Thanksgiving Craft

Okay ya'll! 2 fun crafty ideas for Thanksgiving. I do need to add my disclaimer here, however ;) I found all of these ideas online.... I am sorry I can't find the links, but I just didn't want to take credit where credit isn't due. That said, ENJOY!!!! For the turkey cookies you will need
peanut butter cups
chocolate sandwich cookies
candy corns
brown frosting
yellow frosting
chocolate malt balls

use the brown frosting as glue to put the candy corn feather in and to clue one cookie on top of the other.
cut a sliver off the back of the peanut butter cups so they lay flat
use the tip of candy corns as a beak and malt balls as head.
I think this one doesn't need much explanation :) They are really not hard, I did not make one that is in the picture, my kids (6 and 4) did everything even down to the frosting eyes! I did do the cutting because you need a sharp knife so not to mash your peanut butter cup!)

For the pilgrim hat you will need


Fudge striped cookies
large marshmallows
milk chocolate chips
milk
yellow frosting

melt your chocolate chips in a small sauce pan with about 2 T milk. when smooth dunk marshmallows until covered, put on top of an upside down fudge cookie, make a cute little buckle with yellow frosting.

For the paper bag turkey you will need:

Template
yellow foam pieces
orange paper
brown paper
red paper (optional)
red fuzzy balls (optional)
googley eyes
craft feathers
green felt
brown paper lunch sack
newspaper
glue
scissors

1. Trace template onto appropriate materials and cut out
Brown paper-turkey body/head
Yellow foam- feet and beak
Red paper/red fuzz balls- gobbler (not pictured)
Orange paper-legs

2. Glue all face (eyes, beak, wings, gobbler) pieces onto body/head

3. Fold legs like a fan folding one way and then flipping and folding the other. Glue feet to the bottom

4. Glue just the round body part about 2 inches from bottom of paper bag. Do Not put glue on the head yet!!!

5. Glue legs under body

6. Fill bag with newspaper

7. Poke feather through (poke holes in the bag) behind head

8. Glue head to feathers and bag

9. Fold top of paper bag down to desired height

10. Staple or glue fold top to hold in place.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day

~Erin

Green Thumb ~ Composting!

Ok, so remember that landscape post a while ago? I've been SO excited this year to finally get a yard of my own. We've moved, we're settle and now I get to start on the yard that I've been dreaming about for a long time now! So, first things first... a COMPOST! Now to anyone who doesn't have a green thumb (what would that be? a red thumb?) I can see how a topic like this could be boring, but SUPRISE... it's not :) Composting is awesome and you can do it even if you live in a small space, even apartments!

• At least 20% of our household waste is organic compostable material~ which can be recycled to the earth instead of disposed of saving landfill and garbage can space!

• Nourishes Gardens, Yards, Trees and plants!
  
• Helps landscape retain water... what does that mean? LESS fertilizer and water!

• Just ANOTHER way to recycle and go GREEN!

Yup, this is my compost bin I just purchased this last weekend. I thought that since I'm all fresh with the how-to's from all my research I'd share the easy-peasy version of Composting 101

RULE: Anything that once was a plant can go into the compost!

There are 2 different composting... Green and Brown

Green is material high in nitrogen. They are typically moist and decompose fast! Grass clippings, kitchen scraps, citrus, fruits, vegetables

Brown is material high in carbon. Leaves, sawdust, straw, tree trimmings, wood chips

The key here is to try and have half green and half brown in your compost. A great way to do this is to layer!

There's a reason for this, something about the ratio of gases and the way it breaks down, you can find a ton of info here if you'd like to do deeper research. But for me, I just want to know HOW I'm going to compost and that's good for me :)

*Break down all items going into the compost to be no bigger than 2-3 inches

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*Keep everything moist. Think of a sponge after it's been squeezed. You do NOT want it too wet, it creates mold and prevents the material from breaking down. Wet it when you add a new layer and/or turn the pile.

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*Turn your compost pile periodically. This basically means taking all the material out of the bin and shoveling it all back in. To make this simpler I left the bottom off my compost bin so I can slide it up and off and just shovel it all back in.

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*There really shouldn't be odor. Try to keep the top layer brown, this prevents odor. If it still stinks then that means you need to turn it and it could be too wet.

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*Screen your compost to get out the bigger items that need more time to break down for the next compost batch. Doing compost in BATCHES is helpful, it helps the compost be of use quicker and helps you to add household organic waste continually.

*The compost needs to be completely ready BEFORE adding to gardens and yards. If not then it could prevent growth and work against your growing efforts. It is ready when it has a uniform look like soil does, dark in color and small particle size. Another big detail is the "earthy" odor. There are some tests you can do at home to determine if it is indeed ready that you can read here.

I don't usually buy Sun Chips... I bet you can see why I did this time! :) How neat is this?! The first ever compostable packaging! Now that's good marketing!

This is what my compost looks like today! Note that you CAN add egg shells but not the egg itself. Don't throw 'left-overs' in there, you don't want to add molding food that has ingredients like spices and salt used. You want to add things in their most organic state. For questions about specific items check out this page.

TIP: Have a little garbage under the sink seperate for the compost items. This simplifies adding kitchen scraps at the end of each day. I put together a quick 5x7 photo that I printed and is hanging by my sink. It really helps when I need a reminder on throwing items in the compost garbage and what can go in there... I'm sharing it with you FREE HERE!

~Nicole