Meet the Dubiens

guess who's in Parenting magazine???

2012-02-27T17:40:00.002-05:00

It's me!!!!!!

I am beyond ecstatic to be telling you guys that a couple breakfasts I designed for kids are in the March issue of Parenting magazine.

How cool is that?!?! I totally want to frame the magazine page because I'm a total geek like that.

If you want the details on how to make these adorable breakfasts for your little ones, you'll have to pick up the March copy of Parenting magazine in stores right now!

this week in bento boxes

2012-02-26T07:54:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! We're having a much better weekend in our household now that we are all healthy again (*knock on wood*). Gastro went through every person in this house and it wasn't fun. Here are some recent bento's for Kirsten. It seems there was a bit of a panda theme going on here.

This cute panda bento was for Kirsten's afternoon nutrition break. She had a circle cut chicken sandwich with a cute panda piece of baran decoration on top. She also had a mini silicone cup filled with craisins and some pretzels. The top tier held some crinkle cup cucumbers with a cute panda pick.

This little bento was made for Kirsten's morning nutrition break. She had a cereal bar in the top tier and in the bottom tier she had alternating slices of orange and apple. The orange slices in between the apple slices kept the apple from browning. There was also a cute little lion pick and a cute little bunny pick.

This was another morning nutrition break bento. She had some green grapes, blueberries and strawberries with a little panda pick in the top tier. The bottom tier held a cereal bar in a silicone muffin cup, and some wheat thin crackers with bear cheese cut-outs.

Here's another panda bento for her afternoon nutrition break. The top tier held some crinkle cut cucumbers with a panda pick. The bottom tier had a circle-cut ham sandwich with a panda bear cheese on top with icing eyes. She also had some blueberries with another panda pick.

And lastly, a small snack bento for either a pasta or pizza day at school. She had a frozen smoothie (defrosts by her break and keeps her lunch bag cool), and some sliced kiwis and blueberries with a frog pick.

Here are some of the supplies (or similar) that I used to make these lunches:

fun food friday: a lunch fit for a princess

2012-02-24T15:54:00.002-05:00

Here is another lunch made with my awesome lunches punches. The lunch punches seriously make creating a cute lunch for your kiddos so simple. It literally takes seconds to punch your sandwiches into adorable shapes. This was a lunch for my little princess and she absolutely adored it. Here's how I made it:

Ham and cheese sandwich cut with the princess lunch punch. I also cut a piece of cheese with it so the princess has a cheese crown and star wand. I put flower sprinkles on the princess wings and a heart sprinkle mouth with chocolate sprinkle eyes. She also had a container of yogurt with sprinkles and a rice krispie treat wand with sprinkles. Wow! She sure got a lot of sprinkles with this lunch, lol. Oops. I cut the rice krispie treat into a star shape and stuck it on a lollipop stick. Kirsten was waving that thing around all lunch. She also had blueberries around the plate to give it a little more nutritional value.

Here are some of the supplies (or similar) that I used to make this lunch:

my silly girl

2012-02-23T05:10:00.002-05:00

Here's my sweet little four year old Kirsten. She absolutely loves playing dress-up these days. She has quite the little personality too, just like her little brother. Every time she comes out of her bedroom these days, she usually has some kind of wild outfit on. I never know what I'm going to see! I'm very blessed to have 2 sweet children. Here's some pics of my little lady:

my silly guy

2012-02-22T05:33:00.003-05:00

Here's a few pics of my sweet little Cam taken about 2 weekends ago. He is getting quite the personality. He loves making faces and thinks he's pretty hilarious. I just think he's pretty cute! Love my silly guy!

this week in bento boxes

2012-02-20T07:51:00.002-05:00

Well this post is a day late, but I just couldn't do much of anything yesterday. Gastro has hit my household HARD. Both the kids and I have been so sick. Lucky James seems to have escaped it again. He's done such a great job looking after us though, he deserves it! I am not a good sick person. This was totally not how I intended to spend my long weekend either. Boo. Anyway, on to the lunches. Here's some more cute lunches for my cute girl:

This was a super cute bento for her morning nutrition break. She had a monkey muffin, a peeled clementine orange with an adorable leaf pick and a banana. I start the peel on the banana from the back so she can easily peel it herself at school.

