Bunny and 4 leaf clover hair bows

Ok so I made some more bows.  After I made the first bunny though I thought it looked big in my daughters hair, so I followed the directions on this site, but I cut the ears at 2.5", and the loops at 3.5, 2.5, and 1.5 also cut the face at 1.5".  I left off the bow at the neck because it looked hard and I thought they looked fine without it :)  I followed her directions exactly for the clover.  This lady is so crafty, I love her blog!

Think I may be a little old to pull this off :)

You can see the difference in size from the original bunny and the one I made.

Pretzel Bites

Made these this morning also and they are killer!  Both the kids loved them!  Will be making them more often!  Here is the link to the recipe, check out her other recipes, she has a great blog!

made some with kosher salt and some cinn and sugar!

Applesauce Yogurt muffins

We made these delisious muffins this morning!  Here is the link to the recipe.  Finally found a healthy yummy breakfast muffin!  She says that the batter won't make 12, but it did for me.  I will use some flax meal next time for a little of the applesauce to get some more HEALTHY in them, but they are rocking good!

Baby boy loved them

Dijon halibut and salmon

Anybody who knows me knows that I am not a fan of fish, but I try really hard to eat it.  Actually I have a new goal to eat it three times a week because I know it is healthy and I want my kids to like it, I mean we do live in Alaska on the ocean!  I have a constant supply of fish and no reason not to make it. So I pulled some silver salmon and halibut out to thaw and was going to make one of the dishes that I really like, but I have a sick cranky baby and the time that recipe requires wasn't available!  So I found this old recipe card that I have seriously been hauling around for 10 years and have never tried, so I pulled it out and it was AWESOME, FAST, and EASY!

place fish on broiler pan, I covered mine and sprayed it with pam first,
then lightly salt the fish

mix 2/3 C Mayo with 3 TBLSP of Dijon Mustard and slather
this on the fish.  Top it with parmesan cheese, I added some of
the cheddar you see in the pic because I love cheese.

Broil for 10 min or til fish is starting to flake, DO NOT OVER COOK IT!
remember that fish continues to cook after you take it out of the oven!
Sprinkle with dill and serve!

I liked it and the kids liked it!  

Enjoy

Easter Bunny Wreath

I am so happy with how this project turned out!  It is the first major craft project I have done all on my own, no instructions from the web or seeing it somewhere and trying to copy it!  I'm kinda proud of myself, and it was a project that my 3 year old daughter not only helped with but also helped design!  

I originally went to the hardware store to get the foam insulation for pipes to make into a wreath form since I can't buy one on the island.  I lucked out and 2 long pieces less then $2 each!  Then my daughter decided we should make a bunny and a butterfly with them ( we are going to play with the butterfly idea later).  So I thought ok, we can do a face and ears, but she wanted a body also, so we made a huge wreath.

I cut two pieces the same size for the ears, and then two more each a little longer
for the head and body.  the bite marks are from my 1 year old :)

I attempted to use my hot glue gun on the bottom  circle, and it worked, but
it melted the foam and was a pain, so I switched to a lovely shade of purple duct tape!

I brushed glue on the ears and the kids had a wonderful time adding the cotton balls

my original idea was to only put cotton balls on the ears, but
since we had tape everywhere, I decided to let them cover the entire thing.
I used clear packing tape to connect all the pieces.

here it is with almost all 200 cotton balls in the bag on it.
As my daughter stuck the balls on I would go behind her and stretch them out so it
looked a little bit less bally :)

need to fix the bow, but here it is hanging on the door

sorry about the poor light, need my hubby to change some light bulbs
(no I'm not one of those wives that has their husband do stupid things like that, but I am
afraid of heights and the bulbs are 20' in the air)

Overall I think it turned out awesome and it cost less than $10, since I had the ribbon :)  Bonus was the kids had a blast doing it!

freezer paper stencils on repurposed t-shirts

So I got busy with the cricut and cut out some stencils from freezer paper and then personalized a few shirts and bags that i made from old t-shirts and a cape.  The old t shirts I cut the sleeves off of them, and made the neck hole bigger, then sewed the bottom together.  I thought they would make cute bags for the kids to collect their goodies in.  

bag for friend

my daughter decorating her cape

For the cape, I just cut around the neck and left the back of the shirt attached.

using fabric paint

love this saying!

shirts I made for da boys

letting them dry

I used toddler shirts for the younger kids bags

lilly wearing her unfinished cape

Shrimp and Steak on the Salt Block

My husband got us this salt block for christmas, and we used it together for valentines dinner.  The shrimp in their fresh out of the pot stage is below for those of you that don't know what to do with real live shrimp.  

we started heating up the block gradually and it took about 45 min to get hot enough to cook on it.

our beef steak which we rarely eat and our peeled shrimp tossed with a little pesto

the shrimp were too salty for us

recipe for potatoes on iowa girl eats, we both loved these potatoes!

 The steak and mushrooms were amazing!

 the total dinner consisted of steak, shrimp, roasted potatoes, roasted cauliflower, and salad

These are the shrimp that we caught in front of our house.

my son wants some as a pet, unfortunately they have VERY sharp pieces on their heads

They look a lot smaller once the heads are removed.  To do this just pinch and pop it off.

That was how much we had total, we didn't fix all of them.  

To keep the shrimp for later we freeze them raw with shell on in a bag of water.

Baby Name Sign for Ben and Ava

So I attempted to make a sign for my cousins little boy and I think it turned out pretty cute.  I started with a blank canvas and covered the entire thing with mod podge then smoothed a piece of material over it.  I let it dry a little then took my hot glue gun and wrapped the edges of the material around the canvas.  I cut out the shapes and letters with my cricut using the create a critter and Plantin schoolbook cartridge.  I used the xyron to stick all the pieces of the critters together, then I put mod podge on the letter B and stuck it on the material.  Then I used the xyron again with the permanent adhesive and stuck the rest of the cute critters on the sign.  To finish it I used the hot glue gun to glue the ribbon (I would have used blue but only had black, and I can't buy it on the island) to the back as a hanger.  I'm not sure if I should leave it like this or mod podge over the entire thing, any help is appreciated.

I did a few more and threw some mod podge over the one for Gracie.  I think they are cute and hope the kids like them

the mod podge still wet

Add caption

This sign I made for a friend's baby.  I had a hard time with it because the colors she gave me to work with were boy colors.  but it turned out ok, I cut the name and caterpillar out of scrapbook paper and the date and flowers out of vinyl.  I covered the board with acrylic paint and mod podge before I stuck everything on it, then modpodged over it all.