Saw It! Pinned It! Did It! Two Ingredient Banana Chip Cookies

Have you seen it? The "pin" that says you can make cookies using just ripe bananas, oatmeal, and chocolate chips? 

It shows these beautiful pictures, making it look so incredibly easy, and yummy!

So I had to try it. I figure if they come out like they say they will, they could almost be breakfast! LOL! 

My attempt started with mashing two ripe bananas (not over-ripe, but not brand new either.) I mixed in 1 cup of quick oats, and maybe a 1/4 cup of chocolate chips. The recipe says you could also add in nuts or coconut, but I figured I would start simple..... after all, my sister Jenna is the baker in the family, definitely not me! 


They actually looked exactly like they do above in the bowl and on the tray. I had seen another pin that said to roll them to look like this: 

but they were WAYYYYYYY too wet and sticky to make anything that pretty. 

I baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.... This is what I got. Again, not as pretty as the picture, but not gross to eat. 

I've been trying to think about how I can describe them.... and pretty much I can say they taste like bananas in oatmeal..... clever, right? ;) Would be another great (and quick!) way to use up those bananas before they go bad.... but I'm not necessarily going to WAIT for that to happen either. ;)

Valentine's Day Cards

It's official.... I think Valentine's Day is my daughters favorite holiday! Yesterday she literally floated around all day, and if she was standing still it was only because she was getting ready to jump up and down. ;) She loves collecting her cards, lining them up, sorting them.... she has every single one from her last three years of Preschool plus now her new ones.

This year we started planning early. With all of the non-candy, homemade Valentine ideas on Pinterest, it was a pretty hard decision!!! In the end, there were three we couldn't live without making so we did them all.

First we decided on something for her class. We found this cute saying "You Color My World With Happiness" on Pinterest to put on crayon boxes. Since sometimes the sayings on Valentines are not really appropriate (in my opinion!) this stood out as something that could be true for everyone in her class!

I designed a full sheet of these and printed them onto a full sheet label, cut them apart, and we stuck them onto the boxes. I always like for the kids to be able to do the writing on them themselves, you can see why---it's so stinkin' cute with kid work on it! In the end, I think it was a great choice! They were really cute and actually useful after the 14th! If you want to do these yourself, you can always design up your own design, or you can purchase this one already made in my Etsy Shop!


Next, we needed something special for her teachers. Another easy Pinterest idea (no surprise there!) stood out to us as just the perfect saying!

This one was easier. We cut out a heart, wrote on it, and punched two holes in to slip the pencil through. Simple and cute!

Last, we needed one for our family. Since we recently had a new addition this year, when I saw these little "thumb"bodies on one of my favorite blogs, I knew I HAD to make them!

For these, I made them 5"x7" so they were frame able afterwards (I thought my Mom & Sister would want it for more than a day!) I printed out the words in the middle on cardstock and made this fun shape, and the heart on my Silhouette Machine and cut them out. The thumbprints and "body" decorating were all courtesy of the children! 

That's all we made this year. ;) My daughter was already scouring Pinterest this morning looking for ideas for next year. 

Did you find any cute candy-free ideas you want to share?

Procraftinating!

Hi. My name is Dana and I am a procraftinator. 

Wow. For the first time in my life I feel like I found the introduction that perfectly describes my life right now! :) Yes, I'm a Mom, a Wife, A Teacher, An Etsy-Shop owner....... but of all the roles I play in life, procraftinator is probably the best description of my day to day life right now. 

My New Years Resolution this year was to try to do better with keeping the house in order..... in the fall when my shop exploded with sales, I often would let it get too far out of control. You know the point.... just past the point where you can easily rush around and clean up the mess between the time your husband calls to say he's leaving work and the time he arrives home..... Instead I would craft until the very last second and he would walk in to what could only be best described as Kansas after the tornado! After a few days in a row, it was just too overwhelming to tackle so I would continue to let it go.

New Year, New Rules. Now I do not allow myself to scroll through Pinterest or sit down with my Silhouette machine until AFTER I have done the laundry and straightened up one room in the house. This way I can feel a lot less guilty about the procraftinating that will occur that rest of that day. 

So far so good..... I haven't forgotten to pick my daughter up at school..... yet. It is only February! ;)

Saw It! Pinned It! Did It! Crockpot Freezer Bags

It's no secret that my favorite cooking appliance is my Crock Pot. I'm not sure how I originally started crock-potting since I never remember my Mom using one.... but I am a total addict now! I have even seriously considered looking at the pin for the woman who has 365 days of Crock Pot meals, but I think my husband might not be a fan for a whole year. ;) 

Last summer I was trying to come up with a great gift idea for my sister when she had her first baby. Something to make her life easier, help make those first few weeks at home go a little more smooth, and take some pressure off. That's when I found this pin for Crock Pot freezer bags! 

