Rainbow Shirts

So as you can see its been kinda quiet over here posting-wise! I haven't been able to respond to all my lovely comments, or invitations to link parties lately. (I will soon though!)  These last weeks have been my last weeks of grad school.   All of my final papers, presentations and final evaluations have taken over my life!

*and from writing so many papers this post will naturally be very long. you've been warned ;)*

For the past few weeks I have been up past midnight working on something school-related almost every night.  It is nearly impossible for me to do work during the day.  I have tried, and it never works well.  I end up getting upset at Eliana for interrupting me so many times, which isn't fair to her at all.  So throughout my grad school experience I have done my school work after Eliana is asleep.  I can concentrate better when she is asleep anyways.  So because I am in the final stretch, pulling everything together, this means lately I have been up late almost every night.  Because of this my amazing husband has gone above and beyond in so many ways. He almost always stays up with me to give me emotional support,  to be an extra set of eyes to read through my papers with me and most importantly goes out to the store at the drop of a dime if I feel that ice cream will enhance my paper writing skills ;)


Even though we both stay up until sometimes 2 am, he still has to get up and go to work.  He also gets up in the middle of the night 9 times out of 10 if Eliana calls out, knowing that when I get up in the middle of the night (especially when my mind is over-occupied) I can't easily go back to sleep. So he lets me sleep and attends to whenever Eliana needs something. He continually gets less sleep than me, on purpose, and I whole-heartedly appreciate it and I know I couldn't have done this all without him.


On top of that Eliana was sick for a week with a stomach bug. I'll spare you the details ;) Thankfully yesterday was the first day she woke up without being sick! *happy dance*!  Sadly, now David doesn't feel too great. I just hope this bug doesn't hit me until after my final presentation on Monday. 


So enough about my exhausting life and onto more fun things... ;)


As promised from my post on Eliana's Rainbow Birthday Party, here is a simple tutorial on how to make the rainbow shirts we made. I meant to post this weeks ago, but I found it super hard to justify writing up this post instead of finishing a paper. yeah I know right? I'm good like that. Actually no, it took a lot of willpower to not write the post because honestly this is way more fun than a paper. I'm not ashamed to admit that ;)


And p.s. don't make fun of my lack of craft tutorial skills or photos... I usually only post cute lunches ;) I'll try to use the pictures more than the words.. we'll see how this goes...

rainbow colored fabric paints

For this project you will need:

*Rainbow colored fabric paints

*Gray or Silver fabric paint for the cloud (we used silver glitter)

*shirt to paint on (we went with white)

We didn't use the traditional colors for the rainbow. We used "watermelon" for red and our green was more of a teal color.  We also went with shimmery fabric paint.  So for this project, pick what works best for you :) 

Eliana rearranged the paints and told me that I had to take a picture like this. Yes ma'am ;)

So now that you have your materials you can make your rainbow shirt. For this tutorial I show it on a piece of paper but we (and by we I mean my husband) used this exact method the shirts.

Step 1: Draw out your first color of the rainbow in a thin line

Step 2: Use your finger to smudge the line

That is David's finger in case you thought to yourself "Oh my! she has manly hands!" ;)

Step 3 + 4: Draw out your next color of the rainbow and use your finger to smudge the line

*remember to wipe off the paint on your finger between colors*

It doesn't have to be perfect. It should look something like this:

Steps 5-12: Continue the process with all colors of the rainbow:

*remember to wipe off the paint on your finger between colors*

Ignore that yellow drop of spilled paint. that's what I get trying to do this with Eliana and Mia running around ;)

Step 13 + 14: Add your clouds with your gray or silver fabric paint 

and smudge with your finger

Step 15: let the paint dry on shirt overnight.

Step 16: Wear your shirt! :)

As you can see that rainbow isn't perfect, but like I said before it doesn't have to be perfect ..Or at least that is what I am telling my perfectionist self. That is why David did the shirts, not me.  I would have had to buy 20 shirts and would have mapped out the rainbow to make sure the lines were perfect, the arcs were even, etc. But for your sake, agree with David on this one. It doesn't have to be perfect :)

David did all three shirts in less than a half hour. It was so quick, and easy. And actually it is so simple your kids can do it with you, or by themselves depending on how old they are. We chose to do make the shirts while Eliana was sleeping to surprise her in the morning :)

The completed project:

So we decided to make Eliana's shirt a full rainbow, like the tutorial. On our shirts the rainbows were slanted so that when we stood together it looked like one complete rainbow. The clouds we decided to leave open on the inside so that we when we stood next to each other the rainbow was complete.

My shirt

David's shirt

We decided to make the shirts that way (prepare yourself for mushy moment) because we are complete when we are together. And our lives became so much more filled with love and laughter with our Eliana, who fills our rainbow. 

