What's Up, Doc?

 

Remember how Valentine's Day snuck up on me?  Easter did the same thing!  Nearing the holiday I stumbled upon these darling carrot cellophane bags at Walmart.  They are SO CUTE!!  I love the green leaves at the top.  You might be able to find them at the craft store when the holiday is approaching...or...I found them online for you (click here for the link).  Just fill them with some Easter treats and tie with a bit of ribbon.  I used curly ribbon and then curled it to add to the leaf effect.  Think my missionary will catch on?  I think not.  Add a bit of coordinating tissue paper and some shredded paper if needed for filler and you're good to go.  Again, I was able to fit two into a small Flat Rate box from the Post Office.  Again, about $5 to send.  Yay!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now when someone asks what you sent your missionary for Easter you can say, "Carrots!" 

Love Sacks

Why is it that holidays tend to sneak up on me?  I try to stay on top of things and then all of a sudden I discover that a holiday is coming up in a week or so and I have to step up my pace...or stay up late.  Usually, it's the latter.  Valentine's Day was just one such time so I had to quickly throw what I had together and get it in the mail in the morning.

 

I stopped by the grocery store and grabbed some Valentine candy and just dumped it all into a big bowl and gave it a good mix.  I happened to have these cute red and white paper sacks from another project.  You can get them at the craft store or online (if you're more prepared than I am, they are less expensive online!) Throw in some candy or other treats (you could go healthy if you want...but it's Valentine's Day...so why?) and fold down the top.  I tied it with some red and white bakers twine and added a tag to each bag.  Decorate the tags with a strip of coordinating Washi Tape (came in a Christmas pack) or stickers or stamps (I used a tiny heart) or whatever you have lying around in your stash then write their name and a short message on the back of the tag.  You can purchase the twine, tags and Washi tape from the craft store if you don't have any...I think I purchase all three at different times from Pick Your Plum which lately seems to have a lot of clothing but sometimes has some pretty cool package containers and craft items.

 

One of the great things about something simple like this is the fact that it didn't cost me a mint to put together or to mail.  I have a lot of missionaries that I send to and need to send one to their companion as well so I need to keep the cost down where I can.  I could fit two Love Sacks into a small Flat Rate box and mail for about $5 a box within the United States.  Just the right amount of sweet without being too much.

 

 

Christmas Letters to Ward Missionaries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our ward came up with a clever idea to send Christmas greetings to the missionaries serving from our ward.  We have a LOT!!  They cut rectangles of Christmas wrapping paper (just leave the width and cut the length only) and used push pins to attach them to the carpeted walls in the cultural hall.  Attach name tags above each paper (see photo) so everyone knows who they're writing to...or you could just write their name at the top of the paper.  Have markers available for ward members to use...pens and pencils will poke holes in the paper.  If your nervous about the markers poking through the paper and writing on the walls, just attach a piece of poster board behind each one.  Encourage the ward to write messages and not just sign their names.  Fold each one up and send it on it's merry way.  The missionaries loved it!

 

Hint:  If you're using dark wrapping paper, have the members write

on the opposite side so their messages will show up easier.

Gingerbread House Kit

 

Matt was working with a family during his first Christmas season in Seattle and was looking for ideas of things to help build their relationship with the little kids.  I had just stumbled upon some Gingerbread House kits while I was at IKEA (love that store!) and because I'm lazy busy during the holidays I had picked up a bunch for the kids to use.  Check THAT little tradition off my list of things to do!  They never eat the gingerbread anyway.  Actually, I think these are their Pepparkaka ginger cookie not gingerbread...even better.  They are delish!  Anyhow, I think they were $3 for each kit.  How could I NOT?  I thought this would be a great Family Home Evening activity for them to do with this cute little family.  Nothing better than bonding over FOOD, right?

 

I picked up a bunch of candy and some powdered meringue* to use for the Royal Icing so that it didn't need to be refrigerated because of the raw egg whites.  Mixed up a large batch and put it in a Ziploc bag.  Threw in a couple of frosting tips along with some instructions and a piece of foil covered cardboard and voilà!

 

*Note:  You can purchase meringue powder anywhere cake decorating supplies are sold.  The recipe is on the container.

 

 

click here to download the Gingerbread House package topper

 

Thanksgiving Dinner in a BAG

 

This was all over the internet last Thanksgiving so I'm sure that you've seen it before but I thought I'd post a little tutorial anyway.  This was so much fun to make and my husband, Jeff just laughed and laughed at me and I'm sure my missionary just rolled his eyes but they are all so good to just humor me and let me play and have fun.

