Gift Wrapping with recycled Christmas cards.

Gift Wrap with Recycled Christmas Cards

Gift Wrapping

This handmade card is so perfect for adorning a small gift.

Gift bags are so easy and convenient to throw a gift into with a little tissue paper and instantly without much effort you have a pretty gift ready to give. The only thing missing is the satisfaction of tearing into that beautiful gift wrap and discovering the very present you were wishing for under that lovely wrapping paper. It seems that everyone has there style of opening gifts. Some love to carefully open the box from the ends, making sure not to tear anything, while others rip open the wrapping so fast you end up with shreds of paper everywhere. I am somewhere in between.With the popularity of gift bags, the wrapped gift is not as popular it seems. Don’t get me wrong, I love an easy and beautiful gift bag! This year I had started saving boxes for wrapping some gifts in, and bought some new paper, and we had a ton of left over ribbon from last year just waiting to adorn a pretty wrapped box. The girls love to wrap presents, so they were a big help this year with that process. I came across a big stack of Christmas cards from years past, too pretty to throw away, but not really having a use anymore. I thought it would be a great idea to use them to trim our packages. (read more)

How to make Candy Sushi

Candy Sushi!

Candy Sushi

Candy Sushi made with Rice Crispy Treats, Fruit Roll Ups and other candy.

I have a friend I work with who is leaving for greener pastures, and I wanted to make her something special as a goodbye gift. She loves candy and sushi, so I thought the perfect thing would be Candy Sushi! I saw various versions of it on Pinterest, and it looked easy and adorable. It is a sweet treat and a crafty no bake one at that. They would be really fun for a Japanese themed party or even as dessert for a real sushi dinner.

They are easy to make with some assembly. There is a lot of candy involved and it made my grocery cart look like I had a serious sugar addiction! It turned out to be fun for Coda and I as an after school activity to do together. We did end up eating way more candy than is usual in our house for sure. (read more)

A Picnic in Winter

Picnic in the park

Mediterranean style picnic in the park on a warm winter day.

Weather in the high 60’s on a winters day in the Rocky Mountains makes us want to head straight outside. The girls and I decided to pack a Mediterranean style feast and head out to the park. Luckily for us nearly every last living soul was in front of their TV watching football (we are in Broncos territory after all). As the Broncos were making their way to the Superbowl, we were basking in the sun enjoying our impromptu lunch. 

We packed a small baguette, some pre-made sun dried tomato relish, salami, Italian olives, mixed nuts, fresh veggies, hummus, pasta salad, smoked Gouda cheese, crackers, San Pelligrino water and Italian sodas. This was a spontaneous event, so we decided next time we will make our own pasta salad and share the recipe here with you. (read more)

Vanilla Cinnamon French Toast

Vanilla Cinnamon French Toast

Vanilla Cinnamon French Toast with Star Fruit

For breakfast me and mom made french toast together.We both made different types of french toast . I made Vanilla Cinnamon french toast. We wanted to do something together so mom went to the store and got the stuff to make it . Mom just HAD to buy me a star fruit. I begged her for about 5 minutes till she said yes. And now star fruit is my new favorite fruit there is!

Here is how I made it:

Milk 1 cup “psst … we used half and half!”

1 egg

1 dash of Vanilla extract

1 pinch of cinnamon (read more)

Signature Bug

Sig bugI am going to show you how to make a signature bug. A signature bug is your name in cursive. When you are done it looks like a bug. Now lets get started! The things you will need is some construction paper , a black oil pastel and a pencil.

Sig bug 3

The first thing that you do is fold the paper in half . Then you draw your name in cursive. Go over it a couple times.  Fold it in the same crease you made  before. That is when the pencil comes in.

Sig bug 2

Lay the pencil down on the paper and smooth it over with firm  pressure like shown. (read more)

Perfect Fall Day

     

To me a perfect fall day includes many things. On a perfect fall day, I would be curled up in a blanket looking at the colorful leaves of fall and the Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations. In my hand there would be a sweet mug of cinnamon apple cider.  The air would smell like fresh baked pumpkin pie. My thick warm blanket would shield me from the cold bitter wind. In my opinion that would be the perfect fall day.

By: Coda