Cereal box picture frames!

Last week Kristen and I spent our Thursday girl's night in marble painting. For those who aren't familiar, the term is pretty self-explanatory. You take marbles and drop them in different colors of paint, and place a sheet of paper inside a decently sized box top. I used a printer paper box lid, and recommend taping the back of the paper to the box to prevent it from sliding. Place the marbles in the box lid with a spoon and let your child shift the box to move the marbles across the paper. The result is a beautiful abstract piece any kid will be proud to see in his/her room.

Of course, I couldn't just let this masterpiece be push-pinned up on her wall... :)

As luck would have it, Kristen finished off the last of a box of cereal this morning. Noticing it in the recycle box after work, I realized that it was about the same size as her picture. Then it hit me: picture frame.

Some of you may be fortunate enough to have the bigger sized cereal boxes and don't have the same size issue that I did, but if you don't, you're about to see my efforts.

The box I had was long enough, but about 2 inches short in width. In order to make this work as a frame, I had to cut the box into sections. Luckily, the sides of the box were the perfect length to use as the base and top of the frame. I used the front panel of the box to cut two more sections for the sides of the frame. To keep the pieces together, I wrapped the corners in clear packing tape:

On a side note, I do not recommend this particular cereal. I will try the generic versions of cereals, and many of them are the same in taste and much cheaper, but this one is no substitute for brand name Honey Bunches of Oats.

I considered wrapping the frame in fabric, but I lacked the bright and happy colors that my daughter loves. I pulled out my arsenal of scrapbook paper and had Kristen pick her favorite pattern. For this part, I highly recommend an X-acto knife. I was so caught up in the project that I neglected to get a picture, but the process is fairly simple. Lay the paper over the frame (box pattern side up) and flip them over together. Use the X-acto knife to cut the paper to fit the frame. Use your packing tape to attach the paper to the frame. Place your child's picture on the back of the frame and attach it with (you guessed it) more packing tape. (You can opt for Scotch tape or something less permanent if you want to reuse the frame for their other creations).

And voila! Lovely abstract artwork with a neat personalized frame. This one is hanging above her dresser, which I have a feeling will soon become a miniature art gallery.



Dinner is overrated.

So first, I must share this, because it's lovely:

It is always nice to have your kid want to dress like you.

My rational for this blog title is that due to my love of sleeping in, I often do not pack a lunch before work and almost always forget to make one the night before. Because of this, I usually wind up not eating lunch until roughly 2pm. This effectively kills my dinner appetite until close to bedtime. Today was no exception. I didn't have lunch until almost 3, and with the guy being in night class until 8pm, my motivation to cook a whole dinner was non-existent. I did, however, have the ingredients for one of my favorite things in the world: spinach artichoke dip.

Now, to be fair, my definition of "have the ingredients" means that I have about 3/4 of them, and I plan on winging the rest. I am not a mayo fan and do not intend to start now. Most standard spinach dip recipes call for mayo and sour cream in some amount. I do not buy either, because I use Greek yogurt in everything that calls for sour cream. I guess I could've stopped that sentence short and just said I use Greek yogurt in everything, and it would still be accurate.

Tonight's experiment was to see if Greek yogurt can really change the world as much as I think it can. Here's a breakdown of my ingredients:

8 oz fat free cream cheese

8oz frozen chopped spinach

1 can (8.5 oz) Vigo artichoke hearts, chopped

8 oz Oikos Greek yogurt

Garlic powder

Paprika

Salt and Pepper

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (you can opt for more, but I was trying to be conservative)

I micro'd the cream cheese for about 60 seconds to soften. I put the spinach in a baking dish (still frozen) with the hearts, and mixed in the yogurt, cream cheese and spices.

After topping with the cheese, I threw it in a 350 degree oven to bake for 20 minutes and broiled for 3 minutes ( I meant to only broil for 2...oops)

I don't do pretty; I do pretty tasty. :)

You can opt to top individual servings with diced tomato and onion as I did:

I only had green onion, but I bet red onion would be even better...

