Family Hands

Today is Easter.  Yes, it has religious meaning, but like every American holiday it's also about family and friends so this craft seemed fitting for today.  
What you need - Paint
                           Paper
                           Hands
I bought mine at Walmart down the crayon isle at the end with the poster board.  It's called U! CREATE.  It has a border already and comes with 3 sheets just in case you mess up.  It's 22x28.  BUT it was wipe off friendly.  My son ... being 23 months ... obviously wasn't corporative.  His light blue hand was the best we were going to get.  Our first attempt was a hot mess and it wiped off with a damp paper towel.  I didn't do anything fancy with the paint in the hands.  I squirted paint in everyones palms, wiped it around with a paper towel and then press.
I will be taking this to Joanns or Michael's.  They usually have 50% off framing and will get it framed and it will go in my bathroom.  

NO MORE DYING EGGS!

Get out the mom pitch forks now ... I HATE dying eggs! I hate boiling the eggs! I hate figuring out what to DO with the eggs.  I mean bunnies have NO connection with eggs! WHY are there eggs on Easter? I boil 2 eggs per kid! That's 6 eggs and even THAT is too many.  This year a friend pinned this idea ... All those tattoos you have at the bottom of the junk drawer. Well, put them on your eggs.  My kids haven't seen the eggs yet.  I'm almost 100% sure the girls are going to FREAK with excitement!  I didn't dye them or anything. I KNOW! I KNOW! Mariah NOT doing something out ragiously crafty with her eggs? NO! Because I HATE eggs (I think I established that LOL) It was SOOOO easy to put the tattoos on.  I stuck them on.  They are kind of like stickers and then I put them under some running water. BAM! Instant Easter egg.  I'm SURE they will look fabulous if you dyed them first.  I prefer the eggs with candy inside.  HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GAWD SO GOOD!

So I didn't blog yesterday because I did a dip and we didn't eat it until late (movie night). OH MY GAWD this Crab Rangoon dip is AMAZING!!!!!
What you need - 2 cans of crab
                           2 blocks of cream cheese
                           1/2 cup sour cream
                           4 diced green onions
                           1/2 tsp of lemon juice
                           1 1/2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce
                           2 Tblsp powder sugar
                           1/2 tsp garlic powder
Mix everything in a bowl.  I leave the crab to be mixed in last.  If you get some chunky bits of crab I always like that.  If you mix the crab too much you'll lose that.  Don't worry about have SOME chunks of cream cheese not mixed in because when it's it hot and you stir it then those will go away. 20-30 min 350 and BAM Heaven in a bowl! You can also get some of those ... things (its on the tip of my tongue) to make rangoon and this can be the filling. SO GOOD!! I'm about to eat the right now.  I do NOT care that I'm training for a 10 miler ... this stuff is GOOD!

Fuzzy Eggs

I saw this in a magizine at my doctors office so I thought I'd give it a try.  It didn't turn out as I THOUGHT it would, but it kinda did.  It's cute and a fun kid project I think.
What you need - Plastic eggs
                           tights

                          Natural wool roving (or if you can shred felt I think that will work)
                          Sturdy tape (like electrical tape)

What you do is tape the plastic eggs together.  You will be putting these in the washer and dryer so make sure it on there pretty good.  THEN you take the wool or felt and wrap it around the egg.  I TRIED to make a design, but it didn't turn out.  So I just say play around with color and it will look fun.  Shove the egg into the toe of the panty hose or tights.  I held the egg like a baseball and shoved it down that way.  So the wool wouldn't shift too much.  Once it was in there I tied a knot at the top.  You stack your eggs on top of each other.  
After you're finished then put the tights in the washer.  I washed it with some towels.  It goes in the dryer also.  Once it's fully dry carefully cut off the knots and peel the tights off the egg.  The wool will stay around the egg and it will be fuzzy.  It's just a cute decoration.  My kids played "Hot egg" Like Hot Potato.  

