Stay Cool Gift Basket {with printable}

Lately it would seem that I am kind of obsessed with making themed gift "baskets". Just in the last couple months there has been a Strawberry Shortcake gift basket shared at Thirty Handmade Days and a Picnic themed gift I shared for a teacher gift idea. 

I can't seem to help myself. I love a good gift basket and I love it even more when there is a theme. Two things I obsess over, sticking to a theme and color coordinating things. I geek out just thinking about it.

So now Summer is in full swing, well most of the time anyway. If you follow me on Instagram (which heck, ya should @larissa_anotherday), you know that over here in these neck of the woods last week it was in the high 40's DURING THE DAY. I am trying to get over it. The weather is now appropriately summery.

Now that Summer is upon us I thought it would be fun to do a water themed gift for some special little boys I know.

A little "Stay Cool" gift you could say.

I gathered some supplies at The Mart. Read my Ten Craft Supplies to Buy at Walmart post to find out what I get at The Mart on a regular basis. As for this gift, can you beat those super cute towels for $5.88 a piece? I think not!

In this basket I put cute beach towels, water guns, a "Get Dad" water gun target t-shirt, water balloons, and Gatorade.

I also made this tag, in PicMonkey of course, because I LOVE that site. Like a lot, a lot.

I put everything in a plastic drink bucket and then attached the tag.

Now it is ready to give to some cute little boys. Just in time for a Summer scorcher.

Stay cool everyone.

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DIY Outdoor Board Game with Sharpie Paint Markers

"This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media

Group and Sharpie, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #PaintYourWay 

http://my-disclosure.es/OBsstV"

. 

What is all the rage in outdoor Summer fun? Well your very own DIY Outdoor Board Game of course. Trust me I have a neighborhood full of kids who think this giant sized Outdoor Board Game is the bees knees. Okay so, they didn't say that specifically and they would be confused with the concept of bees having knees.

You get the idea though.

They loved playing a human sized board game outside, especially because in our custom Outdoor Board Game water was involved.

Putting together your very own Outdoor Board Game is super easy.

You only need a few items and all the imagination and creativity you already possess.

The number one must have item, these Sharpie Paint Markers. PAINT markers! Paint in marker form. They are amazing.

I picked up this colorful variety pack and a single black marker at my local Michael's Craft Store. They have water based and oil based. They sell them as packs and as individual markers. Seriously, you should head over to Michael's and check them out either at your local store or online at Michael's.com

Once you have yourself some of these markers, then all you need is a bed sheet, a vinyl tablecloth, some fabric, iron on transfer, and a couple of boxes.

 Then let your imagination run wild. You decide the theme of your Outdoor Board Game. Then you can decide how many spaces and what kind of spaces they should be.

I used fabric and iron on transfer for the plain squares and attached them to the white sheet.

Since our Outdoor Board Game was a water themed game, I used my Sharpie Paint Markers to make several water activity spaces. I thought up some fun activities and then I drew pictures that represented that activity.

Then I sewed the sheet and the vinyl tablecloth together. 

For the die I spray painted two boxes. Then I drew dots and wrote phrases, like "lose a turn" on each dice with my Sharpie Paint Markers.

I got to tell you, I LOVED these markers. They were great to work with. I was able to write easily on both the sheet and the cardboard box (which of course were a giant set of die). The coverage was great and they lasted through my whole project, with paint to spare for some extra projects. I also have to tell you that the paint dries quickly.

So quickly in fact, we didn't have to wait to long to play our very own Outdoor Board Game.

In case you want to make a water themed Outdoor Board Game like we did, here are the water activity spaces I did.

Water Activity Spaces--

Get Hosed (sprayed by a hose)

Take Aim (one on one water gun fight)

Ice, Ice Baby (stand or sit in a bucket of ice water)

Kick the Bucket (bucket of water over the head)

Attack (player's choice of water activity to another player)

Run the Sprinkler (run through the sprinkler)

Ambush (water balloon fight)

I also got to say how impressive my pictures held up during this very wet game. Since I had several neighbor kids dripping wet from before mentioned water activities I was a little worried that all that water would cause the pictures to bleed. Guess what, they didn't! They held up and after the game dried they still looked as good as when I first drew them.

Seriously, these paint markers are crazy awesome.

Glazed Lime Cookies

If these cookies were people, these Glazed Lime Cookies would be the classiest bunch of them all. Well maybe not as classy and ladylike as macarons, but these could be her almost as lovely friend from grade school.

These Glazed Lime Cookies are light and just crispy enough. They are refreshingly sweet and perfectly enhanced by the lime. They are summer in cookie form people. I know I often categorize my food by seasons, but I just can't seem to help getting immersed in the food of the season.

We use lime a lot in this house. Funny story, once we had some friends over for dinner...that isn't the funny part. We did our customary meal planning. We gathered up a few of our favorite recipes that we felt all coordinated together. It was only after making the dinner and moments before they arrived that we realized that FOUR of the things we made all had the name LIME in it. Hehehe. I guess we really do like lime. The whole night was lime-tastice. You won't hear me complaining.