This bento was for her afternoon nutrition break. She had a turkey sandwich cut into a circle with a fruit leather and sprinkle flower. She also had some cheddar cheese cubes with a monkey pick and some crinkle cut cucumbers with an elephant pick.

This little piggy bento was for her morning nutrition break. She had a sweet little piggy decorated muffin, a silicone muffin cup filled with blueberries and some yogurt with sprinkles.

This was a realy quick and easy snack bento. For fundraising at Kirsten's school, they have pizza day and pasta day each once a week. I try to pack her a smaller bento box on these days so she can have something nutritious with her pasta or pizza. This was one of those bento's. She had some sliced melons and pineapple with an elephant pick and a frozen strawberry banana smoothie. I take the smoothies out of the freezer in the morning and it will be defrosted by her lunch break. It also helps keep her lunch cool.

And lastly, a sweet little mouse bento for her morning nutrition break. She had an adorable little mouse muffin, a silicone muffin cup filled with cubed marble cheese and a mouse pick and a container of green grapes.

Here are some of the supplies (or similar) that I used to make these lunches:

fun food friday: flower fun

2012-02-17T14:29:00.003-05:00

This was a really quick and easy lunch I threw together for the kids. I really love the lunch punch sets. You can quickly turn a sandwich into a work of art. They are sturdy and come in great designs. Here's how I made this lunch:

turkey bologna sandwich cut using the flower lunch punch - turkey bologna on top. Then I used the flower shape in the lunch punch to cut additional flowers out of cheese and turkey bologna and put large confetti sprinkles in the middle and used the 2 bread cut-outs as well. There was also a silicone flower cup filled with raspberries and a silicone flower cup filled with yogurt with a flower sprinkle.

Lunch punch makes all kinds of awesome sandwich cutters. This sandwich was made using the whimsical shapes set (the purple set). Each set comes with 4 sandwich punches and they come in the most adorable designs. Here are some of the other sets they have too:

I REALLY want the sweet set next (the last set). It's the newest set from Lunch Punch and uou can make ice cream cones, gumball machines, cakes and cupcakes. It looks awesome.

Here's some other things I used to make these lunches:

the cutest muffins ever

2012-02-15T14:53:00.003-05:00

Kirsten loves bringing homemade muffins to school and I love making them for her because I know exactly what's in them. We have quite a few favourite recipes and these apple and cinnamon ones are definitely up there. In an effort to make the muffins in her bento boxes more cute (I have an obsession with making everything cute if you haven't realized that by now!), I came up with this idea. She had an adorable little animal muffin in her lunch box everyday for a week for her morning nutrition break. She was just delighted and wants me to make them again! I also love to make large batches of muffins and freeze them so I can always pop one out of the freezer and have some homemade goodies in her lunch. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of unsweetened applesauce
1 cup white sugar
1 slightly beaten egg
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix the applesauce, sugar, egg and butter together. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Mix wet and dry ingredients all together. Pour into greased muffin tins or muffin liners, and bake in 350 degrees oven for approximately 20 minutes.

These are relatively healthy, moist and delicious. They are one of our favourites.

Here are my cute little animal creations. Most are made using chocolate melting wafers, icing eyes, and chocolate jimmies. Super easy. A little gel icing will help hold the decorations in place.

These monkey muffins were made using chocolate melting wafers for the ears, icing eyes and a sliced nilla wafer.

The cute little piggy muffins were made by cutting 2 pink melting wafers into triangles and sticking them in the top of the muffin. The piggy also has icing eyes and a pink melting wafer with chocolate jimmies for the nose.

The mouse muffins were made using white melting wafers for the ears, icing eyes, a heart sprinkle for the nose and chocolate jimmies for the whiskers.

