DIY Thursday: Olliblock Coupon Codes

Are you looking for a fun inexpensive gift for your kids for Christmas? Well I give you Olliblocks.



If you are addicted to Pinterest as much as I am you might have seen these adorable blocks flying around. Awhile ago I pinned them as an idea for Christmas gifts for my boys and a few days ago I went to their store to check them out.

SO CUTE! They have a bunch of different styles and they are all cute. To purchase the files to make a set of three (that's 9 blocks) it costs $12. But being the cheapskate I am I went searching for a discount code.

There are a bunch of blogs who have promoted Caravan Shoppe. (Where Ollieblocks are sold.) And all of these sites were given 20% off discount codes. And they still work!! Yay!! It looks like you can use one coupon per item you purchase. So I bought the starter pack and the Zoo booster pack. Originally $24 I got them for $14.40.

Here are a few of the codes I found and the super cute blogs they are from.
http://www.thecoterieblog.com - code - welovecoterie
http://www.sisterssuitcaseblog.com - code - suitcaselove
http://www.doeadeery.com - code - lovedoeadeery
http://frockfiles.com - code - welovefrock

Caravan Shoppe also has their own discounts you can take advantage of.

For 20% off an order of $25 or more, use the code itsaparty.

For 30% off an order of $50 or more, use the code caravanconfetti

Well I hope this helped with some of your holiday stress. Love you all and happy crafting!

DIY Book Safe

I try really hard to get people gifts that I know they will love, but there are some people that are harder than others. Like my brother in law. Love the man to death bu the is hard to shop for. So for his birthday this year I stalked him on Pinterest to try to get some ideas. And amid the video games and the pictures of tanks I found this fun idea. Make your own book safe. 

Wildcard Wednesday: Starburst Candy Corn

 Just a quick review on this fun Halloween inspired candy. I was at Walmart the other day looking for pumpkin Hershey kisses, which I could not find. :( And saw these bad boys.

Being me, a lover of all things candy corn (my favorite is the pumpkin shaped ones) I could not pass up buying a bag. They cost me just under $2 and all in all it was not a bad investment. First of all they taste a lot like Starburst, my husband liked them a lot even though he is not a big fan of candy corn. And secondly they had the classic candy corn texture, which I was a big fan of. I am a huge texture person, its why i don't like fresh tomatoes.

ANYWAY... if you are looking for a fun colored, yummy new candy to try this holiday season give these a try. I think you will like them. :)

Trash Bag Spider Webs and Garlands

Here is a fun easy cheap and cute project that will cost you at most $1.00. Black Trash Bag Spider Webs! I got this idea from How About Orange created by Jessica Jones. Such a cute site by the way. Now I will allow her to tell you how to make the spider web, because she has a really great explanation but I want to show you another variation that I came up with my mistake. Trash Bag Spider Web Garlands.

Aren't they cute? This was totally an accident, I made by first spider web and it was awesome but the second time I forgot to follow the directions. he he. And I did not just do it once I did it twice. Sooo I really know how to do this well. First you just need to fold the trash bag just like you would for the spider web. Cut it into a square and then fold it three times to get a triangle that looks like this.

Now one difference in what How About Orange and I think is that she says to just do one side of the trash bag at a time. But that took me forever so i found that if I taped it like she said to, and was very careful,  that I could do two webs, or garlands at once. Now if you look above you will see the difference of how you position the triangle so you get the web or the garland. In the picture it kinda looks like I just flipped over the triangle but that would make no sense so let me talk or write through it. If you position the triangle with the center of the square or the completely folded side on the bottom you have the spider web. But if you rotate it so the top left point is now on the bottom then you have the garland version. Then you just continue with the steps. I draw my web with a sharpie like she suggested, then you cut it out.

Now when you open it up it will look like this. So don't freak out, it is alright.

Now all you have to do is cut two strips from one side like this.

How cute right? And if all else fails just wing it. I had another mishap and created a chandelier so just have fun with it and Happy Halloween!!

Candy Corn Cookies - Two Ways

Candy Corn Cookies!! Aren't they so festive? We tried this recipe last year and loved it so much we made it twice and remembered it enough to do it again this year. It is just a simple sugar cookie but it is really tasty, I got it from the TasteofHome website.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Yellow and orange paste food coloring (I used liquid and it worked fine just took a bit more i suppose)

Directions:In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Now there are two ways to form the shape of these yummy cookies and I have tried both. For the first way which is a bit simpler, split the dough into thirds and color one orange and one yellow leaving the last third white.