You will need:

large brown paper bag

2 brown paper lunch sacks

1 piece of white paper

hot glue gun

glue sticks

 

Turkey dinners

Hormel has a brand

that doesn't need refrigeration

canned vegetables

stuffing mix

instant mashed potato mix

gravy mix

fruit pies

 

Hormel has a brand of dinner that doesn't require refrigeration.  I found them on the same aisle as the macaroni and cheese.  I purchased enough for four not knowing if just one would fill them up and thinking that if it did, they could use it for another meal.  Lucky I did, because the day it was delivered, the Zone Leaders were there and they had enough dinner for all four of them. 

 

Start by putting everything in the bag.  Remember you will be folding the front edges in to make the front of the turkey so keep the big bulky stuff toward the back.  Keep in mind how it will be sitting during shipping.  I was using a tall, narrow bow so I knew my turkey would be standing on one end during transit.  What was on it's side while I was making the turkey would be standing up in the box.  You don't want your fruit pies getting crushed!  When you're finished, pack it all in place with popped popcorn.  I also included a tube of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies for both Matt and his companion.  Because they are a more sticky cookie, I put a small square of waxed paper in between each cookie.  Lay your turkey back down and fold/tuck the edges inside and glue closed with a hot glue gun.

 

click here for the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe

 

click here for tips on mailing cookies

 

'Crush' in the four back corners of your filled bag so that the back of your turkey will be rounded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To make the drumsticks of your turkey, fill a quart size Ziploc bag with caramel corn and using your hands, mold it into the shape of a drumstick.  You could use regular popcorn but it's not as malleable and I like to think it's the dark meat (ha, ha...everyone laughs, but Matt loved the caramel corn!).  Insert the caramel corn into a brown paper lunch sack and shape with your hands as shown below.  Twist the ends closed. 

 

click here for a soft Caramel Corn recipe

 

To make the poultry frills cut a piece of paper measuring the length of the paper so 11" x about 2".  Cut all along one long edge a little more than half-way through making your space between cuts about an 1/8 of an inch apart.  Apply a dot of glue to one end and start wrapping around the end of your drumstick securing with more hot glue at the end.  Don't forget you need to make two drumsticks!  Using a glue gun, glue your drumsticks in place.  There you have it!  So fun!  It just makes me giggle, it's SO CUTE!!

 

  

I stood mine up in a box and added crumpled tissue paper for support around the sides and a package topper.  Don't forget to write a note on the back of the topper!

 



 click here to download the free package topper

 

Here is a link to a video tutorial from Martha Stewart that I found invaluable:

http://www.marthastewart.com/286383/paper-bag-turkey

 

 

 

 



Leprechaun POOP!!

After Christmas I stumbled upon a large bag of red and green M&M's on clearance at the grocery store.  I came home and separated out all of the red from the green.  The red one's I included in Matt's Valentine's package and the green I saved for St. Patrick's Day.

(Yeah, I know the purple and green don't really match but I couldn't resist...it's SPRING!!)

Using a poem that I found on Crazy Little Projects (click here for the link) I whipped up this little sandwich bag topper and filled the bag with the green M&M's and some Rolo's.  It would work with any kind of candy that are green or gold.  Just the gold Rolo's would be so funny!

(click here to download)

I included our messages that we wrote at our last Bash for our family missionaries (click here for the post), some green cookies (Thanks, Tonya!) and this Irish Blessing for the package topper.  Simple.

(click here to download)

Leprechaun Mail

We had our family Bash recently and I had all the cousins write short notes to our family missionaries.  I tend to get better participation if I keep things quick and simple.  Too complicated or time consuming and their eyes tend to glaze over.  I found these cute St. Patrick's Day lunch box notes from Heather at The Chickabug Blog (click here for the free printable*) that worked perfectly. Some of them even have a question or wording on the top for those who can't think up something to write.

I wanted to put all the notes (there was quite a pile of them) into a small vellum envelope but I didn't have any on hand so I made my own out of waxed paper.  Not the perfect solution but I didn't have to go to the store.  Free is always better...just ask my husband.  After cutting out the envelopes, I closed them with a bit of Washi tape.  Cute.  Free.  Easy.  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!

click here to download the envelope template

*Used with permission from Heather at The Chickabug Blog.

Missin' you on the 4th...

