Adding Money to Candy Lei

I tested my dollar bill folding skills to add a little something to the candy lei's.  

I thought they turned out pretty cute!

Butterflies

Flowers

Here is where I learned how to fold them:

Butterflies:  http://onceuponapinkmoon.blogspot.com/2012/06/tutorial-how-to-make-candy-lei-with.html

Flowers:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tAKFUkRaDw

Candy Lei Tutorial

What you'll need:

• Cellophane, Saran Wrap, netting, or iridescent tissue paper (this is what I like to use and I get it from Michael's craft store)
• Bag of Candy (about 36-40 small or 18-20 large individually wrapped candies)
• Ribbon (however many colors you want)
• Scissors

Here's a close-up of the iridescent paper (1 pack of this makes 5 leis)

Get out one sheet of iridescent paper or a piece of cellophane about 20x26"

Cut the paper wrap in half hot dog style, so you have two long rectangles.  Each long rectangle will be one side of the lei. 

 Fold one long rectangle in half (hot dog style)

 Then fold it in half again

If you need to, flip it over so that the two open edges are on top.  So in the pic above, the open edges are going along the right side and the closed edges are underneath. Ok, this is trickier than I thought to explain.  Sorry!  Tie one of your *long ribbons on the end and then double knot it (leaving about an inch of wrap at the end).

 

 I like to cut out my ribbons before I start so I'm not stopping to cut between candies.

The number you'll need depends on the size of the candies and how tight you tie them together, but I usually get 9 candies on each side of the lei.  So you'll need about 20 ribbons total.  I cut them at about 8'' long, and I usually cut 4 of them a little longer (*like 10'') for the end pieces.  

 So put in your first piece of candy (I did two small Jolly Ranchers).  I lift the top layer/flap of wrap open (in the pic above I am picking it up from the right side and pulling it to the left), then sneak the candies under the next layer.

 This is showing how it's opened.  I push the candy as close to the ribbon above it as possible. (And you may way to put the candies in all going the same direction, so on the reverse side the candy wrappers all go the same way).  

Then I hold onto the candies I put in...

and straighten out the wrap by tugging at the opposite end (so it ends up always looking like the folded over strip that you started with before you tie each ribbon) 

 Then put a ribbon underneath and tie it tight and double knot it.  To get the ribbon as close to the candy as possible, I usually start with the ribbon underneath the candy when I start tying, so it ends up tying right at the bottom edge of the candy.  I'm sure none of this is making sense.  

Double knotting pic :)

Just keep putting in candy, straightening and tying.  You can also put candies in through the open end of the paper, but you'll usually have to straighten the candies out at the ribbon anyway.

This is one half done.  So I have long ribbons on the top and bottom ends.  

Now, repeat the steps above to make the other side of the lei.   

Trim the extra wrap off the end (just don't go too short)

This pic is blurry, but line up the two sides.

Put one end on top of the other to tie them together.

Take the bottom ribbons and tie them on top of the end you place on it (and double knot).  

Flip the lei over and tie the top ribbon pieces around the bottom of the lei (and double knot).

Now, circle it up and tie the other ends the same way.

Go around and curl the ribbon

This is what it looks like once it's curled.  Sometimes I leave it like this and but I usually go around and add more ribbon. 

Here's is what it looks like with double ribbon.  There are lots of ways you can embellish these...you can add dollar bills folded up cute (secured with wire), or those plastic rings that come on top of cupcakes are fun to tie in, add flowers, use tulle or fabric ribbon, etc.

And you're done....phew!

Halloween 2012

 Will and Jimmer.  Will would do spooky ghost fingers whenever I took his picture.  He's so funny!

Jimmer was a doctor this year for Halloween.  More specifically, he was "The Best Toy Doctor in Town". :)  His favorite television show is Doc McStuffins...so we went with that for a costume.  We went trunk-or-treating with our ward, with cousin Will, and then went door to door with the Rees' on Halloween night.  We had a lot of fun this year.  Jimmer was pretty serious about his costume.  He didn't want to take off his coat after the first trunk-or-treat and was saying that if we took it off he wouldn't be a doctor anymore.  Then some Hispanic ladies wanted to take Jimmer's picture on Halloween, but he didn't really want them to.  So he told them, "Doctor's don't take pictures." 

Photoshoot Giveaway!

If you live near Utah County (especially Springville), you should enter this giveaway for a free photoshoot of your choice from Kimberly Aldrich Photography!  Kim took Jimmer's 3 year old pictures (above are just a few), and they turned out great!  Jimmer was NOT easy to photograph that day either!  Just log on to Facebook and like her page, share the giveaway on your wall, and then put your entries into the Rafflecopter form on her Facebook page.  

https://www.facebook.com/KimberlyAldrichPhoto

It's a.....

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Thursday, July 5th.  It was fun, but quite uncomfortable for me.  James and my mom were able to come.  The ultrastenographer was really talkative and described everything he was doing.  He took an hour and 15 minutes going over every little part of our baby.  We had it recorded on DVD and luckily he pushed record (unlike with Jimmer's ultrasound - different place).  Well, everything looked great on the baby and the ultrastenographer kept commenting on how much of a stinker the baby was being.  The baby would not uncurl or turn face up and get his/her face out of my placenta.  No good profile pictures, but we are happy that everything seems normal.  The baby weighed 14 oz and was measuring on almost everything (femur length, head size, etc) at 21 weeks and a few days.  I was 20 weeks and 4 days for my ultrasound.  One thing measured at 18 weeks, so I want to go back and see what that was.  Well, I was told by my doctor that his ultrastenographer has been working for 25 years and has never gotten a gender prediction wrong...so here's to hoping we aren't the first surprise!  

Brad & Tiff's Visit

We feel so lucky that our good friends still have family in Utah, so when they come to visit family, we get to see them too!  Brad and Tiffany came out from Indiana over Christmas break.  It was so great to see them!!  We spent a day together hanging out and then going to dinner and a BYU basketball game.  Their kids are so cute, and they are such good parents.  They have a sweet new baby girl named Tenley, and having two kids in tow didn't slow them down one bit!  It was a long day for Jimmer, since he refused to nap that day, so he fell asleep for a lot of the basketball game.  I couldn't believe he could sleep through all the noise!  Jimmer still remembers seeing them and likes to randomly ask, "Renember when we went to the basketball game with Kade?"  We love our friends!  Writing these posts makes me realize how blessed we are to have such great family and friends!      

*I stole this picture from Tiffany's blog.  Luckily she's great at always taking pictures!

Winter Days

During the winter, we pretty much stay indoors.  I don't really like being cold, and since there is no snow to play in this year, all we really do is go to the library for music and story time, go to my mom's house for dinners, and go to a playplace or inflatable bounce place on the weekends.  That's pretty much our life right now.  I need to live somewhere warmer!