Megan’s Cookin’ chose glittered pumpkins for today. My project was pretty much doomed from the start. I didn’t have a pumpkin left from Halloween. My grocery store did not have any. We got one from my mom, but it was rotting inside, so the stem came off. Oy. We also tried to do this in the doorway of the garage and the wind kept blowing the glitter away. It wasn’t pretty, but it got done.

It doesn’t look half bad in the picture. Megan told me she was going to try glittering some other things for this, which I think would be cute. I thought about doing some apples, but ended up just sticking with the pumpkin.

Did you try this?

Megan’s Cookin’ chose glittered pumpkins for today. My project was pretty much doomed from the start. I didn’t have a pumpkin left from Halloween. My grocery store did not have any. We got one from my mom, but it was rotting inside, so the stem came off. Oy. We also tried to do this in … Read more →

Get your glitter ready! Megan’s Cookin’ has chosen Glittered Pumpkins for next week’s project.

Get your glitter ready! Megan’s Cookin’ has chosen Glittered Pumpkins for next week’s project.

Sassy Suppers chose a craft project for today – drink umbrellas. What a cute project! It was really easy too. We pleated one of the umbrellas to try to make it look a bit more like the ones you get in restaurants and it turned out really well. These would be adorable for a summer party. Side note: I remember bringing a drink umbrella home from someplace as a child and using it as an umbrella for my Barbies! Barbie would definitely give these a thumbs up as well.

Next week’s project is blackberry almond shortbread squares.

Sassy Suppers chose a craft project for today – drink umbrellas. What a cute project! It was really easy too. We pleated one of the umbrellas to try to make it look a bit more like the ones you get in restaurants and it turned out really well. These would be adorable for a summer … Read more →

Sassy Suppers has chosen a fun little craft project for us for next week – drink umbrellas. Perfect for the hot weather. Now I just need someone to make me a virgin strawberry daiquiri to go with it! And someone to fan me.

And just a note to apologize for my lack of posting lately. I am writing another cookbook (can’t say what yet since the contract paperwork is in progress, but very delayed) and it is taking up so much time! I have been simply buried in work. The Parchment Paper Cookbook has finally finished the editing process and will be out in November. The Organized Kitchen is in editing right now (I think that one comes out in Dec or Jan) and the new cookbook is due at the end of October. I’ve also got a new edition of my book The Complete Credit Repair Kit coming out in November.

This summer has just been crazy, driving kids around, spending weekends at the lake, and an endless parade of medical and dental appointments. I hope to get back to a regular posting schedule very soon. I *still* have not gotten the July issue of Everyday Food which is really annoying me!!!

Sassy Suppers has chosen a fun little craft project for us for next week – drink umbrellas. Perfect for the hot weather. Now I just need someone to make me a virgin strawberry daiquiri to go with it! And someone to fan me. And just a note to apologize for my lack of posting lately. … Read more →

I have been coveting this $150 starfish necklace for more than a year. But I just couldn’t bring myself to spend that. We were in Florida recently and spent a day on Sanibel Island, where I did some shopping. Several of the stores were selling these little do it yourself lockets. They came in different shapes. I bought a round one for $18 (including chain – still can’t believe it). In the display, they sell little charms you can put in the locket for $3 each (really!). So I bought the necklace and two charms (starfish and sand dollar). Mr. MarthaAndMe put some sand in it that I collected on the beach. When I got home, I went to Michael’s and bought some crystals for $3. Mr. Martha and Me glued them back to back (they had metal backers and kept flipping over so you saw the back) and we put three in the locket. I love it so much and for about $27 I got the same effect as the $150 one I had been looking at!

I have been coveting this $150 starfish necklace for more than a year. But I just couldn’t bring myself to spend that. We were in Florida recently and spent a day on Sanibel Island, where I did some shopping. Several of the stores were selling these little do it yourself lockets. They came in different … Read more →

I’ve been doing holiday cookies in stages. I’ll make the dough one day, cut it out and bake it another and then we had a big cookie decorating night to decorate the gingerbread and sugar cookies. This year I bought some little squeeze bottles, thinking we could emulate Martha and make the cookies look like the ones Dani decorates on Martha’s show. Silly me. First problem – my mixer broke as I was making frosting. Then the frosting was too stiff, so we had to add milk (by hand!). Finally we got it to work. The bottles were great for outlining and making lines and designs. “Flooding” the inside of the cookie (as Dani, the cookie decorating expert on Martha’s show calls it) was harder. Sure you could squeeze frosting into the center, but then trying to spread it evenly with a knife was very hard. Still, I think the cookies turned out pretty well. I’m not a fan of a lot of frosting, but kids will be kids! It took us about 2 hours to get them all decorated. It was exhausting but fun!

