Pot of Gold Caramel Corn for St. Patrick's Day

It's official, I have now eaten about half of that cup of caramel corn while making this tutorial and I am now sick.  Dear caramel corn ... why do I love you soooooo much? 

This is a really great basic recipe for caramel corn.  I wanted to make a caramel corn that would work well with beer for St. Patrick's Day.  This caramel corn is loaded with nuts. 

You can check out the full tutorial over on Cut Out and Keep

See St. Patrick's Day Pot Of Gold Caramel Corn and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

Starting a Toy Share / Toy Circle

So I just brought home a bunch of toys for preschool to wash in the dishwasher. Kamille has been going crazy playing with them. It's a little mind boggling to me because they were duplo blocks and she already has a big bin of them at home. Somehow, these blocks were better. She spent the whole day playing with them. Then I started thinking that maybe I should box up and store some of her toys and then rotate them in and out of her room. That made my mind jump to an idea of starting a toy sharing circle.

The concept is pretty basic. I took a $3.00 20 Quart Tupperware storage container and turned it into a Toy Share Box. 

It took me about 30 minutes in total. First I decided on the theme (basically because I love themes).  A theme isn't really essential, but I thought that it would be fun.  Then I went into Kamille's room and gathered up a bunch of toys that fit the theme.  I am going with a fairy tale theme this time. 

I basically have a couple of books, a coloring book, Snow White and the 2 Dwarfs Peg Dolls, some Melissa & Doug Wooden Dolls, some dress up clothes (for both girl and boy), a little cottage, and a carriage. 

Obviously you could put anything into the box.  I thought about throwing in a couple of DVDs and a Cd too.  You could do a music box with instruments and cds.  You could do a box full of building blocks, cars, a farm and animals, family games, puzzles, play food, play dough, puppets, art supplies.  The possibilities are really endless.  I might do a space theme next time.  We have a bunch of books about space and some puppets and other toys that would make a really fun space themed box.

Then, I wrote Kamille's Initials on all of the toys with a Sharpie. 

Finally, I just typed up a label for the box with a list of the contents and taped it onto the front of the box.  I covered the whole label with tape so it was sort of laminated on there to keep the kids from ripping it off.   

So, I am going to ask some friends and maybe some of the preschool moms if they want to start the circle with me.  Preschool or other regular group activity is great because you see the people on a regular basis which makes the exchange easier.  My concept was that we would all trade boxes in a big circle once a week or once every two weeks until you get your original box back.  Then, you could either start the share over again with the same box or switch it out for a new one.  You can wash the toys off when you are packing up the box. 

In my mind, this is going to be great if I can get some other moms on board.  Lisa and I will be doing it together for sure.  This way kids get to play with "new" toys every week without anyone having to go out and buy new toys.  Like I said, I only spent about 30 minutes putting the box together and making the label.  Plus, it might be fun for your kid to help come up with a theme and choose out items for the box.  I'm sure I'm not the first person to have this idea, but now that it occurred to me I am very excited about it.  

If you start a toy share circle, please leave a comment and let me know about your theme and how you are setting it up.   

  

Etsy Treasury - William

'Etsy Yourself - William ' by c1h8r9is

It's been a while since my last Etsy yourself treasury. I decided to do a boy's name this time and I chose William because we are having a playdate with little William tomorrow. The traditional meaning of the name is determined or resolute. However, I think that the actual meaning of the name has a softer, more poetic side - one might even say sweet. This treasury is also featured on our blog www.boutiqueit.blogspot.com.

William Shakespeare... HesedBooksAndG... $1.75	Romeo and Juliet Pl... JezebelCharms $40.00	Matted Sweet Willia... PhotoSchatz $12.00	Hand Dyed Wensleyda... Jennyct13 $19.50
in that hour of gen... panopoly $18.00	Victorian OWL print... SteamBathFacto... $9.50	There is a time for... letterarypress $4.00	Handmade Pottery So... SteveWilliamsP... $16.00
The Shorter Poems o... StoneMonkeyBoo... $11.00	exuberance is beaut... pocketfullofpo... $45.00	Owl Plushie William... PinkSherbert $26.00	William Morris Gift... lizardpress $18.00
IN BLOOM ACEO featu... extremepencila... $7.00	Wide Band Sterling ... SilverTrove $120.00	William's Timep... RusticBootyDes... $70.00	William pussman $195.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.

Preschool Apple Cookies

This is a little set of cookies I made for the preschool open house.  They are a basic sugar cookie cut really think.  Then, I bake them per the usual recipe directions.  Once they come out of the oven I let them cool slightly.  Then, using the same cookie cutter, I cut a piece of colored marshmallow fondant (the recipe is on the blog) and use it to decorate the cookie.  Finally, I just piped an outline with white frosting to make them pop.