This bear muffin is just a little bit different than the one I put in her lunch box last week. This one was chocolate melting wafer ears instead of fruit leather. He also has the red heart nose, chocolate jimmies for the mouth, and icing eyes.

And lastly, an adorable little owl muffin. This owl muffin was made using chocolate melting wafers cut into triangles for the ears, an orange melting wafer cut into a triangle for the nose and 2 white melting wafers with a chocolate dot for the eyes.

muffin recipe from Cat Can Cook

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T05:35:00.002-05:00

Wishing everyone a day filled with love, joy, hugs and kisses. James and I went out for a lovely dinner last night and it was great to go out, just the two of us. I took a few quick pics of the kids on the weekend for a quick Valentine's card. I just love these two. I am so blessed.

template for Valentine's card found here

hugs and kisses cupcakes

2012-02-13T05:37:00.002-05:00

Good ol' Martha strikes again. Doesn't Martha just have the best ideas? I stumbled across these babies on Martha's website and just loved the idea of them (she calls them X's and O's cupcakes). I just made a boxed cupcake mix, used store bought icing and stuck some cinnamon heart candies on top of them in X's and O's. Couldn't be easier. What a cute Valentine's treat.

tic tac toe anyone?

Idea from Martha Stewart

this week in bento boxes

2012-02-12T07:32:00.003-05:00

This week we made some Valentine-inspired lunches. A little love in the lunch box. Nothing over the top, but just a few cute touches to make my girl smile. Here are this week's lunches:

This was an adorable little bento for her morning nutrition break. Kirsten had some chocolate cheerios, some strawberries cut into hearts, and the cutest little bear muffin. Stay tuned for the full muffin post this week. I made some REALLY cute ones. I made a homemade apple and cinnamon muffin and decorated him with fruit leather ears, icing eyes, a heart sprinkle nose and chocolate sprinkle mouth. Kirsten LOVED him.

Like I said, if you think he's cute, just wait until you see all the other muffins I made this week. I think I'll post them on Wednesday.

This cute bento was for Kirsten's afternoon nutrition break. She had a circle cut ham and cheese sandwich with some fruit leather LOVE. She also had some craisins in a silicone muffin cup and some cucumbers cut into hearts.

Here's another super easy bento for her morning nutrition break. She had a frozen strawberry smoothie (defrosts my lunch and keeps her lunch cool), some chocolate graham goldfish crackers in a heart-shaped silicone muffin cup and some strawberries cut into hearts.

And here's another morning nutrition break bento. Again, she had a homemade apple and cinnamon muffin (I'll post the recipe Wednesday) with a fruit leather heart on it. Some yogurt with heart sprinkles, and a plastic heart filled with craisins.

And here's a bento in my beloved lock and lock bento box that I made awhile ago but never posted. I figured it fit in this week's theme pretty well. She had a cereal bar with a strip of fruit leather on top. I cut 3 hearts out of the fruit leather and put them on top of a container of yogurt. She also had some granny smith apple slices with a heart cut out of the top one and a red apple heart put inside. Super cute!

Here are some of the supplies (or similar) that I used to make these lunches:

bento giveaway winner

2012-02-12T07:19:00.002-05:00

First of all, WOW!! to the response to my giveaway. I had no idea there were so many people out there who were interested in making bentos. Some of your comments were so amazing and inspiring, I really wish I could give more of these out. Due to the amazing response, I'll likely have more bento giveaways in the future. Without further ado, let's celebrate the winner of this giveaway!

I used the handy ole random number generator and........

Congrats to commenter #92 - Amy Kirchhoff! An email will be sent your way!

Thank-you to everyone who entered!!

fun food friday: lovebird the lunch

2012-02-10T05:13:00.002-05:00

Remember the lovebird craft we made last Valentine's day? Well I turned that little lovebird into a lovely little lunch. It was super easy to make and the kiddos thought it was super cute. Making the craft and then making the lunch would be a great afternoon activity for kiddos for Valentine's day.