So yes, we like limes. I had been wanting to try this recipe for awhile. I have had this recipe for years (like we are talking 10) and I just kept putting it off. Story of my life. Finally decided to add the ingredients to my grocery list, because that is like writing it in stone don't you know.

Then I made them. Then I ate them. Then I ate some more. I really rather liked them.

I will say this, they are a little more grown up of a cookie. My Little Men only like them so-so. Also, if you make cookies for the cookie dough, well this isn't really the recipe for you. This is definitely a needs to be in baked and glazed cookie form to be enjoyed at its best.

With all that being said, I also don't want to scare you off from these delightful cookies. They really are something special and are not your typical cookie. Like I said, they are way more sophisticated than your average chocolate chip. Good news though is that they don't require tons of work like a fore mentioned macarons.

Give these lovely cookies a try. Oh, and when you read that there is 1 cup of corn meal in them, yes that is correct. It seems weird I know, but trust me these cookies are not weird they are uniquely surprising and marvelous.

See.

Glazed Lime Cookies

cookie:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
4 teaspoons lime zest
2 Tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons orange zest
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup corn meal

glaze:
3 1/4 cups powdered sugar
8 Tablespoons lime juice
2 1/2 teaspoon lime zest

Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add in egg and beat until incorporated. Then add in the lime zest, lime juice, orange zest, and almond extract. Mix until blended. Add in the flour and the corn meal. Mix well. Chill the dough for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheets with cooking spray and sprinkle lightly with corn meal. Shape dough into 1" balls. Place on cookie sheet about 3" a part. Dip the bottom of a glass in corn meal. Using the glass, flatten the cookies to 1/4" thickness. Bake 14-16 minutes or until the cookies are light brown around the edges. Remove the cookies to a cooling rack. Let cool completely.

To make the glaze combine the powdered sugar, lime juice, and lime zest. Stir until smooth. Place the cooking rack with the cookies on it over a sheet of wax paper. Pour the lime glaze evenly over the cookies. Let the glaze set.

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TEE-rific Dad Father's Day Gift

Need a last minute Father's Day gift?

And by last minute, I currently mean tomorrow is Father's Day. That kind of last minute. Goosh. I am really cutting it close this year. Last year I was WAY on top of the ball and busted out three Father's Day gifts. This Camping Gift, Grilling Gift, and Soda Pop Gift. This year not so much. Which is why this oh-so-lovely blog post is going live the afternoon of the day before Father's Day.

The good news, is thanks to Pinterest even if you have already got Father's Day gifting all wrapped up...hahaha, wrapped up...you can just pin this idea for next year. So you can look at it two ways. First, this if for those who (like me) procrastinated Father's Day and need an easy last minute gift. Second, this if for those who are prepared and are already planning for next year.

Either way, I got ya covered.

For this Tee-rific Dad Father's Day Gift all you need is:

A t-shirt or two.

(these shirts all from Target)

You will need this TEE-rific Dad Tag, which I of course made in PicMonkey. Their fonts rock my world, AND did you know that now with their Royale Membership you can now use your own fonts. What?! Yep it is true.

(just right click, save as image, open in Word, resize if needed, and print off)

Some fabric scraps or yarn.

Simply fold up the t-shirts and tie the fabric scraps around. Attach the Tee-rific Dad Tag and you are good to go.

Now just like that you have a perfectly awesome Father's Day Gift great for planning ahead or last minute gifting.

Thanks for reading!

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Disney Princess Photo Stands

I am so happy to be joining Rachel from R & R Workshop for her fabulous A Month of Disney.

One of the most treasured mementos from a family trip to Disneyland is the photos. The Disney character photos are like the best of the best. Now if you have a little princess of your own, which I don't but I have some princess nieces, then those princess photos are a special kind of precious.

You know what else is precious?

All the Fisher Price Little People Disney figurines. Could you die with from their cuteness??

I had this idea that these figurines would make a perfect photo stands. The cutest photo stands for the cutest princess photos.

They were really easy to make.

First you just need a few Little People Disney figurines, like this Ariel Aurora set. Then grab some cloths pins. I spray painted my clothes pin pink so they matched the figurines better. Next you just need to hot glue the cloths pin to the back of the figurine with the opening end up.

 Once they dry, they are ready to display your princess photos.

Seriously, how cute is that Little Aurora hugging Big Aurora being held up by a Fisher Price Aurora. Oh the cuteness.

Now your Disneyland photos can be prettily displayed. I am pretty sure my little princess nieces will be pretty happy to have these little Disney Princess Photo Stands.

Here is another Disney Project that I have shown on the blog before:

Toy Story Play Dough Birthday Present

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Be sure to visit R & R Workshop to see all the blog posts for #MonthofDisney

Check out these other A Month of Disney posts--

An InLinkz Link-up