Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Gooey Caramel Popcorn

Gooey Caramel popcorn
Caramel Popcorn

Our favorite summer activity to do together as a family, is backyard movie night.  We bought a fancy projector at an auction.  We hook it up to our portable DVD player, add some speakers and there you have it, your own personal Drive-in type movie.  We love to invite friends and family over and make it a big event.  Everyone brings their favorite treats to share.  We have a theater style popcorn popper.  So, we usually provide all the popcorn.  We love to make caramel popcorn to go along with it.

This was a family favorite growing up.  We loved that it was GOOEY!
Thanks Mom for teaching me how to make it!

Gooey Caramel Popcorn

1/2 cup Butter
1/2 Cup Corn Syrup
1 Cup Light or Dark Brown Sugar
2 Bags of your favorite Microwave Popcorn or 1/2 Cup Dry Kernels Popped
(I like to use an air popper to cut the fat calories)

Gooey Carmel Popcorn
Ingredients needed

popcorn maker


Pop popcorn as per package directions.  

popping popcorn

Pour popcorn into a large bowl.  
 Gently shake popcorn to get the kernels to the bottom of the bowl.  
Scoop out popcorn, removing popcorn on the top of the bowl first, 
leaving all the kernels behind.  

popcorn kernels

Place scooped out popcorn into a large glass bowl (or one that won't melt).  

In a saucepan, boil butter, corn syrup and brown sugar for 3 minutes,
 constantly stirring with a wooden spoon.  
*Do not use a metal spoon and try not to scrape the sides/bottom of the pan.  




 



After 3 minutes remove from heat.  
(cook time may vary from cook-top to cook-top and altitude)







Pour all over the popcorn, not just in one spot. 





Take your wooden spoon, and stir the popcorn, 
until the caramel completely and evenly covers it.  






 
Enjoy!

*If your caramel is hard, and you want it gooey, reduce the cook time 
and or cooking temperature.

**Increase cook time for harder caramel or popcorn balls.
Remove from bowl, spread on wax paper for cooling harder caramel popcorn.









Friday, June 26, 2015

Air Show Craft- Foam Airplanes


Flash back from last summer, when we saw these at the store again today.
We were so excited for the Air Show to come to town.  The Thunder Birds were going to be flying, and we wanted to do a craft while we waited.  

Plane Party


We found these at our local $ store, and picked up one for each family member.
They are also on Amazon for a little more.  
We got out the permanent markers and each designed our own planes. 
 *Non-permanent markers will smudge and get on your hands.

plane craft

airplane party


Transportation craft

plane

plane craft

foam plane

airplane

airplane craft

airplane design

 We then, took them outside and flew them.  We had races, and tried to see who could get theirs to fly the furthest.  Of course, they then started weighing them down with screws, because they were sure they could get it to fly further.  A few actually got it to fly better.  


Plane party craft
Racing Planes
Plane races
Who can fly the furthest
These planes broke after about an hour of play, so they are fragile. For $1.00 each the kiddos, and even my Hubby had a blast making and flying them.

Would be fun for a birthday party, Scouting or youth group party!
We hope this sparks some creative ideas and you have as much fun as we did!

Leave us a comment on how your airplanes turned out!

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Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Country Feel to the Pallet Flag Craze


Distressed Pallet Flag
Pallet Flag

We saw these flags everywhere and just instantly wanted one of our own.  

Upcycled pallet
Perfect Pallet
 First you must choose your pallet wisely.  Unfortunately, most pallets are square shaped, or if your lucky enough to find a rectangle the stripes go in the wrong direction.  We lucked out and happened to already have this old pallet, that our ride on lawn mower came on many years ago.  It is the perfect size, shape, and the stripes go in the right direction.  If you have a square pallet and want the rectangle look, you could always leave a stripe or two blank, or even write something patriotic on the first plank with the flag below.

Give your pallet a good scrubbing so your paint will adhere good.  
Let it dry completely before you begin painting

Rustic Americana colors
Paint Choices
I wasn't thrilled by the color choices most of the flags out there were.  I thought the bright red, bright blue, and bright white looked a little funny on a pallet.  It didn't give that rustic feel, I think of when  I see pallets up-cycled.  So, we decided on the deeper colors English Navy, Tuscan Red, and Vanilla Ice Cream.  We used Nutmeg brown for the back and sides, since they were covered in green paint.

 I would recommend a paint brush for this project, sponge brushes will just get caught and rip on the rough pallet wood.   You have the choice to just paint the top of the planks, or to also paint the sides like we did.

 I really debated even painting the white stripes, the wood was beautiful and gave an even more rustic look. Obviously, I went ahead and painted them, but it's another option to consider.

Measure out where you want the blue portion of the flag and lightly draw it out with pencil.

Rustic Pallet Flag


I used two coats of paint for each color.

As mentioned earlier, I painted the sides and inside of the pallet nutmeg brown, because of the green paint already on the pallet.  I actually really loved how it looked with the brown paint, it gave it more of a finished look.  So, that is another step to consider including or skipping.

Since I plan on displaying my flag outside, I sealed it with a good quality clear spray paint, 
but you could use any number of sealers on the market.

4th of July

I'm not a big fan of the painted stars.  To me they just felt cheesy, but that is what most people are doing.  I decided I wanted to hang a metal star where the stars should be.  I found this one at a craft store for a few dollars.  I wish it was slightly larger, but overall I love how it turned out.

Get creative and come up with your own design for a unique pallet flag.

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Saturday, June 20, 2015

Father's Day Photoshoot and Gift Basket


mustruninthefamily.com
We Love Daddy
This is a throwback to a Father's Day long ago.  
We decided to have a photo-shoot and 
make a gift-basket for Father's Day.  
The girls picked out matching outfits and we went to work.    
We framed the above picture and made a mini photo album/book with the rest.  

We used washable markers to draw on the girls feet and arms.
For the most part it did wash off, but there was slight staining of the feet.
The fake tattoos were inspired by all the Mom Tattoos out there.

mustruninthefamily.com
We <3 Dad Fake tattoo


Dad tattoo


The girls drew block letters on a full size poster board.  We then used an exact-o knife 
and cut the letters out.  The girls held the sign.  We moved until we found the 
best angle from the sun and took the picture.

Father's Day
Shadow Love


We each wrote down everything and every product we could think of that had something to do with dads, fathers, pas, and pops.  We picked our favorites and headed to the store to buy them.  The kids posed with the different products and we made a gift basket with the matching picture attached to the product. These are the products and pictures we were able to find for the gift basket.  We even edited cute saying onto the actual pictures with fun quotes.

dad pictures
My POPS kind of "Corny"

Daddy's Sugar Babies


mustruninthefamily.com
Our Dad's Soda Great!


mustruninthefamily.com
Daddy's Nerds (cause they are so smart)
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Our Pop Rocks
Paw
Best Paw Hands Down in Sandbox
 We even had the dogs put their paw print in it.  We filled in the words and hand prints with lighter sand an gravel, but didn't get those pictures.

dad pictures
Best Paw in Garden
The girls had a blast taking pictures and making the gift basket.  
Daddy Loved It!

Hope these photos spark your creativity, we'd love to see what you come up with.

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