Fun Pig Toast

My son LOVES pigs!

So when I saw this pig toast maker, I had to get it.

It was part of one of his Chanukkah gifts...along with a pig flashlight.



I wasn't sure if it would work because we eat special bread, but it did...It was one of his favorite gifts.

The only problem is he didn't want to put his sunflower seed butter on the toast because he didn't want to cover up the image!

A Very Clever Gift

Because I work at my son's school, I sometimes get treats from our families.

This was such a welcomed gift, I wanted to pass it along.



They prepared a complete a meal for my family with a wonderful, fresh salad, home-made dressing, home-made soup and Italian bread.

It was delivered warm, with the most perfect timing...the beginning of our last week of school before our winter break...when we were all crazy busy.



What a treat not to have to worry about dinner that night. Actually I had the salad and dressing for two lunches too!

A gift appreciated by all of the staff and teachers.

An idea I will definitely be using in the future.

Thinking Outside the Box...or House

Gingerbread houses are fun to decorate but I intensely dislike the assembly of the pre-baked houses...slippery frosting, trying to find the right sized cans to hold up the walls while the frosting dries, waiting overnight for it to all set before you can do the fun part, etc...

I found myself putting off doing ours this year until I was lying in bed one night and a brilliant idea hit me.

My thought was "glue gun"!

We are not going to eat this house because we have allergies and this has ingredients we can't eat. (We actually purchased separate allergen free gingerbread that we could eat)

Suddenly all of the pressure was off and I couldn't wait to get up and start. Visions of decoration ideas filled my head almost making it impossible for me to fall asleep.

We got up the next morning, I heated up the glue gun and voila! In about 10 minutes we had a sturdy frame to decorate. I was even able to build a fence made out of broken bread sticks and to stack up small stones we found outside around the base of the house for added interest.

The frosting was used to add the candy decorations and to simulate snow.

Below is the finished product.

Look Deeper

"Everything has it's beauty,
but not everyone sees it."

- Confucius

Easy Cleaning!

Eating raw foods, makes kitchen clean-up SOOOO easy!

Just some rinsing...and into the drier rack.

Just one of the many reasons to explore the wonderful world of raw foods...

My Crafty Abode - Make it Work for You

When looking for curtains for our slider in the kitchen I didn't want to be limited by the choices for the specific size I needed.

Also, being a bargain hunter, I wanted the freedom to check out discount stores too. The problem is, when you do that, you don't always have many choices on size.

What I ended up doing is finding two different thinner panels...that might be used more for decorative treatments on the sides...and sewed them together to create a fuller, custom window treatment.

I liked the natural, floral print but didn't want that for the entire span. I found a neutral panel with just an interesting texture that worked perfectly with the background of the floral. Then with just a simple straight sewing line...I had full, custom curtains.

Get creative and mix patterns. Don't be limited by the obvious.

Take What You Need

"The roots of every plant seek out,
from among the many substances which the soil contains,
only those which they need."

- Maria Montessori