day 318: whole wheat blueberry muffins

a healthy snack option everyone will enjoy :)

day 318 and we are into food again today.  that could be because in a tizz i through out all the processed food the other day and we have nothing in the cupboards ready-made anymore.  that means i have whining every time the peeps are hungry because they can't find their go-to snack foods anymore :o/  time to fix the problem and fill some tins with some healthy foods they (and i) can eat.

these whole wheat blueberry muffins from skinny taste look ideal as the recipe uses mostly unprocessed ingredients.  i am not changing our complete diet ... don't get me wrong, i still believe in chocolate, lollies, and all things salty, especially chips but i would like to make my use of these things less frequent :)  the recipe is also pinned to my weight watchers recipes happy days board.

once again, the peeps volunteered to help, ben lasted five minutes before finding one of his books on the table and reading that instead.  polly stuck with me and completed the healthy baking assignment.

this photo says it all really :)

we didn't change anything in this recipe, i was too scared to as my knowledge is shamefully woeful when it comes to baking in a healthy manner.  i also put the recipe into the weight watchers recipe builder and discovered each muffin is worth 4 points+, just in case anyone but me needed to know.  the recipe is totally peep friendly for baking, so you can stand back and watch while they take on this task themselves .,., love recipes they can do on their own :)

the ingredients ... see, i am TRYING to be more healthy :)

my helper folding (ok tossing is more accurate) the mix

the ready to eat healthy whole wheat blueberry muffins .. yum!

outcome:  really good, i felt healthier eating one for afternoon tea, ok i added some low fat marg to the top of it, but old habits die hard.  they were actually much nicer than i anticipated and the peeps loved them.  totally adding these to my weekly baking for the peeps and i as a snack food.  still not as healthy as we could go but definitely better than what we have been doing.  and i imagine if i made them on a sunday and froze them and took out a couple each morning they would be perfect quick snacking during the week ... that's IF i remember to take them out of the freezer ;)

my thanks to skinny taste for this recipe.  totally going back to pin some other healthy baking recipes to add to my healthy, unprocessed snack foods choices!

day 317: a twist to some ANZAC cookies

ANZAC cookies with a twist

day 317 and the peeps and i are making ANZAC cookies today.  each year around this time we make some to enjoy on ANZAC day.  these cookies have a long association with ANZAC day as wives and mothers sent them over in tins to their loved ones at war, why?  well they stored REALLY well so could make it over on the long sea journey and still be edible when they arrived, and they used cheap ingredients that were readily available during wartime, so they weren't a burden to make with regards to food stamps either :)

the other day i was searching all things ANZAC on pinterest and came across this variation to our beloved ANZAC cookies from the cupcake architect.  yum, ben and i were drooling at the thought of white chocolate drizzle over some ANZAC biscuits!  as it was our first day back at school after the easter holidays i decided the peeps might need some enticing to get through the day and doing some baking seemed like the right approach to take ;)

for this recipe these cookies also have dried cherries added to them, i didn't have any in the pantry but i did have some dried cranberries so we used those instead.  that was the only variation we made to this recipe, which is pinned to my lest we forget board on pinterest.

my pinterest helpers for the day ... look at the levels of concentration!

my happy stirrer

fresh out of the oven

adding the final touches ... polly is never far from helping in the kitchen, we lost ben to a book ;)

finally they were ready to eat, they smelt so good!

outcome: seriously good, in fact they were so good we had requests for a second batch on ANZAC day :)  we still have some left over but the troops seem to think by wednesday they will be all gone.   surprisingly its not the white chocolate on top everyone loved but the cranberries with the oats and golden syrup were divine.  this is definitely not a wartime only cookie with the cranberries and white chocolate, but as we are currently living in peace in nz, i am happy to push the boat out for the extra ingredients in this version!

as i once again have a very happy family thanks to another successful pinterest pinned recipe, i have to give many thanks to the cupcake architect for there brilliant twist on the traditional ANZAC cookie.  

day 316: baked cheese balls

baked cheese balls ... or is that sliders ???

