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Swiss Cheese Chips – Low Carb!

October 18th, 2014

swisscheesechips

If you love swiss cheese, this is your recipe!  It’s so easy and it is such an interesting way to enjoy your cheese.  Plus, it’s wonderful for parties and scores big with the low carb party guests.  It’s a win-win, so try it today.  The recipe is so easy, you can literally enjoy it in about 5 minutes!  Oh, and before I forget to make everyone’s day… this works pretty much with any sliced cheese, including CHEDDAR… my other favorite cheese :-).

INGREDIENTS

5 slices of swiss cheese (Yep, that’s it!)

PREPARATION

Rip your cheese slice in half, and place it on a plate.  Cook in microwave for 3 minutes.  Once done, peel the cheese off the plate and place on a paper towel.  Wait for it to cool and dry and enjoy your cheese chips.  The longer they dry, the crispier they’ll get.  You can also serve them with your favorite dip, although I prefer to eat the chips all by themselves!

Back To School Party Ideas – Super Easy!

May 13th, 2014

backtoschool

Looking for some fun back to school party ideas!  I’ve been busy this year with some fun projects.  I hope they inspire you to create something wonderful!

Pencil Star Bursts

Custom Crayon Wreath

Back To School Party – “Welcome Back” Sign

Back To School Party Fun Centerpieces – Tissue Ball Topiaries

Teacher’s Gift Pencil and Crayon Vases

Back To School Snack Attack – Great after school or party snacks

 

Pencil Sunburst – Back To School Party Craft

May 13th, 2014

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If you have been reading my posts this week, you probably know that I was in charge of my son’s back-to-school party this year.  I can’t tell you how much fun my kids had watching and helping me with all the wonderful centerpieces.  This was one of them!  I found this idea on Pinterest and had to give it a try.

My only warning for anyone who wants to try this project is that yes it was easy, however, if you are short on time, this is probably not the project you want to tackle.  It takes time for the hot glue to cool and for the pencils to set properly.  I worked on this star burst over a period of a week and I worked on both of them at one time.  My kids helped by holding the pencils in place as the glue dried, helping the pencil stick properly inside the hole.  You can do two, three, or more pencil star bursts at one time, but make sure to wait for each pencil to “set” properly.

Simply purchase a styrofoam ball and create holes with your #2 unsharpened pencil.  Add hot glue to the hole and place the pencil inside, holding it while the hot glue cools.  You can do two to 3 pencils at one time, but it’s important to make sure they are properly set before moving on.  You can do an entire ball as a star burst, or just do half a ball.  I did two and it was nice to see multi-sized starbursts on the table.  You can also paint the ball yellow, prior to inserting the pencils.  I did not do that but wished I thought of it prior to making the starburst.  Good thing that kids don’t care!

I did three other projects this year which include (pictured) Tissue Ball Centerpieces, Custom Crayon Teacher’s Wreath, and “Welcome Back” Crayon and Pencil Sign.

 

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Custom Crayon Wreath – A Fun Teachers Gift for Back To School

May 13th, 2014

wreath

In approximately two hours, I will be at school with my youngest boy, registering him for classes and meeting our new teacher, Ms. Layher!  It is her first year teaching second grade, so I thought I would bring her something special to start off her year in her new classroom!  This wreath is all the rage on Pinterest.  I’ve seen it created with pencils, crayons, chalkboard, and other creative additions.  This is my wreath and below are some tips on how I created it.  Trust me, if you like the photo, wait until you see it in person.  And yes, it is SUPER EASY!!

First, I purchased a flat wreath form.  It is one of the least expensive forms to buy, around $4.99 at Michael’s.  I’ve seen people use all sorts of other wreath forms as well.  I hot glued crayons to the wreath, making sure to keep the “crayola” logo facing up.  When the logos are lined up, it forms a nice black band around the wreath and lining up all the graphic elements on the crayons make the wreath look clean and tidy!

