Flowers from Mars

Still going strong on Pinterest!

Ok. I’ve seen people pinning these paper flowers.  I thought EASY PEASY! Mmmm not so much.  The ones I did weren’t hard I just didn’t like doing that much cutting.  I know this sounds silly, but I had to pay attention.  They weren’t straight lines, you know what I mean?  ANYWAY! I made 3 and gave them to my daughter.  She had an award ceremony today.  Her school learns virtues and the teacher pick what student demonstrated that virtue the best.  My daughter was awarded Perseverance. I was excited!

Back to the flowers! What you need - Paper (I used the paper I use for scrapbooking)

      Scissors

      Toothpick (or something small to poke through)

      Pen or pencil

      Oh and the stencil which I will link you to below

This is what I needed

I made 3 flowers so I cute out 3 of each shape.  Once they are cut you take the flower and you should fold them.  This is so they aren’t laying flat on each other.  I don’t know if you can really see, but I drew lines in the back and then folded on those lines.

 

The lines on the back                                                                               And how it will look after folded

Then I went to the stem. You fold the triangle part until it’s as skinny as you can get it. Then you twirl that rectangle piece into a coil

Then went to curling the leaves on the flowers.

I took the toothpick and made a small hole in the middle of all the pedals

 

Then push the stem all the way through.

And that is how I made the paper flowers!

The cutting pattern - http://www.jessicajonesdesign.com/downloads/Paper_flower_lg.pdf

And the blog I got it from - http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-make-recycled-paper-flowers.html

The Mak Spiral

Day 7 of Pinterest
So I did a hairstyle today ... I'm putting it on Pinterest so that's my Pinterest connection today =)  I thought of it this morning when making Mak a sandwich wrap for her lunch.  How cool would it be to have a snack type hairdo? I only had about 10 minutes to do her hair this morning so I only have the final product of the hair style.
What you need - comb
                           a hair tie
What I did was have her put her head down and I brushed her hair so she kind of looked like It from the Adams Family.  I then parted her hair in a circle.  About 2 inches from her hairline all around.  Then I put the middle section in a bun.  I parted the hair not in the bun off to the side over her left eye and started to do a Heidi type braid all around.  Once I got to the end of my circle I took out the bun and did a french braid all the way down and put a hair tie at the end to keep everything in place.  Then I had the Mak Spiral.  I haven't seen this hair style before.  I've seen the Heidi and have done my kids hair in the Heidi many time.  Those of you in cold climates ... it's a GREAT hair style for putting those hats on and off.  Today is a busy evening so I'm posting this early.  I hope you try it out and let me know how you like it.

It's still the AM and I already have a funny moment with the Madd Hatter.  Bubba poured himself some cereal this morning.  Fruity Pebbles EVERYWHERE! MH takes one look and says "OH MY JIMMY CHOO!"  I asked her to repeat what she said and she puts one hand on her hip and one hand out and says "MOOOOM! You know! JIMMY CHOO!!!" Like she's knows about shoes that cost more the $30! LOL

Sprinkles from Mars

Day 6 of Pinterest -

It’s a simple, but good recipe tonight.  Bite Size Apple Pie! Yuuuum, right?  Today is Monday so nothing was getting done today.  I stayed home all day waiting for repair guys to come and go.  Our 1 year warranty was up so they had to fix everything that was “broken” this far. Very boring! You know Mondays, does anyone enjoy them?

Ok the bite size apple pie ... I will make these again for parties maybe.  If I hosted a Scentsy open house or Bunco night I would for make these! I didn’t go too far off the original recipe, but I will post where I got it from below.

What you need - 1 cup sugar

      2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

      2 tablespoon melted butter

      1 can Croissants

                1 apple (sliced)

We are done to 4 during the week so I don’t have to make as much.  If we had 5 I would use 1 more can of croissants and 1 more apple.  I rolled out the dough and you know how it is in 2 parts.  There’s a set of 4 triangles and then the other set of 4? You can see in the photo.  I had the 2 sections and mashed the lines together so there were no longer any triangles.  Painted butter on it sprinkled the sugar mixture on there (not all of it).  I took a pizza cutter and cut 1 inch strips (the shortest distance across) and then rolled 1 slice of apple in each strip.  Put on a cookie sheet, painted with butter, sprinkled more sugar on top and cooked until done ... 12-15 min I think.  I pulled them out when they looked done.   I just poured the rest of the sugar mixture in a container for the next time I may need it.  It got 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.  The Madd Hatter liked the bread and “sprinkles” she said, but not the baked apple ...