Whenever we have a gathering for the extended family I like to pull together something for everyone to work on to send to our missionaries.  We have Matt who is serving in the Washington Seattle Mission, Alex Nicole who is serving in the Bolivia Santa Cruz Mission, and B.J. who will take off for the Washington Vancouver Mission in August.  I try to keep things simple and inexpensive. Here's what I came up with for or 4th of July family Bash:

I already had some butcher paper so I cut a strip for each missionary making each a little narrower than a regular envelope and had my daughter Bekah decorate them.  I taped them to one of the sliding doors and set out a school box full of red and blue markers and colored pencils.  That's it! Pretty easy.  I just walked around a bit taking candid photos for a photo collage and occasionally reminded family members to write to the missionaries before leaving.

What do missionaries like as much as letters?...maybe MORE?  Photos!  With Alex serving in Bolivia I've been wracking my brain to figure out how to cut some of the weight from the care packages I send.  Usually I send actual photos but this time I decided to try my hand at making a photo collage of our 4th of July festivities.  I really like how it turned out and Alex and Matt won't have to worry about carrying photos around their whole mission and can even just stick them in their journals if they like.  Each page prints to an 8.5" x 11" paper.

That's my family!...well, part of them anyway.

Aren't they fun!

Photoshop makes putting together a collage super easy.  I thought it might be a good idea to label each photo...Matt's been gone a whole year and the young ones tend to change quickly.  You could do the same thing in other programs but it's going to create a pretty huge file and will take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to print.  Make a pdf of your collage and print the pdf copy.  Your collage will look the same but it will be a much smaller file. You could also print these using the 'double sided' option on your printer.

To mail I just folded up each strip and put it and the photo collage's in a regular envelope.  I did have to take it to the post office to be weighed but it was a fraction of what it cost's to send a package to Bolivia.  Every little penny counts, right?

Want MORE creative letter writing ideas?

check out here, here, here, and here.

Cinco de'Mayo

I sent out two different types of packages for Cinco de'Mayo this year - one for Matt's District (actually I used two medium size Flat Rate boxes from USPS), and one for the other missionaries that I send things to (one medium size Flat Rate box from USPS).

(Click here to view the District Cinco de'Mayo package)

 

Pringles has a wide variety of tortilla style chips at the moment.  These will transport far better than chips in a bag which will undoubtedly  arrive to your missionary crushed and broken.  You will be able to fit two cans  into the medium size Flat Rate box which still allows plenty of room for other items.

I wanted to send things that they could use toward a Cinco de'Mayo meal and not just snacks.  I found these taco shells at the grocery store that come with not only six hard-shelled taco shells but also with six soft shell tortillas. Should be enough for even the heartiest of appetites.

Make sure to include some taco seasoning and some salsa.  I found salsa that comes in a four pack of individual servings which will work great for them to share with their companion. You could include some cash for your missionary so they can head to the store for the other essentials i.e. hamburger, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.  I also found some bags of microwavable Mexican rice that promises to be ready in 60 seconds.  Tacos along with the rice and a nice salad will round out a healthy meal for your missionary.

For dessert I included a bag of these scrumptious chocolate covered delights.  I love them all but the chocolate covered pomegranate seeds were so tempting that whenever I buy them I have to divide them up into 100 calorie packs just to keep some semblance of control and I don't even like pomegranates!  I don't buy them very often because everyone that knows me knows that I don't have much self-control when it comes to delicious food.  Once I start it's very hard to stop if 'ya know what I mean.  They can be a little on the pricey side. I picked mine up at Walmart but you can find them in any grocery store and they are about $5 a bag.  You can also find the HUGE ginormous bags at Costco.

Whenever our family goes on vacation I always try to throw in educational opportunities whenever I can and my missionary packages are no different.  Might as well learn something, right?!  I made some Cinco de'Mayo trivia cards that you can print out.  Just cut them out and tie them together with some jute.  Cute!

Line your box with some coordinating tissue and top with this page topper (see below).  Don't forget to include a message to your missionary on the back of the topper or include a personal letter just in case your package is the only correspondence that they receive that week (or month!).

(click here to download the Cinco de'Mayo package topper & trivia cards)

All graphics were purchased and downloaded from Catch My Party @ catchmyparty.com
You can purchase your own digital kit here:
http://catchmyparty.com/vendors/product/cinco-de-mayo-fiesta-digital-scrapbooking-2

Cinco de'Mayo - a District package

I sent two different Cinco de'Mayo packages this year.  Matt was assigned to be a District Leader on a recent transfer and I thought it would be fun to send something for his entire District to enjoy...so the package for him and the package for the other missionaries that I send things to was somewhat different (click here for the other Cinco de'Mayo package).  You can pick what suits you and your missionary the best.

