Feeling a little nutty? The Martha Mondays project for 11/2, chosen by Sara at SassySupppers is the nut wreath on page 57 of November Living. Get those hot glue guns fired up! My results will be up on 11/2 – please share yours whenever you make it! If you post when you’ve got it up on your blog, then everyone can visit each other’s to see the varied results.

Feeling a little nutty? The Martha Mondays project for 11/2, chosen by Sara at SassySupppers is the nut wreath on page 57 of November Living. Get those hot glue guns fired up! My results will be up on 11/2 – please share yours whenever you make it! If you post when you’ve got it up … Read more →

For this week’s assignment, I chose pork and chive potstickers (Oct Everyday Food) and Luminarias (October Living) so folks could choose one they wanted to do.

Potstickers

My family loves potstickers. I’ve bought them frozen and I’ve also made my own once or twice before, but I used wonton wrappers and ended up with little beggar’s purses. I was ready to make real potstickers. Lucinda Scala Quinn recently made this recipe on Martha’s show. The recipe is pretty easy, as far as prep goes.  I used ground turkey instead of pork which I mixed with the chives, soy sauce, sherry, ginger, sesame oil and cornstarch. On tv, I noticed Lucinda added a little water, which is not in the recipe.

I sealed the mixture in the wrappers, which took a while, since I tripled this recipe. I tried to make pretty pleated edges, but mostly it bunched up. The recipe says to boil them for 4 minutes, then sear them in a pan. I was taught to make potstickers by heating a pan with oil, searing the potstickers then adding a little water and putting a lid on and steaming them and that’s how I always have made them in the past. I followed Lucinda’s instructions on this though. It required an extra pot and I had some trouble with the potstickers sticking together when I set them on a plate in between the two steps. It did allow me to sear them on both sides, when in the past I usually seared just the bottom.

The dipping sauce was nice – soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and sesame oil. I made about 1/3 of the potstickers (since I tripled the recipe) and froze the rest (which I admit will be very handy to have around, so thanks for suggesting it Lucinda). The family ate every single one and wanted more. I thought they were good, but next time I would add a little more flavor. Maybe it was because I used ground turkey, but I found them a little bland. I think they needed garlic. Other than that, they were quite good.

Luninarias

tracing the template

I was hesitant about this project. I’m always a little leery when something that looks so complicated is spelled out in three tiny little steps. The first problem was the materials. The instructions specifically say to buy a piece of 24×36 black paper.  No one sells this. I went to Michael’s, Joann’s and a local art supply store. The art supply store had paper that was 22 x 30 so I ended up buying that and then it turned out it was more than big enough and regular poster size would have worked (grrrr). They did have vellum but I had no idea what weight I wanted. I had to buy one big piece of vellum and cut it down (would have been nice if the instructions said to buy four 8×11 pieces which is what I ended up needing). Sometimes I think that the MSLO folks who create these projects forget that the rest of us don’t live in NYC where you can buy absolutely anything.

Once I got through the craziness of trying to find the materials, this wasn’t

cutting out the vellum (see the price tag!)

that hard to do. Mr. MarthaAndMe helped out because I’m not so good with a craft knife. We printed out the template for the lantern and traced it on the black paper, then cut it out with the craft knife.  Then we printed the witch template onto the pieces of vellum we had cut down to size. (Mr. MarthaAndMe was very upset about a price tag that would not come off and which had to go through the printer – we don’t understand who would sell a piece of paper meant for projects that has a price tag that won’t come off!).

Then we used tape to attach the vellum to the lantern windows. We folded the lantern up (I don’t have a bone folder and we were fine without it). The tricky part was attaching wire and the hanging battery powered little light inside. Mr. MarthaAndMe had to handle that part.

This project took about an hour, not counting the shopping time.  I was really quite pleased with the results. We hung it from our dining room chandelier, so that it will be over the table for the Halloween party.

For this week’s assignment, I chose pork and chive potstickers (Oct Everyday Food) and Luminarias (October Living) so folks could choose one they wanted to do. Potstickers My family loves potstickers. I’ve bought them frozen and I’ve also made my own once or twice before, but I used wonton wrappers and ended up with little … Read more →

First, I apologize to all Martha Mondays members because when it comes to crafts like these, I am just hopeless.  I gave it my best shot, but I’m pretty much a total crafting loser.

This week’s Martha Mondays project was pom poms.  I chose to make the napkin ring pom poms. I measured my tissue paper, cut it and folded it. I was fine to this point.

Then I twisted the wire and tried to fluff the tissue. Here is where things got ugly. Somehow, this seemed too long to be for a napkin ring. It looked like a giant bizarre butterfly. I am not very good at fluffing.

I tried to put another wire higher up from the fold, so there would be less paper

first attempt

flapping around and that worked better. The results were still not that impressive, but that’s due to my ineptitude. I am sure this project worked just fine for others. I do think this is a cute alternative to napkin rings. A friend of mine recently gave a luncheon at her house and didn’t have napkin rings that matched. This would have been a nice project for her because she could have made them in any color she wanted to match.

