Snowed in with Coracao

I don't know how he does it, but my hubby can read my mind. He almost always seems to know exactly what I want, and this Valentine's Day is no exception. While snowed in by winter storm "Snowchi" (my favorite name I've heard to describe this East Coast storm so far; it's a combo of "snow" and "Sochi," in honor of this year's Winter Olympics) today, he surprised me with my Valentine's Day gift early, some scrumptiously decadent raw vegan chocolates by Coracao Confections.

Okay, so maybe I gave him a little hint, but he took it and ran with it. He must have run straight to his laptop and ordered these yummy treats as soon, as I mentioned the contest I had entered.

You see, Coracao Confections isn't always the easiest name to remember or to say, so the company decided to change its name. The fans of their chocolate get to select the new name. The winning entrant will not only rename the product, but will also receive a boatload of it. Fingers crossed that I win.

Anyway, my hubby was smart enough to realize that if I wanted to win all of that chocolate, I probably would love to get some for Valentine's Day. He really is a smart cookie. Check out what he got me.

Inside the first box was these tasty Blondies. One is their basic Blondie Bar, and the other is the more jazzed up Raspberry Blonde (the raspberry is really up my alley).

Next up was two packs of hot cocoa mix. One was Cora Quick, and the other was Love Potion (although I've been under my hubby's spell for years. Ha ha). The Love potion is "infused with 18 roses and the perfect blend of cardamom and maca." Nice :-)

Then there's the assorted chocolates, decoratively boxed and topped with a small bar of raw chocolate.

Here's a glimpse inside. There are so many flavors to savor and all of them worth tasting (unlike those assorted chocolates my grandma used to get; my sister and I used to poke our fingers in the bottoms in search of the "good" ones).

The "Live" Almond Heart is perfect for Valentine's Day ...

... but I really have my eye on this colorful concoction. Delish! Thank you, my love :-)

To balance out my Valentine's Day (or perhaps couple of days), I've also been enjoying some Life Juice that I found at Target recently. Positive Balance's bright beet hue (much like one of my favorite chocolate beverages these days; I really love beets and chocolate) has Valentine's Day written all over it. Love it!

On another note, the kids and I have been making Valentines, like these adorable crazy straw ones for Jacob's class (I guess his classmates will have to wait until next week to receive them, as school has already been canceled again due to the snow). We got the idea somewhere online (sorry that I can't remember where exactly I saw it), but we came up with the specific design ourselves. The original idea was to do a Valentine that said "from one crazy kid to another" with a crazy straw attached to it. We opted to include crazy heart faces, complete with googly eyes (Jacob's favorite part of the finished Valentine), and pipe cleaner hearts. Too cute :-)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 

Warm Red Velvet Cocoa

Hello anyone who is still reading. I figured I'd check in real quick to say hi and let you know I'm still alive and well. I hope everyone is staying warm in this freezing cold weather (well, at least it is freezing here). I've been enjoying three consecutive snow days at home with my kiddos, sledding (we have a lot of the powdery stuff, perfect for downhill racing) and warming up with some yummy hot cocoa. I've posted some of my favorite versions in the past (like in this blast-from-the-past video of Hayden and I posted below, as well as this superfood version), but today, I wanted to share my new favorite, which reminds me of warm liquid red velvet.

Basically, it's just warm almond milk mixed with CocoCardio, a combination of organic natural non-alkalized cocoa powder, organic rapid zone dried beet juice and concentrated hibiscus extract. The "beet-iful" color and chocolatey flavor reminds me of scrumptious red velvet, much like the raw vegan Perfectly Fit Red Velvet Cupcake I made a while back. I also like to add some protein powder to the Warm Red Velvet Cocoa, which makes it even more like the cupcake.

Speaking of Perfect Fit Protein, it was formulated by Karena and Katrina of Tone It Up. I'm taking part in their Love Your Body Challenge again (although I've been participating privately, rather than tweeting everything I do). It's so fun, and I love how they promote confidence, like in their blog post yesterday. Gotta sport the red lipstick or perhaps my natural beet stain; keep my shoulders back and lead with my heart.

How do you boost your confidence?

Every time a bell rings ...

... an angel gets her wings. I always loved that line from "It's a Wonderful Life," although the actual line is "his wings," rather than "hers." But, for the sake of today's blog post, I've changed it to "hers."

"Her" is in reference to my daughter Hayden, who, like myself, has been noticeably absent from this blog for the last few months. We just needed a break, and in the process, I opted to make her not quite as visible on the site. She's growing up, and it is time to give her some privacy (my decision, instead of hers; she still begs to do Eco Emi videos when the monthly boxes arrive).

I will let you know that we are doing well and plan to check in every once in a while, when inspired to do as such. For example, I was so happy with our latest angel wing DIY that I thought it would be nice to share it with you. Much like many other little girls this holiday season, Hayden needed to be an angel in her Christmas program. Rather than buying her a pair of wings, we utilized what we already had at home. Here's how I made them:

To start, I found two wire hangers in the back of the closet that I shaped into wings and attached together with the handles. I wrapped packing tape around the handles to hold them in place, as shown.

