When I made the sandwich wrappers last week, I discovered that what I really needed was food grade glue. It just wouldn't have worked to wrap food in something that could be harmful. So, off I went in search of 'edible' glue.

Okay - so I did an web search and read a whole lot of blog posts about glue (yup, glue) and I found a recipe for mucilage. Apparently it makes a good sticker - you paint the glue on the back of your sticker project, let it dry, and then when licked, the sticker becomes sticky like a postage stamp would. I had no intention of making a sticker, but I figured if you can lick the stuff, then it should work for gluing on the sandwich wraps.

Here is the recipe as I found it on canteach.ca:

Envelope Mucilage:

6 tbsp pure white vinegar

4 packets of unflavoured gelatin

1 tbsp of peppermint extract

Bring vinegar to a boil and add gelatin. Stir til completely dissolved and add peppermint extract. Mix well.

I halved the recipe and I still had ALOT of glue. This stuff is really strong. But this glue gels to hard as soon as it cools, so you have to microwave it or warm the glue container in hot water long enough to bring it back to liquid. I also didn't use the peppermint extract.

But the real reason that I write about this glue now... is that this is miracle stuff!

If you brush it and stick it like you would normal white glue, this is very strong stuff! But more importantly, this glue is permanent until it meets warm water. And I think that this has seriously fantastic possibilities. I even tested out this theory:

I made a basic glass vase a little more fun with some old newspaper scraps and some of the leftover pieces of kite paper from my recent projects. Add a little of that miracle glue, and this is what the project looked like:

And the best news? When I don't like it anymore and want to make a change, I just have to hold the vase under warm water, and I am back to my clean and basic glass vase - ready to do something new.

I woke up wanting to have pancakes for breakfast this morning. This, in itself, is usually not creative news. I like having pancakes for breakfast, but then so do a lot of people in this great big world of ours. Who cares, eh?

Well, the big creative part of the whole story comes in when my husband looks in the fridge (just as the first few pancakes were cooking) and says...."what are we going to put on our pancakes.... we have no syrup."

This could have been the end to my pancake eating this morning. But it wasn't.

Instead, it was creativity born of a little desperation. I wanted pancakes.

Okay, I admit that what follows is not completely original - but what creative act is? I do remember seeing some sort of a mock maple syrup recipe floating around in all of the old family recipes, but it has been so long since I caught a glimpse that I had absolutely no idea what might have been in it. So, maybe this little act of creativity was just a little original - to me.

In any case, what do you do in a situation like this when the pancakes are cooking and time is of the essence (there was no time to run to the store - I was hungry and the pancakes were smelling really really good)?

I threw all my know-how (what little there is of kitchen matters) and whatever ingredients i had on hand into a pot and came up with a really wonderful new way to eat my pancakes. What would you do?

I must admit that I find it amazing what a little butter, brown sugar, water and apples can do.

I suppose, in retrospect, that what I did wasn't so much different than a simple sugar syrup, but I can honestly say that when I was thinking pancakes this morning, I did not think that I would be enjoying those pancakes in a candied apple syrup... and it was sooo good!

I think that it is moments like that when I appreciate creativity the most (especially when it means I can have pancakes for breakfast). That, and I really do think that I might invite some friends over for breakfast some day to try them out - they were that good :)

I would tell you exactly what I did so that you can try it too, but the reality is that I really don't know exactly what it is I did. (I was thinking more about finding a solution to the problem than documenting the situation for future use.) I can say that I threw approximately 2 tablespoons of butter in a pot with about 1/8th cup of brown sugar and maybe 3 tablespoons of water. Then I cored and finely chopped an apple (with the peel on) and cooked on a medium burner til the sauce had thickened and the apples were soft and carmel-ly. mmmmmm!

My concoction made barely enough for 2 healthy servings of pancakes (the only thing I regret? Not making more - I didn't make nearly enough).

Yesterday's blog was definitely a eye-opener for me. I went back to the studio thinking that there definitely has to be a way to make lunchtime a little more fun and cheery for everyone involved.

I loved the idea of the food games at school-lunch-ideas.com and I also have fond memories of surprise notes from my mom tucked in between the sandwich and the juicebox in my lunchbox. I brought both of these thoughts back into the studio with me for inspiration as I worked to find a creative solution to a quick, fun, creative, and good way to make lunches seem so much more enjoyable for both parents and kids alike.

The answer? I am soooo excited about the answer! (Okay, I will admit that I get a little excited about the weirdest things sometimes...but this is sooo neat.)Funky sandwich/food wraps. Fun. Easy. Creative. Quick. And they even look great too!

All you need is some food grade paper, some food safe glue, crayons, and maybe a couple of patterns or game ideas. I used Kite Paper, a brightly coloured paper that is waxed to prevent moisture issues and is food safe (I didn't try it, but crayons and plain kitchen waxed paper should work too) and a homemade glue from things I happened to have in my kitchen.

On one of the wrappers, I glued a pretty flower and coloured on the stem. On another I used some fancy scissors to cut a white second layer for a crayon printed note and attached it to my red wrapper. And on the last wrapper, I took out my favourite blue crayon and drew on a tic tac toe board (all it needs is some cucumber slices or some crackers and this lunch is a game waiting to happen).

If you want to try this, and are looking for this paper, it is available in both 12 packs of paper and as kits including the food safe glue at Daylilies.

If you are looking for glue recipes, check out www.canteach.ca.

And if you are looking for game ideas, I found some fun ones at www.todaysparent.com and www.printactivities.com.

Not only is this a really fun project - and sure to get smiles from the kids - but it could be a neat family project - an hour or two of creative activity with the kids on a weekend will give you more than enough wrappers for the lunches to come. I hope you try it - this one is really fun!!!!

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I read somewhere that if you have a child in school, you can expect to pack over 2000 lunches by the time they finish their school years.

2000.

That is a lot of lunches.

And so, this morning, the first day back to school, my thoughts are turned towards the routine and the mundane. There has got to be a way to make routine just a little more... fun...special...creative. Doesn't there?

I must admit that I am a big believer in adding a touch of creativity to anything and everything, so when I heard that moms and dads are destined to put together 2000 lunches in their child's lifetime, I figured that this was a very good place to infuse some creative energy. And now that some schools are making things tougher with 'no-waste' lunch policies, any parent out there making school lunches needs every bit of help they can get, right?

So here it is... a little inspiration for those dreary lunch bags:

The CuriousPhotos blog is filled to the brim with very creative (and very involved) ideas for the lunch box. I have to say that this all looks like a lot of work, but I am sure that the kid lucky to bring these lunches is the envy of their class! These are more a work of art than a lunch, but really are a neat source of ideas.

For more down-to-earth ideas for the busy lunch-maker, I found some really fun & family based ideas at school-lunch-ideas.com (I thought that the crazy 8's was a neat idea) and at  JustnotMartha.com (pinwheels are always fun), and then for the toddlers out there, the sandwich butterfly at snacksfortoddlers.com sounded really fun without alot of extra work.

If you are prefer to follow a recipe, check out this site for some different recipes (that look really good - I might just have to try one or two of them myself) to send with the kids (or for yourself if you are brown-bagging it too!)

And this is just the tip of the iceburg - after all, the empty brown bag is just a blank canvas... a really good oppprtunity to make the routine just a little less routine.

So...what did you put in the lunch bag today? Any good ideas you care to share?