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Monday, August 31, 2015

Free Printable Horse coloring page



This is the first in a series of free printable horse coloring pages.  You can download them and color and decorate them however you would like.  There is plenty of scientific evidence to suggest that coloring is a relaxing and stress reducing hobby for children and adults alike!  Some are whimsical and intricate in detail allowing for your creativity to blossom in new and exciting ways.  Some are plain horses that you can color in the usual way or--not.

Use colored pencils, markers or a combination of all sorts of media!  Enjoy and be sure to return for more free printable coloring pages.

Click on the photo, download the page and print on your home printer at full size.


Saturday, August 29, 2015

Free Printable Horse coloring page 2

Horse coloring page


This coloring page is the second in our series of free printable coloring pages.  Enjoy the stress relieving activity with your choice of any coloring mediums.  Click on the photo, download and print full size on your home printer.  Please let me know in the comments if you are enjoying these coloring pages so I can keep them coming!

If you get the chance check out this article:



Wednesday, August 26, 2015

The best of Make it easy crafts free kids printables



Want some free printables for the kids?  Today we've compiled a few of our favorites for you to print out and enjoy.

Coloring is so trendy right now.  Kid's are doing it like they always did but now grownups are joining in on the fun. Coloring can do so many things.  It relieves stress and stimulates relaxation.  It amps up ones creativity.  As fast and stressful as this world can be, coloring brings you down to earth and promotes well being.  While these printables are geared for kids, I'm working on some grown-up coloring pages, so stop back by soon and check out the color zone!

Click on the photos for the free tutorials and printables

Whip up a cute little coloring booklet for the kiddies...easy and fun. 


The next printable is an apple bookmark.  This is a great way to get your kids reading!


Kid's love their pets so this stained glass style pet printable coloring page is going to be fun.  Print it on tracing paper and they can tape it to a window just like real stained glass!


It will be Halloween  before you know it and kids love to decorate. These hanging spiders are fun and they can color them any way they choose, then hang them on threads.









Monday, August 24, 2015

cheer bow

Hi everybody!  I'm over at Bowdabra blog today creating easy, fun cheer bows!  Head on over so you can follow along with the easy tutorial. And while you are there be sure to check out the hundreds of free craft tutorials, videos and recipes!  
I know you’re not thinking too much about fall and football games while still in the heat of summer but it won’t be too long before you will be dressing up that pony tail with a cheer bow. You can make your cheer bow in any combination of colors to show your team spirit. And what’s more, you create the entire bow including the hair elastic in the Bowdabra! Leave it plain as a beautiful big bow to highlight your team colors or go one step further and glue on a charm, foam letters or rhinestone to the front to personalize it even more. This is a super kid’s craft too!
These pony tail bows are so quick you will want to make cheer bows for the whole cheer squad!

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Dinner easy side dish – Savory Greek style green beans



This week at "Dinner easy" we are focusing on the side dish or better known as the supporting player to a great meal. You can’t have an orchestra without the string section and you can’t have a villain without a minion.  The same goes for dinner.  What’s a main course without a side dish? 

I’m of Greek ancestry; my husband on the other hand is Irish.  I am willing to bet before he married me he never tasted any Greek food in his life.  It’s opened up a whole new culinary experience for him and one of his favorites is Greek style green beans.  In fact if you ask him what sort of veggie he likes best he will always say Greek green beans. 




Pair this easy side dish with our moist delicious meatloaf recipe, add a baked potato and you have a complete dinner easy!


Savory Greek style green beans

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. fresh or frozen green beans (thawed if frozen)
  • Garlic clove, minced
  • 1 tbsp. light olive oil
  • ¼ cup chopped onions
  • 14.5 oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
  • 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ½”tsp. pepper
  • ½” tsp. oregano
  • 1 tbsp. lemon juice


Directions:

Heat the oil on medium heat in a large pot.  Add the onions and garlic and sauté about 5 minutes until the onions are translucent.  Stir in the green beans and cook a little longer.  Reduce the heat to medium low.  Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, oregano, and lemon juice.  Cook on medium low for 5 more minutes.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Be sure to visit Bowdabrablog and Make it easy crafts for Dinner easy next week for more tasty recipes!



