Vanilla Apple Popsicle Recipe

These healthy popsicles are addictive! And they're so easy to make at home - just 2 ingredients (plus the popsicle mold that you just made, right?). Of course, if you already have a store-bought popsicle mold, that would work too.

These popsicles have creaminess from the yogurt, tartness from the applesauce, and a touch of sweetness throughout. Delicious, refreshing, and so cold!

If you make these the fast way, the layers blend a bit and you get wavy lines between them. If you wanted straighter lines between the layers, let each layer freeze a little bit before adding the next (but obviously this takes more time and planning). My philosophy - even a messy popsicle is a tasty popsicle, and faster making means sooner eating!

Ingredients:

• Vanilla greek yogurt
• Applesauce

Instructions:

1. Fill bottom layer (1-1.5 inches) of the popsicle mold with vanilla yogurt.
2. Fill next layer (1-1.5 inches) with applesauce.
3. Gently place top layer of yogurt on top.
4. Cover top of popsicle mold with cap and insert the popsicle sticks. If you're using my homemade mold, then the cap is the aluminum foil covering.
5. Freeze 4-5 hours until firm.
6. Remove and eat!
   

Popsicle Mold - Make Your Own!

As the weather heats up, those popsicle recipes on Pinterest are looking more and more irresistable.... I'm a huge fan of fruit and/or yogurt popsicles, with no need for added sugar! Sometimes you can even blend in some hidden veggies for extra texture.

I don't have a popsicle mold at home though. Instead of rushing out to buy one, which costs money and means you have to wait for shipping, I made my own out of a used spice container. It took just 5 minutes to make, used materials I had lying around the house, and works great!

I used a Costco big spice jar (e.g. for red pepper flakes, black pepper) for my mold that makes 4 popsicles at a time. You don't have to use the same one - almost any plastic one will work, but obviously the shape of the popsicles will be different. Just pick a plastic jar that is the same width all the way around (otherwise, if there's a wider section at the bottom of the mold, your popsicles will get stuck in that wide section and you would be able to pull them out after freezing).

Materials needed:

• Empty spice container
  
• Popsicle sticks or disposable chopsticks
• Aluminum foil
  
• Knife

Steps:

1. Cut the top off the spice container along the dotted line shown. We want it to be the same width all the way around.
2. Cover the top of the cut-off container with aluminum foil.
3. Poke 4 holes in the aluminum foil as shown, roughly equally spaced so that each hole is in the middle of a quadrant. If you have a knife, this can help you poke through the foil before you stick your popsicle sticks or chopsticks through.
4. Fill mold with your popsicle filling of choice. Insert one popsicle stick or chopstick through each of your four holes. Freeze until firm.
   
5. Once frozen, run the sides of the mold under warm water to melt the side slightly and loosen the popsicle from the mold. Pull out the popsicles from the mold, and cut the large block into quarters. Eat!
   

You can adjust the size of your popsicles by putting more or less filling in the mold (so that it goes higher or less high up the sides). I wouldn't recommend trying to fit more than 4 in the mold at a time, because the thickness is what helps keep the frozen popsicle together without cracking.

Leave a comment or pin this on Pinterest if you try it!

Popsicle recipes to try with your new popsicle mold:

- Vanilla apple popsicles (pictured in the mold-making instructions)

- More coming soon (I'll update this page as I add more)

Sand and Sea Wrap Bracelet - Photo Tutorial

Since I'm still stuck inside and not buying new craft supplies until I work down my huge stash, I made this wrap bracelet out of beads that I've had for years.

I'm in love with this color combo - it reminds me of a blissful seaside retreat.

