Hungry Girl - Chocolate Chip Scones

My sister and I, in addition to crafting, did some baking as well.  She has been obsessed with Hungry Girl lately.  Her wedding is coming up soon, so she is trying to be good.  Therefore, she had a few recipes for us to try - I make a great guinea pig!

Hungry Girl Chocolate Chip Scones - Click on the link to get the recipe.  Since I didn't create the recipe, I don't want to put it down here.

Verdict:
3 stars - From start to finish, these scones were made pretty quickly.  The main issue was the ingredients that were needed.  Many were not ones either of us usually have on hand (although maybe we would if either of us were healthier).  The tasted okay - nothing to write home about.  We decided that since they were just okay, the scones were not ones we need to make again.

More Button Hangings - Valentine's Day and Christmas

I have made a wall hanging with buttons for St. Patrick's Day.  I loved how it turned out.  Because of this, I spent some time making one for Valentine's Day and Christmas.  

Directions:

1.  Cut out a shape (make sure it has color - bits can be seen) that you want to cover.

2.  Make an even layer of buttons covering the shape.

3.  Add another layer of buttons intermittently on top of the bottom row of buttons.  This gives it a nice dimension to the project.

Verdict:

5 Stars - Once again, these projects were simple.  They are a bit time consuming as it does take time to glue on each individual button.  I think that I still want to find little presents to put under the Christmas tree.  I like how cheap these were to make too.  Plus, while I made these, my sister was crafting Christmas cards.  We were both very productive!

These are the cards my sister crafted while I made the decorations above.

Coffee Hair Dye

Keeping with the coffee theme, I decided to try coffee to dye my hair.

Directions:
1.  Mix 1 cup conditioner with 1/2 cup cooled coffee, and 1 tablespoon instant coffee.
2.  Put mixture on hair and cover with shower cap.
3.  Let mixture soak into hair for 1 hour.
4.  Rinse mixture out of hair and shampoo like normal.

Verdict:
2 stars - This did not dye my hair at all.  The concoction made for an incredible leave-in conditioning treatment.  It didn't serve its purpose, but I am happy with my hair.

Coffee Cellulite Bars

Directions:
1.  Melt 1 cup of coconut oil.  It took about 1 minute to melt in the microwave.
2.  Mix melted coconut oil with 1 cup of coffee grounds.
3.  Place mixture into muffin tins.  I used silicone ones to make it easier to remove.
4.  Once the mixture has completely cooled, remove from muffin tins.
5.  Use bars in the shower.  Freeze any bars that aren't being used.

Verdict:

4 stars - These are very easy to make.  I don't really know how well they work.  However, my skin felt incredible from the coconut oil.  It also has a nice smell perfect for waking up in the morning. The only downer with this is the mess from the coffee in the shower.  At least it goes down the drain pretty easy.

Easter Egg Craft

I know that Easter is over.  One thing I wanted to make before Easter but never got around to was making Easter eggs to put in a decorative vase.  I decided to make them after so they would be ready for next year.

Directions:
1.  Blow up a water balloon in the shape/size that you want.
2.  Wrap yarn around the water balloon.
3.  Paint Mod Podge onto the yarn.
4.  Let the yarn dry completely and then pop the balloon.  Take the balloon out.

Verdict:
1 star - The top one looks better.  I followed the directions on top for that one.  Unfortunately, some of the yarn did harden.  I knew that I was having trouble from the beginning.  Therefore, I tried dipping the yarn in the bottom one into Mod Podge first and then putting it on the balloon.  It left a weird residue all over the balloon.  Both of these up close do not look good.  At least the top one looks nice in a photo.  This project was messy, time consuming, and a waste.  Now I need to find something else for my decorative vases.

St. Patrick's Day Wall Hanging

I know it is well after St. Patrick's Day.  However, I am behind in putting things up.  I admit that I got this done on St. Patrick's Day at around 10 at night just so I could say that I got it done in time to hang up for the holiday.

Directions:
1.  Find a shamrock print and cut it out of green construction paper.
2.  Glue it onto a background.  I have had a small stack of rainbow paper for a long time and never had a use for it until I made this.
3.  Hot glue buttons on the shamrock.  I used a variety of shapes and 2 different shades.  I liked the look of the shamrock once I started layering the buttons.  I found that it looked too dull without the layered look.

Verdict:
5 stars - It is hard to find St. Patrick's Day decorations.  While I burned a few layers of skin with the glue gun, it was worth it.  It has inspired me to make one for Valentine's Day and one for Christmas. I like the simplicity of this project.

More Easter Decorations

Carrot Silverware

Complete directions on how to put these together can be found here.  The difficulty I had with this was finding orange napkins.  I had to order them from Amazon.  The green silverware was much easier to find - the dollar store.  I also found this cute, brown Kleenex box holder to put the silverware in (I thought it worked because it simulated dirt).

5 Stars - This is a super simple activity.  It looks really good when filled with silverware.  The above was my after picture with leftover silverware.

Bunny Napkins

Complete directions on making these bunnies can be found here.  The directions are step by step but will still require some trial and error to put them together.

4 Stars - I thought these turned out pretty well.  While they came out cute, they are difficult to make at first.  The first one I made was folded and refolded many times.  It is a tight fit when putting the finishing fold in.  However, because it is a tight fit, they do stay together well.  Once the first one is made, the others are much easier to make.