Where I got it ...  http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/02/apple-pie-bites-recipe/

I didn’t do a craft today.  Monday is usually crazy with the homework and all.  I GUESS I could’ve done a non-kid craft, buuuuut I didn’t!  IMaybe starting at the end of the week or next week I will start trying some of the more difficult (or the ones that look more difficult) to see how those work out.

Waterfalls and Smurfs

Day 5 of Pinterest -

No recipes today ... well, maybe an experiment recipe.  Today I tried the waterfall braid.  I have seen it on a hair blog I follow and then I saw people pinning it on Pinterest so I wanted to give it a shot. I flat ironed my hair and gave it a shot. Once I got the rhythm down it wasn’t difficult.  My honest opinion is it’s not for short thick hair.  I think if my hair was longer and in it’s curly state it would have worked GREAT, if my hair was thinner it would’ve worked GREAT! My hair is shoulder length right now and I don’t think it looked as good as it could’ve.  PLUS, my hair straight doesn’t act the same as white hair acts straight ... if that makes sense LOL I love the idea just not for my hair at this time.

Another thing we did today is the fabulous oldie, but goodie ... Is it a solid? Is it a liquid? Starch and water.  

What you need - Corn Starch

      Water

      Food coloring

Don’t ask me the measurements because I dumped some corn starch in and then mixed in water until it looked and acted correctly. Bubba didn’t like the taste so only played for a couple of minutes.  Madd Hatter is still playing and has it on her knees and hands, everywhere!  Big Mak got a spoon played for a few minutes and was done.  She doesn’t like to get dirty.  So 3 out of 3 stars here (3 kids 3 stars is how I did that LOL) BUT two lost interest due to taste and dirty factor.  GRANTED, it isn’t meant to be eaten, but it’s corn starch and water ... Tip - Lay something over the table before playing ... UGH going to have to wipe this down. =/

I hope you all are trying some of these things out! I know that some times you see things that people say are “SO EASY!” and then you try it out and it’s the most difficult and frustrating thing EVER! HOPEFULLY, my blog will get more followers and show you all that some stuff REALLY is easy and some stuff not so much LOL

Cute Section -

So I put blue food coloring in the guck mixture.  Madd Hatter has blue hands and I'm not sure how well I will be able to get it off.   So I told her "Oh No! Now you're a smurf!" She stares at her hands and says "OH NO! I need to be white again so I can be in your family!" As you can see in the photos I have black kids (my mom is white so MAYBE that's her "white card" LOL) She is still staring at her hands with a worried look.  She just now asked me since now she's a smurf "Do I get to be on the TV with the Smurfs? AAAAHHHH I'm stuck in the TV! I can't be in the TV right now!" Let's see if I can scrub my Smurf so she can fit into our white family LOL (edited tip - I used Mary Kay Satin Hands hand scrub it worked pretty well. she still is blue around the finger nails)

Day 4 of Pinterest

Day 4 of Pinterest

I decided to do a recipe that was basically a chicken mixture wrapped in a croissant and it got 5 out of 5 stars here in the house.  BUT in true Mars fashion I changed up the recipe a smidge.  I will post the blog I got this from below. My way ...

You need - the BIG and flakey Pillsbury croissants

      chicken quarters (the leg and thigh piece)

      reduced fat cream cheese (trying to keep my girlish figa)

        shredded cheese

What I did was bought already seasoned chicken quarters (for SOME odd reason the lemon pepper seasoned chicken was cheaper then the plain).  I put them on a cookie sheet and turned up the sides of the tin foil.  I put a couple splashed of white wine on there and covered with tin foil and cooked through.  I pulled off all the meat and shredded it.  Mixed in about 3/4 of the cream cheese and about a hand full of the cheese and mixed.  When you lay out the rolls mash them down a bit to spread them out.  I always use the big and flakey ones when I’m going to put something in them because there’s more room for stretching the dough. THEN I baked everything. We are family of 4 1/2 and I made 2 cans of rolls ... we only needed 1, but the hubs can take it with him to school and stuff.  I served the rolls, green beans and the kids got apples also. This was a quick make! Minus chicken cook time it took maybe 10 minutes.  Next time I make this I probably won’t use that much cream cheese and I will probably use spinach or something in there.  Also I used chicken on the bone because I think it tastes WAY better then not.  

