys, and decided to try making these cool marbled fall leaves!

Here's how we did it...

First I found a scrap of white poster board in my office, and just used scissor to cut some random leaf shapes.  (If you don't want to freehand it, you could use real leaves as templates, or pull some leave illustrations off the web too)

Next I covered a plastic food container lid with shaving cream.  I used a knife to spread it like frosting so it would cover the whole lid.  I found I didn't really need this much, but it worked...

Next we took some of my acrylic paints and squirted them around the shaving cream.  I used a little bit of gold paint which added some nice sparkle...

 

 (Sammy is smiling big because the paint container farted! Aah, little boys...)

Now we took a wooden skewer and swirled the paint around in the shaving cream.  Fun for kids!!

 

Then, lay your leaf on the paint and gently press it down:

 

 Then carefully lift it up.  It looks pretty thick and goopy and you might think, hey, this doesn't look like the picture!!

 

Take a flat edge of a knife and scrape off the shaving cream:

 

 Voila!!

 

These turned out pretty cool I think for our first try!  These would be extra cool if done on both sides, sprinkled with a little glitter, then sprayed with some clear coat and strung together into a garland!

A Special Garage Sale Find: Mary's Craft Box

Today's "garage sale finds" post is not quite like any of my other posts bragging about my great deal, but more about the humbling experience of my special find!

I went out garage saling with the boys this morning, as I often do on Thursday mornings.  On our way back home we decided to stop at just ONE more sale, even though the car was pretty well packed with a large kids' picnic table I had just purchased, among other things.

This sale was full of all kinds of interesting things.  There was a huge 10 gallon tote full of little matchbox cars, and Sammy had a blast digging through them.  We took home as many monster trucks as his little hands could hold.

But the bargain that got me most excited was a huge Rubbermaid bin marked "Arts and Crafts."  The sticker on the box read "$5 for all."  Inside the bin were more smaller bins full of interesting items.  There was another bin next to it for the same price, so I figured I'd take this larger one, being the bargain hunter that I am.

Below is a photo of the bin and contents, AFTER I spent an hour sorting through every item, tossing out little scraps & dried up paints, pulling out all of the already finished crafts, and re-organizing.  There were beads, scissors, a glue gun, ribbon, pom poms, puff paints, wood pieces, you name it!

But the interesting story here was not in this great bargain I had, but the story behind it.  I told the woman at the sale that I'd take that big green bin full of craft supplies.  She said, "Oh, great! I had a little girl with Leukemia and that was all we could do to keep her busy!"  She followed me over to the bin and started piling on more plastic storage containers full of popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, and other supplies.  "Here, take these too!  Your boys can have fun with these..."

I went home happy that I had scored such a great deal, but sad to think of another child who had to go through something as tough as Leukemia. Pulling a small bag of colored feathers out that still had the $5 price tag, the price I paid for this entire box, I thought to myself, I'd spend hundreds on craft supplies for my kid's too if they were battling cancer and it distracted them from that harsh reality for even a moment.

As I sorted through the items in the bin I couldn't help but think of Mary, the little girl who worked so hard on the dozens of finished ornaments, pins, earrings, and other items in the box.  I pulled out this little guide to the "Craft Show Extravaganza and Bake Sale" at Children's Hospital from November 2001:

I found some unopened packages of "Specially Hand Made By Mary" labels.

(If anyone out there named "Mary" would like these, let me know and I'll send them to you for free! I just couldn't toss or donate them!)

I couldn't help but think the whole time I sorted through these items about just how blessed we are to have two healthy boys.  How lucky I am to be stocking up on craft supplies to keep them busy when cooped up this winter...not because they are stuck in a hospital undergoing chemotherapy, but because their feet got cold and wet with snow that soaked their boots after building snowmen and sledding for so long.

I don't know if Mary won or lost her battle with Cancer...I couldn't bear to ask her mom.  But I sure hope she had one rockin' successful craft sale at table #42 in the Children's Hospital in November of 2001.  Her listing in the directory says "former patient," so that give me hope that she won her fight, and I hope it never returned!

I gently stacked most of the little crafts and ornaments in my charity donation bag, but decided to keep one ornament to hang on our Christmas tree.  This one I thought captured the hand made nature of Mary's crafts the best:

I plan to hang this ornament on our tree each year as a reminder of just how lucky we are to have healthy kids who are here in our home with us, making enormous messes every 5 seconds, dirtying tons of laundry from playing, and eating us out of house and home. Thank you, Mary, for this valuable reminder. How very blessed we are!!