I have some fun, fun, fun news! First of all, I am proud to announce my new blog: NoPotCooking. This is my latest endeavor and is all about parchment paper packet cooking.  This new, revolutionary way of cooking allows you to seal in flavors; produce moist, low-fat,delicious food; and do so without using any pots or pans. That means little or no clean up. I don’t know about you, but the bane of my existence is those pots and pans that pile up in my kitchen waiting to be washed. Ugh. This cooking method avoids that completely. I am LOVING it. Please stop by and visit me there! There’s lots of info on the “about” and “technique” pages as well as the blog posts.

Now for the giveaway. MSLO has been kind enough to send me some Martha Stewart Crafts product samples to try and will be giving away TEN of each item to my readers.  These are all holiday themed items that you totally are going to love. I’m going to be spacing the giveaways out, so check back regularly.

Today, to get things started, I have TEN Martha Stewart Crafts Punch Around the Edge Sets in Snow Flurry, so I can select TEN winners. How cool is that? These are incredible. With the two pieces, you can completely punch around a piece of paper. They’re easy to use and I love the snow flake pattern. It’s perfect for making holiday gift tags, cards, or scrapbooking. Here’s how to win. Leave a comment on this post, then visit NoPotCooking and subscribe to the blog via email (on the right hand side, click on the email link under “follow this blog” before Saturday, November 20, 2010. I’ll randomly and blindly select ten winners by random number drawing (numbers assigned in order of subscription time). 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 11/19/10. Prize is nontransferable and may not be redeemed for cash. MarthaAndMe reserves the right to announce the name of the winner on the blog. Prizes will be sent by MSLO to winner.

I have some fun, fun, fun news! First of all, I am proud to announce my new blog: NoPotCooking. This is my latest endeavor and is all about parchment paper packet cooking.  This new, revolutionary way of cooking allows you to seal in flavors; produce moist, low-fat,delicious food; and do so without using any pots … Read more →

Thanks to Karen at Karen and Charlie’s Kitchen for choosing this week’s pick-your-own project  – Thanksgiving tablescapes. I liked the one where you make a small pumpkin into a candleholder, so I did a trial run with that, which looks sort of lame since it’s crooked. I guess you need a straighter pumpkin to get it to work! I just hacked away at it with a knife to make the hole, then pushed the candle in. I like this idea a lot, even if mine wasn’t the greatest in execution!

Here’s a photo of a centerpiece I bought a few years ago (I think I got it at the grocery store to be honest!) and which I really still love a lot.

Thanks to Karen at Karen and Charlie’s Kitchen for choosing this week’s pick-your-own project  – Thanksgiving tablescapes. I liked the one where you make a small pumpkin into a candleholder, so I did a trial run with that, which looks sort of lame since it’s crooked. I guess you need a straighter pumpkin to get … Read more →

Congratulations Joni Taylor, you’ve won the Martha Stewart Scrapbook. I’ll contact you via email with details. Thanks to all who entered!

Congratulations Joni Taylor, you’ve won the Martha Stewart Scrapbook. I’ll contact you via email with details. Thanks to all who entered!

I recently posted my list of Martha’s best recipes. I have done some Martha crafts (more in the first year of the blog, but I still do some from time to time). I’m not a big crafter and so I didn’t think I would have any craft greatest hits, but in looking back through the blog, there were a couple that really stood out for me as being beautiful and easy to do, so I want to share the craft version of Martha’s Greatest Hits with you!

Map Coasters I still love the concept of this

Scarf Dyed Eggs Possibly the best craft EVER

Nut Wreath I still get a lot of comments on this post from last fall. The wreath hangs in my kitchen in fall and is gorgeous!

Glitter Eggs As frustrating as they were to make, they did turn out pretty well and are very impressive looking.

Fish Print This was one of my more controversial posts. The prints I made hang at the family lake house and are gorgeous.

Do you have any favorite Martha crafts?