Package topper.

Place on the top of your package.  Don't forget to write a note to your missionary on the back or include some kind of a letter to them.  You never know...this might be the only correspondence that your missionary receives this week (or month!) and while a package is wonderful, 

our missionaries long for actual letters.

(Click here to download)

Cinco de'Mayo is a holiday commemorating a battle that took place on May 5th between Mexico and France.  France invaded Mexico in order to collect on past due war debts and while the French military was significantly larger and better equipped, the Mexican military prevailed...at least in that particular battle. While Mexico does little at the present time to commemorate Cinco de'Mayo (with the exception of Puebla, Mexico, where the battle took place) preferring to celebrate their Independence Day (in September), the United States, with its many Hispanic communities celebrates with parades, dancing, singing and lots and lots of delicious, scrumptious, amazing food.  Yup.  I'm a foodie at heart.

For the District's package, I loaded up on the many varieties of tortilla chips that Pringles has on the market.  There are plenty to choose from.  While I would personally prefer the good old fashioned kind of tortilla chips that come in a bag, those do not travel well especially when combined with jars of salsa and con queso dip.  Don't get me wrong, they taste great...I'm just old fashioned at heart.  Look for salsa that comes in a plastic jar.  I was unable to find any Con Queso in a plastic container so I enclosed it in a large resealable plastic bag and wrapped it in bubble wrap.  Should make it to Washington in one piece...and if it doesn't?  Well, at least the mess will all be inside the plastic bag. You know how the post office asks you if there is "anything that is liquid or perishable" included in your package?  I said, "Yes."  They said, "What?"  I said, "Salsa and Con Queso." They said, "Ok."  That was it.  An entire world of packages ideas just opened up in my mind!

I wanted to send something for desert and considered making some Dulce de'Leche cookies but I was kind of in a time crunch wanting to get this in the mail before my husband and I took of to Hawaii for a business trip.  (Yup, that's where I'm at right now.  He's in meetings and I'm sitting in the room, overlooking the ocean, listening to the waves and the birds, watching the paddle boarders, keeping my eyes on the lookout for any whales that are still out there...leftovers from this spring's migration, and chatting with all of you.  I'd be outside but I did that all day yesterday and now I resemble something similar to a lobster.  I'll sit in the shade and read in a bit...).  Back to business...I decided on sending these scrumptious delights for their dessert.  They are SOOOOO good!  A tiny bit on the pricey side but man!  They are so good that when my daughter brought them over for me to try I had to divide them into 100 calorie bags just so I could pace myself somewhat.  They are crazy good!  You can find them in your grocery store or in HUGE bags at Costco.

Because this package is for treats after District Meeting, I also included some red paper plates, yellow napkins, orange paper cups and some plastic spoons.  I get a little into color schemes.  I'm sure that my son doesn't even notice and just thinks I'm strange.  Just throw in what you have...

Line your box with coordinating tissue paper and fill with your Cinco de'Mayo treats.  I made some "educational" cards that teach a little bit of trivia surrounding the holiday and tied them together with some jute.  (see below for links to download the trivia cards) Place the package topper on top and then fold your tissue over the entire package.  They are sure to LOVE it.  Especially if they are serving in a place that doesn't have chips and salsa.  I served in Hong Kong and when Sister Hales received a package with chips and salsa...thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

Click here to download the trivia cards

All graphics purchased and downloaded from Catch My Party @ catchmyparty.com
Below is the link to purchase your own digital kit:
http://catchmyparty.com/vendors/product/cinco-de-mayo-fiesta-digital-scrapbooking-2

Grandma Christensen's Sugar Cookies

I may have mentioned this before:  My husband LOVES sugar cookies - Grandma Christensen's recipe,  thin and slightly crispy with frosting.  Me?  Well, IF I'm going to make them (which I rarely do because they take a freakishly LONG time from start to finish) then I like them thick and soft.  We both agree on the frosting bit though...

I stumbled upon an egg cookie cutter and because of it's unique shape - small on one end and larger on the other - making these Easter sugar cookies wasn't too bad at all.  I could use up most of the dough on the first roll out and with sugar cookies the less you roll the better because each roll out incorporates additional flour into your dough which effects the outcome of the cookie.  Less is better, unless we're talking about frosting,...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Grandma Christensen's Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

3 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 Tbs vanilla

1 cup milk

7 3/4 cups flour

1 Tbs baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Cream shortening, butter, and sugar thoroughly.  Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.  Add vanilla to milk and beat into creamed mixture alternately with the sifted dry ingredients.  Note:  the dough may seem soft but don't add more flour).  Cover or wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight.  Cut off a workable amount of chilled dough and place the remainder back in the refrigerator.  Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut into desired shapes.  Place on greased or parchment lined baking sheet.  

