It's a Twister!

Hello All-
Well I know it has been FOREVER since I last blogged. We were just getting off to a great start when a disaster hit home. Okay, okay, so nothing that horrible like a real twister but it was very bad for my computer. My loving two year old son has just discovered how much fun stickers can be. We sticker everything from coloring book pages to his own face. Well he came to me about a month ago and said that he was taking the stickers off of the baby (I have a mini laptop we call "the baby"). Since there are no real stickers on my baby laptop I had no idea what he was talking about. Turns out my son thought all the keys were stickers and pulled each one off!!!!! He must have been pulling hard because not only were the keys snapped off, he also broke most of the plastic pieces that hold the keys on, and lost some of the rubber pieces that make the keys bounce back.

 Close up of the damage. The only two keys I could put back on myself

The destruction!

Due to the horrible destruction my son created I was out of commission on blogging for over a month. Can't believe it took that long! I think everyone I knew tried to fix the poor baby computer but when all fails I guess you just have to go to the pros.

Well now that we are back DIY project testings will resume!!!

4th of July Food: Red, White and Blue Cupcakes

The next 4th of July project was inspired by Recipe Girl at recipegirl.com. We loved the cute festive cupcakes yet wanted to try and make the recipe a little easier (having two little ones means that I try and do most of my projects while they are both taking a nap so basically everything gets cut back to under an hour). Well here is my take on recipegirl's red, white and blue cupcakes!

Step One: The first short cut was to start off with a boxed cake mix instead of starting from scratch. If you want to "beef up" the boxed stuff I suggest adding some high quality ingredients to give it a more homemade taste. For example, on this recipe I used Pillsbury white cake mix and added a few teaspoons of pure vanilla extract. Other than this one simple addition just mix all the ingredients as directed on the box.

Step Two: Split the batter into three even parts. Leave one part white and color one part red and the last part blue. Recipe girl used gel paste to color but I used what I had...which in this case was Wal-mart brand food coloring for the blue (about seven drops) and Wilton paste for the red (roughly a teaspoon).

My red Wilton icing color and Great Value food colors

Step Three: In order to add batter to the cupcake tins (which I lined with red, white and blue cupcake liners) I used an ice cream scoop/cookie scoop to put the batter into the liners. Not really sure what the scoop's technical name is but hopefully the picture below will help.

The best invention ever....my cupcake/cookie scoop!

The scoop holds roughly two tablespoons of batter. Also make sure that when you scoop out batter from the bowls that you run the scoop up the side of the bowl to make it level. This way you have a better chance of  making all the cupcakes equal size. Once you are done filling each cupcake with one scoop of each color, bake the cupcakes for roughly 18 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cupcake tin filled with one scoop of each color batter.

When I use the scoop I tend to end up with extra batter so this recipe should make roughly 24 cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes. Once the cupcakes are done baking let them cool completely. I usually take the cupcakes out of the tin and sit them on a cooling rack.

Yummy cupcakes cooling down on the cooling rack.

Mini cupcakes right out of the oven.

Step Four: Time to ice! Again in order to save time I used two cans of Pillsbury whipped white icing instead of making the icing from scratch. Just like with the batter I separated the icing into three even parts and used the same food coloring amounts to color the icing. I tried two different techniques to ice the cupcakes. First I used a Wilton 9 inch plastic decorating bag with a star tip. In order to get the multi color effect with the icing Recipe Girl says you need to fill the decorating bag with all three colors side by side...this was no easy task. I used a "spoonula" (the rubber spatula scraper thing that is concave) in order to fill the bag with a scoop of each icing color. After filling I piped on the icing starting at the outside of the cupcake and circling into the middle. This came out okay but because the decorating bag was small I was only able to frost roughly five cupcakes before it was empty. Since I hate trying to refill a decorating bag I switched over to the Wilton Dessert Decorator Plus. Using the same technique I added a spoonula full of each color icing to the tube and started decorating! This was much easier and I was able to frost twice as many cupcakes this way.

Gingham Girl and I felt the star tip gave the cupcakes a much better look than the round tip. Which just made the cupcakes look like they were covered in toothpaste.

I would say this project took a total of an hour and a half. Also here is the web address for the original project from Recipe Girl: http://www.recipegirl.com/2007/06/01/red-white-and-blue-cupcakes/

4th of July Craft: Bandana Bracelets

Seeing how Independence Day is just around the corner I thought it would be fitting to sharing some Fourth of July related DIY projects. Over the next few days we will be sharing some simple ideas that anyone can do to celebrate the holiday.

