high-five party favor

My daughter recently turned 5 years old. Her birthday is right after the holidays, when most people are worn out from celebrating, so I try to at least make it special for her at school. This year I used my handy dandy Silhouette SD digital cutter to make some cute boxes to hold treats. It was so nice to see her happily handing them out to each child in her class. To fit the sticker sheet, stamp and candy inside, I needed to make a box that was at least 5" long. The design time was minimal because I was able to find a triangular box design on the Silhouette website. (Now that I have 3 kids, I take any shortcut I can get!) Then all I had to do was add a "5" as a window cut-out and a print a cute little celebratory strip to wrap around the box. It says "Jump and jive, 'K' is..." The result was a perfect little party favor that was quickly ripped open by each excited child. Oh well. I knew they wouldn't last forever. That's why we take photos, right? The important thing is that it made some special little kids smile, especially my daughter.

comfort food christmas gift

Yes, Christmas is over. But I'd still like to share an idea for a Christmas gift you can save for later. This year we gave out a lot of these inexpensive edible gifts. I didn't really have a master plan for this. The recipes and ideas just came to me from various places all at the right time. Isn't that often how life is? So I'm grateful to God for helping me put these together without much stress. What really tied this all together and made it special were free customizable recipe cards (that included a family photo) and gift tags from Shabby Princess. I used Photoshop to edit and insert a photo and InDesign for typesetting. Then I sized them to fit on the lids of reusable take-home containers. Package it all together with a pretty bow and...voila, you have a fun gift for special people in your life.

CONTENTS of the homemade "comfort food tower" from top to bottom:
- 3 tea bags (individually wrapped)
- spice rub container
- granola container
- Mrs. Field's chocolates (from the dollar section at Target)
- soup mix container
- Christmas kitchen towel

RECIPES:
The following recipe is from my MOPs group...
Tasty Spice Rub
1/2 cup Kosher salt
2 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
2 tbsp garlic powder

Dust this dry rub on steaks, chicken breasts and fish fillets, and let them rest for about 30 minutes before grilling or broiling. You’ll notice that the spices bring some moisture to the surface of the food. This blends with the seasonings and creates a delicious glaze when cooked.

The following was adapted from Miserly Moms Healthy Meals For Less by Jonni McCoy, with some of my own variations...Cinnamon Raisin Granola
Stir in large mixing bowl:
5 cups quick-cooking oats
2 tbs. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
Set aside: 1/2 cup raisins
Mix in small saucepan:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup frozen apple juice concentrate
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1/3 cup honey

Directions: Heat ingredients in saucepan over medium heat only until sugar dissolves. Pour sugar mixture slowly over dry ingredients in mixing bowl and blend well. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 375° for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and stir in raisins. Bake another 5-10 minutes. Options: Make your own special flavor by adding peanuts, sunflower seeds, coconut, sesame seeds, peanut butter or whatever else your family enjoys.

The following is from my kids' Highlights High Five magazine, December 2009 issue...Soup to Share
Ingredients in box:
1/4 cup barley
1/4 cup green split peas
1/4 cup white rice
1/4 cup red lentils
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp onion powder
1/4 tsp lemon pepper
3/4 cup ABC pasta

Directions: 1. Pour the contents of the box and 7-8 cups of your favorite broth into a pot. 2. Chop one stalk of celery. Slice one carrot. Add to the pot. 3. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over medium-low heat until the vegetables are tender (about an hour). 4. Before serving, add one cup of chopped tomatoes.

cheap photo cards

I thought I'd share a little secret about the holidy photo cards that I send around to my family and friends. They are 3" x 4", the perfect size for inserting into cards or pasting onto quarter-sheet notes for use with an A2 envelope. I design my 3" x 4" layout using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Then I copy the design and make it 2-up on a 4" x 6" high resolution document in Photoshop. That's the perfect size to take to any photo printer, like Costco or Walmart. I personally like to use Winkflash and Shutterfly. Winkflash has prints for 9 cents each, but often has a 6 cent sale, which makes each photo card only 3 cents each. Can't beat that price! The quality has been fine for most of my projects. I've noticed that Shutterfly prints are more crisp looking, so if you need high quailty, use Shutterfly. Just know that you will typically pay 15 cents a print.

When the prints are home I simply trim them in half. And that's my little "secret." Shhh - don't tell!

paper ornament craft

My girls and I had fun with a quick ornament craft this Christmas. Even my 3 year old was able to do it. We took a Christmas catalog and cut it into 2" strips. Then we made a "sandwich" out of 5 strips in these lengths: 11"-8"-5"-8"-11". The ends were then lined up and stapled. The result was a colorful oblong paper ornament. I strung 5 of them together to make a garland for my dining room. The clean up was easy and the girls were delighted to show their Daddy when he came home. These would make great party decorations too - just use colored strips of paper to match your party decor. Hang tassles or ribbon on the bottom for extra flair. The idea came from an Etsy shop called Bookity, that recycles old books into interesting crafts. Thanks for the inspiration, Bookity!