Cookies in a Jar!

Maybe Everyone makes something in a jar for MOPS, but its because its fun, they are good and everyone loves them... so here is a delicious recipe I pulled from allrecipes.com and re-named :) Instead of attaching tags, I printed labels with a cute Christmas border to put on the jars, its fairly simple, looks good and is easy to slap on the jar at the end :)

Ingredients:
5/8 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions: Layer the ingredients in a 1-quart or 1 liter jar, in the order listed.
Attach a tag or label with the following instructions: Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, beat together 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until fluffy. Add the entire jar of ingredients, and mix together by hand until well blended. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges start to brown. Cool on baking sheets, or remove to cool on wire racks. Enjoy!

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/cranberry-hootycreek-cookies-in-a-jar-109105#ixzz1f8OncG8O

Fun and Fast Foam bookmarks

 
 
I LOVE these! Black craft foam from your local craft store- its in the kids section and super cheap, one pretty doo-dad per mom, roll of sticky-back magnet and some hot glue and its ready! I cut the foam about 1 1/4 inches wide and in the neighborhood of 3.5-4 inches long. Cut the ends with decorative scissors or pinking sheers and then the moms folded the foam strips, peeled the paper off the magnests, stuck them to the inside of the foam so that they connect then hot-glued the decorative bit to the outside :) Viola! bookmarks that won't fall out of your book.

Cheery Springtime Flower Pots

 
 
I was running out of energy with just 2 MOPS meetings left, but REALLY wanted to do this cute activity. So I did a bit of research a week before it was due and found that I could get all my materials locally, thanks to Home Depot :) I got all the 4" pots and the foam brushes and the chalkboard paint. and Its tintable! Rust-Oleum makes this fun tintable chalkboard paint and you can choose from 12 colors :) I ended up with raspberry (shown) a mossy green and periwinkle blue. The instructions reccomend 2 coats with 4 hours of drying time in between, due to MOPS style timing I gave it one coat and said a little prayer :) It turned out great! I did wait the 3 days before taking chalk to it though- I figured I should follow SOME of the directions.
So that is basically it: pots, paint, chalk and flowers! I purchased starters for the flowers and plan on sending them home for the moms to plant, potting soil and carpet don't get along well. Oh, and if you are hoping for a one-stop craft I am sorry to say I had to hit my local craft store for the chalk... but I did find supplies for another craft on sale- making it worth it!

Home Quote Plaques... that hold recipes!

This was by far my favorite craft from last year, the preparation was insane and daunting- but the outcome was so rewarding. The hardest part was making it fit my budget, and where budget needs to be adhered to, it means a lot more work.

So, first you have to either purchase wooden plaques or- if money is tight, purchase a few 1x6's, cut them into 4 inch length's and then miter the edges, then paint them. Like I said- saving money will take a lot of energy and time... and a good friend with the required tools and her willing father. Many thanks to Bethany!

The next bit was simpler... I found some Grafix paper online- basically allowing to print my own rub-onz. I came up with some designs and sayings with the wonderful help of my steering team and printed them all- in reverse according to the package instructions,then all we needed were hot glue guns, and clothes-pins.

The clothes-pins are attached (upside-down) to the back to both help it stand up, and to hold either a photo or a recipe card. The hot glue serves to attach the clothespins and are used to make little bead on the base of the plaque to get it to tip back and rest on the clothespins. Have fun and enjoy!