Friday, September 29, 2006

New Toys

I love birthdays. They give me new toys. =) Aside from my new Purple Onion stamps (which I still haven't played with a WHOLE lot, but I have a little bit...), Leif ordered a Basic Grey notch tool set for me. I'm still waiting for that to arrive, and getting more and more impatient. He paid extra for fast shipping a week and a half ago and it hasn't arrived yet. It's frustrating.
But in the meantime, I've got a new Crop-a-dile (which even has Leif impressed... punches 75 sheets of paper at a time with no problem. It also punched through my clipboard very easily. wow... it's a serious tool.)
and I ordered a bunch of Hambly. Can't wait for the Hambly to arrive so I can play with it!! Not that I've gotten much playing done lately. Hmm.... I'm going to have to remedy that. In the meantime, though, I will dream of all the ways I will play with my new toys and look forward to having a swatch of time to do so.

I have all my LO done for the LSS and they're all turned in and on display now. The schedule has also been finalized, so I'll be posting all that info in the near future. Woohoo! I am SO excited about teaching, though I'm a little frightened as well. Eeek! I know it will be fine, but new things are always a little scary.

Well, I'm off to do a few things, like eat breakfast. =) Who knows... Maybe I'll fit some crafting in today. We'll see.

MIM Challenge #2 Reminder

Don't forget, all you hand-titlers, that a new challenge is coming on Monday! If you haven't done your LO yet, get playing this weekend!

Friday, September 22, 2006

New Stamps!


Yesterday was my birthday and Leif got me some Purple Onion stamps - the ornamentals set. I love them! I haven't had a chance to play with them much, but I did get them cut apart and put tack on the back so I could use them. I used a few on the birthday card I made for my mom (which is in the mail now... sorry you can't see it.) and I have great plans for these babies! I love 'em already!!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Fun with Jello


This is a fun idea for serving Jello. I want to try it! I'm sure you could use the fresh orange pulp to make orange juice. Wish we had some oranges...

Monday, September 18, 2006

MIM Challenge #2


Remember when you were in grade school and your teachers tried to teach you how to write with perfect penmanship? Well, whether your handwriting is neat, messy, classic, or funky, now is the time to use it! Challenge #2 is to use a...

Hand Written Title

No stamps, stickers, computer fonts, or premade headers. This is all about your creative skill! Again, post pictures of your LO online and a link in your comments on this post. Let's see what you've got!

2peas Milestone!

I've posted 200 LO and 1700 comments to 2ps. Woohoo!

Sunday, September 17, 2006

MIM Challenge #1 Results


Well, MIM challenge #2 begins tomorrow... here are the results for #1. Thanks, Tam and Jaime, for posting your links! If anyone else has finished it, post your links in the comments to this post and I'll add your link, too! Here are the entries:


Friday, September 15, 2006

If Martha Were A Geek


She might have made this cake. Tam, this sounds like a cake for Dave. Or any Linux geek for that matter. Made for geeks by a geek (who apparently went to culinary school before choosing geekdom as a career.)

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Scrapbook Class


I went to my first scrapbooking class last night. I figured if I was going to be teaching them I ought to attend one to see how its done! Now I've got a better idea of what is expected. I also got a couple pages mostly finished. It was fun and I'm looking forward to teaching my own classes. I need to finish making the samples for display at the LSS. We've got an open house coming up in the near future and I need to have the displays done by then. And the schedule is almost finalized, so once it's done I'll post the project sample with the date I'll be teaching. All four of my classes will be in October and November, then I've got one sometime after the new year.

Speaking of crafting, I made some serious progress cleaning my craft room yesterday. Woohoo! It's really nice to have space to craft again. I'm not completely finished, but I'm getting closer. This week is pretty heavy in the crafting department. Monday I had craft night here, last night the scrapbooking class, and tomorrow I've got a crop at the LSS from 6-midnight. I don't know that I'll stay the whole time, but I'm looking forward to a block of time to work on some layouts and projects I need to get done. I need to do my MIM challenge LO (*gasp* I haven't done it yet... bad me.), finish the 2 LO and minibook for the LSS, and figure out what I need for the 3 baby pages and box and card classes. I'd also like to finish the LO from last night's class. (eta - I just spent some time in the good ol' craft room and am pleased to say that the LO from last night's class are finished, scanned, stitched, and should be posted at the top of this post!)

So... that's what the near future looks like. Oh, and my in-laws will be here Friday night to Saturday. Next week looks a lot less busy.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

MIM Challenge reminder

So how are those fabric layouts coming? We've got another challenge coming next week!

Martha's On!!

Today is the season premier of MARTHA! I'm sitting here watching it right now and am looking forward to being able to stay home this year and watch every day! Yippeee! Love Martha...

Million dollar pie recipe

Yesterday I watched Oprah. I very rarely do that, but yesterday I did and I'm really glad I did!! They had this woman on the show who won a million dollars from Pillsbury for her Granola Oatmeal Pie. I decided to try the recipe... MMmmmm! Turned out great and it was SOOO easy to make! And I DON'T do pies. I did make the crust from scratch (thanks, Mom, for teaching me how to do that! It turned out perfect and flaky). Here's the recipe. Give it a try!

Million Dollar Granola Oatmeal Pie

preheat oven to 350*

Roll out Pillsbury Pie Crust (or make your own)

Mix together:
½ C butter – melted
½ C brown sugar
¾ C corn syrup
3 eggs beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
2 packets crunchy granola bars (Oats and Honey from Nature Valley)
¼ c oatmeal
½ c walnut (optional)
¼ c chocolate chips

Bake for 45 min at 350*

last 15 min use pie shield so edges don’t get too brown. (optional)

cool for 45 min then serve with ice cream

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Fun things

So there are some pretty cool baby products out there. Like Splash, the bottle dryer from Skip Hop. It really does look like a splash, and I think that's neat. Doesn't really match anything we've got in our house... a little too contemporary, but it's sort of fun, you've got to admit.

Skip hop also has the Pronto mini-changer. We have something similar, but this seems like an all-too-useful item. And honestly, it might go on the must-have list for any parents of infants.



And there are other fun things going on in the lighting department. Like this "broken" lightbulb. Sneaky design and pretty cool.

The same company does this floor lamp - the light runs up the center and the plastic casing is illuminated to give its shape.




And Heath Nash makes these amazing lights (and many others) out of recycled plastics. Check out the variety of lamps at the link. Very, very cool. I want to try making one myself. I've made a lamp before, so at least I've got a smidgen of experience behind me as I play...

Speaking of playing, check out these AMAZING gingerbread houses! Apparently they have gingerbread houses on display in Seattle every year. Wow. Almost makes a 12 hour trip to Seattle worth it just to see them. I aspire to someday make a gingerbread house. But I might have to work my way up to get to these!

And for those of you who aren't satisfied eating the store-bought Twinkies and need to make your own from scratch... (you crazies, you!)... here's a kit you can buy to do just that! Okay, I admit... I think it's cool and I would make my own twinkies if I owned this set. I confess my insanity.

But if you're SUPER crazy, make your own ginger ale. And though my gardening skills leave much to be desired, it would be fun to grow veggies with faces on them. Weird, but fun.


Okay... that's all we have time for on this week's fun things. Stay tuned as I find more fun things and post them later. Bye bye!

If Martha were a Geek

This is too funny. It makes me wish I could knit better than I do. But... that would require learning to knit better AND learning to follow a pattern, THEN actually being motivated enough to complete the project... but it's a great idea, really it is. And with Halloween coming up soon... (ooh. That reminds me - I've got to get motivated on Ellie's costume. I think she's going to be a dragonfly. Wouldn't that be cute??)

Ooo! Fun!

So Post-It has new cool sticky notes and you can get a free sample of them here. Fun! Potential for scrapbooking...

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Ask Martha - Gummy Worms

Some days I feel like a walking "Ask Martha" segment. It's kind of fun sometimes. The other day my roommate from college called and asked me how to make gummy worms. I'd totally forgotten that I made them in Iowa. So... after finding the recipe I'd used before, I found another recipe that sounded better and, of course, I had to try it. So I spent part of yesterday making homemade gummy worms. =) Mmmm... Here's the recipe, a few variations, and some tips I highly recommend.

RECIPE

Makes about 3 dozen candies

* 1 box (1 3/4 ounces) powdered pectin (available in many supermarkets or hardware stores)
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 3/4 cup water
* 1 cup light corn syrup
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 2 teaspoons lemon extract, or orange extract
* 6 to 8 drops yellow or orange food coloring (optional)
* Vegetable oil for coating the molds
* Superfine sugar for coating the candy

1. Lightly oil enough candy molds to make 36 medium-size bears. Set them aside.
2. Combine the pectin and baking soda in a heavy medium saucepan. Add the water and place the pan over medium heat. Stir well until the pectin is dissolved. The mixture will foam as it heats. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick, smooth, and clear, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the pectin warm.
3. Combine the corn syrup and granulated sugar in another heavy medium saucepan. Place the pan over high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil.
4. Clip a candy thermometer to the inside of the pan. Cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches 260 F (hard ball). Immediately add the pectin mixture and return the syrup to a boil. Boil exactly 1 minute and remove the pan from the heat.
5. Add the lemon or orange flavoring, the corresponding food coloring, and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Pour the syrup into the prepared molds and set them aside at room temperature until the candy has cooled and firmed up, about 5 hours.
6. While the candies are still in their molds, sprinkle the tops of the candies with superfine sugar. The candy is very sticky and the sugar will allow you to handle the candies and remove them from the molds. Shake off any excess sugar and use your fingers to peel the gummy bears out of the molds. Completely cover each bear with additional superfine sugar. Shake off the excess sugar and store the candies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

VARIATIONS

Gummy Fruits
Use fruit-shaped molds and substitute 2 teaspoons of the corresponding natural or artificial fruit flavors (such as peach, strawberry, raspberry, apple, cassis, coconut, banana, and apricot) for the lemon or orange extract. Change the food coloring accordingly.

Licorice Gummies
Omit the orange or lemon extract and food colorings. Add 2 teaspoons natural or artificial anise flavoring and pour the syrup into plain round molds. If desired, 4 drops of black food coloring can be added.

Sour Gummy Candy
Add 1/4 teaspoon citric acid to the pan with the sugar and corn syrup.

Super Sour Gummy Candy
Mix 2 teaspoons citric acid with each 1/2 cup superfine sugar used for coating the finished candy.

TIPS

* If you don't have a hot candy mold, cover your oven rack in foil and press the foil between the wires to form worm shapes. OR use a flexible loaf or 8x8 pan. (DON'T use a metal pan - make sure it's one of those flexible ones.)

* Make sure you grease the mold or pan well so the candy doesn't stick.

* The recipe says to let the candy cool at room temperature, but I recommend refrigerating them before handling them and then storing them in the fridge.

* Regular sugar may work just as well as superfine for coating.

* Store candy between sheets of wax paper - if you stack them they will stick together, even if sugar coated. =(

Monday, September 04, 2006

MIM Challenge #1

Okay, all... It's September and that means the start of My Inner Martha's scrapbooking challenges!! Here's your first challenge...

Use fabric on a LO.

It can be scraps of fabric, sheets of fabric, sewn, tied, ironed on... whatever. But I want to see some fabric - I know you've got some stashed away from previous projects or projects that you'll (never) "get t0 someday..." Pull them out and play! I'd love to see what you come up with, so post to 2peas and give a link in the comment here, or post on your blog and give a link here, etc. Let the creative juices flow!

Scrapped the Movie

Okay - this movie sounds REALLY funny. Now I'm curious. Watch the promos.

Friday, September 01, 2006

People Call Me Martha Stewart

When I lived in Iowa, my coworkers at Emerson School jokingly called me "Martha" because I did crafty, creative things. That's where the inspiration for "My Inner Martha" originally came from, 5 years ago. Anyway- it turns out that Martha is going to do a show segment called "People Call Me Martha Stewart." Funny, huh? Here's the excerpt from her website:

People Call Me "Martha Stewart"
Do your friends and family say you are just like Martha? Are your recipes, crafts, and other creations award-worthy? If so, now is your chance to show off. Send us a videotape telling us why people call you Martha Stewart and display your very best decorations, recipes, crafts, Good Things, and anything else that is "so Martha," and we may broadcast your video on the show, or even invite you to be a guest.