Materials needed:
- Beads of choice
- Leather cord (2mm diameter, enough length to wrap around your wrist 2x as long as you want the bracelet. My bracelet wraps my wrist 5 times, so I cut my leather cord long enough to wrap around my wrist 10 times + 1 more time to give me room for tying knots, etc.)
- Crochet thread or beading thread (3x as long as leather cord). I used crochet thread so that's what I'll call it throughout the instructions.
- (optional but very helpful) Cardboard bobbin to wind the crochet/beading thread on while working
- Thin plastic wire to help with threading beads
- Clasp, toggle, or just add extra length to your leather cord to make a big knot

Instructions:
1. Find the center of your leather cord and tie an overhand loop knot so that you have two working cords coming out of the knot.

2. Tie a slip knot at the beginning of your crochet thread and tighten it just below your knot in the leather cord. Wrap the crochet/beading thread several times around both of your working leather cords, hiding the short tail of your slip knot inside this wrap (which I messed up in the picture below). At this point, it might be helpful to put a book or something similar over the overhand loop to hold it down while you work (I used my planner as a weight). At this point, it should look something like the below (but ignore the bead in the photo - adding beads is coming next).

3. Wrap the crochet thread around the front of the right working cord.

4. Thread the thin plastic wire through the bead. (Note: I'm using a pretty thick plastic wire here so you can see it in the pictures. I would recommend using a thinner one, as it will be MUCH easier to pull through.)

5. Lay the crochet thread over the plastic wire and loop the plastic wire back through the bead in the other direction.

6. Pull the plastic wire loop through the hole in the bead, drawing the crochet thread through with it (you should now have a loop of crochet thread going through the bead).

7. Thread the left working leather cord through this crochet thread loop and pull gently until snug (but not tight) to anchor the bead to the left side of the bracelet.

8. Wrap the crochet thread around the right working leather cord from front to back.

For the next bead, repeat steps 3-8 but wrapping on the right leather cord from back to front. That is, in step 3 wrap the crochet thread along the back of the leather cord, and in step 8, wrap from back to front.

Continue adding beads to desired length, alternating whether you are wrapping from the front or wrapping from the back. This creates a wave pattern along the right side of the bracelet that fits perfectly with the beach/sea theme.

9. Finishing the bracelet - depending on your desired toggle/clasp/knot ending, this part will be a bit different. For a clasp or toggle, tie the two working leather cords together in another overhand loop knot. Wrap the crochet thread through or around this knot and tie your clasp or toggle on securely.

I used a toggle made out of an old earring whose mate got lost years ago. The rhinestoned bar was perfect for a toggle with just a bit of sparkle.

Upcycled Hummus Container Planter DIY

This super easy and quick upcycle is a great way to combine my loves of apartment gardening and not wasting stuff. It makes a cute, customizable, and lightweight planter that comes with its own drip tray - perfect for hanging or sitting on a windowsill!

Materials needed:
- Hummus container with lid (family/chef size work really well for this)
- Acrylic paint
- Paint brush or sponge
- Drill, or hammer and nail, or X-acto knife (or something else to punch holes in the bottom of the container)

Steps:
1. Eat hummus (duh)

2. Wash and dry hummus container and lid. You can peel off the label (recommended to make the paint job smoother), or leave it on and just cover with extra layers of paint.

3. Paint the outside of the container (and outside of lid, optional) with acrylic. You can do solid coats, stripes, marbling, colors, whatever you want. For the pictures here, I used a wide sponge brush to make a fast base coat in white, let dry for 2 hours, did a second base coat the same way, let dry overnight, then painted over the base with colors.

(In case you're not familiar with acrylic - make sure to wash out your brush/sponge when you're done using it. If the paint dries in there, then your brush/sponge is done for.)

4. Let the finished paint job dry overnight.

5. Use your drill (or hammer and nail, or whatever) to punch holes in the bottom of the container for drainage. Do NOT punch holes in your lid - this will be the drip tray that goes under the planter to catch drained water.

6. Plant something in your beautiful new planter and enjoy!

Crossed Double Crochet Sun Hats - Pattern Modification

Now that the sun is starting to be up longer and hotter every day, I wanted to make some a brimmed hat to keep my eyes shaded. I found this free pattern on The Lavender Chair (or check it out here on Ravelry), a wonderful site with tons of free crochet patterns for kids and adults. The hat is so cute! BUT the adult sized pattern is a bit too big for me so it blows off in the wind. And the child sized pattern is way too small for me.

