How To Build A Fairy House….Yes Please!

June 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment
How To Build A Fairy House

How To Build A Fairy House

 

 

 

I wanted to find the funnest (for me) summer activity ever and I am almost positive I have done it. I am not sure if you can get a greener, more nature-esque activity that is any cooler in my book. I found this outstanding idea from a website called How To Build Fairy Houses. This activity can really be done any way you like. How fun would this be for a party or a school project? I think this idea can be used for many an educational reason but also for family time.  The materials are all from nature and as long as you are respectful of the surrounding plants and animals as well as the materials you collect/use you really can’t go wrong. Different areas will offer different options as will different seasons which make this project kind of really fun. Here is a list of materials that can be used:

Sticks
Rocks
Grass
Moss
Feathers
Seaweed
Seashells
Nuts
Pinecones
Acorns

Location:

Fairy Houses can be designed anyway you want. You can let your imagination go wild or use a design you have already seen. Find a quiet place away from roads or busy pathways. The base of a tree or the side of a rock are great places to build. Try to keep the house close to the ground to help keep the house stable and so a floor doesn’t have to be built. Sometimes you may find a special place in the low branches of a tree or bush if you are lucky.
Look for building areas in woods, beaches, meadows, and especially your own backyard! Use only natural materials to build the house. Try not to use anything artificial as it ruins the look and spirit of the fairy house idea. The idea of a fairy house is to look so natural that it is almost hidden. You never know what may choose to live in there! You could be helping a poor displaced animal or fairy who will forever be grateful.

Rules:

Be respectful of ALL living things in the surrounding building areas. Destroying nature to create your fairy house is not what a fairy would want and definitely not something nature would appreciate. Try not to disturb plants that are still living, such as ferns, mosses and flowers. Fairies are careful not to harm anything that is growing.

Have you ever built a fairy house?  If so let me know! I would love to see what you made and hear about how it happened.  If you haven’t here are some other books I found that also show you how to build fairy houses:

Fairy House Handbook

Fairy Gardening: Creating Your Own Magical Miniature Garden

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Rainbow Waffles To Brighten Up Your Dreary Day

January 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment

 

Rainbow Waffles

Rainbow Waffles

 

 

I cannot tell a lie I am a fan of rainbow colored almost anything! Meal ideas can be difficult for us busy people during the week. You can’t always cook new different things. Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of color to add a some of pizazz to old recipes. I am also not above including edible glitter or some dust to these bad boys. I found this idea on tablespoon.com and I had to share it because rainbow waffles are something the world should have been doing long ago! I bet waffle maker sales will sky rocket now!

 

 

Ingredients:
2 cups organic pancake mix
2 eggs
1 cup organic skim or low-fat milk (non-dairy substitutes are fine too)
organic food coloring (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
whipped cream (for “clouds if you want them)
Lucky Charms (for the “treasure but not a necessity)

 

 

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together Bisquick, eggs and milk until smooth.

2. Divide the batter into six portions, around 1/3 cup each, giving a little extra to the bowls for the red and orange colors.

3. Use gel food coloring (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) to color each bowl of batter to your desired vibrancy. Whisk in food coloring until evenly blended.

4.Transfer each color of batter to its own piping bag and cut off the tips (careful not to spill the batter). You can use a spoon for each color if you dont have piping bags, just be very careful.

5. Carefully pour each color into a heated circle waffle maker to make your “rainbow”, starting with red, then orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Cook according to waffle maker instructions.

6. Remove, and repeat with remaining batter. Cut each waffle in half.

7. Serve with whipped cream for “clouds” and Lucky Charms as the “treasure” at the end of the rainbow you can also serve it a bowl of fruit or any desired cereal.

