A Little of this and a Little of That . . .

I have been in project mode in my craft “portal” – I call it portal because when I enter into my craft studio, it sucks me in and takes me hours for find my way out.   I am making all the favors, decorations and such for my almost and very excited four-year old little girl’s Hello Kitty themed birthday party.  To keep the hubs happy while I am locked away in my craft portal, I kept the yummy treats at hand.  For some reason I was back-logged on bananas so I had to put them to use before they spoiled.  I made Banana Chocolate Cupcakes that were a huge hit here and at the hubs work.   I also came up with a Chocolate Chip Banana Bread that my Saturday night dinner guest nearly fought over for left-overs being part of their doggie bags.

Recipe:

• Banana Chocolate Cupcakes:
• Cupcake:
• 3/4 soften butter
• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 3 large bananas
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp of vanilla
• 3 cups of flour
• 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• 3/4 cup of buttermilk (you can use regular milk if not on hand.. it adds more depth of flavor)

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs on at a time, add bananas and vanilla.  Combine all dry ingredients and then mix into wet alternating buttermilk. Scoop into cupcake pan (use cupcake wrappers) and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the toothpick comes clean at 350.

Frosting:

• 2 – 8oz packages of cream cheese at room temp
• 1/2 cup butter soften
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 4 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 tsp of vanilla.

Cream cream cheese and butter, add cocoa until mixed well, add powder sugar and vanilla until creamy. Place in a piping bag and chill.  Pull out about 10 minutes before frosting.  Using a large tip, frost cupcakes once cooled and sprinkle mini-chocolate chips for finishing touches.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 pound butter
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk or regular milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 large bananas
• 1 1/2 cups of milk chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs on at a time, add bananas and vanilla.  Combine all dry ingredients and then mix into wet alternating buttermilk. Mix chocolate chips into batter just until well mixed.  Pour into a bread pan and bake for about 45-60 minutes or until the toothpick comes clean at 350.

I also had to come up with an autograph book for our nearing trip to Disneyland!  For a special treat we are going to have breakfast with the characters and I have been told that it would be a good idea to have an autograph book for the kids to have Mickey and Cinderella and the gang to sign.  I found the books in the $ bin at Michael’s and dressed it up with using a Disney themed cardstock I found for .60.  Using my Martha Stewart “rope punch”and then used some ribbon I had on hand to dress it up a bit.  I made two of these.

Lastly, I am craft mom at my little one’s co-op preschool and I saw this concept in Disney’s Family Fun magazine this month and decided to tweak it to the needs of our class and subject manner.  The both mom and kid had a blast with the craft.  It was fun to conceptualize as well!  

Recipe:

Mini water bottle

Drill hole on top and add a ribbon

Using a funnel, layer activated carbon (get it at any pet store) 3 table spoons

fun fish tank pebbles 3 table spoons

3 -5 table spoons of potting soil

Add a sprig of fresh herbs with root in tack (we used lemon thyme)

long stick to make a hole in the dirt and add the herb.  add water and keep moist. Watch grow!

Also big Cricut news!  I am now a proud owner of a Cricut Imagine!  I found it on Ebay saying it was broken.  I researched the issue it said it had and it seemed to have an “update” fix.  Frankly, I think it was someone who had no idea what a Cricut Imagine was and was selling it from one of those storage unit auction situations.  I felt rather confident that it really did work and I could remedy the issues with a call into Provo Craft and an online update.   I won it for $124 including shipping. 

It came this week and I was very worried when I saw the condition of the box and how poorly it was packaged.  The machine was hanging outside of the box!  I took pictures of the packaging and then proceeded to unleash my possible “BIG” ebay bidding mishap.  Guess what!  It worked right when I plugged it in! It is still working!  Nothing was wrong with it at all! So I got an Imagine for $124!  YEAH! 

Thanks for sharing a piece of “this is one LONG blog post that is all over the map” pie with me! 🙂