Blog - http://jennasjourneyblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/chicken-roll-ups.html

The chicken cheese mixture

The cooked chicken quarters

This is one rolled up and one ready to be rolled

Ta Da all done!

I did not do a craft today we are going to save it for tomorrow.  Today was award day for Big Maks basketball and that took most of the day and we are all exhausted. Big Mak is part of a league for special needs kids.  It was so funny watching Pieces run around with his belly sticking out.  There was a 17 year old girl there that will be singing at a benefit concert we are doing to raise money for a field for the kids.  ANYWAY, Pieces was ALL over her.  Smiling in her face, sitting on her lap, he was all about this girl Hannah.  LOL 

Double Whammy!

Day 3 of my year with Pinterest -

Today I took 2 recipes I saw on pinterest and had to substitute a little bit.  First we had burritos.  They were REALLY good.  Instead of doing it like on the blog, I used the Salsa Chicken we had 2 nights ago.  I still used rice (brown gluten free rice) and black beans.  The reason I say Gluten Free is because the Madd Hatter should be eating gluten free.  She does not have celiac, but the doctor recommended it. ANYWAY! I did everything else the same except I used the left overs from the Salsa Chicken. 

The verdict for our house was 4 outta 5 stars.  Madd Hatter is still sitting here trying to negotiate how many bites she needs to take.  She also slapped her sitter with the burrito across the face ... Blog to get the true recipe 

http://sumptuousspoonfuls.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/cheesy-rice-black-bean-burritos/

Now the crock pot cheese cake ... I am the type of person that needs things spelled out for me.  You need a LARGE crock-pot for this project.  Large enough to fit a a pan full of cheese cake and have surrounding water in it.  I do not have a LARGE crock pot so what I did was take my dutch oven and I have a 5x5 bowl thing I put in to it with the surrounding water.  I had my oven a 400.  I don’t know if I NEEDED the surrounding water and dutch oven since I put it in the oven, but it didn’t burn.  I think it I would’ve just stuck it in the oven the edges would’ve burned.  Ok, tip 2, use an electric mixer to mix everything together.  It took my about 10 minutes to come up with this idea LOL  Tip 3 place your graham crackers in a ziplock smash with a spoon and THEN mix with the butter.  These MAY be things you would have automatically think of tip 2 and 3, but I didn’t so I’m passing this on to you. 

For some reason the link to the crock pot cheese cake blog isn’t working right now.

What you need - 3 8 oz bars of cream cheese

      3/4 sugar

      3 eggs

      6 graham crackers

      3 oz of butter

Mix the first 3 items together in a bowl until nice a fluffy! In a different bowl mix the crackers and butter together.  Put the cracker mixer at the bottom of your pan (I kept a little bit to sprinkle on top) then pour your cheese mixture over it.  You can either do what I did with the dutch oven OR you can do the same thing only use a crock pot.  Cook for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours then let cook for about 30 minutes.  Again this got 4 outta 5 stars.  The hubs wasn't a fan, but everyone else gobbled it up!

Before the microwave

South West Mars

Day 2 on my Pinterest adventure.  I decided to make southwest egg rolls.  I will link you to the blog the recipe is on below.  They weren’t difficult to make.  I threw everything in my large measuring cup and mixed it together.  I’m not sure what kind of egg roll wraps I used because I can’t read what’s on the cover.  Honestly, I do not think I have the correct kind.  I don't know what I did wrong on the baking part, but mine stuck to the pan.  I use crisco as my nonstick agent and not a cooking spray so that could've been it.  The kids enjoyed it! So that's a WIN!!! I would use less corn and more beans next time I make them, but the seasoning was right on! If you want the recipe to the sauce I just whipped it up real quick.

You'll need - 1 cup salsa

                  2 tablespoons Spicy ranch dressing

                  2 tablespoons sour cream
Website for egg rolls - http://annies-eats.com/2010/03/05/baked-southwestern-egg-rolls/

everything mixed together

Before the oven

How they came out

You can see how they stuck on the pan and I had to scrap them off.