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Holiday Cone Dessert

November 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

Perfect little snack for the holidays! You can whip up a few quickly and have fun decorating.  You can add cookie crumbs, edible glitter, cake bits anything you want to make these super cute desserts your own!  This is yet another treat that would be a great party activity or even a family one.  Everyone buys candy over the holidays so make it useful.  Add candy canes or chocolate even! Try dipping the bugles in chocolate first and after you are finished and the cones have been made drizzle them with carmel! Have fun with it.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1-1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
1 package (6 ounces) General Mills Bugles
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted, optional
Assorted colored and chocolate sprinkles and/or ground nuts

 

 

Directions:
1. In a small mix  bowl, cream butter and sugar until the mixture is  light and fluffy.
2. Next beat in the salt and vanilla vanilla extract.
3. Add condensed milk and make sure to mix well (mixture will get stiff).
5. Shape the mixture into  into 1/2-in. balls approximately. You can use a melon baller too if that helps
6. Place one ball on top of each Bugle. Dip the tops of some or all in melted chocolate if desired.
7. Decorate at your own will.
Makes: 2-1/2 dozen.

Source: tasteofhome.com

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Being Thankful 2012

November 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Ethical Thanksgiving

Ethical Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is almost here and I am beyond excited. This is a great time for the family to get together and spend time. I feel like we get so consumed with cooking and entertaining that we forget to just be thankful. I know you have all of these options to buy less, cook less, use less, recycle more, reuse and reduce but what about remembering what this pretend holiday was invented for. In all of the confusion and orders we forget to be thankful for all of the good we have. We forget that we are lucky enough to have a holiday devoted to being thankful where that option is valid for us.
I know I can sit here and tell you all of the wonderful ways you can be green and save our environment but what I think we all forget is the spirit of tomorrow and what we can all do to be thankful.
Be glad you have people to spend the holiday with. Be happy you have food to enjoy and most of all enjoy the memories that Thanksgiving will create. Those are things that stay with you and what make holidays worth having. Even if your family annoys you, stresses you, makes you cry they are yours and you can make the best of it. Be thankful this year for everything you do have and for anything you want to have or be.

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Crayon Drip Pumpkin

November 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

I love making my own decorations especially if I can reuse them year after year and for more than one occasion. You may have real or fake pumpkins left over from Halloween so why not put them to good use. If you have crayons that have about had it and are looking for something to do with them this is the perfect project for you and your family. This is a great project for schools or parties as well.

 

Supplies:

Crayons (if you have fun crayons like glitter or glow in the dark, multi color crayons)
Hair Dryer (or lighter with parents supervision)
Fast Grab Tacky Glue
Pumpkin orange or white (real or fake)
Towel, Sheet or bag to cover the area where you will be working
Decorations (anything you want to use to put your personal touch to the craft)

Directions:

1. Make sure to remove all labels from the crayons as they will not be helpful as the crayons are being melted.
2. Make sure the pumpkin is clean and isn’t spoiling. You don’t want to spend time decorating it for it to go bad after your hard work.
3. Cover the area you are working on with a cloth to make sure you don’t drip on anything important.
4. Break crayons in half, you won’t need a whole crayon for 1 pumpkin.
5. Glue the crayons to the top of the pumpkin, they may not stay still otherwise, if you want to do a drip effect you can hold the crayon and heat it to drip in a pattern of your choice as well.
6. Once you are ready to melt go crazy! Make any design you want drip separately or together.  Have fun with it.

I always say get creative so if you have fun things you want to add to this craft go for it! Use glitter, buttons, broken pins, ribbons or anything you have been looking for an excuse to make use of. Add whatever you want to the pumpkin while the drippings are still wet. Glitter or even sequins would be fun. You could go get leaves, twigs and acorns. Make it your own!

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Halloween Candy Tacos

November 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Sugar Cookie Candy Tacos

 

This is a great party idea year round but since after Halloween you know you can get stuck with a bunch of candy you can totally make the best of it and have some fun. You can use these as a party snack for everyone to participate in or to have made and ready before guests arrive. You have plenty of options to switch up in this recipe for anyone who may have allergies or specific preferences.

