Endless ideas for popcorn

This is a quick post about popcorn. This is an overlooked snack with endless possibilities. My niece loves when I use miniature marshmallows with the popcorn. (Polka dot popcorn below). At other times, I just add seasoning for some different flavor varieties.

*Polka Dot Popcorn: Layer a cake pan with wax paper (omit if you don't mind washing the sticky marshmallows.) place a layer of popped popcorn in the pan. Sprinkle some multi-colored miniature marshmallows on top of the layer of popped popcorn. (I use about 1/2 a cup. That way, they marshmallows don't melt into each other and you get some little popcorn balls.) Then add another layer of popcorn. Microwave 30 to 60 seconds (depends on the power of your microwave.) The marshmallows will puff up and stick to the surrounding popcorn. Now,  you have a sweet treat.

              You could also use the rice crispy treat recipe. Just substitute popcorn in place of rice crispy cereal.

*Coated popcorn: After popping the popcorn (4 to 6 cups popped). Place in a large bowl. Melt a bag of butterscotch baking chips (any baking chips will work) in a microwave safe bowl. Try starting with 20 to 30 seconds at a time, mix, and microwave for another 20 to 30 seconds. Repeat until the chips are melted and a smooth consistency  Pour over the popcorn and mix, coating as much popcorn as possible. Allow the butterscotch to set and eat. 

*Seasoned popcorn: Add any seasoning alone or in any combination. I am currently eating a bowl that I sprinkled Italian Seasoning, garlic, and salt. Use ranch powder (used for dip or dressing). Use Pumpkin Spice. Use Chai Seasoning (for tea). These are all that I have tried and liked. 

Be creative and have fun with popcorn. 

Gift of Casserole Carrier

This casserole carrier and water bottles were given as a birthday gift. The recipient picked out the fabric and I took over from there.

Casserole carrier tutorial here: 
http://ponderingcat.blogspot.com/2013/04/casserole-carrier-tutorial.html

For this one, instead of snaps, I used buttons and ribbons. I liked the look of the buttons and ribbons better, so I may be using that method to close my future casserole carriers. I tucked the napkins, wrapped around plastic utensils,  on the top, so the carrier is gaping open a bit. I should have tucked them in on the side for the photo. 

Upcycle of Book to CD Case

I often get photo albums as gifts because I love to take photos. Well, I don’t always print them out. I often down load them onto my phone or computer. I end up re-gifting a lot of smaller albums. 

These past few days, I have been organizing my photos and putting them on CDs for gifts. I ran out of places to keep them and decided to recycle a small photo album to hold the CDs.

I started by cutting a “V” in the page that was to be the front. I put a white piece of paper behind the cut so you could see it better because the page behind it had the same pattern.

I then  glued the bottom and outer edge to the page behind it to create an envelope. I waited for the glue to set. I did that for each page and that was it. My CD book was ready.

A very simple craft that will hold my CDs.

I explained that I was giving CDs as a gift to tuck into cards. Well, you could download the photos onto a free web site like Flickr.com. They give one terabyte of memory and allow you to download the photo in the same size it was taken. Some sites limit the memory or size of a photo.

You could make an separate account for each family that you wanted to send photos to. Send them the address and the password so they can access the account that you created for them. Then they can download, send the photos in emails, or print out as many as they wanted. Memories are a great gift idea and these ideas cost little or nothing.