Pinterest FAIL

It was bound to happen at some point but well I just wish it wasn't on something that required so much effort! You see my dear sweet children were not OK with letting it fail so we attempted not 1, not 2 but 3 times. REALLY!
What is it that we determined to make...rock candy. I mean how hard can it be to get sugar to crystallize? Apparently more difficult than I thought. Course the post I got the idea from also stated it took them 2 attempts to get it right. directions click here

 First, make sure to read ALL of the directions, every... single...word. An example would be continue adding sugar UNTIL it appears they liquid will no longer absorb more. That makes for fail number one.I never added the clothespin to keep the sticks straight and in the middle. (I know I have a real following directions problem when cooking, sorry!)

 THEN, use the right kind of sticks. I used paper wrapped sticks and not wood. I am pretty sure this makes a difference because on attempt three it was the ONLY part of the directions we did not follow exactly.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Here is the final product. As you can see it kinda  (not completely) worked, basically enough for the now desperate kids to semi eat. I a true sugar addict didn't think it tasted that great but who am I after all? How about you try? Feel free to post a comment and let me know if you were more successful than I, thereby confirming we stink at this but well its fun to hear :)


Click for better directions As you can see above it just didn't work quite right. There is tons of sugar in those glasses but well it didn't attach to the sticks.

Homemade fruit snacks and flip flops

Odd combination of activities I know but well kids are random like that. Heck, I am random like that. One is extremely easy and the other is VERY time comsuming. Neither are brand new ideas, one from Pinterest of course (where else?) and the other from observation of others. But they both were worthwhile!

This time of year flip flops are very inexpensive so you just need to find a pair the darker the color the better. The girls chose water balloons as the decor for theirs. It does take roughly 200+ for a pre-teen size foot to give you a starting place on purchasing if you choose. Thank goodness they are found in packs of 100 at the dollar store. Patterns make no difference in order because in the end you cannot even really tell unless you did all of one color making a rainbow.
Here is the finished product:

 Don't mind silly C sitting on the floor. This project took 2 days to complete though it was not worked on nonstop.

1 down, only 2 more to go.











Now to the real reason you are reading this post, homemade fruit snacks. They require 3 ingredients. 2 .25oz packets of unflavored gelatin (each box comes with 4 packets in it), 1 3oz package of any flavored jello and 1/3 cup water.
All you do is pour the water into a much smaller saucepan than I used and add the 3 packets. Then turn on medium heat and stir till dissolved.
Lastly, pour it into silicone molds as these are the easiest to get back out when set. It takes about 20 minutes to set and viola!
I purchased the jolly rancher flavors for a fun first attempt and they were gobbled up quickly. My molds were a bit large so we only filled them halfway. I will however look out for smaller molds to do this again. It was super quick and tasted great.
This is only part of them as I had to be quick or there would be nothing to show you.