Bake at 400 F. 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.  

Yield: 15 dozen 2 3/4 inch cookies.

(click here to print this recipe)

When cookies have cooled completely you can begin to decorate them.  First you need to add your base layer.  If we were just eating these at home I would most likely make a nice buttercream frosting.  Because I need to mail them, and because I want to decorate them I like to use royal icing. It looks great; it's smooth; and it dries hard so I can wrap them and stack them.  Here's the recipe that I like to use:

Royal Icing

1 cup water

6 Tbs meringue powder

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lemon extract

2 lb bag of powdered sugar

Mix the water and meringue powder in your mixer until it is foamy.  Add the extracts and mix.  Add the entire 2 lb bag of powdered sugar and mix on low until incorporated. 

Mix on high until icing becomes stiff.  Cover unused frosting with a damp towel 

because it will harden SUPER FAST...

You will need different consistencies of icing for different types of frosting techniques.  For piping words and detail, you will want the dough pretty stiff (like what you just made).  For other techniques like floating, you will need to thin it out a little.  You do this by adding more water, a teaspoon at a time.  To test the consistency, make an indent in your frosting and count how long it takes for it to smooth out.

(This post from Bee in our Bonnet explains the whole process perfectly.)

I used small squeeze bottles to decorate my cookies.  One batch of the Royal Icing was perfect for the whole batch of Grandma Christensen's Sugar Cookies from the above recipe.  First I decided on two base colors: pink and yellow.  Using only a portion of the colored icing, I piped around the outer edge with a stiff icing.  Then thinning the icing slightly, I filled in the center.  Make sure to pop any bubbles that form with a toothpick.  Gotta watch out for those bubbles.  They are the enemy of a beautiful cookie.  Do one cookie at a time and don't be discouraged.  It really doesn't take too long for a simple cookie shape.

When your cookies are all frosted you are ready to move on to decorating.  For this you want a stiff icing like you piped with at the beginning of the process.  I chose quite a few different pastel colors and divided out my frosting.  As you're mixing in your colors, be sure to stir each VERY well. Otherwise you may just end up with a colored streak...not pretty.  Spoon each into squeeze bottles (or piping bags) and have yourself some FUN!  I used a mug to hold each of my squeeze bottles.  Just invert so the tip is pointing down inside the mug.  It's easy to tell which color is in each bottle and the icing stays at the end of the tip which saves LOTS of time.

Make sure that the icing is completely hardened before you wrap them up to send to your missionary.  I put mine into small cellophane bags, folded down the top, taped them closed with a cute piece of washi tape, and boxed them up in some boxes left over from my Christmas candy making.  Add a bit of shredded paper and a cute bow and voila!  All done.  Your missionary and their companion will love them AND...your family gets to eat the leftovers...or your Visiting Teaching ladies...or your husband's Home Teaching families...or YOU!

For more ideas on mailing cookies, click here or here...

Happy Easter!

Origami Carrots

One day while surfing the net I stumbled upon an Origami Garden.  All sorts of directions on how to make all sorts of origami vegetables. When I found the origami carrot, I let out a squeal of delight!  So excited!  I looked in a couple of craft stores for orange and green origami paper.  Who knew it was so expensive? Who knew that it's impossible to find just orange or green? Sheesh!  In my imagination I found cute patterned orange on orange paper...like an adorable polka-dot...and an equally adorable green on green paper for the leaf...alas, it was not to be.  I found a plethora of scrapbook paper but deemed it all to be too heavy and stiff to use for origami paper folding.  I went to the copy shop and picked up several sheets of orange and green and cut them down to size.  Being frugal (my husband is laughing his head off at the moment, but I do try...most of the time anyhow) I wanted to make the most of each sheet so I just made each sheet an 8.5 inch square.  This allowed plenty of room for everyone to write a nice long letter...but...it was just a titch too long to fit in any of the Easter packages that I was sending so I ended up putting them all into one of the larger Flat Rate envelopes which worked just fine but wasn't near as cute as it was in my imagination, yet again.  If I were to do it again, which I probably will, I would make them smaller so they fit into a box that could be lined with tissue and green shredded paper.  Live and learn!