Eggs

Today I did a little craft that I remember my mom doing only it was to make ghosts and I made eggs.  
What you need - 1 cup liquid starch
                           1/2 cup flour
                           Thread/yarn (I'll explain)
                           Balloons
Ok I have a TON of crochet thread and yarn.  My yarn is Sugar'n Cream by Lily.  I like this yarn the best.  It's a little more expensive, but when I crochet flowers it's more stiff to hold shape better.  That really doesn't matter for this project, but I just like it.  It's not fuzzy or anything.  I also used crochet thread.  I like that to crochet with also and it was PERFECT for this project.  OR you can use cross stitch thread.

I put the starch and flour in a bowl plate thing and whisked it together.  You don't want it lumpy.  DO NOT put ALL the thread you think you need in the mixture and then try to wrap the thread around the balloon.  The thread knots up and it's difficult to keep it straight.  I did about 2 feet at a time.  So I made multiple cuts for each egg (if that makes sense) I just wrapped the thread around the balloon however I felt at the time, I guess. As you are wrapping, lightly squeeze out the mixture from the thread.  You don't want it gooped on there.  After I was done.  I then put the balloons in a tin foil baking pan thing.  I set them outside to dry faster.  I still have about 4 outside drying.  The yarn, of course, dries slower then the thread.  I'm going to put mine in a basket I have and put them on the counter.  You can put then in a glass bowl and use them as a center piece or string them like a garland.  OH this is WAY messy ... Soooo don't plan on picking up you cellphone or kids during this project LOL

Glowing Orange

Ok Yesterday I DID try a Pinterest, but I didn't have a lighter.  So today I went out and got a lighter so I can do it.  I did the orange candle.
What you need - Orange (I used a cutie)
                           Olive oil
                           Lighter
                           sharp knife
Ok you have to cut around the orange in half, BUT be careful because you don't want to cut the actual orange just the peel.  Then you peel off in 1 piece each half.  Before you totally pull off the bottom part of the orange, pull the actual orange in half so that the middle white part stays on the peel.  That will act like a wick.  Cut a hole on the very top of what will be your lid to the candle.  THEN poor some olive oil in the bottom part of the orange.  The hard part was lighting it.  It took awhile so make sure you have a lot of matches or a good full lighter.  And that is IT! The cutie peel was a little flimzy so it didn't keep its round shape and they are a tad small. CUTE idea for a dinner like Christmas or something.  Fun!

 

Side note - I left it burning the whole time I was typing and uploading the photos.  The whole of the top of the candle was burnt.  I think because the peel is too flimsy and it's a small orange. 

Pork Chops

I saw this really cool recipe for some pork chops made in the crock pot served with some mashed tats.  
You need - pork chops
                  1 can cream of chicken
                  1 packet of ranch (the powder not the salad dressing)
Today I had to go pan handle to raise money for my Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fundraiser.  So I put everything in the pot, set it on low and told my husband to plug it in at 11.  You could do low for 6 hours or high for 4.  I get home and it's on high ... not sure how long it cooked that way, but everyone (except me) liked it.
The mashed tats you cook regular.  I have a tool I use to mash my tats.  If you ever go for ice cream in Germany and order spaghetti ice, then they made it with this tool.  Makes your mashed tats nice and smooth.  The recipe calls for 4 lbs of tats, I used 4 potatoes not 4 lbs (I don't even use that much on Turkey Day).  It also calls for 1 cup parm cheese and 6 cloves of roasted garlic.  I used about 1/4 cup (a little less) and no garlic.  I wasn't feeling garlic tonight.  You also add what you usually do for mashed tats (butter and milk) 

What the tats look like AFTER going through the thing

The bottom of my spaghetti ice maker

My review ... WAY TOO SALTY! I couldn't even finish.  Everyone else practically licked their plates, but I couldn't even eat it.  I ate 2 bites of the meat a bite of the tats.  I also made green beans to go with it and that's what I ate.  I still have some pork chops frozen because I planned on making it again, but I won't be.  I don't know how to make it less salty since I didn't use ANY salt and usually by the low sodium products.
Here is the blog to where I got it 
http://realmomkitchen.com/287/ranch-house-crock-pot-pork-chops-with-parmesan-mashed-potatoes/