recycle mylar balloons as gift sack/wrap!

When you have a celebration & it come to a close, or when you"ve had balloons around the house for a while & they have lost there "juice" the first thought is to pop & toss.
Well ive found a great way to reuse them.
To deflate the air simply make a small snip with a pair of sizzors and squish out all the air. Fold them up & place them with your gift wrapping goodies.

When you need a gift bag or sack for a gift basket, special gift, or an off shaped item thats hard to wrap regularly.
simply cut a slit in the top to of the balloon and split the seem big enough to insert your goodies inside, twist the top & secure with tape/ribbon. Its more sturdy then tissue paper & gives a nice sparkle & design. (Even more great when the balloons have a design or words on them)
You can gift as is, or place inside a gift bag.

You can also cut the entire balloon open if your looking to wrap and not bag.

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meatloaf with bacon

I going to base this on a 2lb loaf. You can add or subtract ingredients as needed, they dont have to be exact. There will als be variations listed.
Cup of milk
Half cup or more of breadcrumbs(you can also use 3-6 whole slices of white bread, allow them to soak in the milk you are using)
Few shakes of parm (grated) cheese
Parsley-optional
2 eggs ( about 1egg per 1-2pounds)
2 pounds meat (hamburg, ground turkey, meatloaf mix,ground chiken, whichever you prefer singlely or in combination)
1 package thin sliced bacon
1 small jar spaghetti sauce ( or ketchup)

Combine meat, milk, bread, eggs, cheese, parsley, and any other optional ingrediants such as sliced onions or garlic in a large bowl. (I leave the onion etc out of the recipee because i do not use it.)
Instead of shaped into the traditional loaf i like to spread my mixture to cover the bottom of a small casserole dish, such as an 8.5x11 or 9x13 cake/baking pan. You optionally my also shape into a loaf and put it onto a broiler rack (has a top layer with holes and a bottom layer to catch grease)
Either way you choose, spread either your sauce or ketchup onto the top of your meat mixture, making a thin even coat. (If using ketchup you may mix in some brown sugar and mustard about a tsp of each)
On top of the meat and ketchup you will layer your bacon in a single layer with sides touching. Depending on the size of the pan/loaf you may need to slice your bacon in half. Thin bacon is better as the thinner it is the better it cooks nd crisps. They bacon is a nice touch and adds more flavor/juice to the loaf.
Preheat oven to 350 and cook about an hour. If needbe at about 45mins slice threw the center to be sure the middle is getting cooked. May require a little more (or less) then an hour depending on the oven, and the thickness.

Best complimented with mashed or baked potatoes. Also works well with a pasta like baked mac n cheese. Leftovers make great sandwhiches or pizza toppings :) You could also sprinkle in a little mozerella or cheedar cheese for a bacon-cheeseburger twist. I also fry up the remaining bacon to use with blts the next day, or in my case bc"s because my kids dont like lettuce & tomatoe. Its a simple grill cheese with bacon inside.

Enjoy!

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chewy-gooey brownies

These brownies take a lil longer 2 cook, but there super fudgey, no cake squares here!
You will need (mix in a bowl)
3 eggs
1cup flower
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup mini-choc morsels/kisses (melt before mixing in)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup softened butter
Optional: 1/4cup unmelted choc chips, for "reeses" brownies 1/4 cup un melted peanut butter chips.
Mix all ingredients together & preheat oven to 250, cook on 250 for 1hr and then turn heat up to 350 and cook an additional 20minutes. Cooking on the low temp insures the brownies cook/heat evenly, they will still look gooey before the temp is turned up. (You can also cook on 350 for about 45 minutes, but i prefer the long way)
Allow brownies to cool before cutting, & if covered in foil overnight they taste even better as a leftover snack!
Perfect texture for a brownie sundae!

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Mickey Mouse party horns

For my sons birthday, we are going with the mickey theme.
I purchased a bag of regular $1 party horns/blowers and with just a few minutes, some glue, and some black cardstock i created cute little mickey horns.
Simply cut out your mickey shapes & hot glue them onto the horns.

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Mickey & Minnie face cutouts boards for pictures

I made these boards so the kids at my sons second birthday (and the adults) could take fun pictures as mickey or minnie.
I plan on putting a 4x6 of each guest in their thankyou cards as our thankyou gift for attending.
I will then make a collage of all of them to hang in my sons room.
To make the boards, I purchased a foam poster board. I Then drew out MICKEY first. When i was done drawing him, i traced an oval over most of his face, leaving some of the side/cheeks exposed. I then cut out the oval, and turned the board over, using the oval for my guide to make MINNIE. This way, one board provides both charcters with a simple flip.
You could also make more then one and connect them together for multiple children to take pictures together.
I choose acrylic paint for coloring. Its alot of space to try and use markers or crayon, and the colors will fade or be uneven. The paint was simple & cheap. Each color costs bout 50cents for a bottle ($2 for large bottles) but I already had some on hand.
I used a qtip for the colors, this way I could toss them after each color instead of dealing with brushes and water.
I hope you enjoy, and remember if you make one yourself, share your thoughts & photos!
(I will have more pictures soon.)
I also plan on doing a background design, once I can decide on one.

(And yes I would be HAPPY to make these for local friends, if your prefer not to "craft" them yourselves.)

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how to make a Cupcake tower for less then $5 (3-6 tiers)

The cupcake tower I made is 6 tiers, I plan on fitting between 50-60 cupcakes and then a small cake on the top tier.
I went without a base, as it will be more balanced being flat on the table. I used 6 circles for the tiers i aimed for 16, 14, 12, 10, 8 and 7 inch boards. But i did not measure, i just cut a large circle using a pizza pan as a guide, and then made 5 smaller circles. I used 2 foam poster boards which are $1 each at most stores. Sometimes 2/$1 at dollar tree stores.
For the centers I used 5 old can goods (apple sauce to b specific lol) leave the food in the cans as the weight will help sturdy the tower.
One at a time wrap your cans in white paper or the fabric/paper of your choice. You can also cover the boards but i chose not too.
Then using hot glue, glue one of your cans to the center of your largest circle.then glue the top of the can, and stick the next tier on, and continue up, for as many tiers as you would like, but i would not go over 6 tiers.
When you are finished stacking you may add ribbon or other decorations.
Enjoy! And if you make this tower please share thoughts and pictures!
Mine came out a little crooked because i miss aligned one can, but when viewing from another angle it will look straight.

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BAKED HADDOCK AU'GRATIN *day 10*

BAKED HADDOCK AU'GRATIN, W/RICE

recipe:
you will need 1-2 lbs of fish (haddock or fish of choice)
bread crumbs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice

in a sauce pan, melt your butter and mix in flour & salt until blended. add your milk and bring to a boil.
once boiling, remove from heat and mix in your cheese & lemon juice.
in a baking dish, coat with baking spray, and lay your fish along the bottom.
cover your fish with your cheese sauce, and top with breadcrumbs.
bake on 350 for 30 minutes or until fish flakes.