Holidays | I Tri and Craft

June 11, 2013
by Dawn Marie Leave a comment

Menu Plan Monday June 10

Summer time.

I love summer.

I am a sunshine kid, which is odd since I was raised in the rainy Pacific Northwest. But we do have glorious summers.

However, summer means the last thing I want to do is be inside on my computer. So it took me a little while to plan our meals for the week. To remedy this problem I think I will need to sit down one evening this week and plan my meals for the rest of the summer.

I know, things will change, but at least if I have something to go on then I won’t be scrambling. Like I did this week.

Of course summer time also means doing lots of stuff outside. Which Ian LOVES! He would spend all day outside if he could. Including trips to the park.

Baby Sid is not yet a fan of grass

The Big Slide. We used to use wax paper to make it more slippery

Ian is getting so big

Baby Sid just swinging

Ian loves to do things with his brother, even if it means using the baby swings

Menu Plan 6/10-6/16

Mon: Pepper-Lime Chicken served over rice

Tue: Pan-Seared Steak and Onions served with mashed potatoes

Wed: Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta

Thr: Slow Cooked Jerk Pork with Caribbean Salsa Sandwiches

Fri: Chicken Parmesan Manicotti with garlic bread and green beans

Sat: Baby food cooking day

Sun: Father’s Day, so we will see what the Hubs wants to do

Happy Cooking

Need something to help plan your meals? I use the Plan to Eat online meal planner. Try it free for 30 days

Find more recipes at I’m an Organizing Junkie or Erin Brans.com

May 28, 2013
by Dawn Marie Leave a comment

Menu Plan Monday May 27

I love long weekends.

I hate long weekends.

Having an extra day off is both wonderful and horrible. I love having it, but it makes it that much harder to return to work.

You try to cram all these plans into one extra day!

This weekend my brother and his family came to town and now I am exhausted. The kids are exhausted. But I am sure we are not as exhausted as my brother is, since they had to travel.

Plus I get my days all confused, thus the reason I am posting this on a Tuesday.

My hubby is working late all week, so I have to pick up the kids and rush home to make dinner then feed them. And I mean literally put food in their mouths. Since I won’t have any help during this time, I am making simple food. Well, I have Wed. off so I can spend some time cooking during the day.

The best part about this weekend was having all the kids together. They were super adorable!

Menu Plan 5/27-6/2

Mon: we had leftovers

Tue: Chicken & Rice

Wed: Beer Marinated Pork Chops with Cheese Topping and Creamy Garlic Pasta

Thr: Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos & Spanish Rice

Fri: Chili

Sat:

Sun: Cajun Chicken Stuffed with Pepper Jack Cheese & Spinach, Green Beans and Duchess Potatoes

Happy Cooking

Need something to help plan your meals? I use the Plan to Eat online meal planner. Try it free for 30 days

Find more recipes at I’m an Organizing Junkie or Erin Brans.com

January 1, 2013
by Dawn Marie 5 Comments

MistleToes Plates

Happy New Year everyone!!!

This Pinterest Tuesday is a craft project we made for some Christmas gifts.
I pinned this on to my Hand & Foot Print Art board many months ago with Grandparent gifts in mind.

Source: igameals.com via Dawn Marie on Pinterest

The pin provides a link to the original source but I couldn’t find it on that website until I Googled it. You can read her post here, she says she paid to have it painted.

My plates don’t have that nice distinct edge, so I didn’t attempt to paint a border.

I went to The Craft Warehouse (our new one) and they had a ceramic paint section where I found paint that said it was dishwasher safe if baked. Now the paint isn’t FDA approved, but it is not supposed to chip off when cured. I bought my plates at my local Fred Meyer store.

After washing the plates with alcohol, as the paint directions state, the fun part begins…

The plates are slippery so the wet feet had a tendency to slip. So I would just wipe off the plate with a wet paper towel and try again, as long as the paint hadn’t dried.

For Baby Sid’s feet I had to pull out the Bumbo

We also made a couple of mugs with little hand prints, they did not turn out as well as I had hoped. With the slickness of the dishes the hands got really blurry, but Ian loved making them. (I did Baby Sid’s while he was sleeping)

The curing process takes place in the oven. You can let the pain air dry, but to make it dishwasher safe you must cure it. Please read the directions on the paint first, and follow what it says.

Place dishes in a cold oven and then turn it on to the temperature the paint states. Cook for about 30 min then shut the oven off, open the door and let dishes cool.

We made a total of six plates and two mugs

Ian decided he needed to help so I got to keep the sixth plate….

I learned that the heel of the foot should not be at the top of the plate in order to have them hanging. I also would have like a plate with a distinct border like the one in the pin, and maybe use a serving platter instead of a dinner plate.

I tried to write ‘mistletoes’ with a stencil because my handwriting is so bad, but that turned out worse and was way more work.

I would also like to try paint pens next time for the details.

I can’t wait to make more hand and foot print art, I just love them!

Happy Pinning

December 31, 2012
by Dawn Marie Leave a comment

Last Menu Plan Monday of the Year and Our Christmas Card

Happy New Years Eve!

Here are the Christmas cards I made this year, although they have not actually been sent out yet…

Something is wrong with my printer, and I have not been able to even try to figure it out. I have really bad hand writing so I don’t want to address my envelopes, I can’t tell you how many times I have gone over to my moms to print out the envelopes or mailing labels and never got around to it.

This week I am making it my mission to send them out!