Snow Day on Repeat & A Pinterest Poser Challenge

"Can we stay up late and watch a movie to celebrate no school tomorrow?," the kids asked in unison last night.  Really?  Because I don't feel like celebrating anymore.

It's been one movie night after another.  We've had special snow day hot cocoa, a lot.  Middle of the day card game tournaments? Oh yeah, we've done that too, a lot.   Skating, sledding, snowball fights and more, a lot.

We've had a lot of fun.

Who says we always need a pond and skates? The ice patch in our backyard makes me crazy nervous about concussion potential and bloody lips, but when it is warm enough to go outside for more than five minutes, the kids (mine and the neighbors') love it.

But now, even though I hate to say it,  we are ready for some good old-fashioned boring routine around here.  Even the kids are a little over so much fun.

When the kids were really little one of their favorite holiday movies was Elmo Saves Christmas.  Did you ever see it?  Elmo makes a wish on a magic snow globe to have Christmas everyday.  Oh Elmo. Well if you haven't seen the movie just a head's up, a spoiler alert is coming at you.  All of Sesame Street pretty much hates Elmo because Christmas everyday sucks.  It loses all it's special-ness.  

Well that Elmo classic is pretty much telling my story right now.  This f#&*ing never ending polar vortex is sucking the special right out of snow days.

There has to be an end soon. Right?  Right?

This is just one example of how cray it gets on Sesame Street.  Buy an Easter egg for Christmas? What the hell?


If you are indeed home on another snow day with your kids and looking for something to do, here is a fun project. I got a little crafty the other day with Wade.  For this week's Pinterest Poser Challenge we made me a necklace.  And I kind of love it.

Yeah, I wear a shawl and my snow cap around the house pretty much all the time. Because well, duh Polar Vortex?

*In an attempt at not being a Pinterest Poser,** every week I  detail a new Pinterest challenge whether it be a new recipe or a craft.   

**My definition of a Pinterest Poser is someone who is all pins and no substance.**

First of all, here's the recipe for the  gluten free baking clay. (Which is also the best alternative to PlayDough we've found that is gluten free.  To use as PlayDough just don't bake it, keep it in a sealed container and it lasts for months.)

Homemade Gluten Free Clay Recipe:
(We used this recipe to make DIY ornaments this past Christmas.) 2 cups of gluten free flour
1 cup of salt
2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil
1 cup of water

Directions:
Mix the flour and salt together.
Add the oil and then slowly add the water until it forms a clay consistency.

After you make the shapes/beads/ornaments put them on a cookie sheet and bake.
Bake in 250 degree oven for 20 minutes.
(Some sites suggested brushing egg yolk on the shapes before baking, we didn't do that for this project.)

We rolled the clay into shapes that Wade and I thought would look good on a necklace.  Then we poked a pencil through the middle for the hole. I would suggest the hole be pretty big because when the clay bakes it puffs up a bit.

After the clay baked and cooled off, Wade painted.

After the paint dried, I put a string through the beads and wore it.

It's not perfect, but you know I'm not a really big fan of perfect.  

I think this would be a cute party project-- make the beads ahead of time, let the kids choose their beads and paint, then string them and take their new necklaces home as a party favor.  Cute!

Have you made anything from Pinterest lately?  Any major successes or flops?  Share below in the comments or over on my Facebook page.


Here are some of the projects I've attempted--the good and the bad:

Dixie Cup Lights- click here

DIY Ornaments-click here

Gluten Free Clay- click here

Make Your Own Stamps- click here
Birthday Shirt- click here
Gluten Free Pop Tarts- click here
Front Porch Kid Art Display- click here
Door turned into Table- click here

Summer Wish List Chalkboard-click here

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookie Sandwiches-click here

Painted Mason Jar Vases-click here

Cinco de Mayo Paper Flowers- click here

Earth Day Cupcakes- Click here

Nail Art-click here

Homemade Photo Booth Fun- click here

Fake Bangs- click here

DIY Subway Art- click here

Furniture Painting and Bench/Chest Makeover- click here

Thanksgiving-y Project/Gratitude/Holiday Countdown- click here
The Smoothie-click here

The Free Printable Turned Artwork in a Boring Hallway- click here

The chalk board-click here
Seven Layer Dip in Individual Cups (my favorite so far!)-click here
The pumpkin address-click here
The Kitchen Dancing Sign--click here

  Head on over and follow my Pinterest boards.

Oh yeah, and come follow me on Twitter @AngelaYBlood and subscribe to my MomPulse YouTube channel here.