Next, I selected some white lace fabric from our scrap fabric box (thank goodness I save what's leftover from various sewing projects, etc.). I taped it to one of the hanger wings to hold it in place.

Then, I carefully cut out the lace around the first wire hanger wing, leaving a little extra lace to wrap around the wire frame.

I wrapped the lace material around the frame, as I hand-sewed it with gold thread for a special touch.

I continued stitching all around the first wing.

Then, I repeated the steps with the other wing.

Once both wings were covered in the lace fabric, I opted to incorporate some of the scalloped edge. I cut just enough to fit the bottom of both wings ...

... and attached them to the wings by sewing them on with white thread.

Lastly, I wrapped some thick gold ribbon around the center of the wings to hide the hanger handles and tape, threaded the ends of the ribbon through the sides to hold it in place, and brainstormed an idea to attach them to my little angel.

I simply decided to drape the ribbon handles over her shoulders, and then bring them under her arms and around her back. I tied the ribbon in a bow to hold them in place. Here is how it looks from the back ...

... and here is a front view. I was lucky enough to be able to use clothing from Hayden's wardrobe, rather than having to make or buy something special for the event.

As for the halo, Hayden loves to have her hair braided into different styles, so we opted to braid a halo into her golden hair, as shown.

Speaking of Hayden, she's begging me right now to play in the snow (yes, we have snow). Gotta go. Happy holidays!  

DIY to-go x2

Inspired by this month's Eco Emi's end-of-summer picnic theme, I opted to make two DIYs that extend the life of both the patterned brown paper bag, as well as the tiny wooden utensils found inside. The chevron-printed bag was too fun to go to waste, and the colorful spoons couldn't have been cuter. Therefore, I used part of the bag, some of the blue and yellow tissue paper, and the utensils themselves to create a carrying case for taking the tiny spoons on the go, and the rest of the bag, tissue paper, etc., to make a matching lunchbox for Hayden.

At first, I had planned on designing the lunchbox out of the actual Eco Emi shipping box (I've made plenty of crafts out of those boxes, including the DIY for last month) by lining it with metallic duck tape and decorating the the outside of it with the paper, more duck tape and contact paper to protect it from the elements. Lucky for me, though, I still had the metal box from the February 2013 Eco Emi to really take the lunchbox idea to another level. Here's how I made it, using some leftover ribbon from a past project for handles, a hammer and nail to poke holes in the metal and some crafty brads to hold it all together.

To start, I decided how I'd lay out the ribbon handles and marked the eight spots where the holes would go for the brads to anchor the ribbon in place. Four of the holes were marked on the lid, and the other four on the base.

Then, I used a hammer and nail to make the holes on the lid.

I repeated the process on the base, as seen in the photo above.

Leaving more than enough ribbon to form a handle at the top of the lid, I attached the ribbon to the lid with a mint green floral brad (although you could use any other strong brad or small screw/nut combo to do this). This is how it looks from the outside ...

... and here is what it looks like from the back, once the brad is secured.

I covered the back of the brad with a piece of duck tape, just to be safe.

Next, I stretched the ribbon across the inside of the lid and secured it with this button brad, as shown.

Moving on to the back of the box, I used brads that look like screws (a screw/nut combo could also be used) to attach more of the ribbon, as you can see in the above pic. I made sure to leave a loop of ribbon at the top for a handle.

I kept the ribbon path flowing across the other half of the lid, attaching it with more brads and duck tape. I also formed the other ribbon loop handle at the top of the lid, which I secured with the first brad and more duck tape.

Here's how the box looked with the ribbon handles fully attached. The lunchbox could be left as is at this point, but I decided to fill in the clear window with some of the tissue paper, the zig-zagged paper bag and the rectangle card stock coupon from this month's Eco Emi.

After carefully deconstructing the paper bag, I cut off a rectangular section of it, using the original fold as a guide.

Then, I taped on some of the tissue paper and the backside of the coupon card, which I personalized with an "H" for Hayden.

I placed my design inside the lid's window, so it could be seen clearly.

I used duck tape to attach it and to cover the back of the paper, protecting it from whatever gets put inside the finished lunchbox.

To match the lunchbox, I used the remaining piece of paper bag and tissue paper to create a coordinating design for a roll-up utensil holder/carrier.

I decided to cover it in contact paper, so the finished product could be easily wiped clean, as needed.

Then, I trimmed off the excess contact paper.

I wrapped metallic duck tape around the edges and folded it to form a pocket.

I added more duck tape strips to act as pocket dividers, just the right size to hold the tiny utensils.

Since I wanted to roll up the utensil holder, I also needed some of the matching ribbon to tie the roll shut. I used a brad to attach the ribbon, near the end of the roll.

Then, I rolled up the utensil holder to determine where I should place the other brad.

This is how the utensil holder looks unrolled with both brads securing the ribbon in place.

Here is how it looks from the inside ...

... and this is the finished utensil holder when rolled and tied shut.

See how perfectly it fits in Hayden's new lunchbox ...

... and her having fun showing it off for you.

Happy Monday!