scratch and sniff

I got this wonderfully easy idea from kiwicrate.com's 2 ingredient tuesdays. Non-toxic, sweet smelling(and tasting) koolaid paint. Just mix koolaid with a high concentration and paint away. But make sure you are watching the whole time or you end up soaking up berry blood-like pools off the floor like me.

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Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Sweetest School Support

Can you believe "back-to-school" time is here already? Now that I am no longer a teacher, I can join the other moms and dads and be ecstatic for this wonderful time of year!!

 As a little back to school treat I am making these candy bars for my daughter. They are encouraging and so sweet (hehe excuse the pun!). I found them over at Sugar to Designs and the printable is free.

Go ahead,sweeten up your little scholar's day. :) 

 Love and lots more free time, Kerry, the Momster 

Dapper Dude

DISCLAIMER!!! I'm really not a fantastic seamstress- never been schooled in the area or anything, but I do know how to thread my machine and run pieces through it so that they stay together-ish. That being said, I don't really measure, or cut straight or have patience, or any remnants of the OCD I thought I had (with 2 kids, I'm lucky if I have enough energy to brush my teeth everyday, so why waste it on measuring??)...so if you are a real "sew-er" you may want to opt out on viewing any of my sewing tutorials, as they may look somewhat to you, as what I imagine a lamb being slaughtered might look like to a vegetarian.

That being said, here is my remake of a baby jersey/sweater into a vest. I adore this little sweater, so was really bummed when Asher outgrew it. And so the old man sweater has now become the old man vest! Heres how:

Lay sweater flat.

Snip off sleeves, including the seam. Save sleeves for later as I think I may have another project in the works for those!

Pin the ends inside.

Sew down and ...

done!

Add a baby and you are good to go!

So cute, I know!

Next time I would overlap the sleeves a bit so that they aren't so gaping.

Love and cuteness, 

Kerry the Momster

Soft as petals.

Felt flowers are fun!

A cute little felt flower tutorial, for your tiniest valentines. Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy, and so cute, you might become a felt flower addict.

Start with a square (I divided one piece of felt into 6 squares)

Draw a spiral. As you do more, you may not need to draw them anymore, and just cut blindly.

Cut some petals too, if you like.

My favorite weapon in my craft box: glue gun! (but you can use liquid glue)

Cut the spiral...

Now roll and glue from the middle, round and round ( like rolling a sleeping bag)

More of the rolling...

When finished, glue the end. Now glue on some petals, and use to decorate your children. :) I glued a safety pin onto one, and a hair clip onto another. You can use them to embellish gifts, shoes, hairbands, tacoss... ok, maybe not tacos.

Pro Felt flower model.

Love and little flowers, Kerry the Momster

The Colors of my World

The weather has been fantastic lately. We live in Florida, so winter is the most comfortable time of year to do outdoor activities. The other day, Kaylee and I decided to introduce baby Asher to paints. He is a tactile baby, so loved squishing the goo and messing it around s much that eventually his sister moved away to do her painting elsewhere. He also decided that tasting it was essential to the artistic process, so thank goodness for non toxic paint!

Kerry Jaclyn Photography

It's so much fun having children and watching them discover and delight in the world for the first time.

I love these kiddies!

Love and colors,
Kerry, the Momster

Brownies and Bows

Presents are always acceptable, anytime, anywhere,for any occasion, and edible ones are just that little bit better. Here is an adorable idea I snagged from Family Fun magazine over the holidays that hits any girl's big 3:frilly,fashionable and full of chocolate!

How to make the bows:

I used starbursts, but you can use airheads or another gummy candy.

 

Divide the starburst in half, then divide one half in half again ( 3 parts). 

Roll into long bow.

Bend over into bow and stick the smaller piece over the top to seal it into a bow.

Voila!

Make Brownies from your favorite recipe or a box mix, then melt chocolate candy while they cool.

Dip the cooled brownies into the chocolate using a fork.

Place the bow on top while the chocolate is still wet.

Place on wax paper to dry.

Put in pretty boxes and send off for eating pleasure.

These  lil' girly gifts would make great treats for sisters, moms, kiddies, or co-workers for Valentines Day... or just make a whole lot of them for yourself JUST because they look so freaking cute!

Love and frills,
Kerry the Momster

Creepy Pizza Party

At least once a week, I let my 6 yr old, Kaylee make dinner. Okay, not really, she just makes us pizza. I buy 2 fresh balls of pre-made pizza dough  and let it rise for an hour. Then I cut up bell peppers, baby spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, cooked chicken and whatever else we decide on that week. Then she goes to town making interesting concoctions of pizzas and a special "personal pizza" just for her- although she ends up eating ours afterwards too. She gets very creative with the vegetables she tries on a pizza, especially if she is the one who made it, thus it is a great way to get kids to eat vegetables.

Once she has sprinkled all the cheese and they are in the oven, we listen to this creepy song by the Olsen twins: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNeKqxaXn34

Here is my little chef

Kaylee and her personal pizza

Here are some of our family's favorite pizza concoctions(we made the names too heheh):

 Tropic Thunder:  Grilled chicken, pineapple, bbq sauce, avocado, bell peppers

Red-y to Go:marinara sauce, spinach, garlic, mozarella, bell peppers

The White Stuff: alfredo sauce, mushrooms, turkey bacon, mozarella

Barely There:cheese, olive oil, zucchini

So bring the family into the kitchen....dinner is not just mom's job!

Love and flavor,

Kerry the Momster

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, me up!

Gobble Gobble!

My love for cake-pops knows no seasonal boundaries. I wish I could say these were the lovechild of my own creativeness, but they are in fact inspired by the beautiful Bakerella(search for turkey cakepops on her site).

The turkey making station.

Mine were made with the left over cake from my son's first birthday, which I had frozen. Then crumbled the chocolate-deliciousness into chocolate frosting and froze into little balls. The I experimented with various candies to come up with a turkey face I was happy with. I settled on rolled fondant icing for the heads, cracked orange circle sprinkles for the beaks, pink starbursts for the wattles, and tiny rolled up pieces of tootsie rolls for the eyes. The tail feathers are candy corns pushed into the cakes after dipping in the candy coating.

It was a fun little project that my daughter and niece are going to love at their place settings at dinner.

     I am thankful for so much this year, the usual stuff:family, friends, my health- but I REALLY feel it this year. Straight through the heart. As my good buddy Bjork says (okay we are not buddies in the real sense, only in the creepy I hang on to every note she sings sense), "All is full of love."

Happy Thanksgiving Momsters!
Love and grateful hearts,
Kerry, the Momster

The Look for Less (than Express!)

Designer duds are a girl's dream, but often don't mesh well with the contents of said girl's wallet. Express is a wonderful store for stylish, quality clothes, and whilst not quite as "cha-ching" as runway designs, can still be mean to the checking account. Here I took my favorite Spring white's outfit from this season and challenged myself to find it for as little as possible. I succeeded!

The Total Look "Head to toe" at Express costs just shy of $300.

Jersey Kaftan Top $12.50 (Forever 21)

JCPenney $17

Belt $ 10.80 from Forever 21

Platform Shoes from Charlotte Russe (not pictured  $33)

MY total cost for the whole outfit: $88 (You're welcome!)

Love and frugality,

Kerry the Momster

City Streets White Skinny $17.50 (Jcpenney)

Beaded Necklace:
$7.80 (Forever 21)