Ingredients:

1 roll sugar cookie dough (you can use any dough you prefer ie chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin)
20 mini candy bars
candy pieces (anything that can’t be cut up)
1 container whipped white frosting
food coloring

Directions:

1. Cut the cookie dough into thick slices.
2. Press the dough into 2 1/2 inch circles on a floured surface or Silpat.
3. At 350 degrees, bake for 11 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Use a rolling pin or something round like a the cardboard part of a papertowel roll and immediately drape the cookies over the circular form and let it cool for a few minutes. The cookie will hold its shape once it has cooled.
5. While the cookies are cooling chop up the candy you are using to fill the tacos
6. Add food coloring to white frosting. You can use green to look like lettuce, red to be salsa, yellow or orange for cheese, keep some white for sour cream. Be creative.
7. Put a small amout of frosting on th inside of the shell to hold the candy onto your taco.
8. Sprinkle your candy onto the tacos but save the small unchopped candies for the top.
9. Add any other dallops of frosting you want on top of your candy bars.
10. Sprinkle the candy pieces on top of the previous layer of frosting to top off your taco.

**Instead of using cookies you can also make cinnamon & sugar tortillas but keep in mind you want your tortillas to be round so you can use small sized tortillas or cut yours into round shapes.

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Build a Portable Golf Course

August 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Build a Portable Golf Course

Build a Portable Golf Course

 

 

 

Since it is still summer and the weather is sunny and warm an outdoor craft is a great idea to keep the family entertained!  I found this spiffy little idea on one of my fave sites FamilyFun.go.com.  I think the portable golf course is the cutest idea ever! If you like it enough you can bring the course with you to parties to share with friends and family. You might even inspire them to make a course of their own.
If you are a teacher this could be an excellent project for your students. The children can make and decorate their own courses and get really creative with other things they have around the house.

Supplies:

3-liter plastic soda bottles
Colored tape
Markers
Cardboard
Cardboard tubes
Duct tape
Glue
Paint
Any decorations you want to add to make them more yours ie glitter, ribbons anything lying around the house that could be used as a decoration.

Directions:
1. Trim the bottom off a 3-liter plastic soda bottle, then cut out an arched hole (approximately 3-1/4 inches wide and 4 inches tall) in the base.
2. Use colored tape, paint, markers and anything you want to decorate and number the bottles.
3. Fold a 3- by 11-1/2-inch piece of cardboard around the bottom of a long, sturdy cardboard tube (like a wrapping paper tube or poster/document tube). Wrap duct tape around the two pieces to secure them together, then wrap the rest of the tube.

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Conch Shell Succulents

June 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Conch Shell Succulents

Conch Shell Succulents

 

 

I was looking for some summer crafts to do since we decided against our garden this year as our outdoor fuzzy friends refuse to even give the garden a chance and everything we have tried doesn’t keep them out. I still love me some greenery and didn’t want to slack while the weather is so nice. I have been seeing succulents and succulent projects all over the place.  After much searching I have found a project that I love love love!!
Since it is summer and I know everyone knows at least one person who goes to the beach regularly and collects shells why not make great use of them. You have used sea shells as decorations before but why not as a planter right? This is an excellent way to upcycle! You can give the the conch shell planters away as gifts, do it as a party craft or even save it for next school year for a craft project. Conch shell planters can make beautiful decorations for inside or outside of your home. You can brighten up your office even! Here is all you have to do:
1. get and clean a conch shell
2. buy a pot or if you already have a pot of succulents you can use them
3. spoon

Make sure your conch shell is clean and big enough to give your succulent room to breath. You can really use any plant you want if succulents aren’t your thing.  I am really into the look of succulents lately here in NY you don’t really see them very often as decor.  I really like the look of them and there happens to be a wide variety to work with. Use your spoon to gently dig the plant out by the roots.  Once the roots and plant are out add a little soil to the bottom of the shell to make sure the roots will be covered.  Add the plant then the rest of the soil.  Make sure the soil and plant are packed tight enough to not fall out and there you have it! Your conch shell planter is ready.  I have seen some crafts where you can add wire or twine to hang the planter which is also a super cute idea!

