Banana Coconut Muffins

Yesterday was such a dreary day that I decided to bake some scrumptious coconut banana muffins and have a cup of tea. The muffins are the best when eaten right out of the oven , but be careful, they are addicting!









Banana Coconut Muffins
1 1/4 C. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
3 mashed bananas
1/2 C. butter (melted)
2/3 C. sugar
1 egg
1/2 t. vanilla
3/4 C. coconut



Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together bananas, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and 1/2 cup coconut in a large bowl until combined well, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened. Divide batter into muffin tins and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup coconut on top. Bake 25 minutes at 375 degrees. Yields 12

New Discovery

While reading the book Crafty Superstar and I discovered a most valuable resource; picnik, a free photo editor. Take a look at some before and after shots.

Before
After
Before

After
I decided I need to actually put some "mold" on my cannoli. I can see myself easily spending a lot of time on picnik editing photos.

Birdie Boutonnieres

Yesterday I decided that I was going to finally make something that has been on my "to-do" list for six months, make these cute little boutonnieres for my wedding. I used some of the supplies that my sister got me for my birthday from the etsy seller Caramelos. All of the other supplies were things I had hanging around my craft box; wire, floral sprays, pieces of my sister's outdoor wreath that I found on the front porch (see, I did put those to use), feathers, ribbon, and buttons.


This one is my favorite.


This one is my least favorite and made me really mad, the bird looks way too big. Unfortunately I don't have any other birds to replace it with, I guess this means I need to take a trip to the craft store.


This is the groom's, made from an old peacock feather earring of mine.




He has such a cute green face, I want to give him a *kiss*.


Here's that giant bird again! Aaargh!

Pretty Ponies

I found a post on design*sponge featuring the artist Ann Wood. The post featured Ann's original design for a D.I.Y. tutorial on making a stampede of wild horses. I had much too much fun with this tutorial and I whipped up four pretty ponies to hang above my bed.



These scraps were the basis for all of my ponies, cardboard cereal boxes, origami paper, newspaper, an old maps.



Notice that the legs are put together with buttons? I have a very limited button supply which is why I wish I bought that bowl of buttons at the art trail this weekend, oh well.



I am rather pleased with the outcome, here is the original tutorial.

Westcott Art Trail

This weekend I strolled through a central New York neighborhood that was participating in the annual Westcott Art Trail. Creative homeowners set up shop on their front porch/front yard to sell their handmade wares. Now this sounds like something I would like immensely, but I did not care for it too much. There was a strange new age vibe in most of the handicrafts and most of the people walking around bore a striking resemblance to the wizard Gandalf. I can imagine that many of these people owned home decor that included the likes of faeries, wizards, dragons, and magic crystals. All was not a bust though, I did find this cute albino bunny button, which was given to me free of charge. The bunny was sitting in a bowl of buttons, but my eye was only on the bunny. I do wish I bought the whole bowl of buttons though, why you ask? Well you will see tomorrow.



What a cute albino bunny. Notice that my picture is not blurry? Courtesy of my dearest D. who has sort of given me his camera. Oh, he's so nice.

Bagel Bonanza

I recently left a job where the bagels flowed like milk and honey, and I could partake of one any time that I wished. Since my departure I find myself occasionally pining away for delicious everything bagels. I recently came across a bagel post at the angry chicken which used this fabulous recipe. They turned out wonderful, I do think that I will make my bagels from now on.

The Finds I Found

This past Sunday, I went to the local produce market looking for plants for my garden, but I found much more than produce! I couldn't believe the goodies that I found. I didn't even end up buying any plants. I got this entire mushroom set for $8.00.
These Lu-Ray Pastel saucers were only $4.00 for the lot. I found the exact same saucers on eBay for $14.00 for a set of two!
Lu-Ray was made from 1938-1962.

These are my absolute favorite, a complete milk glass set (only $12.00!) and five Fire-King ramekins ($4.00). I can't believe all the treasures I found. I will have a nice little collection of vintage for my kitchen.

Once I came back from the market, I started researching the brands I found, Fire-King is easy to find on eBay and very reasonable, I might need to add to my collection...