All posts tagged handmade

“I Love Everything” Magnet

by Vanessa Brady on 7 February 2013 in Holiday, Tutorial with 18 Comments

A Tried & True Project: "I Love Everything" Free Printable Magnet

Hello Young House Lovers, thanks for stopping by! Today is my birthday so seeing my I Love Everything printable on Clara’s wall was the best birthday gift ever. Well, actually, the Banana Cake that my husband and boys are making me tonight will be the best gift ever but being mentioned on Young House Love comes in a close second! We’d love to keep in touch so please connect with T&T through Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

I am just stunned by the attention my little “I Love Everything” Print has gotten. Really. Thankful and happy but still stunned. I guess you all like coloring just as much as I do!

A Tried & True Project: "I Love Everything" Free Printable MagnetIf you still love the print but want to make it a little more utilitarian, why not turn it into a magnet? All you need is the free printable, shrink plastic and some permanent markers. If you haven’t played with shrink plastic as an adult, you’re in for a surprise. It’s just as fun and exciting to watch it shrink as when you were at summer camp! Follow this easy tutorial for a super sweet little gift.

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Dissolving Dinosaur Skin

by Vanessa Brady on 20 September 2012 in Kids with 3 Comments

About a month ago, my husband started reminiscing about a toy he loved from the 80′s (Mad Scientist Monster Lab). The basic premise was that you attach “skin” to a monster and then watch it disintegrate in a acid. Fun, right?! Well, since we couldn’t just run down to our local toy store to pick up a kit (although there was one selling on Ebay for 50 bucks!), we decided to try and make our own. How hard could it be, right?

Famous last words, lemme tell you.

First, it was impossible to find monster skeletons. (Ended up getting these dinosaur ones) Then, finding the perfect container that would fit the dinos but not be so big that you couldn’t see all the fizzing and foam. We looked at practically every plastic container we could find in town. We even tried the local restaurant supply store (which worked out anyway since I found our Easy Interchangable Art Hangers there!) We ended up finding a perfectly sized container in a water beads kit at Toys R Us but thought a Sea Monkey cup would have worked well too. Let me know if you find anything better!

Now, we just had to figure out how to actually make the dissolving dinosaur skin. Luckily, David A. Katz came to the rescue! He’s a science demonstrator out of Tucson that posted a recipe for Monster Flesh. Awesome, right?

Well, as you may have guessed, having the “flesh” work the first time would have been too easy so we had to recreate the project 4 or 5 times before we came up with ratios that perfectly matched my husband’s memory of the Monster Lab. I hate to say it but this project was slowly wearing on my last crafty nerve. Jack, of course, loved every single minute of it!

So, after many tries and few curse words…I present Dissolving Dinosaur Skin! (adapted from David A. Katz’ Monster Flesh)

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T&T Trials: Final!

by Vanessa Brady on 14 December 2009 in Food with 6 Comments

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So remember that executive decision I made in the last post? I totally got over ruled by Jim. Let’s just say he was a big fan of the Oreo Truffles and was hoping I’d make more (so that he could steal a few!). I whipped up two more batches of the Oreo balls last week during one of Jackson’s naps and finished coating them a couple days later after he went down for the night. Being able to work on these in shifts really made it easy to accomplish so many, I just popped the balls in the freezer until I had more time to finish with the Almond Bark.

Another great thing about this recipe? Super easy to adapt to make it vegan! I used Newman’s Own Sandwich Cookies and Tofutti’s Better Than Cream Cheese. Jim and I did a blind taste test and both of us agreed that it was really difficult to tell the difference between the two. The Oreo ones had a more dynamic flavor but the Newman ones had a better, smoother taste.

As for the packaging, I was able to find everything I needed at Michael’s. The cute baker’s twine is courtesy of good ol’ Martha Stewart and the great porcelain dishes were only a buck each! The little tags are left over from a fair or something. We did a basic calculation and found that we were able to make 6 little gifts for under $20.  Not too bad.

All in all, I think T&T Holiday Trials 2009 were a success…at increasing our belt line! Next year everyone is getting heating pads.

 
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