To start our holiday projects off with a bang (hehehe) I thought we would start with a very easy project that I learned from Gingham Girl called the bandana bracelet. If you can braid, you can bandana bracelet. It's that easy. Now for the step by step instruction, I'll pass the job over to Gingham Girl.

~NoPlaceLikeHome~

Bandana Bracelets

My friends and I have been making bandana bracelets (and necklaces) for quite some time now. They're fast, easy, and super cheap! Bandanas usually cost $1 at most and you can get about 12 strips cut from one bandana. I also found the beads half off (300 pieces for $1.50). I spent less than $5 dollars on the supplies for this project. I've made at least 8 bracelets so far and still have bandanas and beads left. I took the materials to work yesterday, and it was a hit. The 4th & 5th grade girls loved making their own bandana bracelets to wear on the 4th.

Here's what you'll need:

3 bandanas (red, white, and blue)

1 package of star beads (next time I want to try silver stars)

Scissors

Water (just be near a sink)

First, cut the strips for your bracelet. It's up to you how thick you want the strips and how thick you want your bracelet. But if you're using beads, you probably don't want the strips to be much thicker than 1 inch.

If you're using beads, you'll also want to cut off the edge of the bandana to make stringing the beads easier.When it's all cut, run the strips under water and then wring them out; they just need to be damp in order to stretch. It will also help the bracelet stay in place better when it dries.

Now it's time to start braiding. It helps if you can get a helping hand to hold the end while you braid, that way you can get it nice and tight. Once you've braided about an inch or so down, string a bead onto one of the outside strips. Once in place, continue braiding and add beads where you think fit. Be sure to leave a bit of unbraided material at the end to tie.

When you're finished braiding, tie it on your wrist while it's still damp. Instead of tying all 6 strands together, tie 3 knots: the red to red, the blue to blue, you get it. This way, the knots will be tighter and the bracelet will stay on longer. Cut off whatever fabric you have hanging, and then you're done! :D

Bandana bracelets are great summer accessories. Try different colors and beads if you'd like. I used to change my bandana bracelet once a month just to mix it up. Use three colors, or just one. Choose a fun patterned bandana (like camo or tie dye) and see what happens. They cost almost nothing and are quick and easy. What could be better than that?!

*Gingham Girl*

Two Heads Are Better Than One

Even though my little sis and I are five years apart we do tend to act like twins: think alike, talk alike... you get the picture, yet we do have different tastes in food, fashion, etc. These differences come in handy because I love to ask her opinion on pretty much everything just to make sure I haven't jumped off the deep end on a crazy, out-there idea. Most times putting our two heads together usually means my original idea turns into a fabulous end product, so it was bound to happen sooner or later that I would ask her opinion about the blog and get some free labor :-) to help me out on my projects. Then the light bulb turned on....if Little Sis was going to put her two cents on the projects why shouldn't she put that same two cents into the blog. Now readers can get two opinions on all the DIY projects (and get a little insight into our crazy, loving, sisterly relationship! Welcome aboard little sis.

Introducing Gingham Girl!

Welcome to the Click Three Times blog!

Hello bloggers, internet surfers, stubleuponers, and anyone else who just might click on my site! I'm new to this blogging thing and figured I would use this first post to do a little over view on why I wanted to start a blog in the first place.

Like my profile states, I am a stay at home mama of two wonderful kiddos (a 3yr old son and 5 month old daughter) which means my day is crazy, my house looks like a twister hit it and when the chaos is over I wonder, "where did the day go!" and "why is my to do list" twice as long as before! I also love to craft, bake and try all types of DIY projects, yet never seems to find the time (or safe place from curious little ones) to do all the things I want. This is where the blog comes into play....

I am always clicking through the internet on the hunt for the next great bargain, DIY project or meal to cook and the good old world wide web is full of great things (I have a "Favorites" file folder to prove it). However, once I start to take a second look at all the fabulous finds I have added to the folder and actually start to try one out I realize two things: 1) Projects are not fast enough to do while my kiddos are taking their nap and 2) now how do I stash away this half finished project so the kids don't eat my glue sticks and my loving hubby doesn't feel like he is living in a craft store :-) Enter the Click Three Times blog.

I decided that I could use my blog as a way to test out my fav. DIY projects and share my ideas on how to give them a twist to fit into any busy mama's life style. (Or tips on how to stash away the time consuming ones). Also, try out some yummy recipes and find out how time crunching and kid friendly they are.  And last, share my findings on great tips and tricks to help out any busy parent.

Well, time for me to click my heels three times, state "there's no place like home (and home life)" and only hope that this blog with make every reader feel the same after I share my tips and tricks. Until the next post!