craft, repurpose, stay-at-home-mom

Last Minute Teacher Christmas Gifts!

crazyblessedlife

So Yesterday morning the girls left with Eric for Preschool and I thought nothing of it, until Eric showed back up at home after dropping them off instead of heading to the office as usual. He came in and asked if I’d checked the Preschool Calender or if I’d gotten an e-mail from the director about Thursday’s activities. Immediately my mind was trying to figure out what it was I had forgotten, checked my e-mail and saw that I had forgotten they were having Jesus’ birthday party and eat pizza (I’d sent a packed lunch). Next I realized it was their last day of Preschool for the month, and I had forgotten to do something for their teachers for Christmas. OK, double oops. I looked at Eric and knew his day was crazy I’d have to get creative. So after doing morning snack for Noah and putting him down for his morning nap (yep, 19 months and still taking 2 naps! I’m so thankful) I began searching my kitchen. 

I’ve seen several cute ideas for ‘smores kits for teacher gifts and I had everything I needed for it. 

I went to the drawer with our baggies and realized all of the smaller bags said “Ziploc” all over the front.  We had gallon sized bags that are Great Value brand that were plain… but GALLON size!

 So unwilling to make a gallon size ‘smores kit for each teacher I folded it in half thinking it would make a much better size. Then I saw my food sealer and wondered if it would seal cheap plastic bags like I had. Prepared to fail I cut the bag in half top to bottom and placed the cut side on the heat sealer and pressed start. It actually worked! I was amazed and thrilled I had an easy solution to my problem of needing a cute smaller bag without words all over it.

Next I filled it with graham cracker squares and a Hershey bar and some marshmallows.

Then I got some scrapbook paper that looked cute and cut it to a size that I could fold over the top of the bag and staple to it. 

I wrote the word ‘SMORE in big letters and then filled it in with a white paint pen.  Next I used some alphabet stamps to stamp the words “we need” above the word ‘smore and then stamped the words “great teachers like you” under the word ‘smore. 

Then on the back I stamped “Love, Katie” and “Love, Bella” on each girl’s gift. 

OK so there it is, a simple quick teacher gift that took about 30 min. and was very very last minute!  Thanks for stopping by 🙂

Johanna

Christmas, Domesticity, stay-at-home-mom

15 Traditions of Christmas

crazyblessedlife

I love to read about different family’s Christmas Traditions and how they Celebrate this special season. Since Christmas is so close I thought it would be fun to share a few traditions our little family likes to keep each year. I love family traditions and growing up with a family rich in tradition I know these will be good memories for years to come for my sweet children.

Continue reading “15 Traditions of Christmas” →

Domesticity, Recipes

Cherpumple

crazyblessedlife

My husband has been asking me for months to make a Cherpumple for the youth group Chili Cookoff and Baked Goods Auction at church.  I said, “No way!”  many many times, but I just love him so darn much… So yesterday I attempted baking my very first Cherpumple.  First of all, you may be asking what is a Cherpumple?  Well from my research, it was invented by a man named Charles Phoenix for Thanksgiving.  As a solution to the problem of different people wanting many different types of desserts. So he created a cake with three layers of different flavors with three different flavor pies baked into each, then stacked and iced with cream cheese frosting.  Strange, yes.  Funny, yes.  Gross, maybe.  Genius, since so many are making it… probably. 

I spent a good 6 hours or so making this, so before you take this on know that it will take a very long time.  Next important fact is that it is best made with store bought pies and boxed cake mixes.  They withstand the process much better than homemade.  So we bought a cherry, pumpkin, and apple pie from the local grocery store and choose 3 that seemed the sturdiest.  Then bought a chocolate, yellow, and spice boxed cake mix.  Also 3 cans of cream cheese icing. 

One tip I came up with on my own after seeing many others failures and complaints online is that I lessened the liquids.  I lessened the water and oil by about 1/8 of a cup each, and kept the eggs the same as the box called for.  I did this because I saw many cakes fell apart due to being too moist and soft. So by reducing the liquids I came up with a more dense and firm cake to uphold the pies inside. 

So I began with my first layer of chocolate cake and a cherry pie inside.  For each layer I sprayed my 10″ round cake pan with cooking spray and placed a piece of parchment paper that I traced and cut out into the bottom and then sprayed that with cooking spray also. 

After my chocolate cake mix was mixed I put 1/3 of the cake batter into the pan and then carefully slid the cherry pie out of its tin and into the middle of the pan on top of the cake batter.  Next I covered the cherry pie with the remaining 2/3 of chocolate cake batter. 

Then baked that at 350 degrees for about an hour, I just kept checking with a toothpick until it came out clean.  When I removed it I let it cool for about 5 min and then flipped out of the pan onto a cooling rack to cool down.  After about 25 minutes I put it in the deep freezer to quick cool for about 30 minutes before crumb coating it with the cream cheese icing. 

I repeated this process with the apple pie in the yellow cake, and the pumpkin pie in the spice cake.  I froze each layer, the freezer was my friend when it came to keeping my cake stable. 

middle layer cooling
pumpkin pie in the spice cake
the whole thing dirty iced

After the final layer of icing I decorated and let freeze a bit longer.  We had to take it to church without my cake carrier because it just wouldn’t fit. 

finished Cherpumple before I took it to church

This is a picture of what it looked like when it was cut into.

