This Little Piggy Lunch

I love all those cute and creative lunches that you see on Pinterest but usually when I attempt to make them they look nothing like the picture. 

Today is different. I found a djlple lunch that I knew even I couldn't mess up.

Pinned it. Nailed it!

I simply started with bread, put the bologna inbetween, and cut it into a circle.

Next I cut an oval nose and triangular ears and placed them on.

I used edible food markers and food gel to make the eyes and smile. 

I had one happy kid at lunch!

Lasagna roll ups (another Pintrest recipe attempt)

I saw this adorable pin for Lasagna Roll Ups and it looked so cute I just had to try it.

Find the original blog post and recipe here.
http://www.rachelcooks.com/2014/01/27/pepperoni-pizza-lasagna-rolls/

As with many blogs the pictures and descriptions make it look so easy…. As you can tell by my photographs. I am neither a professional photographer nor a professional cook.

Here is how my version of lasagna roll ups went….

I cooked the noodles and then ran them under cold water to make them a touchable temperature.  I laid them out on the cutting board and filled the center with the ricotta cheese mixture.

Add some cute little turkey pepperonis down the center. Carefully attempt to roll them up as the filling squishes out the sides….

Place them in the pan with the sauce and seasoning mixture already on the bottom.

Top with more spaghetti sauce.

Cover generously with shredded cheese and bake..

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but I can tell you they did taste good. A little hint of pepperoni flavor in there. A big hit with the family. However, rolling them up was a bit of a mess so I think I'll stick with traditional layered lasagna. 

Natural Bug Repellant Candles

When I was finishing up my 4th of July BBQ prep I was looking for some last minute quick and easy natural bug repellant to deter some of the mosquitos that a were out. I had already picked up Bug Soother on a recommendation from a good friend. (Love the stuff. I think it worked great!)

And I also picked up some citronella essential oil. I figured if we needed extra deterent it could be dripped onto cotton balls and set out or mixed with witch hazel to use as a spray on or around you as a natural bug repellant.

However the last few nights the mosquitos have been merciless! Knowing we were going to be out late watching the fireworks I was looking for a few more ways to keep the bugs at bay. Thats when I stumbled on this cute idea!!!!!

To see the original link to these candles click here: 

http://www.nestofposies-blog.com/2013/04/summertime-floating-candles-in-a-jar/

I happen to have everything on hand and I couldn't wait to make these little guys. Best of all I had floating star candles in red, white, and blue. What a perfect touch for the 4th of July!

I sliced a lemon and lime, grabbed some rosemary and mint from the garden, put in a few drops of citronella essential oil, then filled 3/4 of the way with water. 

Then I just floated the candles on top. Simple as that. 

It gave off a slight but not overwhelming citronella scent, looked great, and there were very few bugs near the table. I'd call it a success!  

Quick 4th of July Craft!

Wanted a little somthing else for my 4th do July BBQ so I whipped up this little banner. Only took about 10 minutes to cut out the letters on my cricut machine. I found some cute old paper to cut into square and for it on. Punched holes and used some old red and white Christmas string and it was done!

Removing acrylic paint from clothes

My daughter want to a cut little event that had kids paint flower pots.

 Great craft, except they didn't use washable paints, they had acrylic craft paint and she, of course, got it on her clothes. 

Several hours later when we got home I attempted to remove it. No luck.

But I didn't want to give up. This was a really cute outfit and I wanted to save to.

I searched the web for "paint removal from clothes". The best suggestion seemed to be using rubbing alcohol.

 First saturate (and I mean saturate) the area with rubbing alcohol.  

Next hold the material taught and use a knife to firmly rub away the paint. (Apparently what is happening is the rubbing alcohol breaks downs the bonds in the paint and allows you to scrap it away.)

It was kind of a repeate process but it worked! 

I used a sharp knife I the skirt because it was a spandex knit but the shirt was cotton and started to give under the sharp knife so I used the dull side of a butter knife and it worked just as well. 

Outfit saved! 

I put it in the washing machine right away, because I didn't know what would happen if it sat in rubbing alcohol for an extended time, and it came out better than I could've hoped!