Here's how I made it:

The lovebird is made using 2 white tortillas with chicken and cheese - I used my comfort grip heart cutter to cut the body out. I used a smaller heart cutter to cut the wing out of fruit leather and the tail feather out of cheese. I used an even smaller heart cutter to cut the head feathers out of cheese, the beak out of fruit leather and the feet out of fruit leather. I used licorice laces for the legs and an icing eye. There was also a silicone muffin cup filled with yogurt with heart sprinkles and one filled with fresh raspberries.

Here's what I used (or similar) to make this lunch:

i love you beary much - Valentine's plates

2012-02-08T05:38:00.000-05:00

With all the fun the kids and I have had making Valentine's for their friends, I wanted to make them something special for Valentine's day. I had some brown paper plates left over from Camden's 2nd birthday party and then this idea popped into my head. These paper plates made the cutest bear plates ever. Attach a special Valentine's message to them - "we love you beary much!" and your kiddos will get a huge kick out of it. You can serve your kiddo anything on their special Valentine's plate. Maybe even serve all their meals that day on it. I can't wait to give them to the kids on Valentine's Day with a special heart-shaped cookie Valentine treat on them. Want to make your kiddo their very own special Valentine's plate?

Here's how I made them:

What you'll need:

2 brown paper plates
glue
scissors
brown cardstock
beige cardstock
red or pink cardstock
1 inch paper punch
2 inch paper punch
small heart paper punch
3 inch scallop paper punch
black, red/pink sharpie
googly eyes
a Valentine's treat - I used heart shaped sugar cookies with sprinkles

Directions:

1. place some glue on the upper rim of 1 paper plate and press the bottom back rim of the other paper plate on top
2. using your scissors, cut 2 arms and 2 legs out of your brown cardstock. Glue these to the back of the paper plates.
3. using your 2 inch paper punch, punch 2 circles out of your brown cardstock and glue them on your bear for ears.
4. also using your 2 inch paper punch, punch 1 circle out of your beige cardstock and glue on the bear's face.
5. using your 1 inch paper punch and your red or pink paper, punch out 2 rosy cheeks and glue on your bear's face.
6. using your heart paper punch and red or pink paper, punch out 1 heart and glue on for your bear's nose
7. use your black sharpie and draw on a mouth
8. glue on two googly eyes
9. using your beige cardstock and scalloped punch, punch 1 piece out. Write a special Valentine's message on it - We love you beary much! and glue to your bear's hand.
10. serve your kiddo a special Valentine's day treat on their special bear plate.

bento giveaway

2012-02-06T05:55:00.003-05:00

Do you know what today is? It's my 2 year blog anniversary. That's pretty amazing to me. I had no idea when I started this little blog 2 years ago that it would grow into this amazing place that enables me to be creative and share this creativity with others. I have met so many amazing women through blogging. There is such a strong community of blogging women out there who inspire me every single day. And then there are my fabulous blog readers. I wouldn't be here, doing this today, if it weren't for you. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to share my creativity with you guys. You guys rock! As a little thank-you I put together a bento giveaway to celebrate my 2 year anniversary.

Remember this lunch I posted yesterday:

Well you can use the items in this giveaway to make one yourself!

Look how sweet this little bento box is?!?!

Here is what's up for grabs:

An orange 2-tier bento box with a leakproof top tier
An adorable little bear elastic to hold the bento together
A set of 8 adorable little animal food picks
A set of 4 sauce containers with sweet little animals on them
An amazing set of mini bento cutters - this is my favourite set
2 stainless steel veggie/fruit/meat/cheese cutters
And finally an adorable little bear lunch bag to hold your bento's

Want to enter to win? Here's what you have to do:

1) leave a comment on my blog - that's it!

Want up to 3 additional entries? Here's what you have to do - leave an additional comment for each one:

2) follow my blog via google friend connect - if you already do, just indicate this in your comment

3) "like" Meet the Dubiens on facebook - if you already do, just indicate this in your comment

4) share this giveaway on your blog (obviously if you have one!)

