A Gift and A Cherry on Top

Ah the beginning of college and being away from home.  

 A sweet girl *I ADORE* has just left for college and I thought I would send her a little treat.

This is the card I made for her...there was always a hug and smooch for her when I saw her.

The photo below is a travel mug that I made for her that I saw in

this post from Lisa Johnson.  I bought the travel mug from the same company Lisa mentioned in her blog post that day.  I LOVE Life... the images are so perfect for a project like this because there is that really long image that will take up some height.  

The next photo is of the packaging for the Banana Bread I am making for her Monday morning.  How much do I love Everyday Treats??  

I bought her some napkins with her initial on them for her room but of course I could not send them in the original packaging so I put them in a wax paper bag and made a cute little tag and decorated a clothes pin to keep them closed.

Banana Bread

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon table salt

3 mashed very ripe bananas

1/2 cup sour cream or Whole Yogurt ( Brown Cow is the BEST!!!! )

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat to incorporate. 

In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking soda and salt  and mix in with butter mixture until just combined.  Add bananas, sour cream and vanilla and then stir in the chocolate chips.

Bake on 350 for 65-70 minutes.  If you have a dark pan then reduce your temp to 325.  

Oh and do not forget to use your butter wrapper to wipe over your pan before you flour :)

I love to do these as muffins also :)

For this I did the small paper like pans from Sur La Table for .50.  I can get about 4 from one recipe.

So that is it for the project and now for the present I received

 My friends Laurie and Nerina gave me the Cherry on Top award ~~  so excited ~~  love you girls!!!  

You both inspire me every time I go to your blog's and for sure make me a better crafter ...... 

And now I am suppose to share a photo and tell you something about myself 

How about a fun fact~~

I took Belly Dancing for months, hip scarf and all.  I was very serious about the class because it is so good for your abs but sometimes when I realized what I was doing well I would start laughing......
 I mean come on I am wearing a black unitard and a Hawaiian Shores hip scarf with hundreds of "coins" hanging off the double layered edges.

Can you believe I got kicked out of class one night

I still do it sometimes at home and wear my hip scarf and act like Barbara Eden in "I Dream of Jeannie"

And here is a photo ........ of the kiddies who are a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

And now I am suppose to pass this along to some of the people who I think are the 

"Cherry on Top" 

Lindsay and Ingrid 

because they are totally amazing putting patterns and papers together.  These 2 ladies really amaze me every time I see they have a new post.  LOVE YA

Barbara

well because I look at her work and think OMGracious and of course she is always tempting me with goodies from MFT.

Rhonda

She always has something fun on her blog and she is a total sweetheart~~~

Melissa

She always has the most amazing creations on her blog 

Boy I have made so many friends in this short amount of time...

Thanks for the award Laurie and Nerina. 

 I did not get dressed for the red carpet to make this post because I have a house full of sick kids :)