Using Plastic Chocolate Candy Molds For Hard Candy, A Precautionary Tale

I am not an amateur in the kitchen, not even an amateur at working with candy molds. I am however, quite the amateur hard candy maker! Melting and pouring chocolates into molds is more my candy making style. Which would explain why I had way more chocolate molds than I had silicone candy molds. It didn't even occur to me that what I was about to do would result in melted plastic and inedible "candy", or in our case, homemade herbal cough drops.

When I set out to make the homemade herbal cough drop recipe, I rummaged through my bins of candy making supplies, and keeping the desired size in mind, grabbed a plastic mold that fit the bill. Although it was Christmas themed, I thought the size would work well. I must have thought at least four times before I began pouring the syrup that I should use the silicone molds instead, but I wasn't a huge fan of how deep they were.

Free Printable Valentines for Classmates

This week's homework assignment for my first grader was to write out her valentine's for her classmates. She was given plenty of time to complete the assignment and has the necessary skills to do it too. But.... This six year old girl had excuse after excuse why she couldn't do it, and why it was TOO HARD! <---- Insert six year old girl whine here! So, here we are two days out from her class Valentine's Day party with no valentines to be given, and one frustrated mama.

We had purchased some themed suckers that come with an area to write "to" and "from" on them, and she was given a class list from the teacher. But, some how, some way, she ended up with too few suckers for her classmates, and had written her teacher's name on more than a few!

Winter Break Boredom Busters and A New Found Love of Sewing

Sewing on the new sewing machine

School is back in full swing, and it should start getting back to normal around here soon (I hope!). Winter break can be a doozy as most moms know. It snowed here for a few days and there wasn't a lot of opportunities for outside play, which meant we needed to get creative with activities for the kids. The week before Christmas flew by in a flurry of wrapping, shopping and baking. We made all kinds of goodies and spent some good quality time together. We didn't even take any pictures that week, or Christmas for that matter. I might regret that some day, but honestly it was just kind of nice to live in the moment as opposed to capturing the moment.

Sewing A Quiltsmart Mondo Bag

I finished my Quiltsmart Modo Bag last week, and let me tell you... It is indeed Mondo!

The Mondo Bag from Quiltsmart is made using fusible interfacing and 2.5" squares of fabric. Making it perfect for jelly rolls or layer cakes. It does take a few hours from start to finish, but is an easy enough project even a beginner can do it!

it is called the Mondo Bag for its Mondo size measures approx. 17" tall with a 10" square bottom. Very roomy! Measurements will vary slightly due to inseams and the amount of seams in the bag.