This giveaway is open to U.S./Canadian residents. Please make sure there is a way I can get a hold of you if you are the winner - either leave me your email address in your comment or make sure your name links to your email address.

This contest will close Saturday February 11th 8:00pm. I will draw for a winner next Sunday (February 12th). Good luck everyone!

* This giveaway is now closed *

If you're interested in purchasing the items in this giveaway yourself, here they are - just click on the pictures to get to the link:

new bento boxes

2012-02-05T08:30:00.000-05:00

If you're familiar with my blog you would know that I love colour. When I saw these new bento boxes and how bright and colourful they were I just knew that I had to get them. Let me tell you, I absolutely love them. I've barely used my beloved lock and lock boxes since I've started using these colourful ones. It doesn't hurt that the price is totally reasonable too - less than $4 a box. You can't beat that! Kirsten gets 2 nutrition breaks each day so I pack her 2 of these boxes everyday. I think they are the perfect size for her and I just love the top compartment with the white lid. Kirsten can remove the lid herself, yet it's totally leakproof. I have no problems putting yogurt, applesauce or anything runny in the top compartment. It's beautiful. Another great thing about these containers is you don't have to use both tiers if you don't want to. If you just need a smaller snack - just use one of the tiers!

First I'll show you all the pieces and then I'll show you some lunches in them. I have a feeling you'll be seeing these boxes make regular appearances on my blog. And if you love them, make sure you come back tomorrow. Tomorrow is my 2 year blog anniversary and I've put together a bento giveaway for you guys. I think you're going to love it! Without further ado, here are the new boxes:

These are 2-tier bento boxes that are bright and colourful and need an elastic band to hold the container together. I picked up some adorable little bands and they make her lunches just that much cuter!

Take off the elastic and remove the top lid - this will reveal the top compartment that has a wonderful leak-proof cover. You can easily put yogurt or applesauce in it - or anything else for that matter! I absolutely love it!

Take the top tier off and you'll see the bottom tier. Spacious enough to hold enough food to fill my four year old. The top tier sits securely on top of the bottom tier and the food doesn't get squished or anything. It's left looking as beautiful as when you packed it.

To save space, the bottom tier fits right inside the lid. Beautiful! Did I mention how much I love these little boxes?

Here are some more lunches I've made with these fabulous little boxes:

If you like this one, you'll want to come back for my giveaway tomorrow (hint, hint). This bento was for her afternoon break. She had a ham and cheese sandwich cut into a circle (using a juice cup). I made a cute little bear face using various cutters and cheese and fruit leather, icing eyes and food safe markers. She also had strawberries with a cute little bear pick and the top tier had flower cucumbers and carrots with a little bear container of dressing for dipping.

Kirsten has been having pasta day and pizza day twice weekly at school this month. I like to pack her a smaller side to go along with her pasta or pizza - this was one of those boxes. She had some sliced pears with rainbow chips and a cute little pick. She also had a frozen smoothie that was defrosted by her lunch break. One of the beautiful things about these containers is you don't have to use both tiers if you don't want to. If you just need a smaller snack - just use one of the tiers!

This was a bento for Kirsten's afternoon nutrition break. She had a circle shaped turkey bologna sandwich with a cute little pick. She also had some wheat thin crackers and a babybel cheese with a butterfly shape cut out of the wax. The top tier held some sliced celery.

And lastly, another morning nutrition break. The bottom tier held a silicone heart with fruity cheerios and a sliced blood orange birdie with icing eyes, carrot nose and fruit leather feet. The top tier had some yogurt with sprinkles.

And here are the supplies I used for these lunches - click on the pictures to get to the links:

fun food friday: butterfly love

2012-02-03T15:21:00.002-05:00

I thought some cute little heart-shaped butterflies would make a cute little Valentine's lunch. This lunch was really simple and the kiddos thought it was really fun. It doesn't have to take a lot of time or effort to make a fun lunch for your kiddos. This lunch took under 5 minutes to make. Here's how I made this lunch:

Larger butterfly is made cutting hearts out of tortillas with ham and cheese in them. I used a cheesestring for the body, with fruit leather hearts on the wings and sprinkles for the eyes and antennae. The smaller butterfly has a carrot body and uses heart-shaped muffin silicone cups for the wings. The cups are filled with sliced apples and crinkle cut cucumbers.

