Celery Printed Rose Valentines

We made printed roses from the bottom ends of celery stalks.  I think these turned out so lovely.  I've been wanting to try this for ages and finally did. Keep reading to see how we made these Celery Rose Printed Valentines.

To Create Roses from Celery you'll need:

Bottom ends of celery stalk cut off

Dish or paper plate for paint

Red, Pink, and Green tempera paint

Pink and White Construction Paper (any color you choose!)

scissors

First cut off the bottom ends of celery stalks as straight as you can to make a good printing surface. We only had small stalks, but you could use larger stalks for bigger roses too.

Prepare your paper,  cut hearts, use folded paper to create cards, or use plain paper too.

 Get your paint ready on a paper plate or dish and smooth out to print more easily.

Then print however you like.  I like the more random look to create overlapping rose shapes.

We added other cut out hearts to frame and accent the hears.  You can also use green paint for leaf accents on the roses too.

I think we'll be doing more of these. Please share your results with this process.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Science Experiment: Borax Crystal Hearts

This is fun experiment with very cool results.  Our inspiration was from The Scientific Mom.  She created Borax Crystal Ornaments as part of her 12 Days of Science Series with her daughter.  Be sure to check out her blog here to find out about all the amazing excursions and experiments that she does with her daughter.  We decided to make borax crystal hearts for Valentine's day and a few snowflakes for Winter.  Keep reading to find out how we made these.

To make Borax Crystal Hearts You'll Need:

Pipe Cleaners

20 Mule Team Borax (found in the laundry section  of the grocery store) (5-6 Tablespoons or more)
***Borax is not-edible and should be handled with care when using with children)

Water (2 Cups or so)

Jar or Glass Container

Pencil or stick

The first step in making these is to shape a pipe cleaner into a the shape you desire.  Make sure to form a hanger or add one to the shape using the pipe cleaner. Then boil about 2 cups of water (depends on how big your glass container is), let cool a little and pour into your glass container. Then, take about 6 Tablespoons of Borax and stir into the water until dissolved.  Then hang your pipe cleaner shape from a pencil. Place the pencil on top of the glass container.  Make sure it is submerged.

You can add more Borax which will create more crystals.  Let this sit over night, and the next morning  you'll have beautiful crystal shapes. ***Keep the pipe cleaner submerged over night! It was fun to experiment and check them the next morning.  Here are some of our results:

Close-up Crystals

Red Metallic Heart

Silver Pipe Cleaner Snowflake

Swirls

We had a lot of fun experimenting with this idea. We tried adding food color, but the colorful pipe cleaners really brought out the color too.  Have fun with this experiment and let me know your results!

New Year's Welcome Banner

Are you excited for the New Year and what it will bring? I hope it brings great things to all of you! What better way to welcome 2014 with a New Year's painted banner! Such an easy project that could be scaled down or made larger for your situation.

All you need for this project:

A large or small paper/poster board

pencil

tempera paint

brushes or fingers!

glitter

any other material you choose

First begin by penciling in a "2014"or whatever year you are welcoming in.  An older child could do this themselves.  You can use poster board for a large sign or small paper.

Then begin painting.  We started with brushes but preferred using our fingers so it became a finger painting.  We added sparkly glitter into the wet paint instead of using glue later.  Lastly, we added black outlining, but you could leave it without that too.

Happy New Year!

Super Easy Rocky Road Fudge

Here is another amazingly easy fudge recipe I'm excited to share.  Every year I make this Rocky Road Fudge for friends and family and everyone absolutely loves it! When placed in a fancy treat bag or cute tin it makes it even more extra special.  Your friends and family will think you've spent hours in front of a hot stove when you've only spent under 5 minutes. Really? So give it a try. If you love this recipe, be sure to try our Super Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge recipe here.

Here is the recipe:

Super Easy Rocky Road Fudge

Ingredients:

2 cups semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups miniature marshmallows

1 1/2 coarsely chopped walnuts

1.  Combine milk and chocolate chips in a large microwave bowl and stir.

2.  Cook for 1 minute in microwave.

3.  Add vanilla and cook for 3 minutes.

4.  Now add marshmallows and walnuts and stir.

5.  Press into a greased, foiled lined 13x9 inch baking pan.  Chill until ready.

6.  Cut into squares and serve.

7.  Enjoy!

Super Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge

I've made this recipe for years and it is so ridiculously easy to make!  Total preparation and cooking time is probably under 5 minutes.  The long part is waiting for the fudge to harden in the refrigerator. So if you need a quick treat for gifts or a dessert this recipe will do the trick.  Everyone will think you took hours to make this... (everyone thinks I have every  time!)  

Here is the recipe:

Super Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:

1 oz. unsweetened Chocolate

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

2 cup peanut butter chips

1 cup peanuts

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine, chocolate, milk, and peanut butter chips in a microwave dish and stir

2. Cook 1 minute in the microwave or till smooth.

3. Stir in peanuts and vanilla.

4. Cook for 3 minutes in the microwave.

5.  Stir again until smooth and pour into a 8 x 8 pan and chill.

6.  Cut into squares.

7.  Put in fancy containers or bags to create a special gift of the sweet people in your life.

8.  Enjoy!