Banana Walnut Muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 stick melted butter (yum!)

1 tsp oil

2 mashed bananas

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven to 400  degrees (where is that symbol on my keyboard?). I used a non-stick pan. If yours isn't you'll need some Pam or Crisco to grease your muffin tin.
In a medium bowl combine your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
In a small bowl combine egg, milk, butter (melted), oil, mashed bananas and chopped walnuts.
Mix your wet mixture into your dry mixture until just moist.
Spoon the batter into the muffin tin. Bake for 18 minutes!

These are so delicious!!

Crayon Hearts

Bet you were wondering when I was actually going to do a Martha project! Well, here it is! A few years ago I saw this project on Martha's website. Whaddaya know: I looked today to get you guys the link and it was featured on the home page!

 First I had to collect some broken/half-used crayons. It wasn't hard, since I'm a teacher. The next step is why Martha Has Minions! You have to sharpen the crayons to get shavings. This was not the most thrilling thing I've ever done. I just used a handheld sharpener. Next you need wax paper and craft paper. I tore off a fairly good size (about 2 feet) of wax paper. I scattered my crayon shavings over one half and then folded the other half over. Fold about 1/2 inch of the edges to hold your shavings inside.

 Then, I started heating up my iron. While you're waiting on that, grab a sheet of craft paper a little larger than the sheet of wax paper you tore off. I put my wax paper full of crayon shavings on one side of the craft paper and folded the other half over the top. After that, I was ready to iron. It just takes a couple swipes of the iron over the craft paper to melt the crayons. Once it dries, you're ready to cut out hearts:

 They have such a nice stained-glass effect. I'm pretty sure my sister did something like this in grade school though...

Isn't the purple/pink one fun? Now I need to string them up on fishing line and hang them in front of a window!

Raspberry Thumbprints

Raspberry Thumbprints are my husband's new favorite cookie. At Christmas I give out baggies of cookies. I added these ones this year. He's been waiting for me to make them again. After the 200ish cookies I made over the holidays, I was on break. I think the reason he loves these Thumbprints is the entire package of cream cheese! Here's the recipe:

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
Raspberry (or strawberry or peach) preserves

Beat cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar until smooth. Add flour and baking soda; mix well. Add vanilla (if you want you could throw in 1/2 cup chopped pecans here); mix weel. Chill dough for at least 30 minutes (really important!). Preheat ove to 350 degrees. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumb in middle of each cookie; fill with about 1 tsp preserves. Bake for 14 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Make about 3 dozen.
Personally I think the preserves don't taste very good until cooled...

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

This time I read a big kid book! Lisa See is also the author of Snowflower and the Secret Fan. I've never read that one, but hear it is good. The novel starts off in Shanghai right before the Japanese invade during WWII. The protagonist and her sister are spoiled in "the Paris of the East." Their father (you're not going to like this guy) changes their fates very quickly.

By the end of the novel, they are in California during the Red Scare. Not only did I enjoy the time period the book was set in, but the characters are so captivating. The dynamic between sisters definitely hit home.If you have a sister, you will understand what I mean. After you read it, let me know if you are a May or a Pearl. It also explores the dynamic between mothers and daughters. I truly enjoyed Shanghai Girls. Like Dr. Seuss says, "a person's a person, no matter how small," or what race or gender or socioeconomic status. You have to read this book (with tissues nearby).

Upholstery

When I was in college my mom bought these two beautiful chairs. The only problem is their fabric. It's just not me. Well, when we moved into our house she gave them to us. They have the perfect spot in our living room.  Now we are on a mission to find fabric to make slipcovers for them.

 The coral fabric is something I ran across a couple years ago. I HAD to have it in my house. I've decided I want lumbar pillows in the coral fabric for these chairs. Here are some of the choices we've pulled out:

 Fabric #1 (this is a closeup of the fabric in the first pic)

 Fabric #2 I'm not sure about this one because it doesn't have the red at all. What if it had red cording?

 Fabric #3

 Fabric #4 Again, no red.

Fabric # 5 This one is so traditional with its stripes and I kinda want something funky. Plus it has a lot of sheen...

Well, what do you think???? Help me!

Entryway Shelf

My entryway is super skinny. There isn't a lot of room for any kind of console table with a cute chair. Bummer. The next best thing is a really cute shelf, right? My mom is the queen of using painters' tape to plan furniture placement. The blue tape is my future shelf. I get what you're thinking: "Uh, it's off center from your adorable chalkboard."

 As you will see in this pic, we took the chalkboard down and moved it over. The shelf needed to be at least a foot deep. If we centered it under the previous location of the chalkboard, my front door would hit it every time. (Dad is working on the measuring in the pic below. He says, "Martha may have minions, but you have parents.")

 The beautiful corbels are something found at an antique store back in Illinois. We just got the new Pottery Barn. They have something really similar. I've seen others around for cheaper. Well, anyway, I love the corbels and didn't want to hide them. My first thought was a glass shelf. I'm always looking at acrylic accent tables and can't figure out where to use them. This shelf gave me the opportunity to get some acrylic and not have the danger of a piece of glass floating in my entryway.

 My acrylic piece came from Regal Plastic Supply (http://www.regalplastic.com/).

Here it is! All finished and decked out at Christmas.

First Anniversary: Paper

We just got home from visiting my friend, Kacee, in Houston. Her first anniversary was in September. Way back then I made her cards she could send out to people. I'm a slacker and never sent them to her in the mail. Now that she has finally seen them, you can too!

 Most all of my supplies were items I already had in my collection of scrapbook stuff. "R" is their monogram...but I'm sure you already figured that out for yourself. :)

 I made a girl and boy baby card because our friends are all starting to have babies. This way she has a quick card on hand to give them.

 She can write the baby name in the little green box.

 The silver and white (her wedding colors) card went on top. Then, I wrapped it all up in a big white bow. The tag attached has the song from her first dance on it.

This was such a fun anniversary gift to make. Traditional second wedding anniversary gifts are cotton. That one shouldn't be too hard. I'm just worried about the third year: leather. Hmm...