Dead sock-monkey and peeps

My eighteen year old graduated from high school almost a year ago but still goes back to see some of her friends and visit a few of her former teachers. One of those teachers is celebrating a birthday next week.  This teacher has a fondness for corny (read: bad) jokes. 
The favourite is :
Q.  Why did the monkey fall out of the tree? 
A.  Because it was dead!

I told you.  Bad.

Anyhow, my daughter asked if I could make a "dead" sock monkey for her to give this teacher.  How could I say no?  I showed my daughter the socks I already had that she could choose from and she chose a red monkey with cream details.

I think it's kinda cute.

Better than my Peeps.  I saw a tutorial for the cutest felt bunny peeps here and just had to make some.  The plan was to make them before Easter and give them to the girls.
Nope.
When I got Peep #1 done to the stage where you stuff it, I decided I didn't like it.  So I abandoned it and went on to Peep #2.  I decided to sew this one up differently.  Bad idea.  I like Peep #2 even less than I like Peep #1.  So I abandoned this too.  Easter came and went and the unstuffed, unloved felt Peeps just hung around.  Taunting me.  So I decided to at least finish them and see what they look like.
You know what?
Stuffed and sewn up, they are kinda cute.  I like Peep #1 better than Peep #2.  Go figure... 
Another part of the plan was to place them in these over sized plastic Easter eggs I picked up.  Guess what doesn't fit in the eggs.  Now I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do with them.  But I did learn to finish what I start because you never know just how it will turn out until it is done.

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A Harry Potter Spell Book

Quite a while back, I saw a tutorial for this, complete with the spells already laid out in 4X6" format and set up as a free printable.  My thanks go out to Christie at A Lemon Squeezy Home for not just taking the time to create this fun printable, but for also sharing it for free!

I picked up a small, plain photo album at a dollar store.

See, non-descript, unsuspecting....  Nobody would ever guess the treasure inside!

Then I printed out Christie's spellbook, cut the pages and slipped them in the album.  Quick and easy!  My fourteen year old (yes, you read that right... fourteen year old) daughter thinks it is fantastic and has already requested that we make one for her Harry-Potter-loving-friend for her birthday (in five months!).

Inside we have a title page.

And the spells are laid out alphabetically.

We are already very familiar with nox...

Because it is on both girls' light switch plates!

Sorry, but I had to post the plates.  I made them ages ago and I am still quite proud of them.  :)

Now, if you have a Harry Potter fan in your life, pop over to A Lemon Squeezy Home using the link at the top.  It goes directly to the Spell Book project!
Have fun!




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1-2-3 Cake!!!

What on earth is 1-2-3 Cake?  That is what I wondered too after a friend raved about it on Facebook.  So I looked into it. I'm sure that there are a gazillion posts about it already, but I found my directions here thanks to a different  friend pinning it.
Yummy treats don't get much easier than this!
I used cheap, No Name brand cake mixes.  I think I paid $3.50 for both mixes.  You must use an angel food cake mix, but the other mix can be any flavour you'd like.  For me it had to be chocolate.  All you do is mix your two cake mixes together.  I just dumped both into a Zip Loc bowl, put the lid on, held tight and shook it up.

There.  That is all the prep work done.

Now when you want a little treat, you just take a mug (we discovered that a smaller mug makes it look like a bigger treat!) and place 3 tablespoons of your mix in it. 

Add 2 tablespoons of water and mix it up.  (If the treat is for you, you can lick the spoon now and hang on to it.)

Then you put it in the microwave on high for 1 minute and presto!
A personal sized (think cupcake size) treat!  And that spoon you hung on to?  Use that to eat it!

It passed inspection by both the fourteen year old, and the eighteen year old.  (Oh, and  the forty-two year old!)

I figured out the calories for this particular mixture and it is a nice, light 119 calorie snack.
I'll bet a dollop of whipped cream would be good with it.

1 minute, 2 TBSP water, 3 TBSP mix.... 1-2-3!  My new favourite treat.  I hope you enjoy it too. Pin It