Pinterest Playtime

This morning started out rough. Tears, screaming, & defiance rough. The terrible twos are starting early! It looked something like this:

(this was taken 2 days ago, but you get the idea)

Thanks to a few evenings spent on Pinterest gathering some sensory playtime ideas from great blogs like Play Create Explore, The Green Fish Chronicles, & Thoughts from the Courage Zone, I was able to turn things around this morning.
I remembered that I had some salt dough leftovers (recipe here) in a plastic baggie. It was pretty gooey, so I decided to put V in the tub. We squished the closed bag of dough around for awhile, then I let her open it. I squished it into her hands and let her fling it around the bathroom. After stepping on it, and squishing it, I got out some cups & containers which I filled with water. We experimented by pouring water on the "blegh" (aka salt dough) and smearing it around the tub. The best part was hearing all V's giggles and "wow" when she squished the dough.

 Notice the drips of gooey dough on the tub & walls. At least it cleans up easy!

She had so much fun getting dirty and then washing off the dough. I filled the cups & buckets using the sink faucet. I put cold water in some containers and hotter water in others. I had her dip her hands in each before dumping them to add another sensory level to this activity.

Finally, I gave her a spray bottle with water and had her help me spray the dough off the walls & wipe it with a rag. She thought this was a lot of fun.
After we cleaned up and changed into dry clothes, her mood was greatly improved-- and mine was too. She even played by herself for a little while before lunchtime.
Do you have some go-to activities when your little ones are bored & cranky? Please share them in the comments!

Violet's Buds 5k Fan Celebration Giveaway Winners!!

UPDATED!! New winners have been posted for unclaimed prizes

Thank you to all who entered our 5k Fan Celebration Giveaway, and an even bigger Thank You to all the sponsors for making this great giveaway possible.
The giveaway winners are:

3 Little Birds Boutique	Tammy Dodson
A Pocket Full of Sunshine Boutique	Madysmama
A To Zebra Celebrations	Emily Holstrom
Ashley's 'Em'spiration	Sylvia Hill
Ayden's Treasure Trove	Nora
BabySmiles	lostnana
Bestie Bowtique	cdgmsg@hotmail.com  Kelli S
Birdie Baby Boutique	Lynn Hall
Blossom Bands	Monica
Brown Haus Kids	tyleilia@yahoo.com
Cherished custom creations by Rebecca Lopez	Genevieve Einwalter   andrea.townsley
Corkys Bowtique	Tammy Dodson
Crafty Kelli's Baby Accessories	Barbarabythesea
Crazy Beautiful Photography	Rebecka Lozano
Creative Mommy Boutique	Lindsay Perkins
Creative Mommy Boutique	andrea townsley
Deal Seeking Momma	aj
Designs By Mollie	Lisa Belanger
Elizabeth Alta Jewelry	vanessa d   Anna
Gigi's Glitzy Boutique	Lisa Sullivan
GipsonWands	Kati Bell
Grace Tags	Lisa Sullivan
Handmade & Handpicked Boutique	Stephanie  Cunningham
Heart For Your Home	Lynn Hal  Shanna Uptergrove
Its a Baby Thing	Shanna Uptergrove
Just for Fun Accessory Store	Tori Culver
Knit Knacks	tyleilia@yahoo.com
Lilypie Bowtique	maredith
Love Your Angels Photography	Emily Holstrom
MomBow Number Five	Bambie Massey
Pretty Socks	atabanana29   Amanda Kaye Grant
Simply Spoiled Baby Bowtique	Alyssa Haven
The Tattoo'd Tyke	laura dassance
Touche' EDI	Alyssa Haven
Trés Chic Models	ronni bell seegmiller
Twice as nice creations	Tori Culver
Violet's Buds	Heather Hartlen

Winners have 48 hours to contact the sponsor to claim their prize. If no contact is made within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.
Thank you again for your support!

Pinterest Project #3 update (ongoing)

I recently posted here about sprouting Napa cabbage from the stalk. The little cabbage is doing quite well. This weekend my husband potted it in a small container, and its now residing in the window until its warm enough to move outside.

It's been 3.5 weeks since I first started the process, and it's doing pretty well!
We decided to try this with green cabbage too, and its slowly growing. Here it is at 2 weeks:

It will need to be potted soon, and I'm really excited that this is working. It will be a nice help to our food budget. I started sprouting the end of some cauliflower today, I'll take photos if that works too. Happy Gardening!

Super Shopping Trip

This is not Pinterest related, but I had to share my great shopping trip. It was even featured on Savvy with Savings! I also want to thank my friends and family for sending me their dog food coupons. We are on a tight budget, but thanks to them we were able to get some great quality food for our 3 dogs.