I recently posted my list of Martha’s best recipes. I have done some Martha crafts (more in the first year of the blog, but I still do some from time to time). I’m not a big crafter and so I didn’t think I would have any craft greatest hits, but in looking back through the … Read more →

As a thank you to all of my readers and in celebration of the two year anniversary of this blog, I’m giving away a Martha Stewart Crafts post-bound scrapbook. It’s a pretty green and has 10 dual pocket pages.  The size is 11 by 8.5 inches

If you’d like to enter the drawing, just post a comment to this post before Saturday, October 30, 2010. I’ll randomly and blindly select one winner. Sorry, offer limited to U.S. addresses only and entrants age 18 and up only. One entry per person. Winners notified by email, not responsible for email transmission problems. You are responsible for notifying me of your address if you are selected as the winner. Contest closes at midnight Eastern time on 10/29/10. Prize is nontransferable and may not be redeemed for cash. MarthaAndMe reserves the right to announce the name of the winner on the blog.

As a thank you to all of my readers and in celebration of the two year anniversary of this blog, I’m giving away a Martha Stewart Crafts post-bound scrapbook. It’s a pretty green and has 10 dual pocket pages.  The size is 11 by 8.5 inches If you’d like to enter the drawing, just post … Read more →

When I started MarthaAndMe, I was doing Martha’s crafts. For the first year, I did quite a few crafts. Once the year was over though, I stopped doing as many. I’m not very crafty at all and I learned that forcing myself to be something I wasn’t just made me cranky. I may not be crafty, but I am creative, and every once in a while I have a fit of creativity. It usually isn’t neat and it often doesn’t turn out as I’d hoped, but it’s almost always fun when it’s something I really want to do.

I’ve had this one in my head for quite a while. Several years ago I caught some unknown show on HGTV and one thing they did was wallpaper a basement staircase with maps. Well, that got me thinking. I have a fascination with maps. It all started in my grandparents’ basement. Gai and Papa traveled to every continent except Antartica and tracked their journeys on a map in their basement, next to the pool table. They did these journeys before I was born, or at least before I can remember, although Gai often talked about them. She’s the one who gave me the travel bug.

I used to spend special time in that basement, playing pool with Papa and gazing at that map. When Gai passed away (several years after Papa) last year, one of the many things I inherited was that map. It now hangs on our basement staircase, and it inspired me to frame my own map, which Mr. MarthaAndMe and I put thumbtacks in to mark where we’ve gone on our trips.

I love that map, but I still am map crazy and I’ve never been able to get that HGTV episode out of my head. Some of the doors in our house have these huge combination locks in them. The previous owner was worried about his own son stealing things, so he installed them on three doors in the house. One of them is the basement door. Now these locks are quite old and operate with numbers you push. One day one of the kids was horsing around with the one on the basement door and got it locked shut (said child was fortunately not in the basement, but on the upstairs side of the door) and it became stuck with the deadbolt in the frame and the combination part just frozen. Mr. MarthaAndMe tried everything, but finally decided the best solution was just to get the lock out of the door. This left two round holes – one about a 3 inch diameter and the other a one inch.

I considered patching the holes, but we’ve never been able to adequately match the paint color on our interior doors, so that was a whole ball of wax I didn’t want to get into. Then it hit me – I could cover the door with maps!

I never let go of this idea and finally, this past weekend, I did it! Mr. MarthaAndMe shoved some wood in the holes to fill them pretty much. Then I went to work. I went to AAA and got free maps of all the places we’ve been. I also had some maps around here and I printed some small maps online. I attached the maps with Mod Podge. Now, it didn’t go perfectly. There are some lumps, creases and bumps, but early in the process I decided I just didn’t care. I layered and collaged the maps and covered one side of the door (I’ll do the other side after we’ve traveled some more!). Then I did another coat of Mod Podge on top. Once this is all completely dry, I’m going to put a coat of polyurethane over it all to completely seal it.

