A Charlie Brown Lunch

A Charlie Brown Bento Lunch

First day of back to school after the winter break makes just *needs* a cheering up back to school lunch. After two weeks of vacation where we were really sick, we spent the last day of winter break watching the Peanuts movie, so I figured a simple Charlie Brown lunch was a good bet for some smiles. I’ll be honest, I’m going on my almost fifth year of making bentos and although it’s lots of fun for both me and the kiddos, the mornings are increasingly chaotic to be making bentos. So simple is the way to go!

In today’s lunch:


Main  PB&J cut with a cutter (then trimmed to look bald) and drawn on with black food coloring
Sides Green grapes and homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and water


Today, I used:

Peace on Earth Bento Lunch

Peace on Earth Bento Lunch | OneCraftyThing.com

After a bit of a bento hiatus, I was ready to get back (right before vacation!) and I was trying to decide what cute cartoon character I was going to do… maybe the Good Dinosaur, maybe a Peanuts theme, or something else. After being uninspired by any cartoon character, I thought about what I wanted for my kiddo for Christmas. And what I really  wanted was peace on earth. No more mass shootings. No more violence toward any religious group. No more more hating refugees because they want a safe place to live. I just wanted peace. And so, today my wish is peace for everyone, anyone.

In today’s lunch:


Main  PB&J triple stack with a heart cut out and a dove flying in the middle. The leaf is a sprinkle.
Sides Green and red grapes with the word “PEACE” cut out in bread. Also, strawberries.
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and water


Today, I used:

Pride and Prejudice Snowflakes (and Templates!)

‘Tis the season for busy days! So not as much time to really put time into involved crafts but one day we took a few minutes to sit down and do some paper crafts. I did some intricate snowflakes while the kids colored.

After getting warmed up with a Disney-themed snowflake (no template, unfortunately, it was free-hand and a warm up), I remembered that it is around this time of the year that I re-read my most favorite book of all time: Pride and Prejudice. I absolutely adore Jane Austen and read everything she’s written and especially Elizabeth Bennet and (who doesn’t?) love Darcy as well, so I decided to do some fun experiments and came up with these Pride and Prejudice themed snowflakes. I loved them so much that I thought that it would be a little Christmas gift to all the equally Austen enraptured enthusiasts out there 🙂 So for your enjoyment, some fun snowflakes to be had!

Elizabeth Bennet | OneCraftyThing.com
Elizabeth Bennet is one of my most favorite heroines of literature. And though she is not a great reader, I was inspired by the scene at Netherfield Park where her reading becomes scrutinized by the sisters of the house. (Don’t get the reference, you should really read the book, it’s amazing!) Download the Elizabeth Bennet snowflake here.

Mr Darcy Snowflake | OneCraftyThing.com
Fitzwilliam Darcy, despite being aristocratic and “of breeding” is a complete and utter jerk at the beginning of the novel but works at his jerkiness throughout the novel. I won’t say more but it’s not the typical love story, let’s say. Anyhow, download Fitzwilliam Darcy’s snowflake here.

Hope you like it!


Today I used the best book in literature:

A (Quick, Inexpensive, Adorable) Winter Wreath

$12 and a Half Hour to make a (Quick, Inexpensive, Adorable)  Winter Wreath | OneCraftyThing.com

Every once in a while, I take a little bento hiatus. I take a break so that I can come up with new and fresh ideas. However, I still have to craft… one crafty thing! So this week, I checked out some wreaths on Pinterest and I made a new wreath for my door. Something simple, something that took less than a half hour and less that $12! Can you say instant (and cheap) gratification?

For this wreath, I used:

  • A ready-made grapevine wreath. $4 at Trader Joe’s
  • Basil-colored Spanish moss. $4.50 (40% off at my local craft store, or buy it online).
  • 7 white “snow” flocked trees in a pack. $2.99 (40% off at my local craft store)
  • (Optional) Green acrylic paint in case your moss isn’t as green as you would like. (99 cents)

$12 and a Half Hour to make a (Quick, Inexpensive, Adorable)  Winter Wreath | OneCraftyThing.com

15 minutes: I originally had the idea to hot glue the moss onto the wreath, but instead, I ended up tucking it into the branches. It held pretty well without the glue. I especially tried to tuck it under the largest branches.

$12 and a Half Hour to make a (Quick, Inexpensive, Adorable)  Winter Wreath | OneCraftyThing.com

Lots of mess, but easily swept away. It might not seem that way but this moss held pretty well like this.

$12 and a Half Hour to make a (Quick, Inexpensive, Adorable)  Winter Wreath | OneCraftyThing.com

10 minutes: I took my time hot gluing the trees into the wreath (partially because I was watching TV, but partially because I was trying to lay them out before I glued for sure). They each have a little wood base so I hot glued the base to where I wanted and then flexed the tree “trunks” (made of wire) to make them straight, even though gluing them on a curve meant that the bases didn’t go in straight. I tried to not line them up but instead have some in front, some in back so that I could create a bit of depth.

$12 and a Half Hour to make a (Quick, Inexpensive, Adorable)  Winter Wreath | OneCraftyThing.com

2 minutes: I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to hang this up but then thought of using a split key ring on the back and then hung it up.

And that was it 🙂 It took 3 extra minutes to clean up. It was fun and cute and looks good on my door. I didn’t end up using the paint as I liked the color of the moss, but using a sponge brush to lightly add green might give the moss more depth.