day 316 and these baked cheese balls looked like something my boys would love me forever for making so i figured they were worth a go today!  the recipe comes from abbylynn at never trust a skinny cook (such a cute blog name!) and is pinned to my recipes for the boys board on pinterest.

abbylynn has LOTS of useful suggestions to make sure the cheese doesn't melt in the oven while these little babies are baking.  the number one suggestion is fat free cheese, apparently we aren't healthy enough to have fat free cheese in nz (or at least i couldn't find any ANYWHERE) so i went with natural cheese sticks instead.  i did use the freezing before baking trick on my string cheese though because i wanted to make sure i didn't have cheese puddles at the end.

the actual recipe is really easy, you literally cube up the cheese strings, dunk in milk, roll in breadcrumbs, and put in the oven to bake ... so i had high hopes that these would be a winner with my boys ....

the ingredients

cut, dunk, and roll

into the oven they went ....

... five minutes later they were like this!

they were the perfect addition to our dinner :)

outcome: didn't matter about the freezing part, apparently you need fat free cheese to stop these babies from melting!   ok, remember when my oven and i had expanding biscuits on leap day, well the same happened to the cheese balls today ... so maybe it's me and my oven and not that actual recipe.   we renamed our baked cheese balls sliders instead, still tasted superb and they were ALL gone by the end of dinner this evening ... heehee, whether its a ball or a slider there is something about hot cheese that just works!

while we had a small pinterest disaster, in terms of the shape but not the taste, i am really pleased i made these for the family who still loved them with dinner tonight!  so my thanks goes to abbylynn from never trust a skinny cook who came up with this cool recipe and has better cheese choices than i do and also a better oven, apparently :)

day 315: snowmen for winter decor

the finished snowmen!

day 315 and winter is drawing nearer ... that's good and bad news right?  no more squeezing into swimming togs, but the cold and rain can be miserable for days on end, although the hot chocolates and snuggling up to loved ones is so comforting to the soul, but the long days become so short and dark they are a little intimidating to the heart.  i figured if i added some comforting winter décor to the house once winter got going maybe it would become more heart-warming even on those bleak freezing, wind swept days!

i saw this tutorial for wooden snowmen on craftaholics anonymous by linda and new that they would brighten any winters day ... and its been a while since i played with glitter so this project was a great excuse to get blingy with it :)   the tutorial is also pinned to my winter wonderland board on pinterest. below is a pictorial look at today's creating.

the materials used today

i started with a couple of coats of white gesso

and painted all the sides two times

then i added eyes with a black vivid before using mod podge to attach LOTS of glitter :)

the finished snowmen minus their scarfs

the latest members of my family ;)

outcome: the tutorial is fantastic and you can't go wrong.  the snowmen are simple but stunning, the way the light catches the glitter is mesmerising ... and makes me so jealous we don't have christmas during the winter months :(  but with a little more blingy winter décor around the house during winter, my green eye monster may be soothed somewhat.  what made me laugh was how they took on their own personality once the little scarves were added to them!

my sincere thanks to linda at craftaholics anonymous for this awesome idea, i am hooked on these cute little guys and their glittery goodness.  i love all the tutorials i have done from this website and there are bound to be many more i make in the future :)

day 314: stencilled pillow

a pillow for my boy

day 314 and those that have been around for the last 300ish days will know i love anything that can be personalised .... and that i love a good pillow to decorate ... today i am joining those two things together again to make a pillow for ben's bedroom.  he has a room that has a bit of a travel thing going  thanks to his love on tintin.  all the travel things i love are generally REALLY expensive because they are more for adults than a tween or they are for toddlers and are more geared to transport than travel.

time to put purchasing aside and make something instead.  i was hooked on this pillow as soon as i read diy personalised pillow with ... stencils!  the shelterness website has a great, good to follow tutorial on how to use stencils to personalise a pillowcase for your home.  this creation is also pinned to my general crafts board on pinterest.

all you need is a permanent or fabric marker, cushion cover, cardboard, pencil, ruler, and stencils.  for this pillow i asked ben for his favourite places around the world, most he hasn't visited but loves the monuments of the city or country, or has some connection to them.  the pencil and ruler are for ruling straight lines on the pillow, and the card goes inside the cover of the pillow so there is no seepage through to the reverse side of the marker.

