Jell-O Cookies: Great for Christmas & Easter!

Jello cookies... just thinking about them, makes me want to make more. I love making these cookies for Christmas & Easter. I wanted to share with you these are fun and easy to make... :-)

Jell-O Cookies

Ingredients:
3 ½ C Flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 C butter
1 C sugar
1 3 oz pkg jello, any flavor
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Mix the flour with baking powder. Cream butter. Gradually add sugar and Jell-O, beating well. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Roll out and cut with cookie cutters and bake at 400* for 8 min. or until golden brown. (Very nummy!!)

Love to hear what you think when you make them... My fave is strawberry or lime... What's yours??

Holiday Casserole

Holiday Casserole

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup butter or margarine
10 slices white bread, cubed
1 pound fully cooked ham, chopped
1/2 pound pasteurized processed cheese spread, cubed
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon ground mustard


Directions:

1. In a skillet, saute green pepper until tender.
2. Combine green pepper, bread, and ham. Place in an ungreased 13 by 9 inch baking dish.
3. Place cheese in skillet. Stir over low heat until melted.
4. Pour over bread mixture.
5. Beat eggs, milk, and mustard. Pour over cheese.
6. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
7. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
8. Bake, uncovered, at 300 degrees for 1 hour.
9. Cool slightly. Cut into 20 pieces.

Makes: 20 pieces.

Meal:
Lunch & Dinner

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com and familyfun.com, 2008.

Mini Caramel Apples

I made these for my kids and they loved them... I was really impressed. It's an easy recipe that they can follow and make themselves... with supervision of course... :-)
Try it and let me know what you think...

Mini Caramel Apples

Bite-size versions of the fall fair treat, these tiny "caramel" apples are a great party snack.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
4-inch lollipop sticks
Melon baller
Granny Smith apples (one apple makes about 8 mini apples)
Butterscotch or peanut butter chips
Chopped nuts, nonpareils, sprinkles, shredded coconut (optional)
Small paper candy cups
Step 1 - Mini Caramel Apples 1. First, cut the lollipop sticks in half at an angle (the pointy end will go into the apple pieces easier). With the melon baller, scoop little balls out of the apple. Each ball should have a section of apple peel. Push half of a lollipop stick into the peel of each ball. Pat the apple pieces dry.

Mini Caramel Apples: Variations 2. Melt the chips according to the package directions. Dip and swirl the mini apples in the melted chips, then roll the apples in nuts, sprinkles, nonpareils, or coconut, if desired. Place the mini apples in paper candy cups to set.

How to make a No Sew Blanket

Oh I love making these as gifts for family and friends... My boys, YES you heard me my BOYS love to do these while watching movies, we all snuggle under and start knotting away!! Once you start you will not be able to stop!! I will post a few pictures for you when I have a moment..

Would love to know the secret of doing a pillow like this, how to make it washable?? Do you add buttons?? Since there is to be no sewing?? Tips please..

Visit this link to check it out!!

Awesome Sites that I have been visiting... Check these out!!

Free Paper Piecing Patterns--> Summer
Ideas for fun crafts & more--> add origami or other fun idea to your scrapbook project
Make fun homemade Christmas cards that look like custom snow globes
Folding a rose for scrapbooking

Make your own Fossils

Make your own Fossils
What you need:

* clay
* items to imprint
* leaves
* coins
* bugs

Make a rock or plaque shape from the clay or use the dough recipe (included below). Use water to make a smooth surface. Make imprints with different objects. Try leaves, coins, shells, or even a small toy. When it dries, rub on a bit shoe polish and acrylic sealer to make it last for months and months. Bury them in sand or dirt and have a expedition to dig up fossils like an archaeologist. Combine with a treasure hunt, and use as clues to a treasure.

Dough Recipe
* 1/2 C Salt
* 1 C Flour
* 1 C Water
* 1 Tbsp oil
* 2 tsp. cream of tartar

Mix all ingredients in a pot and stir over medium heat. Mixture will be soupy with lumps, suddenly it will form into a ball. Remove from heat, and knead on a non-stick surface. Useful for many types of projects. Store in fridge, or allow creations to air dry.

My kids are in the process of doing this today, hopefully I can take some decent pictures to share with you.

Hairy Heads

Hairy Heads
What you need:

* old knee hi or cut off panty hose
* grass seed
* dirt
* 2 small elastics
* decorations

Put 2 tsp of grass seed in the bottom of toe of the panty hose. Add 1-2 cups of dirt. Make sure the seeds stay in the top of the head, otherwise you’ll have hair sprouting from under the eyes. Use the small elastic to pinch off a nose about half way up the head. Use the second elastic to tie off the bottom. Decorate by pasting on eyes, mouth, ears, or what ever else intrigues the kids. Use paper, felt, colored plastic, markers, pipe cleaners, any materials you have on hand.

Keep the Hairy Head in a small dish with water in the bottom. The ‘hair’ should sprout in less than a week. Kids can style the hair with elastics, clips and scissors.

Feel free to send pictures of your children's versions of the Hairy Head Sock

Jolly Rancher Cookies: looks like stained glass!

Ingredients

* Make Sugar Cookies
(Click on the Title at the top to be directed to a Sugar Cookie Recipe)
* Jolly Ranchers
* Plastic sandwich bags & meat tenderizer (for crushing)

Cooking Instructions

1. Make your cookies into shapes ex: circle, then cut out center with smaller shape ex: heart.
2. Sort the Jolly Ranchers into plastic bags by color. Crush them with a meat tenderizer (good stress reliever). Use the crushed jolly ranchers to fill in your cookie centers.
4. Bake at 375 F for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned & Jolly ranchers are melted. Cool completely.

Be Creative and have fun!!

Stamp on Salt Dough fun for Kids too!

Make up a batch of “Salt Dough”and let them stamp in it—this is really easy and really cool!
You can stamp dry and then paint it when the dough is hard, or you can stamp ink directly into the soft dough and let it dry.

I would use two batches for 25 students.

Salt Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour (not self-rising)
1 cup Morton Salt
1 cup water
Food color optional

Combine flour and salt. Mix well. Form into a ball by mixing in a little water at a time. Knead 7-10 minutes, until the dough has a firm, smooth consistency. Add a little more water if necessary.

Roll with a rolling pin or let the children roll it with a smooth bottle or can etc.

Press the stamp into the dough. Cut out around the shape (can us a plastic knife).

Poke a hole with a toothpick if it will be something strung or hung.

Bake on a foil-covered cookie sheet at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool, then paint with water color, acrylic, or enamel if you haven’’t stamped with color.

You can also just let the dough sit for a few days on a screen to dry, turning it once in a while—it won’’t be a nice brown color though.

Have fun!! My kids love doing this... and it washes off your stamps with warm water!

Tutorial: Create your own transparency using Packaging Tapet

Transparency using Packaging Tape

This is so cool! It's like magic, my kids love doing this!

What you need:
Packaging tape
Image (from photos, etc)
Scissors
Bowl of Warm water

Take your desired image and adhere it to the packaging tape.
Make sure it smooth.
Place the packaging tape with image place into bowl of warm water, let is soak till it curls.
Test a corner if you rub and back of image paper comes off nicely your good.
The result of this is the image will appear on the packaging tape without the background, its pretty cool.

I have used this on brochures from trips etc. to put on my layouts etc.

Enjoy and let me know how your projects turned out!!