Here are my pattern notes to size down the adult pattern. You'll still need to visit The Lavender Chair for the actual pattern though!

Fit: head circumference 21" with 1" negative ease so it holds onto your head

Abbreviations:
- st/sts = stitch/stitches
- hdc = half double crochet

Pattern Modifications:

Round 1: Hdc 9 in magic ring

Rounds 2-6 follow pattern instructions (round 6 ends with 54 sts)

Adjust round 7 to end up with 64 sts:
2x (2hdc in next st, 1hdc in next 5 sts)
3x (2hdc in next st, 1hdc in next 4 sts)
2x (2hdc in next st, 1hdc in next 5 sts)
3x (2hdc in next st, 1hdc in next 4 sts)

Follow pattern instructions for the rest of the hat. Here's another pic of the finished product (made in Bernat Handicrafter 100% Cotton).

Tutorial: Chainmaille Jewelry Made From Paper Clips

I love the look of chainmaille jewelry but wasn't sure if I was patient enough to make it -- especially because I didn't want to buy jump rings so I'd be cutting thousands of pieces myself. At the same time, I had LOTS of paper clips in cute colors, and I don't have that much paper to clip together. Well.... paper clips are made of wire.... and so are jump rings.... so I thought I would try out paper clip chainmaille.

I really love how my paper clip chain necklace turned out! I love it so much, I want to share how I made it so you can make your own :)
Difficulty level: 2/5
Time commitment: 3/5
Happiness with result: 5/5

On to the detailed instructions!
Step 1: Gather your materials. You will need lots of paper clips (my 30" necklace was made of jump rings sized such that I got 3 rings per paper clip, and I used ___ paper clips from a 1000-pack from Staples), good wire cutters, and a mandrel (I used a cheap bic ballpoint pen). This size of paper clip and mandrel gave a good jump ring size and inner/outer diameter pairing for the chain I made (full persian, keep reading for more details).

Step 2: Flatten each paper clip into a long, straight wire, then coil it around the non-writing end of your mandrel (pen). Try to get as many full circles around the mandrel as you can with each clip.

Step 3: Using your wire cutters, snip between the loops of the coil to create full circles (i.e. jump rings). I was able to get 3 jump rings per paper clip, with only a little bit of waste wire on both ends. Steps 2 and 3 take the majority of the time in this project.

Step 4: Weave your beautiful, colorful jump rings into something that makes you happy. I'm not an expert on this part, but I used a full persian chain tutorial from The Bead Man, which I found to be very clear and easy to follow. After adding a few rings, you get the pattern pretty quickly and the chain comes together pretty fast. Note: most chainmaillers will advise that you use flat pliers to open and close your jump rings. I used my fingers -- not the best strategy, but when I tried pliers they tore the rubber coating that gives the paper clips their color. Also I found that paper clips are soft enough to coil into rings and open/close by hand, but hard enough to hold their shape while being worn -- perfect!

Weekly IRL Missions and Free Sidebar Printables!

As a follow up to my post last weekend about daily IRL (in real life) missions and how I am tracking them in my planner, I also created some weekly sidebar stickers for my Big Happy Planner for habits that I want to build daily. I have created a points system for each item I check off, and these points/money will get added to the earnings from my daily IRL missions each week and put into my fun money -- my fun(d).

Here is a preview of the what the sidebars look like (4 per page) -- scroll down to the bottom of this post for the download link!

