C-c-c-cold crafts!

Monday we had this wonderful gift of a day off.

It was one of those days where otherwise you would drive the kids

the half block to the bus stop to wait in the van for the bus

in order to help insure that they would get to school with all their digits.

Still no guarantees.

Brr.

I had seen this idea to freeze water with food coloring in balloons to decorate your walkway.

I found it pinned on Pinterest with the comment "Epic fail".

Didn't freeze all the way.

Big mess.
And of course, I immediately thought, "Oh, we should try this!"

After all, if they can freeze, they will freeze in -11ºF.

But we put them in muffin tins to make sure they were well exposed to the elements.
Because burying them in the snow just insulates them.

The next morning I looked out the door.

Yup, frozen.  

7.63 seconds later the door was frozen too.

It just took a second under the faucet for the balloons to be rinsed off since they had already popped.

My decorator extraordinaire.

Last night temperatures soared into the positive digits, and we woke to this delightful soft snow.

There.

We have officially rolled out the winter welcome mat.

Doesn't it make you want to come and visit?

Tips for those who might want to try this:

1.  I had both liquid and gel food coloring.  They worked equally well,
BUT the gel ones faded fast in the sun.  Not melted, faded.
2.  Put one or two drops (or a squeeze of the gel) into your balloon before filling.
3.  Do this over the sink. It is ridiculously messy.  Be warned.
4.  Attach the balloon to the faucet to fill.
(And you thought adding the food coloring was messy.)
5.  We found it helpful to blow the balloons up first to stretch them.

This gave me such a flashback to another cold day.

Click here to be amazed at the adventures you can have here on the tundra!  Fun times!