day ninety six: chore clipboards for the peeps

the chore clipboards ready for tomorrow :)

day ninety six and we need some organisation for the kids re: pocket money and jobs to be done.

 i am incredibly lucky because i home school i don't have to deal with the chaos involved in rushing out the door first thing in the morning but the kids still have jobs to do (make bed, tidy room, clean teeth etc) and these jobs get done every morning because of the dangling carrot at the end of them!  in our house that carrot is computer time and the kids get computer time before our schooling starts but only if their jobs are completed ... this has revolutionised my mornings from grumpy mother to calm, happy mother :)

however it's the "pocket money" jobs that have gone out the window recently.  i want the kids to have the ability to earn money so they understand the synergy between working and having money :)   i used to have a job sheet on the notice board and the peeps had to chose at least two jobs a week but could do more if they wanted to earn more money.  since the big goal of having money to spend overseas has gone, i need to resurrect a new way of earning money because the peeps currently aren't interested!  i thought i could incorporate what stacy julian from playful.productive.present has done with her kids and their morning clipboards but with the ability to have some choice.

materials for the clipboard

the first part of today's creation was making the clipboards ... i wanted small clipboards as i didn't want the size of a big A4 clipboard to visually overawe them.  i used some 5 x 7" mdf boards, paint (for the edges), some scrap paper, letter stickers, and bulldog clips to create the clipboards.  the clip down the side of each board is for the money earned ... hopefully ;)

clipboards ready, now for the list

i then set to work on the computer making a list of the things i wanted them to do each day and then added a couple of blank lines along the bottom for things that needed to be done that day but weren't necessary every day (eg: putting their washed clothes away).  i also liked how stacy's idea was that they tick them off and then she returned later to assess and add the money to the clipboards. this is definitely what i intend to do - leave the peeps to make their own choices for what they do and then attach the rewards at the end of the day hoping for a positive outcome!

list done, now all i need is some eager peeps :)

the finished product, clipboard and list
combine to form dangling carrot!

outcome: pending ... for me i am hoping the daily presence of money attached to these jobs will help motivate them to do them ... especially my little boy peep who often has to be told 5 times to put his laundered clothes away :} i really hope the dangling carrot works for these jobs as well as it works for their morning routine ;)  in the meantime the clipboards look pretty sitting on the kitchen bench and i feel very positive about this new pocket money system working ... hopefully my wants will match their wants and all will work happily ... wish us well!

my thanks to stacy julian at playful.productive.present.  this is one of those ideas where you wish you had seen it sooner because the possibilities of making it work to fit your home and peeps are huge ... seen it now, and i have big hopes it will work really well :)

day ninety five: hasselback potatoes

tonight's hasselback potatoes .. yum~!

day ninety five and these hasselback potatoes were calling my name today, saying "eat me"! they looked so good on pinterest and when i saw the recipe called for garlic it was a done deal.  the recipe is from the sea salt with food blog and is pinned to my recipe must do's board.

today's ingredients

apparently these potatoes are the swedish version of baked potatoes.  you will need some potatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic.  the original recipe also has knobs of butter on top of the potatoes but i figured i would see if they worked without the added calories, given i'm trying to lose not increase my size!

cutting the potatoes almost all the way down without cutting through took some practice but i got there in the end.  notice some of them have their ends sliced off, it was the first slices that proved most difficult to do!  i tried to put the garlic into the slots, but ended up dicing it finely and putting it on top after the disaster (see pic below) of trying to insert broke the potato in half!  i perhaps could have been more delicate with this process but leaving for hockey was getting closer and i figured the garlic might slip into the slots as they baked and opened.

the breakage as a result of my inability to
be patient when inserting garlic

the less than inserted garlic now diced instead of sliced.

these all disappeared off the kids plates before anything
else ... they do have a chip type appeal to them, but oh
so much better and far more healthier!

outcome:  yummo ... ok given the option, these would come out far more crunchy with butter knobs on top i suspect ... however, as a healthier option these were seriously good.  the garlic slipped off into the bottom of the dish as opposed to into my potato cuts ... stink :( so my garlicky potatoes weren't as garlic soaked as i had hoped ... lesson learnt, spend more time and care inserting garlic next time.  still these hasselback potatoes are damn fine!

my thanks to angie from sea salt with food blog ... the recipe is a winner and i thought it was better than having french fries!  if you are after some delicious recipes, especially malaysian cuisine angie's blog is a great place to start :)

day ninety four: paper flowers from circles

paper flowers from circles, one used on a
christmas card

day ninety four and it feels like winter is back today ... so a good time for indoor creations.  today's inspiration comes from the whimsical world of laura bird blog and its her gorgeous paper flowers.  these were pinned to my paper crafts board on pinterest.  there were a couple of other tutorials for making these flowers on pinterest but after looking at the finished products and the different tutorials, i thought laura's final product looked the nicest and her tutorial was the easiest to understand!

what you need, paper and a way to cut out some circles,
if you don't have a cutter just trace around something
round that has a diameter about 1.5-2"

i thought i would make a start on my christmas cards with these flowers and i had some pretty graphic 45 christmas paper i have been itching to use. i used a 1.5" circle to make my flowers and a 2.5" circle for the base to place them on.  definitely used laura's idea of placing the first petals at north, south, east, and then west as it makes spacing them so much easier and you can get a nice tight placement of the petals.

the folding of the petals (i inked the edges of my circles
because i didn't want the white showing with the vintage
style graphics of the paper 

placing the petals on the circle base

the finished flower minus a centre

the finished flower with a centre, this one
is a brad but buttons would work just as
well on these really neat flowers

outcome:  laura's tutorial was brilliant from the folding to the placing, she gives you all the tips and tricks you need to make these beautiful flowers ... it's like doing origami without all the hard intricate folds!  once you are into the swing of folding the petals they actually don't take too much time once you have your circles cut, and if you have a circle cutter even that's not painful!  i loved the christmas card i made with the first one and think i will also add these cute little paper flowers to some of my presents as well!

my thanks to laura from whimsical world of laura bird for the really well put together tutorial for these paper flowers.  as i said earlier, i looked at a number of tutorials for these flowers but this was by far the easiest to understand and she even had great suggestions on how to put the flower together!

day ninety three: appliqué onto a t-shirt

appliquéd t-shirt

day ninety three and pollyanna and i are off to see france play japan this afternoon in the rugby world cup :)  SO excited and polly has been bouncing off the walls ready to go and support her second team france!  i figured we needed to dress for the occasion and thanks to this wonderful 20 minute crafters tutorial from a little bit funky we can!  this was pinned to my general crafts board on pinterest.

i am going to attempt to applique a french flag onto the front of polly's t shirt! i used the freezer paper trick i did on day twenty eight to print on fabric a design i made using clipart.  once the design was printed i used the applique tutorial to attach it to her t shirt ....  you use heat'n'bond or similar to attach your design and then zigziag around the edge to finish it!

the design printed on fabric

iron on the bonding web and place on the t-shirt, then iron
again :)

zigzag around the outside :)

outcome:  THIS IS SO COOL ... i can make some cool t shirts for all sorts of occasions now!  it was super easy and the nice thing was you didn't need any special tools, just freezer paper and some bonding web. it took about 30 minutes from opening clipart to the finished product ... polly and i are now ready to go and support france as they do battle against japan in today's match!

mon petit supporter français prêt à aller!
[my little french supporter ready to go!]

thanks so much to little bit funky for their awesome crafting tutorials ... i am their newest follower because ... i mean really .... who doesn't need to know how to craft in 20 minutes!

day ninety two: cupcakes for the start of the rugby world cup :)

rugby cupcakes :)

day ninety two and the start of the rugby world cup is FINALLY here!  all the flags are going up and people are really starting to get excited.  i thought a day like today deserved some party food and these football cupcakes from about.com looked perfect!  they are pinned to my party ideas board on pinterest.

we have slighty different goal posts than american football (ours look like this H) but apart from that i figured with some scorched almonds for rugby balls these would work well!  i baked up my favourite cupcake recipe  in wrappers and once they had cooled i set to work with my rugby pitches!

rugby ball ingredients

the procedure .... :)

instead of green icing i used a white butter cream icing and then pushed the icing into some green coloured coconut on top for grass.  i always dye my coconut in a ziplock bag so there's no mess!   i then used a ready made white chocolate icing pen to put some stitches on the scorched almond rugby balls.

tonight's half-time feast!

outcome:  the flags are up, the cupcakes are made and i am buzzing and completely excited for tonight's opening ceremony and the first game!  it is tradition in our house to have traditional foods from the host country for dinner, as new zealand is the host it was pretty easy .... and we went with the REALLY easy option of fish and chips with kiwifruit pavlova for dessert!  these cupcakes will be perfect for half time in the rugby and the response from the kids was great ... and you know what, i was pretty proud of them as well!

