If you have children in school, there is always the pressure (from your kids) to get each of their classmates a Christmas gift.  I’m all for making gifts, although I don’t know if these turned out any cheaper than buying what we made.  We had fun anyways, and that’s what counts.  Plus, I think our homemade playdough kicks butt in terms of softness!  Thank you Pinterest for the recipe!  Here’s what we did, in case you need a quick gift idea too.

First we started with the containers.  The Pinterest post on this recipe used re-purposed baby food containers with lids.  Since I don’t have a baby, I needed to buy containers.  We found these plastic cups with lids (and a bonus spoon) in the baby section of the Dollar Tree.  They were 2 for $1.00.

Then the ingredients:  flour, vegetable oil, salt, water, food coloring, and cream of tartar.  You’ll probably have all of these lying around except the cream of tartar.  And now my assistant will show you the steps…

One cup of flour…

One cup of water….

1/4 cup of salt….

Two teaspoons of Cream of Tartar…

One tablespoon of oil….

And the food coloring!  It’s probably easiest if you add this to the cup of water before putting all the ingredients in the saucepan.  It won’t hurt adding it on it’s own though.  Brooke & I realized that these food coloring bottles reminded us of the cast from Gnomeo & Juliet…haha!  She chose to make purple for her first batch.

Stir all of those ingredients in a sauce pan.

Then add the sauce pan to medium heat on the stove top.  {Adults only, please}

Keep stirring this gloppy mixture until it starts to stick to itself.  It will pull away from your saucepan & form a clump around the spoon.  Just grab the last bits off the sauce pan so you get the most dough for your ingredients.

See…it stuck!  Put the whole blob on wax paper – careful, it’s hot!

Then knead & knead…knead all those frustrations out.  This might be a tad hot for little hands.  You can put a dishtowel over the wax paper so they can knead too.  It’ll cool off in about 5 minutes.  And you’re all set!  Keep it for yourself, or give it to a friend!

Super Soft Homemade Playdough

1 cup flour

1 cup water

1/4 cup salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

food coloring

I’m pretty sure the store bought Play-Doh brand packets are cheaper, but this stuff is softer by far – especially good for little hands.  Plus it’s a fun winter break activity.  Slap a sticker on it, tie a ribbon on, and attach a cookie cutter.  You’re done!

Hey there lovelies!  I’ve finally gotten my 2011 mini sessions announced!  I really hope you can come out to help me raise funds for my 2012 return to trip to Ethiopia.  To hear about what I do there, visit my fundraising page here.

Each mini session lasts about 20 minutes in an outdoor location in Baltimore or Annapolis.  You will receive 5-10 proofs to view in an online gallery & a choice of one complimentary digital image for personal use.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezie!  Get an updated photo, make a $100 donation to Doctors Giving Back, and have some fun providing clean water & medical attention for villagers in Ethiopia.  Details below:

To reserve online, click on the following links:

Annapolis – October 22

Baltimore – October 23

Annapolis – November 19

I recently purchased a used 50mm compact macro lens from a great fellow photographer, DunKs Photo.  I just now had the chance to try it out & am in love!

Luckily for me, my wonderful husband bought me flowers yesterday for no reason at all, and they made the perfect subjects to practice on.  I <3 macro!

And it even showed the salt on this chip!  I’m so impressed!

Brooke is the first of our girls to start soccer.  I played soccer for about 10 years growing up, and always wanted my girls to have the experience of teamwork, camaraderie, and exercise like I did.  So we were thrilled when Amaw “gifted” us a soccer season this fall.  Since Brooke was the first to have practice, her pictures are first.

And yes, she was pretty much the smallest on the team.

*for those of you who don’t recognize Brooke readily, she’s in the pigtails, purple shirt, & yellow shorts.*

Tomorrow, my oldest little love heads off to first grade!  She was supposed to Peek at her Seat today, but some darn earthquake decided to cancel those plans.  My mother’s heart immediately thought, “She’s going to be so scared now!  She won’t know where her room is, who her teacher is, how to get there, or any of her new classmates!”  Then Emma’s calm kept me calm & we just enjoyed our last full day together until the next holiday.

Here’s a little of what my day entailed:

1. Triple check that we have all the supplies on the list.  Notice that the red folder has been cut open from a box cutter at Office Depot.  Run to Office Depot the night before school like a crazy person & get a dear cashier who replaced it sans receipt.  *thank you God!*

2.  Notice the supply list says to have 24 SHARPENED pencils & realize you only have a hand sharpener & a very sore wrist/arm from being a photographer.

3.  Finish the day, get kids in to bed.  Put them back in to bed at least 2 more times & prep for my crazy idea of creating Bento lunches for Emma!  I chose mini pigs in a blanket as a starting point.

If I’d really thought ahead, I could have had my girls roll the little piggies up for me this afternoon.  Maybe next time!  (BTW – I got about triple the normal amount from the crescent roll pack after cutting them to better fit the little smokies.)

4.  Try a creative portion of the bento – a princess cheese sandwich!

5.  Add some embellishments to the sandwich.  All I could think of was spelling out Emma’s name with Sour Patch fruity strips.  I found them in the dollar section at Target last week, along with some Bugles & little panda chocolate filled cookies.  Random.

Voila!

And the other half!

And the completed bento lunch: cheese sandwich, Bugle chips, SourPatch candy strips, mini pigs in a blanket, carrots & peaches.  I know it’s a BIG lunch, but it’s a big year!  She will be eating later than last year & I don’t think she gets a snack this year.  Wish us luck tomorrow!

Oh, and another day, I’ll share more about my Bento finds.