A New Obsession

I've begun to play around with the new Adobe Photoshop Elements software that I got for Christmas.  Have you heard about digital scrapbooking?  Well, I am hooked!


It is SO much fun! I've started out by taking some pages that I've already scrapped and recreating them digitally.  It's been a great learning experience.  There are so many amazing free tutorials out there and a ton of free papers and elements as well!  I've really enjoyed learning how to make my own embellishments and play around with color and textures... I could go on and on.

Here's a little sample of some of my first pages:

Warm Delights

So, I LOVE chocolate. And I love chocolate cake. But who wants to take the time to bake an entire chocolate cake every time you crave one?  Besides, it's just NOT a good idea to have all that cake sitting around my house. I'm on a see-food diet - I see food and I EAT it.

Anyways, I love Betty Crocker's Warm Delights, but I can't bring myself to pay for them. But occasionally I've found deals to get them for free or for nearly free (less than a quarter) and I indulge.  Did you know that you can make these yourself?  I have tried many microwave cake recipes (cake in a mug, etc.) and frankly, they are NO GOOD. Trust me.

Recently, I came across an alternative to make your own Warm Delights, and they are JUST LIKE THE REAL DEAL, people!!!!  Why didn't I think of this before?

Observe:

1. Take one box of cake mix

2. Measure 1/4 cup into a microwave safe vessel (or reuse an empty Warm Delights pan!)

3. Add two tablespoons of water

4. Mix well with a spoon

5. Lick spoon
5. Microwave for 1 - 1.5 minutes

6. Let sit as long as you can stand it (~15 seconds for me...)

7. Top with some chocolate chips, or fudge or whatever (optional)

8. EAT!!!

9. Relish in the frugalness of it all!
10. You're welcome. :)

Goodbye, cruel world

It's time for a change.  C is starting public school kindergarten in six weeks and the little pitter-patter in my house is not quite the same as it used to be.

To help protect her privacy and still allow me an outlet to blog about whatever I want, I have decided to start a new blog.  Cramers Online is the name (for now) and it will be a password protected blog. It is a copy of this blog, so all the past posts and comments will be transferred there.  Over the next few weeks I'll be deleting personal posts from this blog.

I do want all my friends and family to be able to read it, so to sign-in to the new one with your Google account, please send a request to view it.

I will keep the crafts and homeschool and some more general posts on this blog, too, however, since I think (?) somebody somewhere out there may find it interesting!

Hope to see some followers there soon!
- Lori

Fairy Wings

Since C wanted a Fairy theme birthday party with her friends, I decided to make some dress-up fairy wings for the kids to paint as a craft. I found a tutorial by Threadbanger that inspired me.

They turned out better than I expected!

Wire Hangers:

Knee-high panty hose (Walmart):

Shape the hangers,

and wrap with ribbon:

repeat again and again!

There you have it!

Ladybug Craft

I found a cute little craft on Frugal Family Fun and decided to try it with the girls.

I drew leaf shapes onto construction paper and had the girls cut them out. This was great cutting practice for E! Then, we drew on the veins, branches and stuck on some ladybugs.

A great spring craft idea!

Pretzel Makers

Our friend Kali helped us make some delicious homemade pretzels this week. The girls had a great time in the kitchen with me.



It was hard to wait, but it was SO worth it:

Preschool - Week 27 - Letter Z

This week was brought to you by the Letter Z and the Number 80. :-)

Here's what we covered:

Language Arts:
- Letter of the week craft:

- Handwriting worksheets (KidsLearningStation, Kidzone, Handwriting for Kids)
- Z Sound worksheet

Math:
- Number 80 worksheet
- Addition worksheet (page 1)

Science:
- Zebras (read books on zebras, looked up southern Africa on globe, saw a zebra at the zoo, made a zebra craft, played a zebra game)
- Zebra craft (printed outline on cardstock and painted stripes and mane):

- Roll-A-Zebra Game (Take turns rolling dice to get pieces of your zebra, which we then glued to a page):


- Science Journal page:

Social Studies:
- Zookeeper (read books, looked for zookeepers at the zoo, talked about different aspects of a zookeeper's job)

If you were a Zookeeper by Virginia Schomp

Sight Words:
- zoo, zebra, zero, zipper

Snack:
- Zebra Cakes

Music:
- Zither

Game/Activity:
- Visit to the Zoo