my thanks to about.com, this site always has what you are looking for even when you don't know it!  i often use their worksheets for my kids and now i know they also have fantastic party ideas!

if you want some quick easy printables for the kids to do during the rugby world cup head to activity village for some great inspiration and there is plenty more on the official RWC website :)

day ninety one: crockpot shredded beef taco's

these were absolutely delicious ... definitely doing these
again really soon :)

day ninety one and we are VERY busy getting ready for the rugby world cup ... i can't WAIT, but i love rugby so that's not a surprise to my family.

these were birthday and christmas presents from my
amazing mum last year :)  SWEET!

every major world sporting event (summer or winter olympics, sporting world cups, commonwealth games etc) i give each member of our family a bag of goodies with a randomly selected country to support as well as our own.  it helps the kids understand more about different countries and their cultures and they love having a second country to cheer for, especially if they are competing against another family member's country!  in their bag they get info about their adopted country, recipes (as they have to cook a meal from their country one night during the event), food from the country, flag templates to colour, some team gear (if i can find it) team information, language worksheets, and a whole lot of other crafts and worksheets that they need to do during the tournament.  we all love it and it makes for an exciting celebration of the event :)

all this takes a little (ok a lot) of preparation but i adore doing it!  on really busy days (like today) i find myself turning to the crockpot.   i am so lucky with pinterest as there are so many wonderful slow cooker recipes to pin.  today's recipe is from ali at gimme some oven website.  it looked so yummy in the picture, it had my taste buds salivating just pinning it to my recipe must do's board!

the ingredients

i couldn't access any chipotle peppers and have actually never seen them in nz before ... i possibly wouldn't have put them in as my peeps are only starting to eat spicy foods and i don't wait to turn them off with too much heat right away ... i figured the chilli powder was probably enough heat for tonight's dinner :)  the only other thing i changed was adding a little 1/2 tsp of ground coriander to the spice rub and that was just a personal choice because i love cumin and ground coriander together.

the filled taco ready to wrap up :) so good it was too!

outcome:  the thing i love about today's recipe is we literally got home and dinner was ready in ten minutes ... all i needed to do was pull the salad stuff for the soft taco's from the fridge, open the sour cream, shred the meat, and heat the tacos .... EASY ... the kids were still setting the table while i was filling it :)  not only that these were absolutely, finger licking delicious ... we raved, the kids asked for them tomorrow night for dinner, and it was slightly embarrassing that i felt i had done very little to deserve such praise ... yeah i got over that really quickly ;)

a big thanks to ali at the gimme some oven website, she has an absolute winner with this recipe, it's a fantastic week night dinner that gets rave reviews!  she has just finished a week of zucchini recipes that look too tempting not to try :)

day ninety: travel toothbrush holder

the girls and the boys toothbrush pouches

day ninety and i headed back to the sewing machine today to make some really cute travel toothbrush holders.  the inspiration and tutorial comes from donna at simple things, sweet life. i loved this idea as a great bathroom pouch for tramping, overnight sleepovers for the kids, long haul flights, and all those times when you want to take your toothbrush and paste but not the bathroom sink on your travels!  this idea is pinned to my general crafts board on pinterest.

the bits and bob's required

the tutorial asks for a sewing machine, a flannel/wash cloth, and some ribbon.  my flannels cost me a whole $1.99 so this is a very good project for the pocket as well (not to mention practising that straight sewing ;))  i decided a girls one and a boys one would be a good idea so purchased two wash cloths.

for both my holders i did four pockets at 3" intervals

i measured my flannel and it was 12" across so my pockets were all pinned at 3" intervals, with the ribbon pinned on the right side as indicated on the tutorial.  if you have a larger family you could easily squeeze the pockets closer together and get six in without trouble.

these are such a cool, usable idea :)

outcome:  fabulous ... this is one of those awesome ideas that is so simple, so easy to achieve, but give you so much satisfaction at the end you want to tell EVERYONE about it ... so do people, do.  if you often need to take your toothbrush and paste overnight and want something hygienic to carry it in this is the cost effective, best option their is ... as it's a towel, i imagine you could even dry your mouth on it afterwards as well! now that's efficient!

my gratitude goes to donna at simple things, sweet life ... i love this idea and the final product, her tutorial was brilliant and as such this was an utter pleasure to create :)