It may sound corny, but there was meaning to the reason we made the shirts like that.

I had come up with the idea to make rainbow shirts, but David's creativity took it the next level. I may be creative with food, but not so much with arts and crafts! I gotta say, we make an amazing team ;)  I know I have been nothing but a mush today but I can't help it. I am so thankful to have such an amazing husband. He has always supported me with everything, but literally I could have never made it through the past two years in grad school without his love and support. *I love you babe!*


OK seriously enough mushy for today ;)


....And here are some rainbow cake balls: (I couldn't have a post without food in it!!)

This one is for you Myra ;)

I made these cake balls last year.  They still make me happy when I look at them :)
I love how colorful and bright and cheery rainbows are. Of course these crafts and food never compare to the beauty of a real rainbow but I hope this post brought some brightness into your week!

I Link up. Check it out!
I am linking this post to Rainbow Connection! Check it out for more Rainbow inspired crafts, foods or activities :)

Earth Day Lunch

Celebrate Earth Day with this fun lunch!

Earth Day is coming up on Sunday and Eliana and I made a creative and fun lunch to celebrate Mother Earth :) This lunch was very simple to make and Eliana LOVED it!

The Earth is a chicken and cheese sandwich on a spinach tortilla. I took another piece of cheese and colored it blue and then used a knife and roughly cut out some continents and placed it on top of the sandwich. I tried to make the blue uneven in an attempt to make it look more like water (you can find the coloring cheese technique here). The border is made of blueberries and Earth Cookies.

I had actually given her cucumbers too, but they quickly disappeared shortly after this picture:

I cut the cucumbers into circles, keeping with the whole the Earth is round theme, and I think it made them taste better ;) This lunch is so simple and Eliana ate it all up.  It seems to be so much more fun to learn about things while you eat them. We spent lunch talking about Earth and all of the planets in the Solar System.  We may just have to make a lunch for every planet :)

Creative Food Supplies:

*Linking up to some amazing parties!*

Earth Day Pancakes

Earth Day is approaching (Next Sunday!) and I have some cute and easy food ideas coming this week :)  Last year I made these Earth Day Pancakes for Eliana.  She loved them and they were super simple:

My backwards Earth pancakes ;)

To make these Earth Day Pancakes:
First mix up your pancake mix (homemade or boxed). Mix it well so there are no lumps.  I separated my batter into two different bowls for two different colors: blue and green.  I used a few drops of food coloring and mixed it well.  Once your colored batter is fully mixed then pour into a squeeze bottle.

On the skillet or griddle (on low heat) draw out a circle with the blue pancake batter. Then outline your continents/earth in the green batter.  Let it cook until it gets all nice and bubbly.  Fill in the continents with the green batter and let it cook. The fill in the rest of the earth with the blue batter and let that cook until bubbly all over.  Gently flip the pancake over and let it fully cook on the other side.

So as you may have noticed the Earth pancake looked sorta backwards...I had been just drawing freehand and I forgot to keep in mind the pancake would be flipped.. so my precious earth pancake didn't look quite like Earth when I flipped it over! :) This is what the pancake looked like in the skillet:

My Earth Pancake in the skillet

Either way, it didn't matter. Eliana loved it and at the time she learned that we all live on the planet Earth. This year around it will be more exciting since she is older and understands more.  She wants to read up all about Earth.. so we may have to go to the library and pick out some good books on the planets and the Solar System. 

So you see these pancakes are a great way to teach your kids about the Earth and the Solar System!  ..At least that is what I tell myself.... ;)

**Linking up to some amazing link parties! Check them out! :)**

Creative Food Supplies:

Angry Birds Lunch

Eliana requested an angry birds lunch the other week.  She doesn't usually request specific things or demand them the same day, but this time she was insistent on an angry birds lunch and "wouldn't eat just a regular sandwich" ((Help! I've created a monster!)) But thankfully I don't mind this monster, nor do I mind this monster's requests ;) I figured why not? So I made her this lunch:

This lunch was a royal pain so much fun! However when I saw the completed lunch I was very happy. Normally I think about what I am going to make before I make it.  So I usually have a clear idea of how the lunch will turn out.  I actually had never given that much credit to that part.  But now I realize: that is why the lunches I make really don't take that long! I know what fruits, veggies, cheeses etc I will be using and where, so when I actually make it everything comes together much faster.  For this lunch I made it on the spot, so it took longer than normal. However if I made it again it would be a lot quicker since I know what I would use and where.  

