Drawstring bag for Gogo's Crazy Bones

I am not sure if the Gogo Crazy Bones craze has hit your children yet but it has mine. It's the "new" thing to collect and trade at school and on the bus. We have been down the Pokemon, Yugioh and Bakugan phase and now these have taken over all of those. Anyway, I kind of like these crazy little guys with all of their weird faces and colors but what I don't like it finding them everywhere! When you have a 2 year old around, things tend to go missing very easily. So today' s half hour craft was to make the boys their own little drawstring bags to keep them in. They are small enough to cram in their pockets if they want and hopefully this will put an end to stepping on them unexpectedly and killing your foot!

I just used 2 small pieces of scrap fabric that I had and did a simple drawstring bag. Basically a large rectangle that you fold the top and bottom's in and sew to make the slot for the string and then sew them up right sides together. That's really it! I used an extra shoe lace for the string and it was done.

Italian wedding soup and Artisan bread!!

So yesterday was a very cold, gray and rainy day here so I thought it would be a perfect day to make homemade soup and artisan bread. The bread is from this amazingly simple recipe that works perfectly for our busy family. It gives you a delicious tasting hearth baked bread with VERY little work. Now I really like to make bread but I usually think of it around 4:00 when I am getting hungry and there is no way to make it then. This concept is take about 2 minutes and stir together water, salt, yeast and flour and let it sit in a bowl/bucket for about 2 hours. Then put it in the refrigerator! Yes I said that right. You leave it in there until you are ready to cut a hunk off and bake it! No kneading at all and no mess(which I love). It is almost too easy and too good because we can't stop eating it!

If you want the recipe I got it here. There is also a fool proof you tube video here that you can watch if you still have questions. TRY IT!! You won't be sorry you did. :D

I wanted some yummy soup to go with this bread so I decided on Italian wedding. My kids love it and I know they are getting a good meal. I start by making 1 inch meatballs

then brown them on all sides and remove from the pan.

Add in your carrots, onion and celery, cover and cook until softened.

Then add in your meatballs and a good quality chicken stock. I usually add in the large 32oz carton and then make about 2 cups of additional broth with water and chicken base because we like our with a bit more liquid. Then bring that to a boil and reduce the heat and simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Add in a bunch of escarole and return it to a simmer. Then add in your pasta and cook until it's tender. Add salt and pepper to taste and we always top it with some grated Parmesan cheese.

If you want the official recipe here it is:

Italian Wedding Soup

1 large egg

1/3 cup chopped parsley

1 lb. ground beef

2-3 Tbsp. seasoned bread crumbs

2 Tbsp. oil ( I use Wegmans basting oil)

finely chopped carrots, celery and onion or 1-2 8oz. bags of a Mirepoix mix

480z. chicken stock ( I don't recommend using thin chicken broth here, go for the quality tasting stock)

about 8oz. of chopped escarole

3/4 -1 cup of Acini Di Pepe pasta

salt & pepper

grated Parmesan cheese

Beaded Eggs

Here is a fun little project that you can do with all of those plastic Easter eggs that you have lying around. Make them into pretty beaded eggs!


Supplies:

plastic eggs
sead beads
white glue or tacky glue



Start by gluing the eggs closed so that they won't pop open while you are working on them or come apart once you have finished. The add some glue at one end and pour some beads on there smooshing them into place as you go. They look much better if they land on their sides instead of flat so you don't see the hole. As you can see from my pics, I got lazy at the end and didn't take the time to do this always!! Just work slowly all the way down the egg and then just let them dry. That's it!

I still have a few more to make so that my arrangement looks nice and full but I wanted to take a picture of what I had done so far. If you want another idea for all of those annoying little eggs that you find EVERYWHERE all over the house....... check out this post from last year!

Spring is close..... I can smell it in the air!!

We have had sun for the past few days and today it's supposed to reach 60!! That's big news people! Well, for me it is anyway.
I have been neglecting my blog and my craft world for the past few weeks but I am getting back on track now. Check back in another day for a really cute classy Easter egg craft! I am still gathering the supplies but should have it ready soon.
Hope everyone is enjoying the snow melting away!!