Valentine's Day Rush

Having 2 kids is enough to get me rushing through holidays to make little gifts to their classmates. Two teachers, two assistant teachers and thirty three kids total.

For my son's pre K class I had several ideas, but with small kids is always harder, because of food allergies or harmful food shapes. So I thought the safest thing would be little Goldfish. I just put a small amount in little colorful bags, some ribbon, and pretty paper cut with my paper punch. Simple and quick, and make a good impression when they are all together.

For my other son's second grade class I made rice krispies treats a day before, packaged in a candy plastic bag and dressed up with stickers that were on sale at Michael's and a cute ribbon from them too.
Everything express, in a hurry, but with lots of love.

Pie for special event!

To celebrate our American citizenship, I really didn't have time to make, bake or build anything for a celebration at my job. Especially after the big blizzard of 2013, my arms we so tired that I couldn't lift a spoon. But lucky me, I stopped by a BJ's, where I bought a apple pie, and next door was Michael's, where I found this perfect stickers. So all I had to do, was wrap the box, in a way that I could open to get the pie out after transporting.
It was not just a celebration for me, but also to thank the people that helped learn the language, the culture, gave me a job and gave me support the times I needed, like a family.

Happy 2013!!

It is not always possible to have a fancy New Years party when you don't want to spend money, have kids, and have family far, far away.
So my solution for a simple, dressed up party was to use everything I had at home that would create a New Years party.
A couple of birthday hats from the past, with "2013" stickers.

I also took the labels out from the water bottles, tied silver string in the cap, and used a shiny sparkly sticker to it.

I also found a card that had little stars, so I used more number stickers to write 2013.

Then I dressed up a pie and a cake with paper signs using the same old stickers I had.

A celebration for a fresh start, and best wishes for all of us.

Gingerbread House

Growing up in a tropical country, Christmas was one of the hottest times of the year. Taking several showers was the only way to cool off, since we had no air conditioner. And I think that is the reason a gingerbread house is not so feasible and not a tradition there.
So making one was my desire every holiday. I tried the kits last year, but I wanted a bigger one. I remembered my son's kindergarten class made one using a box, and sticking graham crackers on the sides. Using this idea, I searched for different ideas, and grabbing all different candies available to decorate my house.
I stacked boxes until I got to the shape I wanted. Then wrapped the whole thing with aluminum foil. The roof was made with frosted mini wheats. The sugar already makes it look like snow. Then the sides I used graham crackers. For the tree I stacked mini pretzels and used green sugar frosting. And every candy I had I put it on the house, to make it colorful too.

It is a great way to keep the kids busy, and the mother too. Get prepared to pick up candy off the floor.

Dessert anyone?

When I am about to think I am very original, there comes Google to steal my thunder. Rice Krispies treats are an easy material to work, and to make pretend sushi rolls would be so creative. The only thing is there are hundreds of people that already made them. But that is no problem for me, because the people I served this dessert saw this for the first time, and they think I am a genius. But here I confess I am nothing without the web. So I found this page, how to make sushi candy, that explains how to make them. It is fun to make, and sure impress everyone at a party.

A unique gift for a special person (or vice versa)

What to give to someone who has everything? A person who has unique taste, exclusive personality, and is your BOSS? Every year I really have to use my noodles to find her a Christmas gift. And it has to be something special, because every year she puts together a big party for all the staff of Animal general, and every single person gets a big, special gift.
Since she helps saving and treating wild birds, I decided to go with this theme. I first saved a tiny bone from the toe of a pigeon that had surgery. It sounds a little creepy, but I thought it was interesting, and nobody else would have this idea.
So I found enough information in different web sites, on how to clean and dry bones. It was a very delicate piece, because it was a small bone attached to the nail. I cleaned as much as possible, then it soaked in hydrogen peroxide for 1 week.
After that, I went to Michaels and found an embellishment for a necklace. I painted the bottom with black nail polish, to give contrast.

Then finally I used a clear cast epoxy called Easy Cast cast (also from Michaels). It takes about 3 days to dry, so the whole process took a couple of weeks.
And that is called a unique gift.

Sugar Rush!!

This weekend I had to recruit husband to help make and pack Christmas gifts. Between teachers, assistants, school administrators, principals, school staff, bus drivers and anybody else that deserve a thank you (not only during the holidays), there was a lot to do. Since it is so many people, the best choice would be some treats. And the winner choice was fudge. We made three different types of fudge, all using this basic recipe from my cousin's blog, Chocolatria (if you don't understand Portuguese, I'll be happy to translate).
In one of the recipes, we incorporated marshmallows. It made fluffy and sweet.
The second one we put a layer of shredded coconut.
And the other one we mixed rice Rice Krispies cereal (I even found a brown rice box), very crunchy.
Of course mixing nuts make much tastier, but we are not allowed to send nuts to school, because of allergies.
These cute boxes are all from Michael's.
It is a small thing, but a simple way to say thank you. For the people that devote their lives to help our kids learn, grow, and build their future (and ours too).