the materials needed

rule pencil lines and begin!

the finished pillow

an up close of the imperfections ;)

outcome:  a rustic which means not perfect pillow for ben's room that definitely adds to the travel items in his room he loves.  actually in real life it looks heaps better, go figure.  he likes it, i made it, not my favourite thing i have done so far, but not the worst either :)

thanks goes to the shelterness website for the cool tutorial that was really easy to follow and gave me plenty of inspiration to make a pillow befitting my boy peep!  

day 313: chicken wire frame for photos

the finished chicken wire photo frame :)

day 313 and i am making use of an A2 frame that the glass broke in.  i absolutely love this chicken wire frame from the 36th avenue.  such a cool idea for hanging photos in a kids room especially as they have the ability to change them around as much as they want without needing to take the frame apart.  today's creation of a chicken wire frame is headed to pollyanna's room for just that reason.  she LOVES change, she is forever changing her room around and redoing parts of her room so a board where she can change photos around at will is ideal for her!

you need a frame, chicken wire, staple gun, wire cutters, some backing card (polly wanted pink ... go figure!) and that's it.  steve helped me with this project as the floor is still a little far down for my healing back.  we cut the chicken wire to about 1" larger than the frames measurements.  steve then stapled it down at one end only.  he then used the backing board to bend the chicken wire into the frame.  once the backing board had done its work bending the chicken wire in, steve folded the chicken wire over again into the middle of the frame so we could then use masking tape to cover the chicken wire.  we did this so the walls behind the frame wouldn't be damaged by the rough texture of the wire.  once that was done it was ready to hang and be decorated with mini pegs and photos!

the materials

cut the wire to about 1" larger than the frame

use the base board to force the wire to bend into the frame

then bend the wire over towards the middle of the frame

use masking tape or something similar to tape over the wire so your walls are protected

the completed frame ready for polly to "organise" as often as she likes!

outcome:  one very happy mummy and daughter .... this is one piece of decor that is definitely worth having, especially if you have a daughter that likes changing things!  what i love most about this, however, is that it's different, it's cool looking and it is REALLY usable!

my sincere thanks to the 36th avenue for the awesome idea and the fabulous tutorial you provide readers.  fantastic inspiration for all the holidays, crafts, recipes, everything i need ... i will definitely be following this website for more inspiration :)

day 312: gift wrapping with book pages

the completed gift wrap

day 312 and i need to get some gift wrapping done today, with no car and no wrapping paper i needed something creative to happen if i was going to get any gifts wrapped!  lucky for me, i can venture to pinterest and find inspiration ... today's comes from julia at vintage with laces.  she was in a craft swap and used vintage book pages as her wrapping ... how cool is that, actually ALL the vintage things she makes look AMAZING, just gorgeous :)  julia's inspirational packaging is also pinned to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board on pinterest.

i figured i had some old book pages from a couple of books that are beyond rescue (half the pages are missing) that could be totally up-cycled into some gift wrap bags!

so for today's craft you need some vintage book pages, a sewing machine, and stamp pads.  i made one side 2" larger allow for a tab to be folded down to close the pocket.  i clipped the corners of the large side with a decorative corner punch to make it a little prettier!  then i used some distress inks to give the book pages a more vintage feel.  i didn't stamp an imagine on the front because i don't have any beautiful stamps and i am a total novice at stamping so it wasn't a good idea ;)  i did have some vintage looking lace so added that instead.

the book pages cut to size

my prettying of the gift wrappping!

the distress ink i used on all the edges to soften all the fresh cuts

added the lace, and a split pin to close the flap

outcome:  i really liked making this, it's such a nice change up from my normally crisp, clean lines!  i absolutely love the feel of this and plan to use book pages in heaps of projects coming up because its so rewarding!  great reason to visit the second hand bookshops over the next couple of weeks!

julia's blog vintage with laces is truly inspiring if you love anything old worldy with a touch of feminine ... her trinket finds are SO cool!  i have to thank her so much for providing me with such a great alternative to your standard gift wrapping :)