The printables in this post were created using backgrounds/art from freepik. Specifically, the filenames in my google drive download link have the names of the backgrounds/art used and correspond to the list below:

• "Modern abstract background" designed by Kjpargeter / Freepik (pictured above). Used in full as a background
• "Ornamental elements collection" designed by Alvaro_Cabrera / Freepik. Parts used as ornaments for borders
• "Pastel color artistic watercolor background" designed by aviyabc / Freepik. Part used as a background
• "Soft blueabstract background" (sic) designed by balasoiu / Freepik. Part used as a background

I have included downloads for 4 different pretty versions with backgrounds or ornaments (ready to use) in .PDF format. I also included an undecorated version in .PNG format (with a transparent background) in case anyone wants to customize the missions for their own personal use. If you have suggestions for missions, let me know in the comments!

Download my weekly IRL mission free printable sidebar stickers here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1K62sdG_vAGiyp5O9xcTWlBFcH2hJH2Tk?usp=sharing

TERMS OF USE:

You are free to download for your PERSONAL USE ONLY. You may not resell, repackage, redistribute, or in anyway present any of my creations as your own. Please feel free to share these files by linking to this post directly. You may not make them available for download from another site, social platform or other media. If you use these in your planner, please link back to this post to give me credit for my work! I have tried to give credit where it is due in my printables -- if you think anything here belongs to you or was improperly attributed, please let me know.

Free Printable Water and Mood Tracker for the Big Happy Planner

Something I learned from my bullet journal days and my planning days so far is that I really like checking off boxes -- I find it so satisfying that sometimes I will do things just to check them off (which is the desired effect of making the list). To get myself to drink more water, take my daily vitamin, and track my mood, I made some custom trackers for my Big Happy Planner that I'm loving so far and wanted to share with all of you! Here's a sample of what they look like -- scroll all the way to the bottom of this post for the download link! The 8 circles are for glasses of water, the single circle on the right is for my vitamin, and the bar along the top is for my mood (I shade in the bar differently for different emotions to represent the percentage of my day spent happy, sad, angry, etc.)

The width of these custom trackers is the same as the width of a Big Happy Planner box, and I usually just place them along the bottom/top of a row. For example, in my spread for the upcoming week I have the trackers along the bottom of the first row.

The decorations and checklists here are from the Merry Mulberry kit by Pink Pixel Graphics

To download these trackers in .PNG and .PDF format, click here. You can recolor the trackers to match your weekly spread by using the .PNG version, but make sure whatever program you are using doesn't change the sizing. I like to print to .PDF first and line it up on my screen with the provided .PDF file to make sure the sizes are the same before printing to a printer.

TERMS OF USE:

You are free to download for your PERSONAL USE ONLY. You may not resell, repackage, redistribute, or in anyway present any of my creations as your own. Please feel free to share these files by linking to this post directly. You may not make them available for download from another site, social platform or other media. If you use these in your planner, please link back to this post to give me credit for my work!

Big Happy Planner - Free Printables Resources

There are so many amazing free printables resources out there (and I've gone completely down the rabbit hole finding them) so I wanted to make a post just compiling some of my favorite places to find things for my Big Happy Planner.

Pink Pixel Graphics -- I linked to this site last week because this is where I found pieces for my first weekly layout, and it's still one of my favorites! She posts for all sizes of the Happy Planner, which is amazing, and gives you .PNG files so you can cut out the pieces you don't need to save printer ink. You have to subscribe to her newsletter to get a password to download, but that's pretty standard for most printables sites I've found.

Planner Problem -- These weekly spreads are generally in more bold colors, which I usually don't like quite as much but sometimes it works. She also posts for multiple planner sizes, which is great.

My Planner Envy -- This site has some beautiful weekly spreads, but unfortunately most of her stuff is for the Classic Happy Planner. There are some great checkboxes and sidebar items for the Big Happy Planner, which is why I have listed it here. She also posts some adorable standalone stickers that can fit in any size planner, like cute animals or flowers. A few of her weekly spreads are reformatted for the Big Happy Planner, too.

Lovely Planner -- This is my go-to for standalone stickers that can fit anywhere. They tend not to align perfectly with the boxes, but they're designed so that they look great anyway. She has some super cute checklist boxes too!