Chocolate Pretzel Turkey bags

This was a fun project to do with my boys. We made these pretzel turkeys for their teachers (school and church). I was inspired by THESE pretzel turkey cups that my sister made. Since were were giving these away, I thought a bag would be better than a cup!

First step, dip the pretzels in chocolate. I used the Honey Wheat Braided Twists (instead of the pretzel rods), if only because I like the taste of these pretzels better ;)

I used red, orange, and yellow Wilton chocolate melts. I gave each boy a small cup with melted chocolate and showed them how to dip them. They also had a few lectures on ‘not licking the chocolate or their fingers until they were done’ and ‘only eat the broken ones’. Man they had a hard time with those rules!!

When they were done with the pretzels, and while the chocolate was drying, we worked on the bags. I printed out a coloring picture of a turkey head on sticker paper, and cut them out with my Silhouette. I also printed out a simple “I’m thankful for you” sticker that they could write their name on. So they worked on coloring those.

     

Stick the head sticker to one side of the clear cellophane bags and the “I’m thankful for you” (or “Happy Thanksgiving”) sticker on the other side, and fill with different colored “feathers” (the chocolate dipped pretzels), and tie it up.

The best part of this project was watching the boys hand them to their teachers! So stinkin adorable!!

More Family Hand Turkey blocks!

So many fun color schemes!!

[family of 6]
   

[Families of 3 & 4, and a DIY set!]
 

Find these Family Hand Turkeys available at my Remembories shop.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Custom Gate | ODH

The progress on our ODH (operation dream house) project is slow going, but there is progress. This is our Grant’s latest edition to our property.

Grant has been diligent about getting the land fenced to keep trespassers off (it was pretty open range land before we had it, and now everyone thinks they can still do whatever they want on it). Any chance he gets, he recruits our boys to help him! My brothers have even had the opportunity to help with the fencing project when they’ve come to visit!

There was a lot of post setting & fence pulling, but it’s ALMOST done! This is the big post they set to hang the custom gate that Grant made. Little B is such an awesome worker (baby H and I just sat and watched ;)

And now the gate. I’m ever impressed with Grant’s skills! We make a pretty sweet team – I design, he creates (and usually it’s EXACTY like I designed it). We had been talking about gates and what we wanted to do, and finally after a long discussion & a few sketches, this is what we decided on.

He ordered the steel that night and had it started the next day when it was delivered. He also ran to the local ranch supply store and picked up some fencing.

Order list:

• 2- 24’ pieces of 1.5” square tube, 14 gauge = $80-90
• 1- 16’ utility panel fencing = $50

He let me rearrange the fencing, switching it back and forth between diagonal and straight, and ended up deciding on the initial plan. It’s always good to consider the options ;) (his patience with me and my designs is amazing!). Once the layout was finalized, he went back to work and made these amazing gates in no time!

Tools used:

• grinder
• cut off saw 
• welder

We still need to paint them (black) and I’m thinking the smaller gate needs to be switched around so that the diagonal triangle part is mirror image to the big gate (so, put it at the bottom left instead of the top right). Once we actually build a house, we’ll change it from a swinging gate to a raise-and-lower gate. It’s gonna be fancy ;)

Halloween Bowling – pinterest success!

Tis the season for Halloween Bowling! I’m a cub master and a preschool teacher & put together these bowling sets for both groups to make this past week (at pack meeting and at a preschool Halloween party). They were a huge success, and so stinkin’ cute!!

This project was a pinterest find, and I modified it a bit since I was making so many (12 sets) and had different ages (3 –10 yrs). The original version used 4 x 9” blocks, construction paper, googly eyes, and a bouncy ball. I made 1.5 x 6” blocks with vinyl stickers, and used a golf ball!

What you need to make my modified version:

• 6 – 1.5” x 6” x 1” blocks
• spray paint - (My favorite is Rust-oleum brand, use these colors - white, key lime, seaside, black, grape, and real orange)
• vinyl [and Silhouette machine] - (in these colors - black, white, and a little bit of yellow)
• vinyl sticker template (I created, this is for a Silhouette SD, but I think it will convert to other Silhouette versions)
• a golf ball (I got mine at Wal-mart, or find them here)
• red & black sharpies

Paint each board a different color, and let them dry. While those are drying, cut the vinyl stickers. I TOTALLY recommend a Silhouette machine, it makes projects like this so SO simple. All you have to do is open the template, load the vinyl & cut!

Once the boards are dry, and the vinyl is cut, it’s just a matter of applying the stickers. I showed the 3 year olds what it was suppose to look like (on the template), then they stuck them on how they wanted it to look. For the cub scouts, I just handed it to them and said, “put them together!”  The eyeball golf balls were simple too – use the sharpies to color in a black circle, then draw red squiggly lines all over it!

Then set it up and play!!

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!