Second attempt

First, I apologize to all Martha Mondays members because when it comes to crafts like these, I am just hopeless.  I gave it my best shot, but I’m pretty much a total crafting loser. This week’s Martha Mondays project was pom poms.  I chose to make the napkin ring pom poms. I measured my tissue … Read more →

Megan of Megan’s Cookin’ chose this week’s Martha Mondays project. We’re going to make pom-poms. These look very cute. Megan is going to do hers in fall colors and is channeling Halloween. Make yours any color you’d like and we’ll compare results next week Tuesday, after everyone has a chance to make them on Monday.

I’m starting the round-robin for assignments and will be going down the Martha Mondays blogroll. If you’d like to be added to the blogroll so you can be an official member and have a turn choosing a project, let me know.

Megan of Megan’s Cookin’ chose this week’s Martha Mondays project. We’re going to make pom-poms. These look very cute. Megan is going to do hers in fall colors and is channeling Halloween. Make yours any color you’d like and we’ll compare results next week Tuesday, after everyone has a chance to make them on Monday. … Read more →

Martha Mondays is here again. This time, the scheduled Martha project was map coasters. If you made this project (or if you haven’t yet, post when you do), post a link to your blog or just leave a comment saying how it went for you.

For this project, I splurged and purchased a Martha Stewart craft knife. This project was very inexpensive I thought. I already had ModPodge and so in addition to the $10 craft knife, I just had to buy some round cork coasters, which were about $1.60.

I used a plastic cutting board to cut on and I printed my maps online. I had some trouble cutting the maps out. Martha says to use the knife to trace around the edge of the coaster. Mine didn’t come out perfectly even and in some places it was still attached to the paper, so I used scissors to cut it and trim it. They weren’t perfectly round. And once I even sliced away some of the cork! I am a menace with craft knife in hand.

Dude Martha assisted on this project. We painted ModPodge on the coaster, placed the map on top and smoothed it out. Then we applied more ModPodge and also did the edges. We left them to dry.

I was really pleased with my results. One coaster has a stray hair from the brush stuck on it, but that’s because I did not buy top of the line Martha brushes.  You can’t really tell my maps were not cut out perfectly. The coasters bowed just a little bit. If I had thicker coasters, that would not have been an issue.  I’m taking these coasters to the family lake house (since I used a map of the lake) and I think they will be a fun thing to have there. This project was easy (if *I* can get good results, it must be easy) and fun. You could do lots of other things other than maps with this. Photos, patterned paper, print outs of famous paintings, all sorts of neat things.

How did this work for you? Did anyone use something other than maps? Can’t wait to see your results!!

I’m putting together a Martha Mondays blogroll that I will post. If you want to be on it, please let me know the name of the blog to list. Once I have the list, we’ll start going through it so everyone can have a turn picking the projects. Look for another post today with the next Martha Mondays project!

Martha Mondays is here again. This time, the scheduled Martha project was map coasters. If you made this project (or if you haven’t yet, post when you do), post a link to your blog or just leave a comment saying how it went for you. For this project, I splurged and purchased a Martha Stewart … Read more →

For Martha Monday on Monday, August 17, let’s make the map coasters on page 42 of August Martha Stewart Living. If you don’t have the magazine, never fear! Here’s what to do.

You need paper maps (and if you don’t have any you could print some online, or use any other decorated or patterned paper you have), cutting mat, round cork coasters, craft knife, foam paintbrush and ModPodge.

Put the map on the cutting board, facedown and cut it out by tracing the coasters with the knife. Brush the ModPodge on one side of the coaster and stick the map onto it. Smooth the map to get rid of bubbles. Put more ModPodge on top of the map and on the sides, brushing it to smooth it out. Let it dry.

That’s it!

And if you’re new to Martha Mondays, anyone can join. Just do the craft, recipe or project on or around the planned date. Post it on your blog and put a link in a comment here. If you don’t have a blog or don’t want to blog it, feel free to just leave a comment here. I’ll post my results on Tuesday. The idea is we will all work on the same project on Martha Monday (if possible – if you want to d0 it earlier or later in the week, that’s perfectly ok) and report our results later in the week. Try to put your results as a comment to my post with my results, so we have them all in one place if possible. Can’t wait to see how everyone likes this one!

For Martha Monday on Monday, August 17, let’s make the map coasters on page 42 of August Martha Stewart Living. If you don’t have the magazine, never fear! Here’s what to do. You need paper maps (and if you don’t have any you could print some online, or use any other decorated or patterned paper … Read more →

I love the piece in August Martha Stewart Living about Hawaiian quilt-inspired designs. We went to Hawaii last summer and I brought home a quilt and a quilted throw pillow cover. The quilt is the breadfruit pattern. It hangs on a quilt rack with a quilt from my grandmother.  I bought it at an amazing little artisan shop in a village outside of Akaka Falls. The throw pillow usually sits on a chair in my bedroom. I bought the pillow at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Fortunately, my bedroom is in a pastel floral style and these items work well there. I think that Hawaiian quilt patterns are beautiful, but they don’t work in every home.