Having an idea of what you are making before you make it is one way to make creative lunches faster :)

Why is he always so angry?!! ;)

The Red Angry Bird is made of red bell pepper cut with cheese details and a carrot beak.  I used black edible food marker to color the cheese for the black details.
The structure/tower that is about to be knocked down by that angry bird is made of pretzel rods. 
Two small piggy angry birds gummy snacks are hiding out in the top of the tower. (They sadly don't realize they will be knocked down first.) 
The two piggies hiding out at the bottom of the tower are ham and cheese on spinach tortilla mini sandwiches. I used a large straw to make the smallest circles for the eyes and the ears.  I used a black edible food marker to make the eyes on the cheese and the nostrils on the noses.
The grass is thinly cut celery.

Close up of the piggy mini sandwiches

I usually try to emphasize how easy it is to make a creative lunch. Let me be clear: this was not necessarily easy! I made it simpler by using cookie cutters, but because everything was so tiny and small it made it more difficult. You need to have steady hands and be delicate. 

But if you are up for a challenge it is worth it! The look on Eliana's face when I was finished was priceless. She usually helps me make the lunches but this time I wanted to surprise her so while she played with her legos I made this up for her.  I wish I got a picture of her reaction! She LOVED this. And after she finished it she proceeded to tell me how she wants more angry bird lunches and she wants all the rest of the birds included.... so stay tuned... ;)

Creative Food Supplies:

**Linking up to some amazing parties! Check them out!**

Baby Chick Lunch

After I made the baby chick M&Ms I really wanted to make a baby chick lunch.  With the season of spring here (sadly not weather-wise lately!) and with Easter right around the corner I thought this would be an adorable lunch to make!

Big Baby Chick

This lunch was super easy to make:

The baby chick is an open faced ham and cheese sandwich cut with a circle cookie cutter.

The cheese placed on top I colored yellow since I didn't have any yellow cheese in the house (I used this coloring cheese technique found here). *It really didn't take that long to color the cheese, but if you want to skip that step just use your favorite yellow cheese.

The chick's hair, beak and feet are carrots.  

The eyes are edible eye candies.  

The wings are made from the same cheese as the body.

The flowers are watermelon cut with a flower cookie cutter with carrot centers.  I added some green pepper stems, leafs and grass.

Because of the circle cookie cutter this chick looks very rolly polly! But that is what makes him extra cute! Almost too cute to eat!

And what is that in the flowers?

A baby chick M&M on top of the carrot!

That was Eliana's idea. She wanted the baby chick M&Ms to be in the flowers :) At first I thought, Why didn't I think of that?! She is brilliant! :) But then I realized: Well she is mine. I gave birth to her. So brilliance must be in the genes ;)

I'm participating in a blog hop for Easter/Spring ideas among a few bloggers! Please hop on over to the next blog and to the next, and the next, and the next for some great Easter/Spring creative food ideas!

Click on the bunny to hop over to Bento School Luches!

*Linking up to some amazing link parties!!*

What I used to make this lunch:

 

Baby Chick Chocolates

Ever since last year at Eliana's 3rd birthday party when I made the Ladybug M&Ms I've been wanting to make something else out of M&Ms. I am in love with all things mini. And cute. And chocolate.  All three together = Perfection. Sure I could have bought a bag of M&Ms at any time during the year. But lets be honest--they just don't last. My husband, Eliana and I will share a bag sometimes but they are usually all eaten by the time we get home. So I put the thought of M&M mini cuteness on hold.

Then came Eliana's birthday this year.  We filled up a jar with M&Ms in the colors of the rainbow. At the end of the party as we were cleaning up I stared at the jar and thought to myself, what can I do with all those M&Ms? And no, eat them was not the answer to that question. I had something cuter in mind :)

Baby Chick M&M's!

How cute are they? I mean seriously. It doesn't get any cuter that this.

To make these baby chick M&Ms you'll need yellow M&Ms, and edible food color markers (black and orange).  I drew the chicks many different ways, but all of them have hair (orange "W"), eyes (black circles) and a beak (orange triangle).  Some have legs, some have wings.

Originally I had wanted to see which one I liked the best, if I wanted to make them all with wings, or all with feet, or with feet and wings etc. but I couldn't pick one, so I made them all different :) They are all so cute! And of course Eliana prefers these baby chick M&Ms over regular M&Ms. I may or may not have created a monster... 

Here are some tips: 
1. Grab a bunch of yellow M&Ms (or other yellow candy).  
2. Resist the urge to eat them immediately. 
3. Commence drawing! 
4. Admire your artwork. 
5. Now eat! (don't they taste so much better than regular M&Ms? hehe)

These would be a cute addition to a lunch, or just to munch on. by the handful ;)

**please note that M&Ms are not completely peanut free or nut free, even the plain chocolate ones. They contain warnings on the label because they may contain peanuts due to cross contamination. As always with warnings, you are at your own risk. Even though Eliana's allergy isn't severe we buy Sixlets(which are peanut/nut free) instead now after learning of her allergy. These Baby Chick Chocolates could be made with Sixlets too!**


*Linking up to some amazing link parties!*