Egg-citing Pinterest Craft

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Mom of 4

This is Post 2 for today, be sure to head back one post to see photos from our Spring Break! 🙂

So pinning on Pinterest is fun, right?! I pin a lot from my own site and am always pleasantly surprised how it brings new people to our little blogosphere here at 4 little Ferguson’s.

One of you asked me if I am addicted to Pinterest last week, and I had to stop and think about it before I answered. I’d say Facebook is a bigger time killer for me actually! I just pop on once in a while to pin a few things, and then I am off again. I am pretty proud of myself for actually following through with some of my favorite pins.…

Let’s see, there was the Organization Board for my laundry room.

T-shirt Scarves

The Banana Caramel Pinterest Pie and Coconut Cream Pie Bars.

Now, these

Easter Eggs!

FUN, right?!

Kinda.

Let’s just say this is one of those “Family Crafts” that turned into a Mommy and Daddy craft. It was messy, it was hard, it took some time, but the end result was cool!

(Except for the poor green one, the balloon leaked air all night so it shriveled as it dried…we turned it into something else, which you will see below.)

I think using water balloons and making little circle ones to hang on strings of lights would be cool too! And maybe more manageable?

Come find 4 little Ferguson’s on Pinterest!

Stringed Easter Eggs

You’ll need:

1 ball of string per egg, a disposable cup and some stay-flo starch

And a disposable roaster to put the starch in.

Roll the balloon in starch, covering all areas.

Have a kiddo help you with the stringing, until you realize its going to take 14 hours. Go to Plan B.

Plan B: Have 2 grown ups take over while your 8-year-old photographs you and the other kids, who have clearly already lost interest in this particular craft…..

Wrap string all over balloon in different directions making sure its tight and the balloon is evenly covered. Then roll it in the starch again, being sure to cover all areas, and set it on a cup to dry in your garage overnight.

Flip the egg end for end the next day, to allow the bottom to dry, too. This is when we discovered the poor green egg had its balloon leak all night and so it shriveled as it dried. We turned it into a nest for Chicky.

Once its dry, pop the balloons and decide how you want to display your colorful eggs! We decided to hang them from lime green tulle with a cheerful bow.

(Not outside, that was for lighting reasons only!)

I am glad these are reusable year after year, ’cause it’ll be awhile before Dale and I are ready to take a craft like this on again!

Pinterested: Coconut Cream Pie Bars

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Mom of 4

I don’t know why, but Coconut always reminds me of Easter. Maybe because people dye it green for edible Easter Grass, or maybe its cause I am crazy!

I say Easter Grass all the way. {Shhh, just go with it!}

Anyhow, I found these Coconut Cream Pie Bars on Pinterest, and I had everything on hand to make them, YAY! I love it when a foodie plan comes together. They were delicious and I like the idea of a bar rather than a pie, you can feed a crowd, and its easier too!

Coconut Cream Pie Bars

by Dough Puncher

For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cups shortening
5-7 Tbs. cold water

1) Cut shortening into flour, until shortening is in pea-sized pieces. Stir in water as needed, until just combined.
2) Roll out on a floured surface, and press into a 9 x 13 glass pan. Prick all over with a fork.
3) Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, until lightly golden. Let cool.

For the Vanilla Coconut Pudding:
2 2/3 cups whole milk (1/2 evaporated milk and half water is a great substitute for whole milk!)
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch (don’t do the flour substitute, just use cornstarch)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups sweetened, flake coconut

Topping:
Toasted Coconut
8 oz Cool Whip

1) In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk and egg well. Add the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Cook over medium heat, whisking often, until thickened.
2)Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir in coconut. Pour into cooled crust.
3) Place in refrigerator for a few hours, or until chilled.
4) Spread an 8 0z container of Cool Whip on the top.
5) Toast 1 cup coconut in a 350 degree oven for 2-4 minutes, until lightly golden. Sprinkle evenly over pie.
6) Store in fridge until serving time.

Enjoy!

Pinterested: Making A Sock Bun

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Mom of 4

This is Post 2 for today, be sure to head back to Post 1: Buckeye Cookie Bars!

So I saw this cool thing on Pinterest, which lead me to a video of how to make curls using a Sock Bun. Destiny LOVES when I take time to curl her hair, but let’s be realistic, it just doesn’t happen on school mornings.

THIS is the answer to my “Who in the World has time to use a curling iron on a CRAZY school morning?” Problem’s!