DIY Ornaments & Pinterest Poser Challenge

I am not a huge Christmas fan.  That's not totally true.  I love parts of the holiday season.  I love the baking and the crafting and the holiday special watching.  I love the thinking about others, giving to those in need and spending time with the people we love.

Over the Thanksgiving break, the kids and I got a headstart on our Christmas crafting.  This week's Pinterest Challenge* highlights that my kids aren't posers either. 

Together we made some really cute ornaments for our tree and to give as gifts.

*In an attempt at not being a Pinterest Poser,** every week I  detail a new Pinterest challenge whether it be a new recipe or a craft.   

**My definition of a Pinterest Poser is someone who is all pins and no substance.**

This project was really easy.  We grabbed extra boxes we had in the basement, drew letters we wanted and then started cutting.

The festive snowman scissors were pure coincidence.

I dumped regular old glue in a plastic bowl and Wade used a paintbrush to paint the glue on the letters.

Costumes while crafting are optional, Wade just loves to be Buzz Lightyear.

Lucy sprinkled glitter on the letters after they had been painted with glue.

An important step we missed was punching holes in the letters before the glue paint and glitter.  Ours worked out after, but I think it would have been better looking and easier to do the holes before.

Let the letters dry and then insert string in the holes and tie however you want.  Then hang on your own Christmas tree or give one away as a small gift or tied to the present's gift tag.

This project cost me zero dollars because we had all of the supplies in our craft cabinet.  I love projects that cost me zero dollars. Merry Christmas indeed.

I loved the simplicity of these sweet clay ornaments that I pinned from this site.   Not wanting to buy clay, I searched for recipes for homemade clay that you can bake.  I found some good ones and then just made it my own and made it gluten free!

Homemade Gluten Free Clay Recipe:
2 cups of gluten free flour
1 cup of salt
2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil
1 cup of water

Directions:
Mix the flour and salt together.
Add the oil and then slowly add the water until it forms a clay consistency.

(some sites suggested brushing egg yolk on the shapes before baking, we didn't do that for this project)

After making our clay, we rolled it out like we were baking cookies.  Wade actually tried a small piece and spit it out promptly, um did you see how much salt is in that clay? 

We rolled our claydough out flat until it was about 1/4 of an inch thick.  To make the ornaments, the thinner the better as they tend to puff up a bit in the oven.  

We used our Christmas cookie cutters to make shapes for our ornaments.  We chose stars and trees.

 Then using an old paint brush we poked holes in the tops for the ribbon.

The web site that I pinned used a stamp for the lettering and I highly recommend that. I will be doing that next time.  But for this project, I used an old pencil (w/out lead) to write the words.  

We put the ornaments on a cookie sheet and baked them in a 250 degree oven for well over an hour.  We originally baked them for about 20 minutes, but this was not long enough.  Again, I warn against ornaments that are too thick because they do puff up a little and can get cracked while baking.

If you want you can paint them after they've cooled.  We decided to leave them mostly plain and simple.  

We tied a ribbon through and cut a small sprig off of our Christmas tree for a little flair.  

We did outline JOY on a few of them.  The artistic idea goes to Tim who had the idea.  I love the way they turned out too.

This was another project that cost me zero dollars and I love how they turned out. Now I am really feeling holly, jolly.


Have you made anything on Pinterest lately? Any holiday projects?  Share what worked and what didn't, leave a comment here or on my Facebook page.

Come on over and follow my Pinterest boards too.

Here are some of the projects I've already attempted, the good and the bad:

Make Your Own Stamps- click here
Birthday Shirt- click here
Gluten Free Pop Tarts- click here
Front Porch Kid Art Display- click here
Door turned into Table- click here

Summer Wish List Chalkboard-click here

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookie Sandwiches-click here

Painted Mason Jar Vases-click here

Cinco de Mayo Paper Flowers- click here

Earth Day Cupcakes- Click here

Nail Art-click here

Homemade Photo Booth Fun- click here

Fake Bangs- click here

DIY Subway Art- click here

Furniture Painting and Bench/Chest Makeover- click here

Thanksgiving-y Project/Gratitude/Holiday Countdown- click here
The Smoothie-click here

The Free Printable Turned Artwork in a Boring Hallway- click here

The chalk board-click here
Seven Layer Dip in Individual Cups (my favorite so far!)-click here
The pumpkin address-click here
The Kitchen Dancing Sign--click here

Come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed.

Oh yeah, and come follow me on Twitter @AngelaYBlood and subscribe to my MomPulse YouTube channel here.