9 bags of 3.5lb Purina One Beyond Dog Food @ $6.49
1 bag 28 oz Iams Dog Food @ $3.00
Subtotal: $61.41
-$4.50 Raincheck from Target for Purina One (sale ended 1/21)
-$45.00 (9x) $5 off any Purina One Beyond
-$3.00 off any Iams dog food
-$.45 Target Rx Rewards
-$.45 Target Debit Card
Grand Total: $8.01 for 33.25 lbs of dog food!
Plus the Iams bag has another coupon inside for $3 off

We usually pay $19 for a 45 lb bag of store brand dog food at Sam's Club

On another coupon-related subject, what do you do with your expired/unused coupons? Do you throw them away? I recently learned that military families can use expired coupons at the commissary. I've been sending mine directly to a friend who's husband is deployed to Afghanistan. If you don't know anyone to send your expired coupons to, check out this site: Overseas Coupon Program.You can find a base that is in need of donations or "adoption," and send them your expired/unused coupons.
Happy Couponing!

Pinterest project #3 (ongoing) Sprouting Cabbage

 I found this pin about re-growing celery using the bottom of the stalk, which lead me to Farm Bell Recipes at Chickens in the Road.
Their post states to cut off the bottom of the stalk, and set it in a dish of warm water for a few days. It will start sprouting, then plant it. According to their post, you can cut & replant the bottom of the stalk repeatedly!
We recently made some Asian slaw (using Alton Brown's recipe). I had my husband save the end of the Napa cabbage. I placed it in a dish of water on the counter. In a couple days, you could see some roots forming, and about a week later there were little leaves growing!

 

Week 1

 

 Week 2

We haven't planted the cabbage yet, but plan on putting it in a pot soon. Since the weather isn't quite warm enough yet, I don't want to put it in the ground & kill it. In the meantime, I keep changing out the water & it seems to be doing fine. Next, we are trying out this method with green cabbage. This is certainly a fun way of making the most out of our food.

Pinterest Meal: Quinoa

I found this pin for Fluffy Quinoa, which lead me to this blog post by Peas and Crayons. We recently acquired 10lbs of quinoa (thank you swagbucks & amazon.com) and needed some tips on how to cook it. This was my first time, and I found the tips at Peas and Crayons very helpful!
First step- rinse & dry the quinoa. A mesh strainer is helpful here. After rinsing, let the quinoa sit & dry. Rinsing removes some bitterness, & drying it back out is supposed to make it fluffier when cooked.

After its dry, toast it slightly. The recipe says use medium heat for a minute or so. Since I dried the quinoa on a cookie sheet, I popped it in a 300* oven for just a couple minutes. You don't want to brown it, just help finish drying it.
Next, add water (or stock) using a 1 cup quinoa to 1.5 cups of water/stock ratio. At this point I also tossed in some minced garlic. Bring this to a boil, reduce to low, cover & simmer for 12 minutes.
After 12 minutes, fluff with a fork & you're done!
I added some mixed veg at this point, and a little rice wine vinegar. It made a very tasty & filling side dish for our dinner!

Peas and Crayons has several good quinoa recipes listed on her blog, I encourage you to check it out!

Project #2 Ruched Ribbon Zinnia flower

This week's project was to test out the tutorial on making a ruched flower. I originally found this pin, which lead me to the tutorial by Rushbrooke Strand.
I adapted the instructions slightly, and used ribbon so I could skip the step of folding the strip of material.
I started out with a 40" piece of 1" wide ribbon. The only other materials I needed were a needle, thread & scissors. I also used a circle of felt & hot glue gun to finish the flower & make it a hair clip.

 

If you like, you can draw lines at 90* angles down the strip (zig zag). I skipped this step and just eyeballed the angle while I stitched.

I started by folding under the end of the ribbon and making a running stitch up the side. From that corner, I made a running stitch at a 45* angle. When I got to the edge, I made a 90* turn and stitched to the next edge.

 After making a few passes, I pulled the thread tight, making ruched petals. The original tutorial said to curl the ribbon as you go, and use a second needle to stitch it into place. I found this difficult and decided to stitch the entire ribbon before curling it into a flower.

When I got to the end of the ribbon, I knotted off the thread. I curled the ribbon around and stitched it in a few places to hold it in place, tucking the ends underneath so you won't see an unfinished edge. Since I'm using these for hair clips, I then secured the flower to a felt circle using hot glue. Of course, you could sew this onto a shirt, or make a lapel pin with it.
Here's my finished flower clip, its about 3.5" in diameter. Let me know what you think!

I will warn you, this process is pretty time consuming, but it was fun project to do while watching tv in the evening with my hubs. I like this so much, I made them in several different colors, which you can see in my Etsy store, or Violet's Buds Facebook page.
Happy Crafting!