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Believe it or not, that is the hard part!  Once you hot glued all the crayons, you can then add accessories which can be reflective of your teacher (or yourself, if you are creating this wreath for your front door).  I do not know much about our new teacher, other than her name.  So, I used chalkboard letters to customize her wreath.  I also purchased a small rectangular chalkboard where I wrote “2nd Grade”.  This creates a custom look, but will also give her the opportunity of changing the message depending on her mood.

I also added some ribbon flowers which I created by twisting ribbon into a circular shape and hot gluing it.  If you don’t feel like going through the trouble of making ribbon flowers, just purchase some silk flowers, like colorful daisies, and use them instead.

In need of more ideas, check out Pinterest for more creative ways on embellishing your crayon wreath.  This wreath can be made for your front door, a back to school party, or a great teacher’s gift!

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Back To School Party – Welcome Back Sign

May 12th, 2014

welcomeback

This year, I was in charge of the Back-To-School Party for my 2nd grader!  It was so much fun and I created some fun centerpieces as well as an adorable wreath for his teacher that is all the rage on Pinterest.  Since we had a buffet at our party, I thought it was cute to create a fun little sign to jazz the buffet up.  Here is my sign and how I made it.

First, I purchased pencils and crayons at Target.  They were at an incredible price of $1.00 for 24 pencils and .50 for a box of crayons.  Then I needed a round object.  Any will do.  I found a lid from a whipped topping container.  But really, any round object will work… even cardboard.


welcomeback-01

 

Then, I simply hot glued my pencils in a star burst pattern on the lid.  Then, filled in the empty areas with crayons.  Everything needs to be hot glued very thoroughly.  Lastly, I hot glued the round chalkboard to the pencils, added a ribbon bow, and wrote “Welcome Back” on the chalkboard.  Done!

 

 

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Back To School Crafts – Fun Centerpieces

May 12th, 2014

centerpieces

I always get excited at the beginning of the school year!  Meeting new teachers, reconnecting with old friends… there is so much excitement for so many different reasons.  This year, I was in charge of organizing my youngest boy’s 2nd grade back-to-school party and I wanted to do something fun.  I didn’t really have a theme or a “vision”,  I just wanted to make something universal, fun, and cheerful.  Plus, it had to be cheap… no money in the budget for decorations, so I was on my own.  I went with a rainbow color theme because I figured it was gender neutral and easy to work with.  I also went through my closets to see if I could find items from past projects and lo and behold, I found ribbon, terra cotta containers, Easter grass, and styrofoam… I’m set!  Last but not least, I took advantage of the big back-to-school sales going on and purchased pencils and crayons at ridiculously low prices.

For my centerpieces, I purchased pop-up tissue balls at Target in the party section.  They were around $2.00 each.  I also purchased a ton of crayons which were 2 boxes of 24 for .50 (48 total).  I also purchased a round chalkboard for my “Welcome Back” centerpiece and that was the most expensive at $3.00 from Michael’s.  My last purchase were wooden sticks, which were about .50 at Michael’s. The sticks were needed so I could transform my tissue ball (which is meant to be hung) into a topiary.

From there, I started to improvise.  I used terra cotta containers and stuffed styrofoam inside each one.  You can also use oasis squares.  I stuck the wooden sticks into the styrofoam and took out the tissue balls from the wrappers.  Once you are ready to put the tissue balls on, make sure that you wrap them around the stick and glue the ends of the tissue balls together.    I used the thinnest sticks I could find at Michael’s…. sorry, skewer sticks won’t work.  You can paint the sticks… but why bother… kids don’t care!

To cover up the styrofoam, I hot glued paper Easter grass to it.   Last but not least, I tied some yellow ribbon around the neck of the wooden stick and had my boys hot glued crayons all round the terra cotta container just for fun!

This was a super easy project for centerpieces and I have to tell you, it will inspire you to create other things with those fabulous tissue balls.

For more details on how I made the “Welcome Back” sign and the 2nd grade teacher’s wreath,  check out my other post.