Back to School celebrations!

I strongly believe in celebrating special occasions. And going back to school is a big occasion! We celebrate in a special way each year. Some years we go out for ice cream at our favorite ice cream shop. Or order pizza and eat on the patio ~ finishing off the evening by roasting marshmallows and making smores on the fire pit. Some years we go out to a fancy restaurant and toast (complete with glass clinking). AND some years we just plan a special menu at home.

This year we chose the latter.

For the menu we had:

grilled NY strips
roasted carrots
herb rubbed baby red potatoes
garden salad

german chocolate cake for dessert

We ate in the dining room and decorated the table. Some of the decorations included: a globe, old texts books, student dictionary, pencils, pewter trophy, vintage sheet music, alphabet flashcards, ruler, whistle and an apple. Pretty much just anything I had laying around that lent to the theme of 'School'. You will be surprised how much you have when you start looking around! We have quite the spread in ages (ranging from 2-16) so I tried to make the decor applicable to everyone. The possibilities for grade school aged children is limitless! Dr. Suess Books, flash cards, markers, crayons, desk name tags as place cards, brown bag or lunch box themed dinner served IN the brown bag/lunch box. SOOOO many fun ideas!

For our dinner, I also printed off 'First Day of School' photos from past years. I matted them on scrap book paper (made them double sided) and hung them from the lighting fixture over the table. It was fun to reminisce about the past first days and the girls shared memories. My favorites were of their kindergarten first days...so sweet!

It doesn't take a lot of work to make a meal special and memorable. I'm sure my kids won't remember the table scape or decorations, but they'll remember how proud their mama was of them and their adventure into another new and exciting school year. :)

Whole Foods Carmelita Bar recipe

My husband adores these little bars- so I set out to perfect the recipe! 

Carmelita Bars

1 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal
3/4 c butter- melted
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar

Combine the above ingredients until crumbly. Press half the mixture into the bottom of a glass 9x9 pan and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup caramel ice cream topping
3 tbsp flour

Sprinkle chocolate chips over  hot crust. Mix caramel topping with flour. Drizzle over chocolate chips. Sprinkle remaining crumble mixture over the caramel topping. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until golden. Middle will be soft but not doughy. Chill and then cut into bars

Additional tips and alterations:

No caramel sauce on hand...no worries! It will taste fine with just the chocolate chips, but I would up the amount to 1 1/4 cups.

And feel free to substitute butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips instead of the caramel sauce. 2/3 cup chips. And don't bake as long. You want them to be chewy when they cool. So for the second trip back in the oven limit it to 17-20 minutes.

I've also made a batch using whole wheat flour in the crumbles. Can barely taste a difference. But don't substitute when adding to the caramel sauce. You will want white flour for that...it's only 3 T so it's all good! :)

Enjoy!

Fun little masks

We've all seen these in the dollar aisle at the craft store. Usually you just let your kids decorate them with paint or markers and with in days they are broke and thrown out.

But I've found a more adorable and lasting way to use these cute little masks. 

Supplies:

• Crayola markers
• scrap book paper (I used scraps I had stashed away)
• black Sharpie
• hole punch (only needed for the octopus- see below)
• decoupage (Mod Podge) and foam brush
• scissors
• copies (use a scanner or go to Kinkos like I did and scan each mask. Take home the copies and cut out the sections. You will use these as the patterns when cutting out your scrap book paper. It's an extra step- but made it soooo much easier!)

Once you have all your supplies, cut out the sections of the copies you are going to want in paper. For example with the elephant- I used scrap book paper for just the ears and colored in the rest with markers. 

Once you have everything cut out. Go ahead and color the other sections. I used the Sharpie to go over the original detail on the masks that was being covered by paper and marker. For example the trunk marks on the elephant and smiles/mouths on most of the rest. 

Now grab your mod podge and start attaching the paper pieces. 

