Homeschooling Education with Adventure and Fun!
My sweet boy Jacks, is graduating Kindergarten this week. Insert proud momma moment here. As a parting, celebratory summer gift to his friends, he will be handing out these confetti packets. They are so fun! My kids have been having a blast tossing and re-tossing this handmade confetti. It’s a total cinch to make!
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Salted Caramelized Chex Mix
I’ve been making this snack mix for a few years now. This is my most favorite chex snack mix recipe! Be forewarned….if you make it…you will eat it…you will eat lots of it! Yep, it’s that addictive. When I first stumbled onto this recipe, I made some changes and additions. Somewhere along the way, I made a mistake in one key ingredient. It was a mix up…the big Chex mix up.
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I designed these cake banners last month for my husband’s birthday, but I’m just now getting to the blogging about them. Usually when I’m doing a blog post that involves baking, I do all of the baking at night. It’s impossible for me to be in the kitchen while my little people are awake. I know most Mom’s probably love baking with their kids. They may even have coordinating aprons. I don’t. As I’ve said before, I’m not crazy about baking. Flour stresses me out. Adding my kids to the mix, takes it to a whole other level. Though as much as I protest baking, I had fun designing these mini 3 layer cakes.
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You know what makes a really great gift? Personalized dishtowels. You can get a 4 pack of flour sack towels at Target for $3.99. You know what plain flour sack towels are good for? Appliqué.
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I am openly terrified of these things: serial killers, improperly cut chicken, paper cuts, and being eaten by a shark. Just for clarification purposes, my for real, “things I’m terrified of” list, is way longer. Way. Listen y’all, I’ve seen Jaws…more importantly, I’ve seen Open Water and Shark Week. I don’t do the shark thing.
This year for Mother’s Day, we went to the beach. I love the beach. It’s the one perk of living in Florida. It was a gorgeous day and I was all set to spend the day soaking up the sun with my family. Then, a well meaning passerby asked us if we had noticed the school of stingrays swimming about 20 yards out. Indeed, we had. Then Chris told me he said…they’ve been drawing the bull sharks closer to shore. But, what I heard was…YOU WILL DIE IF YOU GO IN THE WATER! A SHARK WILL EAT YOU!
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Jackson’s future room is coming along quite nicely. The wood planked wall is up and is in the process of getting painted. I still need to decide what I’m going to do with the remaining three walls. Do I paint it white like the wood wall? I’m trying to avoid anything too juvenile or too themed. I really like white as a backdrop to big pops of color with accessories and bedding. I don’t know. This may take a while, because it’s all locked in my head.
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A few posts back, I mentioned Savannah was working me for a scooter for River Otter. According to her, he really, really needs one to get around the house.
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When I first started Jacks & Kate, I was still fairly new to appliqué. My first pieces were nothing to gab about. No really. It has only been through practice that I’ve honed my skills and developed a technique that works for me. One of the biggest draws to appliqué for me, was it’s versatility. You can appliqué many, many things. Even paper. Plus, if I could draw it, then I could transform it into appliqué. Because I love it so much and I want to encourage others to pursue this art, I’ve decided to start a weekly series on things you can appliqué. If you’re new and not sure where to start, you can view my two part tutorial here and here. First in the series, how to save a dress with appliqué.
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OMG! This is probably one of my most favorite meals I’ve ever made. It’s filling, light, healthy, and defreakinglicious! Unless you’re like my punk sister who responded with, “yuck”…then you’ll agree with me about this fantastical meal. Before I move forward, a little side note: Props to the people that style food for pictures. Lord help me, I just suck at it. My pictures do not do this meal justice. Trust. Quinoa and kale cakes with pan seared sea scallops rocked my world!
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These little cookie sombreros are perfect for Cinco de Mayo! I made these last year, but I wanted to update the tutorial.
Gather your supplies:
Brownie pop mold
Whoopie pie pan
Sugar cookie mix/recipe (one that doesn’t rise a lot)
Brownie mix/recipe
Buttercream frosting
Gel food coloring (I used orange, violet, golden yellow, and teal)
Piping bags
Frosting tips (I used Wilton #16 and #2)
Make your sugar cookie and brownies according to your recipe directions.
Use the bottom of a glass to press down cookie if puffy when removed from oven.
Allow cookies and brownies to cool.
Cut off bottoms of brownies to level off.
Attach brownie to center of cookie using a little frosting.
Begin piping around the base of the brownie with the #16 tip.
Continue piping, alternating colors as you wish.
Add pom poms with the #2 tip around the perimeter of the cookie.
A perfect addition to your fiesta!