What you’ll need:

Socks that you don’t mind cutting. I used my size socks.

Roll it up tightly, continuing to tug as you roll, to keep it smooth.

Your Sock Bun should now look this:

Mine actually looked like this one, on the left, so I unrolled and cut the top “lip” of the sock as well. Much better!

How to roll a sock bun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=3FV-YO46E8Y

Basically you take damp hair up in a high ponytail, and slip the sock bun over it. Grasp hair straight up in the air, as you pull the sock bun to the tippy top, and wrap the ends neatly. Then you roll down, spreading the hair as you go, clear back down to the base of the ponytail.

{You are going to want to watch the video. This is hard to explain!!!!}

When you are done rolling it looks like this and is actually nice enough to be worn this way on day 1.

Super cute!

The next morning, it was time to find out if it worked!

We had one that worked great, and one not so much.

Poor Avery with her thin, silky hair!!!!! But Destiny’s was amazing!!!!!

That’s ok, Mommy. We can try again tomorrow!

2nd time around, I cut a stray baby sock for Avery’s hair and made sure it was very damp this time.

When we took it out the next morning, I could already tell a big difference.

She was THRILLED to have curls like big sis.

Supposedly this works great for adults as well, but I already have curly hair, so I haven’t tired it. If you try it, make SURE to come comment and tell me about it!

Go make a Sock Bun, your daughters will thank you!

Update: 12-29-2012
Since posting this, we have done many a sock bun. Usually with freshly washed, damp hair on bath night, and I have a tip for you. I have found that if I spray Avery’s baby fine, satin hair with leave in conditioner, the curls stay way better!
Case in point:

Pinterested

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Mom of 4

Did everyone have a Merry Christmas?!?!?! We are still recovering from fun-filled family function after family function, with more to come this week! Most years, by the time it’s all said and done, we have had 7 Christmas get-togethers! (And, no we do not do gift exchanges at every one, thank goodness!) I’ll tell you one thing, next week will be filled with naptimes and early bedtimes to get ready for school again!!! 🙂

So, I recently joined Pinterest. Oh my GOODNESS, there are so so many things on that I am interested in making, but let’s be honest, it’s just not going to happen until I have a bit more free time on my hands and some serious cash flow. But, away I pin: pinning it away for a future day with future extra time and future extra money, when my future kids are old enough to not need me to meet all their future basic needs. 🙂

However, balancing 3 different school schedules from 2 different school districts, has taken its toll on this ol’ brain, and when I forgot a school thing for the 2nd time, I knew it was time to up the Organization around here.

My calendar sits on my desk in the office/playroom at one end of the house:

My laundry room, where all the kids lockers and school notes live, is allllll the way at the other end of our very long, ranch-style house.

(Check out our laundry room makeover here.)

It is just not feasible to run to my office as they walk out the door, to make sure I didn’t forget “Bring a $1 day” or some other event written on my desk calendar.

So, as I was thinking about what to do, I remembered a pin I had re-pinned to my “Home Sweet Home” board, shared by Makes and Takes.

Here is what I did:

Bought a Poster frame at Wal-Mart for around $7.50, it was a nice big 18 x 24 one, but naturally I didn’t take a photo of it, so here is the crumbled paper from inside the poster frame that I pulled out of the trash can. Nice, right!?

The “glass” (plastic) on these kind of poster frames will be perfect for writing on with a dry erase marker! And they are much lighter than a regular frame for the hollow door I plan to hang this on.

Next, I went to Hobby Lobby and got scrapbook paper at 50% off, spent around $3. I picked brown, cream and deep red to match the laundry room colors.

I had Dale Spray paint the black metal frame a bronze color: this was free since we already had a can.

Then, I printed an empty Calendar page: found online for free.

Next, I started working on paper layouts until I figured out how I wanted them.

I decided to do a Calendar, Grocery list, To Do List and 4 Empty Squares: 1 for each kid. I am excited about being able to easily keep track of each child’s needs for school that week, as they empty backpacks at the end of a school day.

Here is the finished product:

(Yes, I am aware that I do not have pretty handwriting!) LOL 🙂

Here it is in the laundry room:

My new Organization Board aka “Brain Board” is on the door of the pantry, nice and accessible to me, but high enough to not get erased by little fingers. Plus, clever Dale found me a WET erase marker for calendar dates and the children’s names, so when I erase notes, the “basics” don’t erase too.

Cool, right?! I was pretty proud of it! {Pats self on back}