Here are some of the supplies I used to make this lunch:

tissue paper hearts

2012-02-02T15:17:00.003-05:00

The kids and I made this huge tissue paper heart on the weekend and it looks pretty awesome. I cut squares out of some red, white and pink tissue paper, drew a heart in pencil on a large piece of canvas, covered the heart in glue and the kids scrunched up the tissue paper and placed it inside the heart. They did such a great job. Kirsten especially. She is getting very meticulous to detail and wanted all the tissue paper pieces inside the lines. She would actually get frustrated with Camden if he would scrunch the pieces too small, lol. She's a little anal like her mother! Here's how you can make this super cute Valentine's craft:

What you need:

tissue paper - red, white, 2 shades of pink
scissors
glue
pencil
large canvas

Directions:

1. using your scissors, cut small squares (maybe 2" x 2") out of all of your coloured tissue paper

2. using your pencil, lightly draw a heart shape on your canvas

3. squirt some glue inside the heart and spread it around so it covers all areas of the heart

4. lightly scrunch 1 piece of tissue paper at a time and press it onto the glued part inside the heart. Repeat, alternating the colours.

The 3-D-ness of the tissue paper is really cool.

And this is how my poor little Cam has been spending most of the week. The poor little guy had an ear infection last month, then got strep throat, and is now coming down with something again. I feel soooo bad for him. Feel better soon little guy.

conversation heart kisses

2012-02-01T05:00:00.003-05:00

These adorable little Hershey Kisses with stickers were very popular on the internet last Valentine's Day. I decided to make some of my own this year for my kiddos to give out for Valentine's Day. I love the look of conversation hearts because they are so darn cute, but don't really love the taste of them. My solution was to add a conversation heart sticker to the bottom of the Hershey's Kiss - and who doesn't love Hershey's kisses?!?! We put 3 of these little kisses in a small bag and the kiddos and I made some tags using their adorable little thumbprints for the hearts. I think their friends are going to love these. Now I made these stickers to fit the bottom of a Hershey's kiss - which is 3/4". Try and get your hands on a 3/4" punch if you can. I couldn't find one and as you can see, they aren't perfect. Not that the kids will care, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

Here's how we made them:

What you'll need:

Hershey's kisses
my free printable labels
sticker paper
3/4" punch

To make the treat bags and labels:

small plastic baggies
white cardstock
3" scalloped paper punch
red and pink paint
black sharpie
tape

Here is what my free printable stickers look like:

Get your own free labels here

Directions:

1. print out my free printable conversation heart stickers on sticker paper

2. using a 3/4" paper punch, punch out the stickers

3. attach the stickers to the bottom of your Hershey's kisses

4. grab some white cardstock and using your 3" scalloped punch, punch out some scalloped circles

5. have your children stamp their thumbs using the red and pink paint on the scalloped circles turning their thumbs into heart shapes

6. using the black sharpie, write a little Valentine's message on the label and allow the paint to dry

7. put a few kisses in a plastic baggie and tape the label on the top.

bento boxes

2012-01-29T08:35:00.003-05:00

Here are some more bento's from the archives. I'll start posting new ones with some new bento boxes next week. I'm just trying to wean down my archive collection a little bit because I don't want to miss any of the really cute ones. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

This outerspace bento was for Kirsten's morning nutrition break. She had a container of outerspace goldfish crackers, a container of yogurt with a fruit leather spaceship with sprinkles and a container of blueberries with more outerspace goldfish. Even my little Cam thought this lunch was really cool. I wrapped the yogurt container in tin foil before packing it in her lunch bag.