I’m actually pretty proud of this. It’s in an out of the way place in the house (in the laundry room and you can’t see it unless you stand right in front of it), so it’s not a huge glaring thing, but is instead kind of a quirky little surprise I think. I am really happy with how it turned out. It’s right by the door to the dog yard, so while we are standing there waiting for our slow poke dogs, we have something to look at. I’ll probably kick myself in 30 years when we try to sell the house, but for now I’m thrilled with it!

When I started MarthaAndMe, I was doing Martha’s crafts. For the first year, I did quite a few crafts. Once the year was over though, I stopped doing as many. I’m not very crafty at all and I learned that forcing myself to be something I wasn’t just made me cranky. I may not be … Read more →

Today’s Martha Monday’s project was chosen by Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet. The project is crayon hearts and it’s perfect for a Valentine’s Day craft to do with your kids.

You take a piece of waxed paper and fold it in half lengthwise, then open it up and place crayon shavings on half of it. Making all those crayon shavings took forever! They kept jamming up the pencil sharpener I was using. I tried using a vegetable peeler but that didn’t make the nice curly shavings.

Once you have enough, you fold the paper back up, and fold the edges to hold it in. Iron it between sheets of craft paper (I used parchment). Let it cool, then cut out heart shapes from it. Martha says to hang them using thread, but we just used tiny dabs of museum gel to stick them to the kitchen windows. They really are pretty and look like suncatchers. The key is to use lots of different shades of pink and red crayons. Spread the shavings out in a very thin layer. In places where mine were thick, the hearts did not cut out well, and the waxed paper peeled off a little.

This is easy and very family-friendly and is a cute project to make for Valentine’s Day.

Today’s Martha Monday’s project was chosen by Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet. The project is crayon hearts and it’s perfect for a Valentine’s Day craft to do with your kids. You take a piece of waxed paper and fold it in half lengthwise, then open it up and place crayon shavings on half of it. Making … Read more →

The Martha Mondays project for 2/8 is crayon hearts, chosen by Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet. Sounds like a great project for Valentine’s Day!

The Martha Mondays project for 2/8 is crayon hearts, chosen by Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet. Sounds like a great project for Valentine’s Day!

I used to love to send postcards when I was a kid. I always sent them to my grandmother, who stuck them into random pages of her cookbooks. She always said she liked to happen upon them in the future. When she died, we found lots of them in her cookbooks.

This week’s Martha Mondays project, chosen by  Sarah at Mum in Bloom, is to make your own postcards. The project is very simple. Print out the template for the back of the postcard and glue it onto the back of a 4×6 photo. The photo I used is one we took on the shores of Loch Ness this past summer.

Here’s a little secret. You don’t even really need to print out the template. You can simply mail a photo if you write the address on the right hand side and leave a place for the stamp. In fact, you can mail all sorts of weird things. There’s a whole little business surrounding this in Florida, where we go every spring. We have mailed a whole coconut (no packaging, just a label), a flip flop (again, just a label) and a plastic bottle with a note in it (label glued on the outside), all sold in gift shops down there.

My aunt, who was postmaster of her town, used to mail her own photos as postcards often (without any backing glued on) while on vacation.  If you’ve got a printer with you, this is a great way to send personalized postcards for very little cost. I have to say I always do like to look through postcards though wherever we are. I like to see what photos are being used. I have some blank postcards I bought as a child and now have all the ones  I sent my grandmother and they are interesting to look through.

I used to love to send postcards when I was a kid. I always sent them to my grandmother, who stuck them into random pages of her cookbooks. She always said she liked to happen upon them in the future. When she died, we found lots of them in her cookbooks. This week’s Martha Mondays … Read more →

Sarah at Mum in Bloom has chosen Personalized Postcards for next week’s project. Should be a fun project!

Sarah at Mum in Bloom has chosen Personalized Postcards for next week’s project. Should be a fun project!