Healthy Easter Treats: How to Make Cheddar Bunny "Carrots"

Aside from all the plastic junk that accumulates around the holidays, the other thing that makes this green mom  crazy, is that Americans are conditioned to always celebrate holidays with large quantities of sugar. Candy candy everywhere! So if you aren't filling your little bunnies' easter eggs with candy, what do you put in their basket or bring as treats to class parties?

Creative Carissa's Favorite Healthy Easter Options

• Make your own playdough
• Books  (I just bought brand new Dr. Seuss books at Goodwill for $1 each)
• Socks
• Non-Toxic Nail Polish like Piggy Paint
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Healthy Snacks 
• Cheddar bunny carrots!

What you need
These carrots are super simple and were made with things I already had on hand. You will need:

• Annie's Cheddar Bunny crackers
• Plastic baggies **see my note below about plastic bags**
• Scissors
• Green Yarn or ribbon

**An important note about plastic bags**

Beware of the triangle shaped party bags often sold in the seasonal section of department stores as the plastics used often contain questionable ingredients like BPA. Instead, purchase baggies made for food that are explicitly labeled to be PVC, BPA and phthalate free. I personally use the bags from Whole Food's 365 brand as they are 100% polyethelene and free of these questionable ingredients.

Step 1: Fill the bag
Open a bag and pour in about 1/2 cup of crackers.

Step 2: Check for "carrotiness"

Make sure your bag is filled to the right level to make you happy with its carroty shape. Add more crackers if needed.

Step 3: Trim the top
Trim the top zipper edge off the bag.

Step 4: Tie the top
Pull out a length of about 2 yards of yarn. Keep folding the length in half until you have a large loop about 6 inches in length. Tie it around the top of the crackers.

Step 5: Make it pretty
Slide your scissors in the ends of the yarn loops and trim them to make a cute little tuft of fringe.

Step 7: Repeat
Keep going until you have all the little carrots you need. If you are bringing these to a class party or group event, be sure to keep or photocopy the ingredients list from the box so anyone worried about food allergies can check them out before enjoying.

If you have a favorite non-toxic or non-sugary Easter idea, I'd love to hear about it! Please feel free to share in the comments.

Last Minute Crafty Christmas Gifts

What's that you say? We're less than two days from Christmas and you still haven't figured out what to get for Aunt Mildred. Or Grandpa Eddie. Or your sweet little niece and nephew? You love handmade gifts but have run out of ideas and you might just buy a gift card.

Before you run out and drop your hard earned cash on a piece of plastic check out these great gift ideas that you can make (even last minute), sometimes even with things you already have on hand. You'll be able to give a clever handmade gift and look super thoughtful doing it.


Food Gifts

1. Homemade Chocolate Syrup from Small Notebook. Most chocolate syrup bought in store is full of ooky mystery or genetically modified ingredients. I love that you know everything that goes into this one and it's a gift any mocha drinker or parent of children who drink chocolate milk will appreciate.

2. Homemade Ginger Syrup (my recipe). This is super easy to make and is also easy to make in large batches so if you need to make a gift for several people, you can crank out several bottles of this with less than an hour of hands on time from you.

3. Cookie Mix in a Jar from Bakerella. This is another one that would be great for making in multiples. Just set everything up assembly line style and crank out a dozen in an afternoon.

4. Candycane Hearts from In His Grip. These look easy enough to make and would be a fun project to involve kids with, whether it's dolloping chocolate or sprinkling crushed candy canes on top. If you have a stoneware cookie sheet, make these even faster by freezing your stone for a a few hours and then making the hearts on parchment paper placed on top. This will set the chocolate even faster.




Gifts for Parents and Grandparents

1. Framed Art & Artist Photos from Southern Exposure. Let your kids create a masterpiece and snap a photo while they're doing it. Frame both together and you've got a winning combination!

2. Thumbprint Holiday Cards from Meet the Dubiens. Pair one of these with a store bought gift to add a personal touch.

3. Personalized Candles from A Girl in Paradise. Let your kids draw or decorate a design that you transfer to a candle with a little help from a grown up.

4. Front and Back Bookmarks from Having Fun at Home. Snap some pictures of your kiddo(s) from both sides, upload to a site like Shutterfly or Walgreens that lets you swing by to pick up the pics later and you've got a fun meaningful gift that will be used by a bibliophilic grandparent.




Gifts for Children

1. Mustache Binkies (my project). They only take minutes to make but they are tons of fun for both kids and grown ups.

2. Tool Belt or Art Apron from Outnumbered. Nikki writes a great tutorial for making a tool belt for play toys. You could also follow the same tutorial to make an art apron that crayons or markers fit into.

3. Personalized Board Book from Chef Messy. Raid your photo archives or scan facebook for photos of family members to make a personalized board book. If you don't already have a spare board book lying around, check out Dollar Tree as they frequently sell two-packs of small board books for $1.

4. Gingerbread Playdough from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. Whip up a large batch of heavenly scented non-toxic playdough for all the kiddos in your life using ingredients you already have in your pantry..

Or just add some bling...

 

At the end of the day if you decide to give a gift card anyway, you can always give it a festive DIY touch by packaging it in a fun snow globe using this tutorial from The Creative Mama.

A big thanks to all the bloggers who shared their great ideas to help us procrastinating crafters come through with great gifts just in time!  If your project was featured, please feel free to grab a featured button:

<a href="http://creativecarissa.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiklZr_Hri2zrZPhH-zN8NNyq6pEdZTgy-Rcud5hiRQiD_geRrQiXRwXiydjUqfA42RYEjke7JoQA2_vGlVBh3g7GadFxK3q2nnFZ0yC5AEv86c3o5l36hOBeqz164TxXzugVmQDxje50I/s150/featured%252520button%252520150%252520px%252520copy.jpg" alt="Carissa's Creativity Space" width="125" height="125" /></a>

And if we don't see each other until then...

.Merry Christmas!

DIY Ginger Syrup for homemade soda

My family has been trying to find healthier alternatives to traditional soda. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is not only horrible for you, but almost all of it is made from genetically modified corn - which we oppose on moral grounds. Plus drinking lots of extra calories is bad for you. Diet sodas aren't too much better. And with all the hub-bub going around about caramel coloring causing cancer, it's enough to make you give up soda altogether.

Except I'm addicted. I think it's the bubbles. I find plain club soda has a weird bitter taste so I still need it flavored somehow. And it needs to be inexpensive.

I've seen a few recipes for infused syrups that you can use to make homemade sodas floating around online about thought I'd give it a shot.  I love that I have 100% control over what goes into it and it's not pricey! It turned out pretty tasty, too, if I do say so myself. Plus I think it makes a fun inexpensive gift. So without further ado...