Here is another morning bento. She had 2 baby bananas (I started the peel before I packed them in her lunch bag so she could easily peel them herself). Even though they have someone to help them with their lunches, Kirsten does not like to ask for help. If she can't get to something herself, it's likely to come home uneaten because she didn't ask for help. It's kind of frustrating. Anyway, she also had some green grapes with a frog pick and a cereal bar.

This was a bento for Kirsten's afternoon nutrition break. She had half a turkey and cheese sandwich with an adorable little bumblebee on top. I cut the bumblebee out of cheese using a sandwich cutter I have. I used my food marker to draw on lines (rather bad lines I must say!), used an icing eye and some white tortilla wings. She also had a flower silicone muffin cup filled with clementine orange segments and another filled with yogurt. I wrapped the yogurt in tinfoil before packing this lunch in her bag.

This colourful little bento was for Kirsten's morning nutrition break. She had some fruit salad with a cute little elephant pick, a cereal bar, and some pretzel sticks with cute little cheese birdies.

And lastly, another morning bento. She had some plain cheerios, a container of raspberries and blueberries with a frog pick and a container of yogurt with a fruit leather frog (using a bear cutter) and icing eyes. I wrapped the yogurt in tinfoil before packing it in her lunch bag.

On another note, it seems that my beloved lock and lock lunch box with the 4 separate trays is becoming very difficult to find. I have even heard a rumour that it is being discontinued. I certainly hope not because it's a great little lunch box. They may have replaced it with this container:

It is the exact same size as the one I currently use, but they changed the word trays to divider. Whereas mine have 4 removable trays, these ones have a divider. I'm not sure if that means you can remove it, or whether it's a permanent divider in the lunch box. If it's permanent, I won't like it quite as much as the older model because I often remove 2 of the trays to put half a sandwich in, or larger portions of a certain food. It is an option though. If anyone does in fact buy this can you PLEASE let me know what the inside of the box is like. Are the dividers fixed or can you remove them? Thanks!!

Here are some supplies I used to make these lunches. Click on the pictures to get to the actual product:

fun food friday - I love you

2012-01-27T18:12:00.002-05:00

I actually made this lunch a really long time ago. Seeing as I hadn't posted it yet, I thought now would be a great time with Valentine's day coming up. I just love my alphabet cutters and my kids always want their toast cut into letters. Here's how I made this simple lunch:

The I and U were made using out of peanut butter toast and my alphbet cutters. I used a heart silicone cup in the middle filled with yogurt and Valentine's sprinkles. Fruit leather hearts all over the plate.

hershey's kisses

2012-01-26T16:35:00.002-05:00

Nothing says Valentine's day to me like Hershey's kisses. The kids and I didn't have any of the sweet treat, so we decided to make our own, kind of. They thought this craft was super fun. It was really easy to make and it's a great Valentine's craft. Here's how we made them:

What you'll need:

cardstock
tin foil
scissors
glue
googly eyes
marker
glitter glue

Directions:

1. cut a Hershey's kiss shape out of your cardstock
2. cover your Hershey's kiss with a piece of tin foil
3. glue on 2 googly eyes and use a glitter glue pen to draw on a mouth
4. have your child write their name on a rectangular shape of cardstock and glue to the back of your kiss

Kirsten's kiss:

Camden's kiss:

chocolate lip gloss and free printable

2012-01-24T17:41:00.005-05:00

My post popular post of 2011 by far was my Kool-aid lip gloss. Since so many people seem interested in making this cute little gift, I thought I would make some more for Valentine's Day this year. Kirsten and I decided to make some chocolate lip gloss this time, using the same steps as we did with the kool-aid. All you need is some vaseline, some cocoa powder, and a sprinkling of sugar for some sweetness. The colour is a nice chocolaty brown and leaves a very subtle tint on your lips. It doesn't really taste like chocolate, but the sugar gives it a little sweetness. When you realize how simple these are to make, you're going to want to make them for all your little Valentine's.

I had some leftover lip gloss containers from the last lip gloss we made and I made some brand new lip gloss labels if anyone wants them. I printed them on sticker paper and used my awesome 1" paper punch to cut them out. Here is what the labels look like:

If you want the labels, click here to get them for free!