 

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Kids Organic Cooking & Eco Camps

May 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Kids Organic Cooking & Eco Camps

Kids Organic Cooking & Eco Camps

 

What a great activity for your children with your children!   They can learn and have fun at the same time.  These can be amazing experiences that your children will carry with them throughout their childhood and into adulthood.  Organic Cooking and Eco-camps can be essential to the education of the youth in the green movement. I wish more states had organic cooking and eco-camp programs available.

Date and Time: June 11 at 10:00am until July 26 at 4:00pm
Kids Summer Organic Cooking and Sustainability Camps

The Art of Food Cooking Camp June 11-14 Mon-Thurs 10am-2pm (ages 9-16)
The Spice of Life Cooking Camp July 9-12 Mon-Thurs 10am-2pm (ages 9-16)
Organic Fruitopia Cooking Camp July 23-26 Mon-Thurs 10am-2pm(ages 5-9)

These 16 hour camps are tasty hands-on classes of learning all about specific foods… organically ! We will dive into the fun food sculpting as well as seasoning experimenting and learn how to cook healthy,organic dishes while we do it. We will look at the traditional cooking as well as the non-traditional dishes. All campers will learn basic cooking skills, kitchen safety and food handling practices. Campers will taste test each dish and take home a full notebook of recipes. All equipment, aprons and food is supplied.
*Note* All recipes will be Gluten free as my kitchen is completely gluten free.

The Art of Trash Sustainability Camp June 11-14 Mon-Thurs 2pm-4pm(ages 9-16)
Water Wonders Sustainability Camp July 9-12 Mon-Thurs 2pm-4pm(ages 9-16)
The Art of Trash Sustainability Camp July 23-26 Mon-Thurs 2am-4pm(ages 5-9)

These 8 hr camps will focus on caring for our planet. In “The Art of Trash” Kids will learn about recycling and the trash we create while making fun art large and small. In “Water Wonders” kids will experiment with water while learning about water pollution and the solutions. Both camps help bring awareness of our planets problems while creating a fun way to learn about them.

Inclusive Cost Of Camps:
$175 per student for 10am-2pm cooking camp alone
$69 per student for sustainability camp alone 2pm-4pm
$229 per student for 10am-4pm cooking AND sustainability camp
$259 per student for 8am-6pm extended child care hours with both camps

For more information please contact:
Natural Living 281-678-7948
www.shopnaturalliving.com

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Grow Your Own Mushroom Kit

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The great folks at Eartheasy.com sent me a Grow Your Own Mushroom Kit to try and I think it is just about the coolest thing ever. Here are some pictures I took from day 1 to 6. It supposed to take 10 days but I think my mushrooms are doing soo well I had to show you.

Mushrooms Day 2

Mushrooms Day 2

Mushrooms Day 3

Mushrooms Day 3

Mushrooms Day 4

Mushrooms Day 4

Mushrooms Day 5

Mushrooms Day 5

Mushrooms Day 6

Mushrooms Day 6

In 6 days this is how much they have grown. All you have to do is keep them out of direct sunlight, spritz with water 2 times a day and watch them grow. Then when you are finished with 1 side. You can turn it around and the start on the other side!!

This is a great way to teach kids about plant care, gardening (albiet differently) and being responsible. This makes a cool gift even for an adult. I have been having so much fun. Every morning I wake up to see how different they look and before I go to bed. They grew so fast I almost couldn’t believe it.Eartheasy.com has some other really cool grow your own kits as well. Check them out here Eartheasy.com and on Twitter & Facebook to find more super cool items.

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