Sunday, August 16, 2015

Recycle a leather handbag into cute drop earrings



Don’t throw that leather or faux leather handbag away, upcycle it into cute lightweight drop earrings in geometric shapes.

So my fave handbag finally bit the dust.  The handle was starting to look a bit ragged and then the zipper busted.  The snaps let go.  I really loved that bag.  It wasn’t one of those high priced handbags but the leather was soft and supple.  My husband told me to toss it in the trash, but come on now could I really toss it in the trash? 

I got out my scissors and removed the lining.  Then I started to cut the leather from the sides, front and back.  The leather was a lightweight variety and easy to cut with regular scissors.  So now I had several pieces of leather with which to create.

The predominant color of the bag was a reddish hue.  So of course I thought of hearts.  And jewelry is always my thing.  If you don’t want to make hearts you can cut out all sorts of geometric shapes for your earrings.  These earrings are practically free when you consider you are recycling the leather and you can make quite a few from just a few pieces, so it’s perfect for groups. 

And keep those leather or faux leather pieces because I have more tutorials coming your way using them!

Supplies:

·      Lightweight leather or faux leather from a handbag
·      Two needle nosed pliers
·      Jump rings in - large, med, and small
·      Fish hook ear wires
·      Scissors
·      Small hole paper punch
·      White chalk pencil
·      Lightweight cardboard (for pattern)

Directions:

1.     Cut apart the handbag saving the usable leather pieces.  To make the heart pattern, fold a piece of lightweight cardboard in half and on the fold draw a half heart.  Cut out and open for your pattern.  You can play around with sizes and shapes in the same way.









2.     Using your pattern and a chalk pencil draw two heart shapes on the wrong side of the leather and cut out.





3.     Use the paper punch to make a hole in the top center and bottom point in one heart.  Make a hole in the top center of the other heart.




4.     Open the largest jump ring by twisting instead of pulling with two needle-nosed pliers.  Attach both hearts together point to center and twist to close.  (See photo)



5.     Open the medium sized jump ring twisting to open as before and attach to the top heart center hole.  Twist to close



6.     Open the smallest jump ring attach to the previous medium sized jump ring and add the fish hook ear wire making sure it is facing in the right direction.  Twist the jump ring closed.  Earring made.



7.     Repeat steps 2-6 for the second earring.




Thursday, August 13, 2015

Summer supper chicken salad stuffed cucumber boats



They don’t call August dog days for nothing and nothing beats a crisp stuffed cucumber boat for a light lunch or supper.

Now my thumb is usually any color but green but it seems that this year the color green really loves me.  The cucumber seeds I planted are producing cucumbers like gangbusters!  So last week I asked around for any ideas for using these cukes and my niece suggested I stuff them with chicken or tuna salad.  Well I am pretty famous for my cranberry walnut chicken salad recipe, so I figured why not?

Since we had a rotisserie chicken yesterday and had some leftover cooked chicken I whipped up a batch of chicken salad.  Since I used seasoned rotisserie chicken I eliminated the cooking and seasoning step for making this salad, but if you don’t have a rotisserie chicken leftover you can always cook up some chicken tenderloins as the recipe suggests.

These cucumber boats are so tasty and crunchy you may never want to have chicken salad any other way!  Thanks Ashley for this great idea!

Ingredients:

Crystal's cranberry walnut chicken salad recipe (or your favorite chicken salad)
Cucumbers each cucumber will make two boats
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

Directions:

Make some Cranberry Chicken Salad (If you are using leftover rotisserie chicken you can eliminate cooking and seasoning the chicken

Wash and dry the cucumber.  Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to hollow out the cut cucumber.  Slice a bit off the bottom so that it stands up straight on a plate.  Use a spoon to remove the seeds and hollow out the center.




Add an ample amount of chicken salad to the cucumber boat and top with salt and pepper to taste.  Add some paprika for color and enjoy.



Come back next week to Make it easy crafts and Bowdabra blog  for more "Dinner easy" recipes and craft tutorials.