Guiltless Chocolate Ice Cream

Love sweets? Love ice cream but not the calories? This tasty treat will satisfy the most persnickety self-proclaimed lovers of all things sweet. And....there's more...it is CLEAN eating. This healty, tasty treat only takes minutes to make. I am certain it will be one of your favorites. Kids love it, too!

Guiltless Chocolate Ice Cream!  Ummmm......yummmmm....yes, please!

1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa

1 cup of Silk Pure Coconut Milk (I used the vanilla flavored)

1 teaspoon powdered peanut butter (All natural...contains no additives)

1 frozen banana (*Note ~ banana must be frozen to create the creamy, cold texture of ice cream)

Place all ingredients in a food processor.

 Delicious, healthy and satisfying. Serve and enjoy!

I do not recommend freezing and eating at a later date. Tastes best when eaten immediately! 

After trying this recipe, please comment and let me know what you think. 

Book Page Flower - Hydrangea

Book Page Hydrangea

Materials:

Book pages 

X-Large Scalloped Circle paper punch

Newspaper 

White glue

Hot glue

Flower stem - I actually used discarded artificial floral stems. This is a great way to re-purpose something that would normally be considered trash. You could check with a local florist or craft store that carries artificial floral arrangements. If you can't get these; wire, bamboo skewers, or actual twigs would also work. 

Lets get started!

Go and find any newspaper. 

      Tear the newspaper in strips. 

Place strips in a pot or bowl that you no longer use with food. 

Pour boiling over the paper and stir. Let sit for at least an hour and stir occasionally. Drain off the water. Take a handful of paper and squeeze out the water. Form a tight ball, squeeze a little glue in your hand, and rub the glue over the outsize of the newspaper ball.

Place the news paper balls on wax paper and let dry. It will take several days for them to dry completely if they are indoors. They dry much quicker if you place them outside in the sunshine! This way only takes a day or two. 

 Glue a floral stem to a newspaper ball. I hammer a nail into the newspaper ball to create a hole. Next, I put hot glue in the hole and add the stem.

I used a an extra large scalloped paper punch. Any size will work. 

Here is another view just to get a better idea. This one has a 3 inch diameter. 

Punch out  several scalloped circles. The number you will need depends on how large the center of your flower is. When you think you have enough...punch a few more! It takes more than you think. :)

Gently fold the circle in half. Do not crease. 

Gently fold in half again to make fourths. Do not crease. Add a dab of glue to hold the edges together like this. 

Fold and glue all of your circles. Be careful to fold them flat. You want them to have volume to fill in your flower. 

Summon your patience!! Start gluing the petals to the center. 

Place petals randomly. You don't want them to all go the same way. It will go slow at first because you need to hold the petals until the glue dries. A helpful tip is to place the first petals all over the center. Then go back and fill in the spaces. When you fill in, you won't have to hold each petal because the other will do this for you!

Keep filling in until the entire center is covered and you can no longer see the newspaper. 

Finished! The best part is that no water is required! 

She is so pretty. I might even name her. :) 

Recycled Paper Gift Bows

Are you drowning in junk mail? Well, today is the day to turn this trash into treasure! Recycled paper gift bows can be made from practically any paper that you have at home. Junk mail, newspapers, sales fliers, phone books, magazines, even your child's school papers can be used to make bows!

Materials you will need:

• Junk mail/paper of your choice
• Cardboard (like a cereal box)
• Circle punch 1 inch or greater (optional)
• Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
• Ruler 
• Pencil
• Small hole punch
• Glue ( I use hot glue because I have no patience!)
• Metal brads (can be found at Hobby Lobby or any craft store)
• Tape or I like to use Zots to fasten the bows to a package ( I get them at Hobby Lobby)

Steps for making a recycled gift bow:

You need 8 strips of paper that are 2cm wide. I keep the length the same as the length of the paper that I'm using.  

Stack the 8 strips together and use the hole punch in the middle and both ends. 

Place a brad in the center hole of one strip. The top of the brad will be the center of the finished bow. Hold the brad with attached paper between your thumb and pointer finger. Your thumb should be on the top of the brad.

 With the other hand, take hold of one end of the paper strip. Bend the paper towards your thumb that is holding the brad. Then twist around to the back and attach to the prongs of the brad. 

Repeat step 5 for the other end of the paper. 

Add the rest of the strips in the same way as the first. Close the brad when you are done. You can straighten out you loops when you are finished. 

For a more finished look, glue a cardboard circle to the bottom of the bow. 

I stick on a glue dot called a Zot. I like them because they are sandwiched between two pieces of plastic. I take off one and stick the Zot to my bow. The other piece of plastic stays on the glue dot until I'm ready to use the bow. 

If you plan on making several bows, set up an assembly line. This will make the process go much more smoothly than making complete bows one by one. I cut all of my paper strips and I like to put groups of 8 together that have similar colors. You will likely need to make many more paper strips than you need if you are wanting to group by colors. Don't recycle the " ugly" strips just yet. I'll post another project in the future that will use up these strips. After grouping my sets of 8, I assemble all of my bows. Once you do two or three, the process becomes mindless. I make my bows in front of the television! When all of the bows are assembled, glue on the cardboard and add the glue dots. 

Book Page Flowers

Book Page Flowers

Materials:

Book pages 

Fiskars X-Large Oopsie Daisy punch

Newspaper 

White glue

Hot glue

Flower stem - I actually used discarded artificial floral stems. This is a great way to repurpose something that would normally be considered trash. You could check with a local florist or craft store that carries artificial floral arrangements. If you can't get these; wire, bamboo skewers, or actual twigs would also work. 

Lets get started!

Go and find any newspaper. 

      Tear the newspaper in strips. 

Place strips in a pot or bowl that you no longer use with food. 

Pour boiling over the paper and stir. Let sit for at least an hour and stir occasionally. Drain off the water. Take a handful of paper and squeeze out the water. Form a tight ball, squeeze a little glue in your hand, and rub the glue over the outsize of the newspaper ball.

Place the news paper balls on wax paper and let dry. It will take several days for them to dry completely if they are indoors. They dry much quicker if you place them outside in the sunshine! This way only takes a day or two.

Gather book pages and Fiskars Oopsie Daisy punch and start punching!

The number of flowers you will need will depend on how big you make the center of your flower. Start with at least 25-30.

You need to fold the petals in for each individual flower. Please don't make my mistake and fold up each individual petal. Grab the flower in your hand and pull the petals inward.
 

After you bend the petals inward, turn the flower over so that the bottom is facing upward.

 

 While the flower is still in your hand, press the bottom. This will crease the flower and all of the petals will stand up. I couldn't show you a picture of this because I only have two hands! I think you get the idea.

 Take one of your flower centers and create a hole in which to place the stem. I hammered a nail in the flower center to create the hole. Next, I put hot glue in to the hole and placed the stem.

Turn the stem upside down and start gluing petals to the bottom first. (Oops...my toothbrush made an appearance. Don't worry, I don't brush my teeth with this one. It is what I use to get rid of the pesky hot glue strings when I'm done with the flower.)

 Keep adding petals around the bottom.

Continue working your way around and up the center of the flower. 

 You may have to 'bend' your petals a little if you get a space that is tight. Don't worry because you won't notice this once you are finished.

 Here is a completed flower. I used book pages here, but you could use any paper you like. Try experimenting with different papers and different paper punches. You could use a scalloped circle (gently folded in fourths) to create a hydrangea flower. Different papers and different punches open the door to endless flowers!