The article suggests stenciling cushions for an outdoor chaise with this type of pattern and that would be gorgeous I think. Fitting these patterns into other decor is difficult I think. I love that I brought these pieces of the islands home with us and they remind me of our trip there.

I love the piece in August Martha Stewart Living about Hawaiian quilt-inspired designs. We went to Hawaii last summer and I brought home a quilt and a quilted throw pillow cover. The quilt is the breadfruit pattern. It hangs on a quilt rack with a quilt from my grandmother.  I bought it at an amazing … Read more →

We recently redid our bathroom, which was a nightmare to live through, but I love the end result. I went with a blue and green color scheme – beachy colors.

I bought this piece of art at an art show in FL – it’s a beach scene painting with a tiny starfish, tiny sand dollar (which you can’t really see in this photo due to the flash- sorry), and two tiny shells.  I loved it when I saw it because of the color scheme, the watercolor style and the real shells glued on. I got it home and knew I wanted it to go in the bathroom, but wasn’t sure what to do with it. Eventually I realized I had larger versions of three of the shells that are glued to the painting. So I bought a shadow box, put the painting in it and then stood my three corresponding shells up on the bottom. I’m actually quite proud of this and I love how it turned out. I felt very Martha coming up with and executing this.

We recently redid our bathroom, which was a nightmare to live through, but I love the end result. I went with a blue and green color scheme – beachy colors. I bought this piece of art at an art show in FL – it’s a beach scene painting with a tiny starfish, tiny sand dollar … Read more →

I’m working my way through the items I inherited from my grandmother and I have been asking myself, What Would Martha Do, to help me find creative display methods.

I’m puzzled by a few items. Maybe you can tell me what you think Martha would do with them.

First up is this tea towel. It’s made of a very nicely textured linen and it is hand stitched. It’s likely my grandmother stitched it (or maybe her mother). It is slightly yellowed, but is generally in very good condition. I would never use it for dishes. It’s rather large to frame. Any ideas?  The only thing I can come up with is to make it into a throw pillow, but I’m not sure where I would put it. What do you think Martha would do? I think it is beautiful and would like to find a way to use it.

Next up is the picnic basket.  It is a regrettably bright yellow color, but it’s very old, with a hinged top. My mom remembers my grandmother using it when she was a kid for family picnics. It seems to me that stripping this would be a Herculean task because of the woven wood. I don’t think you could ever get in between the strips of wood to clean it all off. So what would Martha do? Paint it another color (white? blue?)? And what would she do with it? I can see Martha placing this in a guest bathroom and filling it with towels and toiletries. That sounds great, but it won’t work in my house since we have one bath, the kids have a bath and there is a small half bath downstairs.  Tell me what you think Martha would do!

I’m working my way through the items I inherited from my grandmother and I have been asking myself, What Would Martha Do, to help me find creative display methods. I’m puzzled by a few items. Maybe you can tell me what you think Martha would do with them. First up is this tea towel. It’s … Read more →

Since my grandmother passed away, I’ve been sorting through the items I inherited and looking for ways to use them or display them. I have made some progress.

Yesterday I went to the jewelry store with a pile of old clip on earrings, many ivory which my grandmother bought in Africa, as well as some sparkly costume jewelry earrings. They are going to convert the earrings to posts so that my daughter and I can wear them. I also took a little ivory carving of a group of elephants. It had two little holes in the back of it and the jeweler said it must have been a pin. He’s going to attach it to a tie bar for my son, so that he can have a piece of jewelry as well. I’ll post photos once I get it all back. The jeweler did warn me that many of the earrings are made with lead, so they aren’t something you want to wear on a daily basis (yikes!).

I have a big box of doilies and dresser scarves (many of which my grandmother made) which I’ve been pondering. I decided to search Martha’s site for inspiration. I found this project which involves stiffening doilies and hanging them in a window. While that is a great idea for winter, it isn’t a year round display that works for me. I decided instead that I would frame a doily, but that project gave me the idea to stiffen the material first. So off I went to Michael’s where I bought some liquid fabric stiffener (which oddly enough they do not keep in the fabric/sewing area) and painted it on the doily, which I had placed on parchment.  It turned out very stiff. I can’t seem to find a frame though. I need a big square one. I guess I’ll need to do some online searching for that.  I think I’ll put a dark background behind it so that the doily pops.

Since my grandmother passed away, I’ve been sorting through the items I inherited and looking for ways to use them or display them. I have made some progress. Yesterday I went to the jewelry store with a pile of old clip on earrings, many ivory which my grandmother bought in Africa, as well as some … Read more →