Today I used (Following cost may not reflect the discounts that I found for my materials):

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Bento

Harry Potter Bento Lunch | OneCraftyThing.com

We’ve finally caught up to the masses and have started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (I tried when the kiddo was younger but she wasn’t into it). Now my kiddo LOVES it, especially since I’ve been reading it out loud in bad, fake British accents. Anyhow, been dying to celebrate my love for Harry Potter for ages now, and now that it has the context of being a book she knows, my kiddo is in love with her lunch today.

In this lunch:


Main PB&J Harry made with a breadhead sandwich cutter/sealer with glasses, face features, and scar all outlined with a little bit of food dye.
Sides A green grape snitch on trail mix and raspberries with a crust-made Sorting Hat. I tried to keep this in Gryffindor colors, too.
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and a bottle of water


Today, I used:

Oldies but Goodies Halloween Bento Lunch

Halloween Oldies but Goodies Bento | OneCraftyThing.com

Now that I’ve been doing bentos for quite a few years now, I find that holidays become a little harder to make bentos — I’ve done lots and lots of different themes and honestly, I start to run out of ideas! So today, I decided to go back to the Oldies but Goodies… ghosts, pumpkins, spiders, they’re all perfect for today’s bento. Plus I found this awesome butternut squash ravioli at Costco which looks adorable as a pumpkin.

In today’s lunch:


Main  Butternut squash ravioli with sprinkles for the face (two circles and a bat sprinkle) and a piece of grape stem for the stem. It has butter sauce at the bottom of the container.
Sides Green grapes covered with marshmallow spiderwebs (melted for 10 seconds in the microwave and pulled apart over the grapes. Black grapes held together with a toothpick for a spider (with candy laces for legs). On the left compartment, the spider “egg sack” is fresh little mozzarella packages. Also, ghost and bat chips.
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and water


Today, I used:

Doctor Whooves and the TARDIS Bento

Doctor Whooves and the TARDIS Bento Lunch | OneCraftyThing.com

I’ve been meaning to make a Doctor Who lunch for a while for my kiddo. Today, I stepped it up a bit and made it Doctor Whooves! Because ponies! The kiddo and I love us some My Little Ponies and this was enough for some great lunch fun 🙂

This is the fan video of Doctor Whooves where the fandoms (and the stars) aligned:

One of my favorite little detail of this lunch is the super cool steampunk clockwork gear sprinkles. They’re adorable and were perfect for this Time Steed lunch. I got them from the amazing collection at the Geeky Hostess and they have extended my readers a DISCOUNT! Use code “ONECRAFTYTHING” at the Geeky Hostess’ shop to save 20% off your order!

In this lunch:


Main Triple stacked TARDIS and Doctor Whooves sandwiches. The TARDIS cutter I got from Amazon (link below) and the Doctor Whooves cutter I got from Etsy. Both are outlined with food dye (I used a brush to place the dye).
Sides Green grape trees and trail mix with some fun gear steampunk sprinkles
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and a bottle of water


Today, I used:

Them Bones Bento Lunch

Them Bones Bento Lunch | OneCraftyThing.com

I love October because that’s a time when all the spooky lunches come out. Today’s lunch? A boneyard. I’ve bought a treat last week at the store and have been waiting to use it! It’s the Cheetos 🙂 I don’t ever buy them but as a little treat, once in a while when they’re not bright orange, I’ll get them. This time, I found them in skeleton parts which I wish would’ve looked more like skeletons but eh, my kiddo loved them anyhow.

This is probably the third time we use the OmieBox. Overall impression: I like it, it’s a good box and allows for generous portions. Still bummed I can’t somehow attach a drink to it (besides a juice box) so that it can be self-contained but I found a  lunch bag in our stash that’s big enough for it and a water bottle.

In today’s lunch:


Main  A skull and bone shaped pair of PB&J sandwiches. I got the cutters at Williams Sonoma, but can’t find them there anymore 🙁
Sides Green grapes with skeleton food picks I picked up one year at Target, bone-shaped Cheetos, an apple carved into a skull, covered with food fresh to keep from browning


Today, I used:

First Day of October Bento

A Pumpkin Bento | OneCraftyThing.com

Today was the first day of October and to celebrate, a simple pumpkin lunch. Also, a celebration of the return of the mandarins! So happy it’s starting to really feel like fall here in California.

In this lunch:


Main Triple stacked pumpkin PB&J sandwich with trail mix nuts around it. I used some tiny cutters to make the face (a triangle and a strange cloud-like cutter that I found in my supplies but I don’t know where I got it!)
Sides Green grapes and a mandarin
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and a bottle of water


Today, I used:

Girl Scout Daisies Watermelon

Watermelon Basket of Daisies | OneCraftyThing.com

This weekend my kindergartner kiddo (my second) became a Daisy. It was sweet to see her so excited and happy to see her friends and her new troop. The ceremony was a potluck and I promised to bring daisy themed fruit. I seriously considered just making a fruit arrangement but for the amount of people that were there, I figured I should try to merge that idea into a watermelon which served more people. This was the result 🙂

In this fruit bowl, I put in watermelon, pineapple and green grapes. I had a few extra red grapes from our weekly fruit so I used it for the center. I then carved the leaves around the middle. To garnish it a bit, I used green grapes at the bottom to sort of mimic leaves. I used toothpicks to attach the three bottom daisies to the watermelon and then used skewers to raise up the daisies in the back.


In this carving, I used: