Bread Heels

For some reason, I just can't eat the heels of a loaf of bread. I'd rather just not eat than to have to eat a sandwich made of heels.

I also don't like to waste.

Every time I threw away the heels I cringed. So...finally, after years and years of throwing them out (sometimes I'd save them to feed to ducks) I came up with a way to eat them where you can't tell that they are heels!

Breakfast Caserole dishes!

Basically, I keep a bread bag in my freezer and add the heels as I come across them. When I have six ends stored up I just whip up a breakfast caserole! AND you can't tell that it was made with heels!

Food Pyramid Magnets!

This is a project that I came up with, with the help of my awesome co-leader, to take the place of option #5 for the "Eat Right, Stay Healthy" Try-It. These are also a great recycle project for the girls! Start with 6 tops and bottoms from frozen juice cans. It's important to use this type because they are nice and smooth and have no risk of cutting a little one's fingers.

Using E6000 glue on some strong magnets, I prefer to just pay a little more to get a good quality magnet so they actually stay on the refrigerator. Glue them on the night (or sooner) before your meeting. The glue has toxic fumes and not good for pregnant women or children to breathe. Please, don't use hot glue, it is sure to pop off over time.

At the meeting, each girl should cut out pictures of food from ads and magazines for each of the six food groups; fats and sugars, proteins, veggies, fruits, dairy, and grains. Have the girls glue them into their lids and on top of the pictures glue the number of suggested servings per day.

Voila!

A Mountain Out of an Ant Hill

These colorful little containers of mysterious gel are the coolest things I've seen in a while! (I found them in the $1 bargain bins at Target!) They're little ant farms! I can't tell you how excited the kids were! They LOVE bugs!!!

Finding and capturing the ants...

Checking them out! Yep! They're still in there!

Wait a second...I think mine are escaping! (And they really did! The brilliant little buggers squeezed through the tiny air holes. We ended up covering ours with tape and I will let fresh air in every once in a while)

Way cool!

After only a few hours in their new home they started building their tunnels! Totally awesome!!!

My Hair Pretties

This is a craft that can be as simple as you'd like, or a little more complicated. One that pretty much all little girls will love! It's a hair accessory organizer!


Years ago, I found a dozen of these picket fences at a yard sale for $0.50 each. Originally, I was going to make them professionally and sell them at craft fairs. Since I never got around to making them before I closed my business I figured I'd let the Brownies go ahead and make them.


I've never seen the picket fences before or after I bought them so I don't know where you might find some. BUT you can easily use a simple wooden plaque instead.



I had found all the flower and bug wooden pieces at Dollar Tree, some of them were already painted, some not. You can pick up really nice pre-painted flowers at Michaels or Walmart even.



I let the girls decorate the pieces with glitter glues and rhinestones (rhinestones are a 'must have' for Brownies!) and color the wooden fence with markers. They each also got to pick three pre-cut grosgrain ribbons. I hot glued the ribbons on the back and the hanger on top (they got to choose which ones to put where).



After the meeting you need to spray the fences with a matte finish spray otherwise the marker ink with smudge and run (make sure you do this in a well ventilated area) Be sure to use matte and not glossy, glossy will make it run when it hits the marker. Also, the glossy takes a lot longer to dry and is harder to appy evenly.


At the next meeting hot glue clothespins to the front of the fence, or plaque, and then let the girls show you where they want the pieces to be. Once you glue those on you're done!

Not only could this be used for hair things but also to display favorite swaps from girl scout events!

Extreme Couponing

When I first began couponing, I had my accordian filer that all my coupons were sorted into. Until I went shopping one day and spent over three hours for not even half a carts' worth of groceries. So, my hubby and I designed a way to be able to have my coupons always ready to use!


You need to get a binder and several packages of PLASTIC dividers. Label the tabs however it best suits you. Make sure that you have some extra that aren't labeled.

Then sort your coupon packets.

Then lay them out where you can reach them.

You're going to want to cut all the coupons on the top page of each stack and place in a container so they don't scatter.

Then put all the same ones together and paper clip them. Then move on to the next page. If you cut too many pages at once you'll get frustrated trying to put the matches together.

Then paper clip them to the dividers.

I have a blank divider at the very front. As I pick out items and place them in my cart, I take the coupons and clip them to the front. This helps with checkout significantly!

In front of that, I have a zipper pouch with a pair of scissors. Always handy for the avid couponer!

Whenever I go to the store I write a list of what I'm planning to buy, but I ALWAYS take my binder just in case. A lot of times I come across un-advertised deals and am so glad I have my coupons there and ready!