Meaghan over at The Decorated Cookie shows us how to decorate these lovely little houses for your ghomes or fairies, depending on the creatures that happen to inhabit your homes.

I know my daughter will love to setting up these “fairy” homes but I’m not sure if they will survive the day due to her brothers and the fact that they are made completely out of marshmallows and fondant.  All I need is a set or two of some fine tipped edible pen/markers to do this.  I can’t wait to see what the kiddies come up with.  But the real question is, how many houses will be completed and how many will be eaten as “mistakes”?

If you have the pens that are food safe, this would make a spectacular rainy day project.  If you don’t have fondant just hanging around, could I suggest maybe a roof made of construction or left over scrap booking paper and tape.

Leaving this around too long could be a “bad” thing since marshmallows are mostly sugar but this could make a very cute cake or cupcake decoration or a decoration for a table-scape.   How cute would this be for a baby shower?!?!

If you do this, I’d love to see the pics!!!!!!!

The Decorated Cookie – Marshmallow Village

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I found that Disney has a site that does just that.  I have found that the Disney sites are very kid friendly and pretty easy to navigate in general.

They have “green” crafts and recipes, games and project all aimed to involve the entire family. 

I’m really liking the crafting section.  Most are geared to the under 8 crowd but I know my daughter will like reusing cans as flower pots.  The only question for her will be how many can she do.  We’ll start the seeds inside and then move them outside when the weather isn’t so cold.

I’m looking forward to trying some of these ideas out with the kiddies!

Kaboose – Earth Day

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In addition to the sale and extra merchandise, they will be offering wine and cheese and Dichroic Glass Music! The duo of Maureen Rush-Bogutz  and Kristin King will preform from 1-4pm on Saturday only.  And their CD’s will be available for sale. (Much of the proceeds from engagements and CD sales are donated to cancer research.)

This weekend’s hours are:

Saturday, December 13th from 10 am to 9 pm with Dichroic Glass Music from 1-4pm

Sunday, December 14th from noon to 5 pm

Jubili Beads and Yarns are located at 713 Haddon Ave.    Collingswood, NJ 08108    Phone: (856) 858-7844

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Geocaching GPS

If you want a nice outdoor thing to do with friends or kids, you might want to try this.  Geocaches are treasures hidden somewhere in a public place, usually containing a log to record your visit, something of interest about the place, and maybe some little trade items – hotwheels, tiny plastic frogs, “challenge” or “memorial” coins, refrigerator magnets, etc.  Once you find the cache, you enter your “handle” and date on the log, note the contents, maybe exchange a hotwheels for a coin, and rehide the cache in exactly the same place.

All this is orchestrated through the web site Geocaching.com.  When folks make a cache and hide it, they use a GPS to get the geographic coordinates, and then register the cache with its name,coordinates, and a little something about it to make it interesting at geocaching.com.  There are many caches within ten miles of your home, and you can always add more.It’s your job to find the cache – getting within twenty feet or so using the GPS, and using your eyes and intellect to actually locate the cache.  (Some are really tricky to find.  The listing gives a difficulty rating)  Once you have the satisfaction of finding the cache, then you log your find, and if it is large enough, exchange some “trade goods”.  There are also serial numbered “tracking bugs” that move from cache to cache similar to “flat Stanley”.  Each tracking bug has a history on geocache.com of where it has been – some in hundreds of caches.

After your day in the woods, park, forest or fields is complete, you then log your day’s exploits at the geocaching.com website to add to your totals.  You also add a little “thanks for the hide” note to the person who “owns” the cache.  That way they know that it is still out there giving pleasure to those who find it.

This hobby requires a decent handheld GPS, sturdy shoes, and depending on how hard-core you are sunscreen and/or tick repellent.  Many caches are not difficult to access in your work clothes, but a few  require ropes and crampons.  Most are just for fun, but some memorialize the history of the site.

Another important aspect of geocaching is the philosophy of “Cache in Trash out”.  Most geocachers will bring a trash bag and pick up any trash they come upon on the search.  Many geocache events are focused upon a meetup (usually at a restaurant) and a combination hunt and trash cleanup.

Overall this is a great way to get some fresh air, exercise and use some observation skills that you might not have used since you were a kid.

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