Making Brownies even more fun!!

Today was a long day of housework and home upkeep. After a morning of caulking I thought what a great day to bake. So Liv helped bake brownies and we decided to cute them up some. We used a box mix to make it easier for a 2 year old to do.

Needed:
Box brownie mix, family size
eggs
oil
water
chocolate chips, about 1/2 cup

Mix according to directions. Get out some fun pans to cook your brownies in.

Use a soup spoon to measure out your individual brownies.

Fills your pans with one spoonful eacg.

15 minutes at 350 and yum is done!!!

Enjoy!!!!

Draft Dodgers

Do you hate those drafts under your doors? I do. I get cold so easy. Everything makes me want a sweater, a blanket and slippers. Plus I hate the thought of our expensive heat going out the door and being made cold by drafts. So I finally got up the courage to use my sewing machine for the first time and make a draft dodger. After searching for hours online my husband helped me come up with the perfect draft dodger that addressed our main concerns. Will it keep the draft out? Is it cheaper to make then buying one for $19.99 plus taxes. Will it get moldy if we use rice, beans or popcorn kernels? The answer is it did!!!

Materials

foam pipe cover ($2.47 for a 4 pack at Walmart)

farbic, any kind that is sturdy. I used an old curtain.

popcorn kernels

sewing machine or just a needle and thread

The pipe covers, they are 36 inches long and lucky for me that is how wide our door is.

Cut your material 8 inches wide and 42 inches long. I forgot to take pictures of the whole process so bare with me!!

Sew the material together leaving enough room to slide foam pipe cover in. Mine was about a 1 in to make a snug fit. 

Then turn out and sew one end closed, two inches from the end. 

Place the foam pipe cover inside and fill. We used popcorn kernels but you could use rice or beans.

Tie the other end closed with a ribbon and place and door. Viola!!!

Our whole reasoning for using the foam and the popcorn kernels is this. When it rains here since it doesn't normally snow, the draft dodger could get wet. The foam will protect the popcorn kernels. Since I am very mold afraid, we will untie the end with the ribbon, dump out the kernels and store it empty until next winter once spring comes and the draft dodger is no longer needed. Enjoy!

Tie Dyed Crayons

I created this blog months ago and sat here pondering what to blog about. The name says it all. I want to share about my great kids and the fantastic times we have daily. I want to share cooking fun and cooking disasters that I know we all have. I love to craft and make things even though sometimes they are less than perfect. The less than perfect part is something we can all relate to. We bake with our kids, craft, cook, create and everything a mommy makes is perfect in the eyes of a child.

My oldest is home sick so I thought what a great day to do something low key. My friend S.G. shared a blog she found for making chunky crayons. I then called my mom because she used to make them for her day care. My mom always called them tie dyed crayons. It was one of my favorite things to do with my mom so this is such a gift to do now with my kids. There are many different blogs out there that have different directions, different ideas, times and here is how we did it.

Chunky Tie Dyed Crayons

Need:
broken and peeled crayons
molds to put the pieces in

Preheat your oven to 300. You can go higher or lower but I found 300 to work best regardless of the size tie dyed crayons you are making.

Peel and break the crayons, this was our work in progress pile.

place them in molds.

place only 2 at a time in the oven. 300 for 6 minutes. Beware, it does smell!!!

Prep other pans while waiting.

All melted and setting.

If using silicone molds, just wait 15 - 20 minutes, peel back and they just pop out!

My mini muffin pan is non stick and they just fell out after cooling for 15 minutes.

We let them cool for an hour before using them. The kids had a blast with them. Clean-up is relatively easy. Either freeze the pans and pop off any stuck on crayon and wash or place in super hot water and wipe off any excess crayon. I then washed them and presto, no crayon.