Once the paper pieces are dry, apply two coats of mod podge to the whole front surface. This will help seal the marker so it doesn't fade or bleed. 

That's it! My kids have had a ton of fun with these and they make an adorable gift! 

 Here's where I used the hole punch

Valentine Chair sash

This is a super easy and inexpensive Valentine decoration! 

Supplies:

• scissors
• red felt cut into strips
• string (I used red and white baker's twine but yarn would work too!)

First cut out all the hearts- all basically the same size. You don't have to be exact. I just folded the felt strip in half and cut out 30 hearts (plan on about 5 for each chair, but it will depend on the size of hearts). 

Once you have all the hearts cut out, cut tiny little slits on the out edge (about 1/2 inch in) of each heart hump. These slits will be where your ties go. 

Once that is done, you will need 3 inches pieces of string for the connecting ties and 12 inch for the ends. The ends are longer so you can tie a bow when tying them to the chair. 

Now sit down and turn on your favorite tv show. Tying all the pieces together seems to go so much faster while watching an episode of your favorite series! 

And when your done- VOILA! A chair sash! You could also make these longer to make a banner for a doorway or window. And you could also string them vertically and hang from the ceiling for a different look. All the same process. I liked them on the chairs because they are usually neglected with holiday decorations and it was a nice change up from the normal table decor of runners and centerpieces. 

MineCraft shoes

My 10 year old daughter is OB-SESSED with MineCraft! So I made her these cute little creeper shoes- knowing they would win me some 'cool mom' points!

I bought a cheap pair of white canvas slip ons from Walmart ($4). I didn't want to experiment with this on a nice pair of Sketchers, Converse or Toms at first, so I went for the cheapies. But they have held up surprisingly well.

Supplies:

• Sharpies in different shades of green, brown and black
• a ruler
• a pencil

Use your ruler to grid out squares all over the shoe. I left the sides white but feel free to box in the whole shoe if you like. To ensure the grid was centered, I first made a line down the front of the shoe straight down the center. Then went out from there. It's important to be centered, otherwise your creepers won't match each other. 

Once the pencil lines are drawn, use your black marker to color in the boxes needed to make the creeper. 

Once the black creeper is made, fill in the rest of the boxes with various shades of green and brown. The permanent marker may bleed just a smidge, but it's all good. Start with the heel or the back the shoe first to get the hang of how the colors will bleed. 

I tackled this project while my little munchkin was sleeping and from start to finish had it completed in about 30 minutes. Totally worth my daughter's reaction upon receiving them! She freaked! And loves them!

Haven't had any problems with bleeding through either. But if you feel better about it- feel free to use fabric markers, they will work just as well. 

New Year resolutions, wishes and hopes

It's officially 2014! I'm not one for making resolutions but found these cute questionnaires on Pinterest and thought I would share them. Hopefully one can help you articulate your goals and dreams for 2014!

And my personal favorite! 

Valentine's Day

I love making dinner extra special on Valentine's Day for sweeties! This year I opted to make breakfast for dinner...it was an easy way to incorporate hearts into the meal!

First we'll start with the table:

LOTS of red! I used fancy glasses...which are really just plastic, but the kids get a kick out of using them and I don't have to worry about anything breaking! :)

Each chair had a felt heart banner. Super easy to make. Just cut out a bunch of hearts, then cut two small slits on both sides. Then string your twine or ribbon through. I opted to tie each set together. But either way will work! 

I placed large doilies underneath glass plates to add some lacy sweetness. Each child had a HUGE chocolate kiss and little gift (in the heart box). 

Of course chocolate strawberries for dessert! 

Sparkling OJ  and Shirley Temples to drink - both garnished with a cherry and heart flag

For dinner or breakfast or ....hmmmm. For the meal we had heart shaped pancakes and heart pressed french toast. I tried heart shaped bacon in the oven...big time FAIL...but it still tasted good! 

Take advantage of special days to spoil your loved ones! It's worth all the extra time and effort!