An Adorable Shrinky Dinks Project

            As a little kid, I loved so many things with genuine, untarnished enthusiasm. Some of those things – like ball pits – seem unfathomably germy and unappealing now, but there are some – like Lucky Charms – that I can still enjoy decades later. It wasn’t until I was looking for Lucky Charms coupons online yesterday that I was reminded of another thing I loved as a little girl: Shrinky dinks!

            Those of you who have made shrinky dinks will understand, and for those of you who don’t – it’s rather hard to explain. A Shrinky dink is just a piece of shrunken plastic, but it’s got so much more magic in it than that descruiption conveys. To make shrinky dinks, you doodle on a special piece of thin plastic, which you then place in a very hot oven. The heat makes the plastic contract and the original item shrinks to a fraction of its original size.

         Granted, the applications of this particular medium are limited – Christmas ornaments, jewelry, and keyrings are pretty much it. But this project is about the journey as much as the destination, and half the fun of it is watching plastic magically miniaturize in the oven. The other half of the fun is seeing your own artwork shrunk down to an unfathomably small scale. You can make a Lucky charms coupons inspired charms bracelet with this template from Sublime Stitching – how could good luck not gravitate toward you while you’re wearing a pot of gold, a horseshoe, a rainbow, and a four-leafed clover around your wrist? It’s a perfect rainy-day project to do with the kids in your life (or your inner child!). 

An Ode To Magnificent Marbits

The problem with Lucky Charms is the same problem that every cereal has -- there just aren't enough marshmallows in it. Lucky Charms has an undeniable advantage over almost every cereal on the market in that is does have some marshmallows in it -- I just wish there were more. I think Lucky Charms also has an advantage over its marshmallow-containing competitors in that it bears the distinction of being the original marshmallow breakfast cereal -- sorry, Count Chocula and Marshamllow Mateys, but you're kind of encroaching on Lucky's turf. Plus, I always seem to find the best Lucky Charms coupons, so I'm biased towards it in that regard. Anyway....

I knew I was not the only person to have thought that cereal marshmallows are quite possibly the world's most perfect food, so I did a bit of research online and found all sorts of marshmallow madness is just waiting for those who choose to pursue it. There are sites where you can buy giant bags of nothing but cereal marshmallows -- see those bags in the picture above? Nothing but mallows!! These bags look like the result of the kind of cereal-factory production accident that children dream of, and they only cost eight dollars a pop. And if you think these little babies are only good for cereal enhancement, you're thinking too much inside the box.

The marshmallow's manufacturers suggest dozens of delicious things one could do with an endless supply of marshmallows. Just imagine: with all the time you'll save ordering marshmallows direct instead of using Lucky Charms coupons to buy multiple boxes of cereal just to get enough marshmallows, you'll be able to whip up such exotic creations as cereal marshmallow mac n' cheese (i'm not kidding -- they list it on the site) and cereal marshmallow pancakes. Or, you could put them in your hot cocoa, mix them into a batch of brownies, or make a bowl of Wheaties edible -- whatever suits your fancy. How? Get your cereal marshmallow fix at www.cerealmarshmallows.com.