I stole the idea of how to shape the cookies from Kathie at her blog Kathie Cooks. Thanks Kathie, such a great idea. You take a bread loaf pan and line it with parchment paper or plastic wrap. (Just a tip, I used plastic wrap and it still had a hard time coming out. Try multiple layers.) Then just layer the dough in starting with orange then yellow then white. Try to make your layers as flat as possible.

Then put your pan in the fridge for two hour up to overnight. I did two hours and it worked great. Take your dough out of the fridge next and out of the pan, and slice it the short way in to 1/4 in slices. While you are slicing preheat your oven to 350.

Next cut your slices into triangle shapes. Squish in the corners so they look more rounded and place on your cookie sheet. (Another tip, I always cook my cookies on parchment paper so the bottoms don't brown as easily)

The second way may take a bit more time but I think it is worth it. You get bigger cookies and they all look like candy corn.

 Form your dough into a log and cut it into 6 equal parts.

 One section will stay white, the rest of them you can start by coloring it all yellow. (I just stuck mine back into the mixer and added the color in that way.)

 Take your yellow dough make a log again separate it into 5 sections. Leave three yellow and pop the other two back into the mixer and add your red to make orange.

 Then you layer them all together in gradually thinner layers.

 And form it into a Candy Corn shape.

 Wrap in plastic wrap and stick it in your fridge. It helps keep the shape if you pop your head in the fridge every once in awhile and turn the cookies, so all the sides stay flat.

 After a couple hours in the fridge all you do is cut them up and pop(I am saying pop a lot today...)them onto a baking sheet.

Bake for 7 to 10 min in either shape and voila! They should not be brown at all.

Ta DA!!! They are delicious and perfect. But... if you want to take them one step further like I did, you can glaze them!!! Yummo. It was just a simple glaze, I got the recipe from my handy dandy Joy of Cooking the 75th anniversary addition. (If you were wondering)

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2-3 tbs water
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

That's all folks, mix it together and apply to your corn. I used a pastry brush, actually it might be a basting brush but whatever. I also doubled the glaze recipe because the above only makes 1/2 cup of glaze.  Then you place your cookies on cooling racks and brushed them and let them sit for 20-30 min so the glaze hardens up.

Oh they are so cute and so delicious. I want to try a lemon glaze on top next time. And do not let your lame significant other tease you about the fact that some of the colors are upside down on the cookies. (If you shape them the first way.) And if he or she does, no cookies for them!

Sorry about the two different qualities of pictures, the first were taken last year. Thank goodness I have a new camera, not perfect but better!!

Wild Card Wednesday: Free Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

That's right, free doughnuts!! Thursday, or TOMORROW you can go into any Krispy Creme location and if you talk like a pirate you get a free doughnut. If you dress up you get a DOZEN! The details are below and if you click on the picture it will take you to their website for all the locations and details.

(You can even download a Pirate eye patch!)

 Remember to head to our Facebook page and share this post because it is for one day only! Let your friends know!
If you don't have any pirate gear hanging around, no big deal head to the dollar store! I picked up this set in the Halloween section. :)

Also don't forget a few things we have done in previous years to celebrate with our families!
click on this picture to go back to the post!

Munchkin Monday: Family Traditions

 I thought I would take a some time today and talk about one of our family traditions that we do with our kids. But first, I want to take you through a little of what happened with my lovely children this week. 

 In case you can't tell, that's diaper cream. I saw them at first on the couch being very quiet and painting each others faces with it. And the couch. Ahhhh!! Yes I still took a picture, it was to funny to miss. But we are still trying to remove the cream from the couch. So any ideas you have would be appreciated.

Now onto our tradition! I love going to the State Fair, always have. The fried food, smelly animals, and not so great entertainment just makes me happy. So of course the boys have been going with us since they were born. Our oldest came for the first time just a little after three months after he was born.

So how we commemorate our time is caricatures! It is such a fun way to document growing up and a fun family time. Above is the man who has done it every year so far.

 Here is 2010.

 2011

 2012

And this year. Aren't they fun? We are still working on ideas of how to display them but until then just having them done every year is such a blast. So what is your family tradition? If you can't think of one, start one! Make memories with your kids that they will remember throughout their lives. It doesn't have to be complicated to be memorable.