I’ve been doing holiday cookies in stages. I’ll make the dough one day, cut it out and bake it another and then we had a big cookie decorating night to decorate the gingerbread and sugar cookies. This year I bought some little squeeze bottles, thinking we could emulate Martha and make the cookies look like … Read more →

I have a thing for sheep. Quirky, unusual, yet lovable sheep. They can’t be too big. They can’t have faces that are too human. And it’s most fun if I buy them on vacation. Here is my flock. Do you love it? It’s so big I’m going to have to expand to another shelf (the big blue on on the bottom left has already begun the migration). I have a silver money sheep from China (I did not bring that one back myself unfortunately!), a cranberry colored sheep I bought on Hilton Head, a cool one that looks like it’s made out of spaghetti that I bought in Montreal, the most amazing sheep with a face made out of a crossword puzzle from Vancouver, a great one with its head tipped from Maine, one with pink ears from Hawaii and many, many more. There are sheep made of lace, clay, cotton, paper mache, bristles, real wool and much more.

My latest addition is the fab pink sheep in the front right. My friend Melanie McMinn, felter extraordinaire made this for me in New Zealand. Check out her Etsy store. She makes all sorts of amazing, gorgeous felted creations, real works of art. I’m so happy to have one of her pieces in my collection!

I have a thing for sheep. Quirky, unusual, yet lovable sheep. They can’t be too big. They can’t have faces that are too human. And it’s most fun if I buy them on vacation. Here is my flock. Do you love it? It’s so big I’m going to have to expand to another shelf (the … Read more →

I try really hard to decorate beautifully, cook wonderful meals, and buy lovely gifts, but I don’t have a wrapping room (and how I wish I did!). The wrapping supplies live in the closet under the stairs. When I’m ready to tackle the holiday wrapping, it all comes out and takes over part of our bedroom. We set up a folding table and I sit on the edge of the bed and wrap on the table. When I’m actually wrapping, all the junk you see on the table is on the bed so I have the entire table for wrapping. It’s a horrible, ugly mess, but I live with it for a week or so while I work my way through the wrapping. I would love to have a room just for wrapping, but that’s not possible. So every year I live with this disaster, hating it. It’s so very un-Martha, yet I think I’m able to produce gifts that look lovely.

Do you have a very un-Martha area of your house this holiday season?

I try really hard to decorate beautifully, cook wonderful meals, and buy lovely gifts, but I don’t have a wrapping room (and how I wish I did!). The wrapping supplies live in the closet under the stairs. When I’m ready to tackle the holiday wrapping, it all comes out and takes over part of our … Read more →

Thanks to Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet to for choosing paper snowflakes for today’s project. I used to do this with my kids when they were little, but I didn’t know to do the part about folding it into thirds (that part was a little hard, but I managed!). I tried to do one exactly like the one in the picture. It was close, but not quite the same. This was really fun to do and I enjoyed it.

For several years, when we took down the Christmas decorations, I used to put up snowflake decorations. I had a collection of snowflake ornaments I hung on my all-season tree. I had a snowflake wreath, and some big snowflakes that went in the kitchen windows. I stopped doing it though because by the time we got to taking down the decorations, it made more sense just to move ahead and put up Valentine’s Day decorations.  Now I just hang the snowflake ornaments on the Christmas tree. I kind of miss just having some time to celebrate winter (before I start wishing I lived in Florida by the time February comes and I’m sick to death of it!).

The project for next week has been chosen by Ana at Sweet Almond tree and is an artichoke dip (great choice for holidays!).

Thanks to Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet to for choosing paper snowflakes for today’s project. I used to do this with my kids when they were little, but I didn’t know to do the part about folding it into thirds (that part was a little hard, but I managed!). I tried to do one exactly like … Read more →

This is my final Martha giveaway of the year. 10 lucky winners will get a Martha Stewart Holidays double-edged snowflake trim punch (this creates a strip of die-cut paper to use as a decorative strip) AND a set of Martha Stewart Holidays treat bags (each package includes 8 bags, 8 paper boxes/trays that go at the bottom, 8 tags, 8 pieces of ribbon, and 16 adhesive strips). The paper cutter is super fun to use and makes such pretty strips of snowflakes. It’s perfect for scrapbooking, crafts or making cards. The treat bags are a great way to package candy or small cookies. It’s hard to see in the photo, but the bags have tiny white dots on them which are really cute.  The prizes are courtesy of MSLO and they will mail them out. Previous winners of my other contests have written to tell me how much they liked the punches and treat boxes they received, so I know you’ll love them!

Here’s how to win. Follow me on Twitter. Then leave a comment here with your Twitter handle, so I can match you up. If you are already following me on Twitter, just leave a comment here with your Twitter handle. You must enter by midnight ET on Friday December 10, 2010. I’ll randomly and blindly select ten winners by random number drawing (numbers assigned in order of comments here). Sorry, offer limited to U.S. addresses only and entrants age 18 and up only. One entry per person. Winners notified by email given when entering, not responsible for email transmission problems. You are responsible for notifying me of your correct  address if you are selected as a winner. Contest closes at midnight Eastern time on 12/10/10. Prize is nontransferable and may not be redeemed for cash. MarthaAndMe reserves the right to announce the name of the winners on the blog. Prizes will be sent by MSLO to winners and MarthaAndMe is not liable for any failure of MSLO to deliver.

This is my final Martha giveaway of the year. 10 lucky winners will get a Martha Stewart Holidays double-edged snowflake trim punch (this creates a strip of die-cut paper to use as a decorative strip) AND a set of Martha Stewart Holidays treat bags (each package includes 8 bags, 8 paper boxes/trays that go at … Read more →