* some people who made the kool-aid lip gloss were having trouble getting the drink crystals to dissolve. It seems if the melted vaseline is too hot you'll have trouble dissolving. I took more pictures this time of the process and hopefully it helps!*

What you'll need

vaseline
cocoa powder
sugar
microwave safe bowl
lip gloss containers
labels printed on sticker paper
1" paper punch

Directions:

1. put about 1 cup vaseline in a microwave safe bowl

2. heat the vaseline in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between each heating (this is very important, don't just throw it in the microwave for a few minutes!). It took me about 7-8 minutes the batch of vaseline. It will be liquid when it is fully melted. Make sure you wear gloves or oven mitts and make sure children are being supervised. This is what it will look like when it's melted:

If you find the vaseline REALLY hot you may want to let it cool for a bit before you mix in the cocoa powder. I didn't and didn't have any trouble dissolving the cocoa powder but some of my other readers had trouble dissolving the kool-aid if the vaseline was too hot!

3. stir in a couple spoonfuls of cocoa powder and a sprinkling of sugar for some sweetness. You don't need exact measurements here. Just put some cocoa powder in until you reach your desired colour. I used a couple small spoonfuls. Stir until it is all dissolved. This only took about 30 seconds. If it's not dissolving the vaseline may be too hot. Let it cool a bit.

4. if starting to solidify you can heat again for another 30 seconds - skip this step if it is still liquidy

5. pour into your lip gloss containers and leave to solidify - a couple hours

6. print out labels on sticker paper

7. using either a 1 inch punch, or scissors, cut out the circle labels and attach to your lip gloss container

8. give to all your favourite people, but remember to save a few for yourself too!

this week in bento boxes

2012-01-22T10:31:00.004-05:00

Okay, the title is kind of a lie. These bento boxes were made quite a while ago, but I've got so many of them to post! I've actually purchased some new bento boxes that I'm excited to show you guys but want to finish posting some of these older ones first. Thank-you all for your well wishes for my little Cam. He's actually starting to feel so much better. Unfortunately I've now caught something and am a little under the weather. It's tough looking after your sick kiddos when you're sick too. Anyway, here are the bento's:

Here's an adorable little piggy bento she had for her afternoon nutrition break. She had half a ham and cheese sandwich and then I used some of my tiny cutters to cut a piggy out of the ham. I used my food safe markers and sprinkles to decorate him. She had had some crinkle cut cucumbers and a peeled clementine.

This was a really simple bento I made for her morning nutrition break. She had a cereal bar, a container of chocolate graham goldfish and a container of plum and pomegranate seeds with a cute little bear pick.

Here's a cute little bento she had for her afternoon nutrition break. She had a whole wheat tortilla with turkey and cheese cut into 3 sections and held together with cute little animals picks. She also had a container of baby carrots and a container of graham crackers with a cute little bunny shaped cheese.

Here's another bento for her afternoon nutrition break. She had a babybel cheese with a cute little fish shape cut out of the wax, a container of goldfish crackers, a container of turkey bologna roll-ups, and a container of baby carrots.

And finally, another morning nutrition break bento. She had a banana that I decorated with cute flower stickers (start the banana peel on the back so little fingers can peel it easily), a container of graham crackers with a fruit leather and sprinkle flower, and a container of red grapes.

Here are some of the supplies I used to make these lunches - click on the pictures to take you to the links:

fun food friday: winter wonderland

2012-01-20T14:50:00.002-05:00

This post will be short and sweet because my little Cam is sick with strep throat right now. He is pretty sick and miserable right now so I'm rushing this post in while he is resting. This was a simple winter lunch to make and the kids thought it was delicious. Here's how I made it:

snowflakes - cheese quesadillas on white tortillas cut into snowflakes using my wilton comfort grip snowflake cutter. Silicone cup with a peeled clementine, silicone cup of yogurt with snowflake sprinkles, and a mini silicone cup with chocolate covered sunflower seeds.