Bento: Reindeer & Gingerbread Men

This Laptop Lunchbox (like yesterday's) is the Laptop Lunch box with 2 of the containers replaced with the one larger container from the Laptop Lunch Bento Buddy set.  (This larger box is also available in their salad set.)

• The potato bread sandwich has a reindeer made with a cookie cutter (on the sandwich and the fruit leather for antlers), two raisins (poked in to stay with a chopstick tip), and a small circle cookie cutter from a bento cutter set from AllThingsForSale that's adhered with peanut butter for the nose.
• Yogurt-covered raisins and raspberries are the festive "bed" for the sandwich.
• Strawberries fill the smaller purple container, and a gingerbread man is made from remaining fruit leather and a cookie cutter.
• The apple is also stamped with the gingerbread cookie cutter, and the skin is then removed with a very small paring knife.  The apple is treated with lemon juice, although, I don't know that it would have mattered if the gingerbread man turned a little brown.
• The note is a free printable from Nourish Interactive



Bento: Snowman & Christmas Trees

This Laptop Lunchbox is paired with the large box from the Bento Buddy set which allows for the large sandwich.

• Honey wheat bread sandwich with Frosty cut out using a cookie cutter.  The fruit leather hat was cut with the same snowman cookie cutter.  The small circle buttons and 1/2 circle eyes were made from fruit leather with a bento cutter set from AllThingsForSale.  His smile is a craisin cut in 1/2.  The Christmas trees are cut from the same piece of fruit leather with another cookie cutter.
• Yogurt-covered raisins make "snow" beneath the sandwich
• Mandarin oranges and the fruit leather "negative" are paired with gingerbread pics playing hide & seek.
• Tomato slices and a snowman pic fill the last Laptop Lunch container
• The note is a free printable from Nourish Interactive
• String cheese fills the silverware compartment today.



Bed of Clouds: Pillow Sleep Pallet

I saw this on Pinterest.  (If you need an invite to Pinterest, comment with your e-mail address, and I'll send you one.  Warning: it is not  my fault if you spend endless hours on Pinterest when you should be doing other things.)

I looked at several different options, and honestly, I thought "Great idea!  Still a little room for improvement."  The best one I found was on Oopsey Daisy by guest blogger from Our Wonder-filled Life.

I have a ton of these to make before Christmas....I've completed 3, and I have a minimum of 5 more to make.  Thank goodness they're quick and easy!  With a 6 year old and 2 year old twins, my sewing time is in VERY short and infrequent spurts, and I've managed to complete one a day thus far.

My modifications to Oopsey Daisy Our Wonder-filled Life's directions are as follows:

I bought 60 inch wide fleece, and I only needed 2 1/2 yards total per Bed of Clouds.  I mean, really, do you need 5 pillows high for a kid?  My 3 kids probably won't be using this when they're 5'8" or taller....So I decided that 4 pillows would be sufficient. (It requires less pillows and space when you try to store them, too.) The width of the fleece also meant that I didn't have to sew 2 pieces of fabric together, the "sealed" side was already done.

Now, you're doing the math and wondering why I needed 2 1/2 yards when it looks like 78-80" should be plenty (2 2/9 yards, or 2 1/3 yards at most places).  Well, I thought a pocket on the top pillow would be ideal for a book, ipod, phone, or whatever small items the kids didn't want to loose at night.  So there's a little extra fabric to cut off of the "top" of the fleece panel and use for the pockets.

I also embroidered names on the top "pillowcase" of each one. 

My directions are as follows:

Step 1: Measure and cut 79" of the fleece. 

Step 2: Pin & sew the long raw edges "under."  (These will be the opening side for the pillows to go in.)
Step 3: Determine the size you want your pocket to be using your "extra" fabric that you cut from the top.  Allow 1" for seam allowance along all 4 sides (2" more each direction total.)  Cut the pocket, pin edges under, sew the edges.

Step 4: Fold the long piece of fabric in half lengthwise.
Step 5: Measure 1 1/2 inches from the top of the long piece of fabric.  Place a pin on the folded edge.
Measure 19" down and place another pin; 19" down & another pin; 19" down & another pin; 19" down & a final pin.

Step 6: Take the pocket fabric and embellish it as you wish with any beads, ribbon, buttons, or embroidery.  Then place on the fold of the top "pillowcase."  My pockets are about 12-15" wide and about 5" tall when complete.  I centered them along the top "pillowcase" fold.  Remember to wrap the pocket under the fold, because when you insert the pillow, you want the pocket to be upright and not laying on top of the pillow.  Pin the sides and bottom of the pocket to the "pillowcase" and sew.

Step 7: Add any embroidery or other embellishments to the bed of clouds.  (I embroidered names on the top "pillowcase.")

Step 8: Turn the fabric "inside out" with the right sides facing each other and aligning the edges.  Pin along the very top and very bottom 1 1/2" from the edge.  Sew.  Reinforce with a second "pass."
Step 9: Turn right-side out.  Continue pinning at the three 19" marks all the way across the fabric to the openings.  Sew.  This creates 4 pockets.  Reinforce if desired.

 Step 10:  On the top "pillowcase," measure 6" from the top seam and 6" from the bottom seam and pin 12" of ribbon to the inside of each of the 4 marked spots.  Be sure to really reinforce these by sewing "squares" with "x's" inside them.  (They're really hard to see in the pictures, because the fleece hides it so well.)  Kids will be hard on this part.

Step 11: Do the same for the remaining 3 pillowcases with ribbon or sew-on velcro.

Step 12: Depending on how much fabric you purchased, you could easily create a little carrying bag for storage and transport.
Stuff with pillows & rest easy!

(Fabric.com and Hancock Fabric links are on the right sidebar of the blog.  Go Sew!)

Bento: Christmas Trees & Snow

This was a super fast and easy lunch to assemble.  Had I prepped the sandwich the night before, it would have been even easier to just pull from the fridge and pop in my little guy's lunchbox!

Today's Christmas Trees & Snow Laptop Lunch box is using a combination from the Laptop Lunch bento box set and the bento buddy set.  The buddy set has a container (with lid) that's big enough for a sandwich.

The left container has an apple butter and peanut butter sandwich with 2 trees (from cookie cutters) cut out.  The "trunks" of the trees are made from sesame sticks.  The trees were colored with Wilton Food Writers, and the snowmen pics are from something I found last year at the Dollar Store.  The "snow" beneath the sandwich is made from yogurt-covered pretzels and raisins.

The Red & Green theme in the 2 containers on the right is fulfilled with cucumbers and tomatoes also using snowman picks.

Happy lunching!

Bento: Elf on the Shelf

You met our Elf on the Shelf yesterday....And he has revisited and assisted with lunch. 

The peanut butter and honey sandwich is in a regular sandwich box (found at a local grocery store) and cut out with a "Santa" cookie cutter.  He was colored with Wilton Food Writers and adorned with mini marshmallows cut into thin slices.

The grape tomatoes are in one of the inner boxes found in Laptop Lunch systems or buddy kits.

The sliced apples and the apple butter - caramel dip are in a Guataplast 2 Cup container that I bought a while back at The Container Store.

Fruit Leather was included for snack time.