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Paper Mache But Better

March 6, 2011 By 8 Comments

It’s Handmade Monday again!  I hope you go and check out everyone else’s stuff I always see such cool stuff!

I stumbled across an interesting recipe for paper mache awhile back and saved it for another time because it looked messy and I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to make with it. I still wasn’t sure what to make with it, but I decided to try it anyway. I like recycling paper, and have made home made paper for cards in the past, so this seemed like a good project for me to try.

It turned out to be pretty easy to make, requiring minimal ingredients and tools but it took some time since it requires “cooking”. This also means that if you want to do it with kids you would need to be right there with them, and I would recommend you do that part for them. But it does make a nice smooth paper mache, and I was impressed with the results, in the end.

So, lets head over to Make It and you can see how I made Crazy Little Paper Beads.

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Peppermint Stick Cocoa

January 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I know Christmas has come and gone, but cocoa is always good, right?  And peppermint is always good, and I have a feeling you can make this with any kind of candy anyway (like red hots!).  I made these for my neighbors this year, because I wasn’t up to baking, and I had found this recipe and wanted to try it.  It turned out really cute, and got good reviews, so I’m going to share it here.  I had a little leftover but I’ve run out, so I made more today and made enough to send a batch to each of the boys as well.  A few Christmases ago I gave each of the daughters in law a hot chocolate maker and frother.  I had recently discovered that two of them had been broken when they got them, but no one had wanted to hurt my feelings by telling me.  After a little searching, because Crate and Barrel was no longer  selling them, I found them here.

At any rate, it made me want to send them all some of this really good cocoa mix. And make some more for us.I made a few changes in the basic recipe, which I’ll explain.  The original is good, but I like this a little bit better.  I think you could give this as gifts, or just keep it on hand for yourself and your family.  I’m not sure about making a sugar free version, because I’m not sure if there is a suitable substitute for the chocolate chips.  I assume you could make a lower sugar version with Splenda or your sweetener of choice.  Or, you could just splurge once in awhile.

So, to see what I did, check it out on my Cook It page here.

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I Was Feeling Crafty

January 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I thought today was a good day to make something.  And I thought it best to start this whole blog thing out with something that looked like something I could accomplish without too many tears and frustration.  I am winging the webpage just a little since my webmaster expert is not sitting right here over my shoulder helping me.  We’ll see what he says when he takes a look later.  Hopefully it won’t be….WHAT DID YOU DO?!

I hope you enjoy the little Pocket Notebook.  I found it on what has become a very favorite place of mine, Stumbleupon.  That’s not exactly a website, it’s more of a way of browsing the web that uses your profile to show you websites that might interest you.  The more you use it, the better your experience becomes.  I had gotten to where I rarely browsed the web, because it had gotten so hard to find anything cool.  But now, I find all sorts of good things.  Like, for instance, instructions for the Pocket Notebook (and we’ll get to that in a moment–honest).  So, I thought it might be fun (for me, maybe for you, we’ll see) to find things I thought looked good, and try them and then report here.  If they work out, great. If not, well, I’ll report that too.  With pictures.

I’m glad to report the Pocket Notebook was a success.

Now, onward!  For steps with photos here you go:

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