I have dipped pretty much everything I can find in this stuff (to include my finger). It's great with tortilla chips, rye chips, pita chips, celery, bell peppers, ANYTHING. If I had the pasta, I absolutely would have breaded and fried some bowtie pasta to eat with this (trust me, best thing I ever learned from working in a restaurant).

Happy snacking!

Quickies!

Before anyone gets too excited, this is a completely craft-related blog. Sorry!

I went with the title because everything I did here took about 10 minutes (mine took longer because I did several).

There's a similar tutorial available here. It's a cute idea for a wedding shower or reception, but the thing that bothered me is that these beautiful displays will not hold up in an average household. Without a lid, any number of things can get into the water and gross up the display (think cat hair, dust, random bacteria that love to grow in water). The other immediate thought was about curious little hands playing in the water or pulling out the flowers. To solve my dilemma, I decided to use one of my favorite things in the world: glass jars. I've already confessed to being a bit of a pack rat and keeping all of my old spaghetti sauce/fruit/pickle jars (because you never know), but for this project I wanted to use actual mason jars. The tutorial said to use distilled water (which I have no idea why, since open air would kill the purity of the water); I used filtered water from my refrigerator door. I traced the interior lids on some scrapbook paper, cut out the circles and glued them to the lids using mod podge on each side of the paper.

Now my entryway finally has a unique splash of color!

While I was making these, my desk was covered in silk flowers and jars; it got really cluttered really fast. I moved the flowers and dropped them in an empty Pringles can (I had another purpose for it, I swear), and realized that they fit absolutely perfectly. I grabbed my favorite sheet of scrapbook paper and wrapped it around the can, gluing it on with mod podge. Took me about two minutes, total. I LOVE IT.

What quickie crafts do you love? Feel free to post in the comments; I love new ideas!

More Wall Art (and other stuff too, I promise!)

My original intention of this blog was to post each time I did a new project. Unfortunately, the projects have sort of taken away from my blog time. Anyway, I'm playing catch up tonight. Sorry!

First things first. Here's this:

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a foaming soap dispenser. I made it out of a SALSA JAR! No joke. The soap itself is 1/4 cup of Dawn with 2 cups of water. The top is what actually makes the liquid foam; I just happened to have an empty bottle of Noxzema foaming face wash on hand, and I stole the top. To connect the foaming top to the jar lid, I used a screwdriver and hammer to poke a hole in the middle, and used needle nose pliers to peel the metal back on the inside of the lid. This should be done gingerly, to make sure your hole doesn't become too big for the top. You can use hot glue to keep the top in place if needed. So easy, and fun to make your own soap, because you can add essential oil to make any scent you want!

Next up: Tinted Mason Jars. As you probably guessed, I am not a connoisseur of antique jars, but I am not above saving my old food jars. Any jar can be made chic and gorgeous with this tutorial. I tinted a sauerkraut and a spaghetti sauce jar this week. One is currently holding a love note from the guy and a flower picked by my daughter. The other has not yet been given a purpose, but it looks pretty so I don't care.

Last one: More wall art. The guy and I were browsing some furniture stores, and each one had its own collection of colorful, semi-abstract art. With each piece, I couldn't help but notice how basic they were. I may be the only one who does this, but when I go to Target, I almost always wind up looking at the art. When I do, I undoubtedly say to my poor acomplice "I could so do that". On my last journey, I saw this piece for $20:

I'm not a professional artist by any means, but I am comfortable with paintbrush in hand (especially if no one is watching).

Anyway, I took one of my many painted-over canvases (aka paintings I did or half-did and then painted over in black or white because I didn't like them) and got to work. Because I am not known for my ability to draw straight lines, I used my L square with my brush to get the white square as even as possible. The branches and flowers were freehanded, and I added blue flowers to give it some more pop. The point of this blog is to say that I find it a complete waste of money to buy art that you can easily do yourself. A canvas ranges in price depending on size, but a standard canvas comes in a 3 pack at many stores for under $10. The feeling you get from seeing something beautiful that you made hanging in your house is unmatched.

So, without further ado, here is my version: