Saturday, April 12, 2014

Easter Chicks!

 
Last year I decided that I wanted to start making a fun breakfast for holidays. Ron actually does most of the cooking for our holiday dinners. He really enjoys that and is really good at it. I usually end up putting together the side dishes and desserts. Which I don't mind. I love to bake! It makes me happy! We love banana bread for breakfast and since it's rather easy to make I thought it would be the perfect addition to our holiday traditions.  Being me, however, I couldn't just make it plain bread. The artist in me wanted to have some fun. I also wanted to surprise the kids. I waited until they had all gone to bed and then I started baking. I had seen a picture of the chicks before and wanted to make my own version of them. I thought it would be fun to place the chicks in a nest instead of just on a plate or stand. So I baked the banana bread in a round cake pan instead of a loaf pan. I doubled the recipe so I would have enough batter left over to make the chicks. The nest is made from a no bake cookie recipe that I formed over a bowl and then I weaved pretzel sticks into it to make it look more like a nest. I made a cream cheese topping and then colored coconut to give the chicks their fluffy look. I actually found the little eyes at a craft store in their cake decorating section. But you could easily make your own eyes using white chocolate chips or gum paste and dabbing some black food coloring with a tooth pick in the center. To make the beaks I used some orange jelly beans and cut one end off so it looked more like a pointy beak. I have to say I think they turned out so cute!!! It was so much fun to see this all come together. And it was so easy to do! Honestly the hardest part was waiting for the bread to bake and cool down. That was also the longest part. Once the bread was done it didn't take long at all to put everything together. You can color the coconut and cream cheese and cut the beaks all while the bread is baking. You can also make the nest then too. That will give it time to cool and set before you place it on top of the bread. Once the bread is ready all you have to do is spread your topping, place your nest, sprinkle the coconut, set the eyes and beaks and Wallah! You are finished with a cute and adorable Easter morning breakfast. The kids absolutely loved it! It made for a fun and festive morning. After we finished up with all our morning egg hunts(the kids like to make their own hunts around the house) we all sat around the table and enjoyed the morning together. I think I'm going to keep up with this new banana bread tradition. It may not look the same each year, but it sure will be tasty! 

Here are the recipes I used. The banana bread is a recipe I got from a friend as a gift. I'm not sure where they got it from but it sure is yummy! 
  • 1/2 cup shortening. I rarely have shortening in my house. I don't use it very often and so I just use butter. It works just as well. I'm sure other substitutes will also work I just haven't tried them.
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3-4 very ripe bananas(I always try to go for 4. You can't go wrong!)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 1/2 tsp. Salt
  • 1 tsp. Cinnamon( I always add in some cloves and nutmeg as well)
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla
  • 1/2 cup cold water
Cream shortening(or softened butter) and sugar together. Add beaten eggs, mashed bananas and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together separately and add alternately with water to banana mixture, mixing thoroughly after each addition. You can always add in some chopped nuts or chocolate chips if you want. Another good addition I've added before were some diced strawberries. Mmmmmm.......yummy!

Pour into greased and floured loaf pans(or what ever pan you choose) and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until it's done. It is so so good! It's totally worth it to let bananas get extra ripe for this one!

I don't really have a recipe for the cream cheese topping. I just kind of throw things together. I usually whip some softened cream cheese and add a little bit of softened butter and some milk to make it more like a glaze than frosting. I also add some powdered sugar to sweeten it a bit. I don't really measure it. I just sort of eyeball it and add it all together little bits at a time till I like the taste.

The no bake cookie recipe I use is also simple and fun to make. My kids love it. You will need:
  • 1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • 1/2 Butter
  • 1/2 cup Milk
  • 1/2 cup Peanut Butter
  • 3 cups Quick Oats
I melt the butter in a large sauce pan and add the sugar and cocoa and mix them together. Then I add everything else one at a time making sure to add the oats last. Once they are all mixed together you can drop them by the spoonful onto wax paper to cool and set. Once you can pick them up without them falling a part they are ready to eat! They make a yummy and tasty treat!

Enjoy and have fun!




 












Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Car Table!

I've made one for each of the boys and it was Jaden's turn. My original thought was to go to the thrift store and find maybe an old coffee table and paint over that. I was lucky enough to find an actual child's table still in great condition! I was so excited! It was perfect! One thing I forgot to do though was take pictures of each step. Hahaha! Oh well, at least I got the final product.

The first thing I did was sand the top of the table down a little bit. This way it would make it easier to repaint the surface. When I was done sanding I took a damp cloth to wipe the table down and rid it of the extra dust. I didn't have one of those tacky cloths that you can use so I had to use a damp cloth. Which meant I needed to let it sit a while to let it completely dry. Once that was done I started to think about and plan how I was going to paint the table. I remembered when I painted Jaxen's table that I taped off the road ways and painted the green blocks first and then taped off the green blocks and painted the roads. It was such a pain to have to go back and cover the green blocks and make sure I got the corners just right. It took way too much time! It did work out in the end. Jaxen's table turned out really cute and he loved it. At least I thought it did!
It was my first time doing this as well and so I didn't really stop to plan it out much. I had an idea in my head and I just did it without thinking it through. Like I do with a lot of things. Haha! So when it came time to paint Jaden's table I took what I learned and told myself I should do differently the first time and planned it out for this one.

I did not want to spend so much time fixing the tape to the corners of the green blocks. I decided that this time around I was going to work in layers. First layer was the black for the roads. I got my acrylic paints and I painted the entire top surface of the table with black. I made sure to do at least 3-4 layers of the black paint so that there would be a nice even color all around. When the black paint was thoroughly dry I taped the roads off and began my next layers using green. I remember laughing a little and thinking "why didn't I think about this the first time?! It's so much easier!" Well, now I know for future reference what works better. I mainly sponged the green paint on. I used about 3 different shades of green and would apply each to different spots on the sponge. Then I would dab the sponge all over the area's I wanted to paint. I like using the different shades of color. It adds a bit of variety and texture. I think it brightens things up and makes it feel more artistic. After I was done with the green I went to work on the brown square. Jaden's table is a little bit bigger and so I was able to add a little more to it. I did the same with the brown as I did with the green using 3 different shades but I added some medium gel to the paint to give it more muddy texture. Then I took one of the boy's monster trucks and painted the wheels and ran the truck up and down through the brown paint. That also added to the muddy texture. Next I took the brown to make the shoreline of the pond and then added the blue for the water. I added some of the medium gel to the blue paint to make some waves. The last thing I did was to re-tape the roads using two strips of tape along each roadway leaving a small space between them. This is how I did the yellow road lines. It made it so much easier to do it this way instead of trying to do it freehand. But I learned I needed to pay attention to the intersections. I did have to go back a couple times and paint over a couple yellow lines to create the intersections. It looked better that way. And then after a coat of varnish it was done! It was so fun to put together. Most importantly Jaden loved it! I'm sure we will see lots of hours of play time here. Whether it's with cars or not it will be his special place to play. 



Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Zebra Stripes!





My niece Erika loves the color lime green and zebra stripes. Last year for her birthday my sister decided they would redecorate her room for her. I thought it would be fun to contribute to the happy decorating. She loved the painting so much that she decided to use it as her focal point in her room. I'm so glad she loved the painting.

Here's what I did:
I like to paint in layers. I find it works best for me. For the first layer I painted the entire canvas black. Once that dried I painted a layer of lime green glitter paint( what teen doesn't like glitter, right). After the glitter was dried I enlisted the help of painters tape. :)  Zebra stripes aren't crisp straight lines so I tore off the edges of the tape so I would get an uneven stripe. Once I had my stripe pattern down I painted over it with white. You can let it dry before you take the tape off but I've found that sometimes pieces of the tape will get stuck under the dried paint  and you end up having to dig and peel it off. I generally take the tape off when the paint is still moist. Removing the painters tape and seeing the pattern you made is quite fun and exciting.

For the flowers I wanted them to be a bit more sturdy so I painted the aqua color on canvas paper. When the paint dried I cut out two different types of flower shapes. One for the base layer of the flower and one for the top part of the flower.  The cut outs that would be the top layer of the flower I painted the underneath side a shade of green. That way when I curled the petals you wouldn't just see white canvas. The center of the flowers are clear glass rounds that I found at the craft store. I painted the bottoms of the rounds in lime green. I dry brushed around the edges of the flowers with lime green as well. When the paint had completely dried I used varnish to adhere the flowers to the canvas and to each other as well as the glass rounds. I also applied varnish to the flower petals to help them retain their curled form.

It's simple and nothing fancy but it was a lot of fun to make. And most important my niece loved it!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Vacation Magnet Boards!




One of my favorite things to bring back from vacations are magnets.If there wasn't a magnet to be found then I would bring back something that could be turned into a magnet. I know, to some it may not seem very exciting but for us it's been a fun way to document the things we have done and the places we have been. The front of our refrigerator seems to have many stories to tell. However, it was getting quite full and I needed to create some space for another project. I remembered watching one of those DIY painting shows(I can't remember the name of the show) where they used magnetic paint on the walls to create a sort of magnet message board. I thought that was a fun and clever idea but since we're renting our house, putting magnetic paint on the walls isn't an option. But if magnetic paint could go on the walls then surely it could be used on wood panels. Finding the wood wasn't going to be a problem but I wasn't so sure about the magnetic paint. After searching online I was surprised to find that my local art/craft store had some. So I got the wood and the paint and started to experiment.

 After sanding and cleaning the wood you start painting your layers of magnetic paint. You will want to paint at least 3 to 4 layers of the paint allowing at least an hour drying time in between each layer. Let that cure for at least 24 hours.

If you want to leave the boards the gray color you can or you can give it a coat of color. I only did one layer of the blue since this was my first time experimenting with magnetic paint. I prefer using multiple hues instead of one solid color.  I think it adds a nice variety to the finished piece. I didn't want to add to much detail since the front of the board would be covered. After you are finished with the color you will want to let that dry and cure for another 24 hours.
 
  
You can hang these in many different ways. On the oval I put in a traditional picture hanger and on the rectangle I put in silver hooks to which I used a sharpie to color the nail and hook. I think that's  another fun way to add variety to a project.

 
Once that's all done you are ready to place your magnets. I really loved how this turned out. It's been a fun piece of art that reminds us of all our favorite memories each time we pass by.