Tasty Trivets

I really enjoy stamping. Mostly I paper craft but I've been known to stamp on other things. Even the kids if they stand still long enough. I created a few trivets for my recent fundraiser. I have two left so thought I'd pop them out into the garden in the sun and take a few pictures. I really like how these two turned out. I was surprised these were the ones that didn't sell.

These are simply tiles from Lowe's stamped with Staz On inks, heat set and I added felt feet on the bottom. Great as decoration, in the kitchen, or under a candle.

Pink Sugar

I've mentioned my fundraiser before and my passion for doing it grows every day. I love when I come across items that are economical but still presentable as a very nice gift. These are the pink peppermint sugar scrubs I made for the fundraiser. The jars were less than $8 for a dozen, the ribbon a few cents worth from my stash and the buttons too.

Sugar Scrub Recipe
3 C sugar
A little shy of 1 C vegetable oil
1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract added to the oil
1 drop red food coloring added to the oil
Stir the oil to break up the dye drop
Pour oil mixture into sugar and stir.

I love this in the shower. The sent is refreshing but not clingy and you are very soft afterwards. I really like to use it after I've been in the garden to scrub away all the dirt.

Happy Birthday To Me

Got my craft on yesterday and baked for my birthday. I stuck with the standard Devil's Food chocolate cupcake but I made a mistake. I accidentally used 1/3 C shortening rather than the 1/2 C that the recipe called for. And you know what? They were AWESOME! Not at all greasy which I find sometimes that cakes can be. Not sure what that did for the calorie count but I can assure you I rectified that situation with the frosting. Peanut butter frosting! So incredible. I read a few recipes here and there and opted to go the way that made sense to me. I used my go to butter cream recipe of 1 stick of butter 1 pound of powdered sugar and vanilla and milk till it's perfect. Quite a recipe huh? Well I subbed out the butter for peanut butter and used more than a pound of powdered sugar you see because there was a two pound bag opened and when I eyeballed a pound there was only about a cup left so I threw it in there. Powdered sugar frostings are so easy going like that. Then I added a teaspoon of vanilla and started with 3 T of milk. I probably ended up using close to 1/4 C of milk since it was a pretty dry day and I wanted a soft frosting. I tasted it and added a scoop more of peanut butter and a pinch of salt. Turned out so incredibly yummy that it's going in the rotation for good.

As you can see I topped the finished product with a mini Reece's Peanut Butter cup. Even my hubby proclaimed success!

Oh and I have some left over frosting that might just find it's way on top of some cookie dough ice cream later tonight after the kids go to bed.

It's in the Bag

Got my craft on a TON last month. I had this great plan to sew a few things, glue a few flower pins together and make some cupcakes and then have an open house to raise money for my Avon Walk for Breast Cancer participation. It started small and become huge and wonderful. May 1 I opened the doors just before noon and chatted and hugged and collected and sold my way to over $1000!

I'd like to share a few pictures of some totes I made that weren't snatched up. I made 18 and only have 5 left! If you'd like to "purchase" one for $25 leave me a note in the comments section. All money collected goes towards my fundraising. In fact if you'd like, you can donate directly on my participation page and I'll mail out the tote to you.

These are large, all cotton, hand made totes. They are sized so that both straps will remain on your shoulder but still allow you to put your hands inside or fill it easily. They are strong enough for shopping, farmer's market trips or taking to the beach but I wouldn't recommend loading them with books or items over 30 pounds. They are washable.

You can also see my repurposed Freecycle finds in the pictures LOL. My spray painted mailbox that holds garden tools (and spiders, ewwww) and my ship's bell that helps announce dinner in the summer.

It's Peanut Butter Cookie Time

It's peanut butter cookie time! When your 94 year old grandmother calls you and asks if you are baking any cookies anytime soon you sure as heck better lie and say yes you were just about to. She got 2 dozen still warm peanut butter cookies this morning.

I have been using the same recipe since I was in second grade, so about 3 years now....alright fine almost 30 years...you know how to cut a person you realize that?

I bought The Cookie Book on a Scholastic order way back in the day. The book has yellowed, is spotted with vanilla and butter and stays open perfectly on pages 30 and 31. I love it. I suppose I could write out the recipe on a darling little card but part of the joy of baking for me is the history behind the recipes we use.

Did you know PB cookies have that distinctive crisscross pattern on them to warn people that they have peanuts in them?

Peanut Butter Cookies
1 C shortening
1 C peanut butter
1 C white sugar
1 C light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 C all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix wet ingredients, add dry ingredients, scoop, shape, bake 350° 10 minutes

Darling pink delivery box and butcher twine ordered from http://www.wesellcoffee.com/page70.html They are fantastic!

I'm BACK!

Again LOL

Of course I pick the day before a major blogger outage to create my blog. I disappeared almost as fast as my peanut butter cookies disappeared. Which BTW I'll have pictures of tomorrow ;-)

Oh and I got my craft on today! Made a few cards for my grandmother to send to friends.

Stay tuned for some recipes, food porn, and some sewn projects.