Frozen Easter Decorations

If you happen to live in a place that still gets below freezing around Easter time, these are fun outdoor decorations that you can do with your kids. I'm always finding fun little crafts and experiments on Pinterest, but few turn out like the pictures lol 

These, however, actually turned out pretty well. And they are so simple to make! If you can fill a water balloon, you can make these. All you have to do is take the balloon, put a few drops of food coloring in, and then fill them up. If it's cold enough, you can then just gently place them outside overnight. In the morning, peel the balloon off and you are left with these pretty frozen globes of ice. 

If your weather has (hopefully) warmed up, you could probably just toss these in the freezer overnight and get the same results (though of course they won't last as long once you put them outside) :)

Next time we do these, we'll try larger balloons and maybe place them in a bowl or something so they turn out more round instead of egg shaped. But this shape is perfect for Easter decorating!

 

Friday Funnies

I love Pinterest. I probably spend way too much time on there :-) But there are a ton of great looking crafts and recipes that I'm always dying to try. Mine rarely turn out the way the Pinterest pictures do though :-D So these photos always crack me up :-D

Banana Nut Bread

My kids seem to go through phases when it comes to bananas. For a couple weeks, they can't get enough of them so I keep the kitchen stocked. And then one day, I'll bring home a bunch of bananas that goes untouched. Luckily, my husband loves banana nut bread. :-D

I found this recipe on the Food Network's site and it's YUMMY! Please visit their site for full instructions.

Here's what you need:

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt 
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature 
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 3 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed with a fork (about 1 cup) 
• 1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces 

I always double the recipe which makes 3 loaves for me (but I think that is because one of my pans is bigger than the other two). Also, my kids don't like nuts, but the Hubs does, so I usually make the bigger loaf without nuts and the two small loaves with. And I pretty much always use cooking spray instead of greasing pans with butter. It's always worked fine for me :-)

Here is what you do:

 Cream together the butter and sugar.

While that is going, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

and whisk together the eggs and vanilla and then set aside.

Gradually add the egg mixture to the creamed butter and sugar.

Mash your bananas with a fork (I used to skip this step thinking it didn't matter...IT DOES! Completely changes the texture of your batter, so don't skip this step :-) ) Then add the bananas to your mixture.

Once that's done, add your wet ingredients to the dry, mixing with a rubber spatula just until incorporated.

At this point, I scoop out enough to make my kids their nut-free loaf and then fold in the nuts to the rest of the batter.

Divide into your greased pans and bake for 55 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean) at 350 degrees. 

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Cake in a Cup

Ever been in the mood for a chocolatey treat but have NOTHING in the cupboards? Or you want something quick and don't feel like going through the hour long hassle of baking? This is the perfect solution! A little too perfect actually. It's too easy to do, which can be a little dangerous :) But if you are really wanting a quick treat, this is awesome.

I've tried quite a few of these mug cake recipes and this is by far the easiest, not to mention the best tasting and the best texture. Many of them turn out very spongey, but this one is perfect.

Here's what you need:

1 egg
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup powdered sugar

And....that's it! You can add a splash of vanilla and any extra bits if you desire. We often drop in a handful of chocolate chips and/or marshmallows to kick it up a notch.

Mix them all together (the egg is beneath the sugar and cocoa in this pic).

Pop in the microwave for 30-50 seconds. My daughter likes her very dry so we go for 50 seconds for her. For a moister cake, go for 30-40.

You end up with a crazy looking lump of a cake, but it's delicious!! You can top with powdered sugar, ice cream, or whipped cream, but this cake is plenty sweet enough to not need anything extra.

(I don't remember where I found this recipe, it's been quite awhile, but similar recipes can be found at Babble, and Chocolate Chocolate and More

Book Trailers

Have you ever seen a book trailer? I love them. Like movie trailers, but for novels :) I also love to make them. It's a lot of fun and I love adding some visual and musical spice to the blurbs for my books :) Here are the trailers for a few of my books. (A Bandit's Stolen Heart has a gorgeous new cover so the one you see in the trailer isn't what you'll see if you look for it. All info on my books can be found up in the book tab) :)

Collage It!

I absolutely love art and pictures and one of my favorite things to do is create collages, both for my own home and as gifts. Walmart.com has a photo section where you can create all sorts of collages, at any size. One of my favorite pieces of collage art in my house is a huge, poster-size picture of my kids. I picked several of my favorite pictures of them, arranged them in a collage, and blew them up. I think the total was about $18 - and that included having it shipped right to my house :)

I've also done this type of thing for gifts. My parents have received these collages for holidays and a couple years ago, we did one for my husband for Father's Day. I found a bunch of pics of him and the kids fishing and let the kids decorate the mat with their own messages for him and fishing stickers.

Another fun way to use photos and pictures is to trim them down and glue them to a mat, using them to create a border for a larger picture.

These are a really fun and inexpensive way to display a ton of pictures all at once, without using every available inch of wall space :)

10 DIY Spider Repellents

I love spring. One of my favorite times of year. One thing I do not love....SPIDERS *shudder* Can't stand the little buggers and since I am out in the country, those little buggers get pretty big.

But, I also have two kids, three cats, and one dog in my house, so I'm not a huge fan of spraying poison willy-nilly about the place. So this year, I've been researching some natural repellents that supposedly work really well that I will try out.

1. Plant mint and lavender around the house
This one I am looking forward to. Both plants are lovely and smell wonderful, so even if they don't keep the spiders at bay, they'll improve the look of the place.

2. Essential Oils
You can make your own spider spray using essential oils. I've found several different recipes:

• 5 drops of essential oils, 5 drops of liquid dish washing soap, and a quart of water. 
• 10-15 drops of two scents in a spray bottle full of water
• 20-30 drops in a quart

When it comes to spiders, I tend to go with the "more is better" mentality, so I will probably try the third option :)

The oils that I've read work best are:

• citrus
• peppermint
• lavender
• cinnamon
• tea tree
• citronella
• eucalyptus 
• neem
• rose

Citrus and peppermint seem to be the ones most people swear by. Again, it'll make the house smell amazing even if the spiders don't disappear, so it can't hurt, right?

3. Citrus juice
Spiders supposedly hate this, so you can mix any sort of natural or sugarless citrus juice with water and spray where necessary. I hesitate to use this one because I don't know if it will attract other bugs and, having children, I know how sticky citrus juice can be. However, you can also use this to spray on your outdoor plants to keep spiders away, so it made the list. You can also leave citrus peels around your garden to deter spiders there.

4. Vinegar
This stuff seems to be a super ingredient. From cleaning to bug repellent, it can apparently do it all which means I'll be hitting Sam's Club soon to stock up :) For spider repellent, you just combine equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle and go to town. You can also add this to your essential oil spray from #2, and is needed for numbers 8 and 10.

5. Tumeric
This seems to be another super ingredient. I've read several uses for this stuff, but a spider and bug repellent is another one. It's a spice you can find in most grocery stores and all you do is combine it with some water to make a paste and smear it wherever you have a problem area. It's supposed to work particularly well for insects like ants. However, this will leave yellow stains so I wouldn't use this on anything but tile and I'd test a small area first.

6. Garlic
Just add a few cloves to a spray bottle of water and start spritzing. I think I'd prefer the essential oil scents though...

7. Tomato Leaves
Blend tomato leaves with 4 pints of water and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and use in a spray bottle.

8. Coconut Oil
Yet another use for this awesome stuff! Use 1/2 oz in 1 quart of white vinegar in a spray bottle. STAIN ALERT - this one supposedly stains as well so use with caution.

9. Catnip Oil
This one is supposedly very effective. You can buy a catnip plant, bruise the leaves, and rub them on problem areas or on baseboards/windowsills/corners, etc. I do wonder how it would effect the cats in the house though...they are already pretty crazy...

10. Spicy Spray
Use 1/2 vinegar and 2 tablespoons chili powder or hot chili sauce, shake, and spray. This is supposedly very effective but I think the smell would kill me.

Now I know spiders are good (theoretically) and they help keep other nasty bugs away. So I do try to leave them alone when they are outside. (Except for my porch area....my kids won't go out on the porch if the spiders are there and we've had them get big enough that my husband was able to shoot one with an air gun instead of using a fly swatter which means the sucker was REALLY BIG. So, I keep the porch as spider free as possible.) Other than that, I use a "I'll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine" approach to spiders.

However, one got into my husband's shower poofy last year and chomped him when he went to use it. It was huge and nasty and the bite felt like a bee sting and was fairly horrible looking for several days. So this spring...my house will be awash in the aroma of lavender, mint, and citrus and I'll keep you updated as to whether or not the spiders make an appearance :)

Do you have any tried and true spider or insect repellents?