I decided to double Pinterest activities today.  The girls are playing with goo right now.  It wasn't difficult AT ALL! 

You need - 1 cup of Elmer's glue    

                1 cup of liquid starch

                Food coloring

You put the glue in a plastic bowl and mix the food coloring into it.  I used a mini spatula, but a spoon would work too.  Once you have the color you want then add the starch SLOWLY! I did 1/3 cup, mixed it, 1/3 cup and really that's all I used.  I didn't use the full cup of it.  I used my hands to kneed the glue into the starch.  

Too little for the goo. Maybe the next craft he'll be able to do.

A little tip, whatever surface your playing with the goo on tape some plastic wrap on there.  It's not sticky or really messy, but this way I didn't have to wipe down my table.  Plus it smells a little funny.

Now time for the funny segment of my blog! Madd Hatter went outside today to play.  It was almost 90 degrees today.  She came back in and said she "loooooooved laying on the dirt"  it was nice and warm. So we started to play a little bit and I was spinning her around.  I had her cradled, her head was back and her mouth was open.  I saw brown on her back molars. I asked "what were you eating?" She smiles and says "diiiiiiiirt! *giggle giggle* the dirt was good today!" So my daughter was outside in a sleeping beauty costume, laying on the ground, snacking on the dirt .... HHHmmmm!

Chicken, it's what's for dinner

I have decided to amp up my blog because people ask me how I do what I do or if I made something they ask how or if I used something they ask how I like it.  So I’m putting it all on here and if people want to follow me that is SUPER awesome and if not then at least I have everything documented for when I forget.

Ok today is Wed and usually a busy day.  Well, there’s 2 activities on Wed. Dance class for The Madd Hatter and speech therapy for Big Mak.  On these days the crock pot or Taco Cabana is the best thing EVER! Today I decided on the crock pot with a Mexican feel to it.  I got a recipe off of Pinterest, but made it my own a little bit.  Creamy Salsa Chicken and pasta.  It was REALLY good.  I think rice is supposed to be the carb, BUT you can serve it with whatever you want to, you’re the one eating it.

What you need - Crock pot

Chicken (I used a little less then 2 lbs)

Cream of mushroom (1 can)

Salsa (I used a little more than a cup of Pace)

Some taco seasonings 

Sour Cream

You take everything (except the sour cream and crock pot) and it in the crock pot. I put it in at 10am and we ate around 5pm.  I boiled some rainbow rotini.  When I started my pasta (or rice or potatoes or whatever) I turned off the crock pot and shredded the chicken and then added a cup of the sour cream.  There you go dinner! AND my kids loved it. Reeces Pieces not really a fan of the pasta, but he never really is unless it’s sketti.  The stuff he threw on the floor our Boston, Rocky ate it RIGHT UP!

So that’s my cooking tip for today.  Not difficult and tasted GREAT.  I put some green onions in my and it was ... BOMB! I am taking the ends of my green onions and planting them to see if they grow (another pinterest find).  I’m wondering how much on Pinterest is actually DIY friendly.  I mean 3 kids, 2 dogs and about to be 2 cats ... let’s see how much of that cute stuff on Pinterest is easy to do! And how much time it will ACTUALLY take.

One thing I WILL be posting about on a weekend basis is my version of the summer bucket list (another Pinterest find).  We are doing a WEEKEND bucket list.  We have made out our activities and every weekend we will pick something to do.  I will report back on how we did. LOL

Well, here’s my first “How do I do it” post.  This is how I did dinner tonight ... WHO KNOWS how I will do it tomorrow LOL

Mars Dust

The Mad Hatter is playing outside like she loves to do on a fabulous Texas morning.  I watch her, but I don't WATCH her.  I know she's out there and I see little glimpses of her darting around.  She loves dirt.  I don't know what it is, but she is a dirt connoisseur.  Actual Texas dirt she does not like, but the dirt that was brought in the make the ground level for the foundation of the home is just great! She's out there with her shovels and hand rakes.  Having a grand ole time.  I glance out and see this ... 

Yes, that is a small shovel full of dirt she is tasting.

Spitting OUT the dirt.

   That is our fabulous Boston, 

Rocky.  He tolerates this type of activity.  And here is some more pictures of this activity.
So this is how the morning went.  A dirt tasting followed by a dirt shower.  I think Rocky should get a dog treat after this.