I wont say it was a big hit because it wasn’t, it didn’t go for very much.  Only had one bidder (a man who loves me like a granddaughter) and even he split it up and passed it out so he didn’t have to take it all home.  I only had one single comment about it and that was from the winner, “you’re trying to kill me” (said with love of course). Not the hit my sweet hubby had hoped it would be for sure. Or the conversation piece others I read online found it to be. So while it was a fun challenge to make and its nice to say I’ve done it, I guess it wasn’t that great and I probably wont do it again.

craft

Wax Paper Mini Leaves

crazyblessedlife

This is the first year I’ve done wax paper leaves with my girls, but I did it growing up with my mom and decided it was time to give it a try with my 3 and 4 year olds. 

First we took old crayons in shades of turned leaves (yellow, brown, red, green and orange is what we used).

Next we put a long sheet of wax paper on the table and used a grater to shave the crayons onto the wax paper.

Then we put the wax paper with the shavings onto an ironing board on the floor with a towel on it.

Then we covered the wax paper and crayon shavings with another piece of wax paper and then paper towels.

Then we ironed it (without steam).

The wax will come off onto the paper towels some.

When all the crayon wax is melted let it cool.

Next we took some fall mini leaf cookie cutters I had and traced them onto the wax paper and cut them out.

We taped them to our back glass slider doors for fun fall decor! 

I had a blast doing these with my kids, thanks for stopping by 🙂

Johanna

Thankful Thursday, Uncategorized

Thankful Thursday: Women of Faith

crazyblessedlife

Today I just wanted to post a simple blog of gratitude.  Sometimes I let myself become overwhelmed by life, children, cleaning, cooking, activities, youth group stuff, Bible Bowl coaching, crafting, etc.  I forget to stop and be thankful for all the blessings that surround me.  So I decided to start taking Thursdays as often as I can to post a quick blog about something I am grateful for.  I have many blessings in my life, but I’m going to attempt to stick to one specific blessing per post.

Today, I stopped to think about what I’m most thankful for in my life right now.  It came to me over and over, I’m blessed with so many great women of faith around me and supporting me.  At all times in my life as I’ve grown and matured in my faith and life I’ve encountered women God had placed in my life as amazing examples and encouragers.  Growing up I had my own Mother, teachers, youth leaders, Bible Bowl coaches, Aunts, and of course my best friend in all the world my Grandmother.  As I moved on to college and a new environment I gained a “second mom” who cared for me just as much as if I were her own, and wonderful professor’s wives who guided and encouraged me.  Once I’d left college and entered the ministry with my husband I gained more women friends and motherly figures which I needed desperately since the ministry rarely affords a family to live near extended family. 

Every time of my life I look back on God has brought strong, loving and most importantly Godly women into my life.  They have all loved me, encouraged me, guided me, supported me, prayed with me, cried with me, laughed with me, and pulled me through when times get tough.  I can’t possibly thank God enough for bringing me these women to help guide me.  I’m tearing up just thinking about how much I’ve needed them and they were there for me.  I’m blessed beyond what I deserve.  Titus 2:3-5 in action.  I hope some of these women read this, if so thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Your love has done more for my life than you could ever know!

Domesticity, Recipes

Individual Pumpkin-Shaped Pizzas

crazyblessedlife

I really enjoy making fun meals with my kiddos. We always end up laughing, making memories and a mess! This is something my mom did with me and stuck with me as important bonding time and made me feel important to her. I hope my kids remember it the same someday. Being October, I usually make all homemade pizzas pumpkin-shaped.

Yesterday for lunch though I decided to make individual deep dish pumpkin-shaped pizzas and it went over so well with my kids I thought I would share.

My recipe for pizza dough that never fails me is:

2 Cups of warm water
1 Pkg of rapid rise yeast
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1 Tablespoon of salt
5-6 Cups of all purpose flour

Mix the first four ingredients and let sit for 5 min. then mix the flour in slowly and knead until smooth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 45 min to an hour).

After the first rising I shape the individual dough balls (my recipe made 8 mini pizzas) into the pizza shapes and then let the girls spread the sauce on each one with a spoon. Then I let them sprinkle each one with shredded mozzarella first and then shredded cheddar (to look more orange like a pumpkin). Next we arranged the olives like eyes, nose and a mouth. We left 2 with just cheese for my husband who really dislikes the olives. I usually do his pizzas with pepperoni but didn’t have any, I think the new mini pepperoni would be adorable on these pizzas.

We had a blast making and eating these and they tasted great! Thanks for stopping by 🙂

Johanna

Domesticity, Recipes

Fall Leaves Cupcakes

crazyblessedlife

Last week Katie and Bella had the same snack day (which I loved, because they get jealous of each other when they aren’t on the same day).  I decided to make something fall themed with them.  I love involving the kids in their snack so that they can take some ownership for what they bring to share with their friends. 

We made fall leaves cupcakes with pretzel stick and chocolate candy corn rakes.  I originally wanted to do these with mini Reece cups cut in half as the bottom of the “rake”, but many kids in my girl’s preschool are allergic to peanuts.  So I adjusted it with the candy corns as a rake.  I made yellow cake and added orange food coloring, then we iced them with green icing to look like grass.  Then sprinkled them with leaf sprinkles.  I think they turned out cute so I wanted to share 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

Johanna