You spend one afternoon chopping everything up, and then have tons of meals to just stick frozen in the crock pot in the morning, and you are ready for dinner by evening! Genius! I think my favorite part is that they are full of fresh vegetables, not just all the cream of soup ones I usually find! 

I looked around Pinterest and found tons of different links for similar ideas, and ended up making 2 of everything... that way I had them too! My sister and I had fun for weeks chatting about which ones we had tried. Some of our favorites were: 

BBQ Chicken 

• 2 cups sweet potatoes, 
• 2 cups red and green bell pepper, 
• 1 cup carrots, 
• 2 cups onion, 
• 3 cups zucchini, 
• 2 T flour, 
• 1.5 lbs chicken, 
• 2 cloves garlic, 
• 1 t salt
• Dump bag plus one bottle BBQ sauce into crock pot, cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Teriyaki Chicken (2 Bags)

• Split a large bag of Baby Carrots between the 2 bags
• Cut Red Onion into Large Chunks and split between the 2 bags
• (1) 20oz can pineapple in each bag (undrained)
• (2) Garlic Cloves chopped per bag
• (2) Chicken Breasts in each bag
• 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce in each bag

*Add 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce to mixture. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours. Serve over Rice.

No-Peeking Peking Chicken 

• 8 bone in chicken thighs 
• salt and pepper 
• 3/4 cup chopped scallions 
• 4 cloves garlic 
• 1/4 cups soy sauce 
• 3 tbsp. honey 
• 1 tbsp. ginger 
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil 
• 1 bag frozen corn kernels 
• 1 bag frozen snow pea pods 
• 1 red pepper chopped 

Roast and Vegetables 

• 2 lb chuck roast, cut into cubes 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper 
• 1 large onion cut into 8ths 
• 1 bag baby carrots 
• 1/2 teaspoon celery or onion salt 
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 
• 1 (4 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, DO NOT DRAIN 
• 2 cans condensed tomato soup 
• 2 beef boullion cubes, softened 
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes 
• 1 can whole kernel corn, DRAINED 
• 6-8 small red potatoes, cubed 

Have you ever tried bagged recipes like this? What are your favorites? 

Parties! 6 Year Old Bowling!

One of the things I love most about 5/6 year olds is how much they know what they love! This week I worked on a special birthday party for my friend's daughter who is turning 6. She called me a few weeks back and said, unsurprisingly, that there was really no great bowling party goods out there for her party. (I say unsurprisingly because in the past few years I feel like party goods in general have gone downhill and it is nearly impossible to find things in good themes!)

So we chatted for a while and I started dreaming up awesome ideas for her party. We decided to do a t-shirt with a small "pocket" design on the front and large design on the back. Thanks to my talented cousin, I made her matching hair bows with bowling pin centers. And for party favors, my favorite little water bottles with personalized bowling pins for each of the party guests! 

A few of my favorite things about them.... I LOVE the bowling pins, which I purposely put 6 of (even though no one will notice but me!) I also "bling-ed" them up a bit with glitter stripes on each of them, and a glitter-ed bowling ball. I think my most favorite part is this fun, retro-looking font. To me it looks like what you would see on an old bowling sign from the 50's! 

Super fun party to help with, I can't wait to hear how much the birthday girl loves her new stuff! :)

Sneak Peek & Advice Needed on Upcoming Shop Items

One thing I learned from my Etsy Shop at Christmas, as it was exploding with orders, is that even when there are hundreds of things that come up in a search, if you can design something even nicer, you will succeed! 

My Christmas success was an Engagement Ornament. My sister needed one for her friend and we couldn't find anything we liked.... so I designed one. Based on the amount of orders that came pouring in, I guess others had the same problem!

So now I am trying to come up with the next "big thing" and somehow ended up looking for First Holy Communion stuff. It's there, but it's not amazingly cute (in my opinion!) So I found this adorable little girl and adjusted it a little and made it something I could use on my own projects. (Sorry about the crazy watermarks, I've been having tons of problems with people stealing my designs!)

So far I've put her on an ornament...

I'm working on a banner & matching invitations. My neighbor suggested a bible box or a little box for Rosary Beads. Now I'm trying to think what else I could do.... any ideas or suggestions? Do you think a DIY printable kit would be a good idea with cupcake toppers and such? Or would it be better just to sell them already made? 

Saw It, Pinned It, Did It! Jar Salads

Back in my teaching days (before kids) we used to have Salad Club on Fridays. It was the best!!! Everyone brought in one salad item in tupperware and you could go straight down the line and put anything you wanted on your salad. It was like a HUGE salad bar, but you only had to cut up one thing to bring in! Loved it!

Now as a stay at home Mom, I LOVE to have salad for lunch, but it is sooooo much work to do for just one person. Have you seen this pin for jar salads?

Basically you put all your ingredients in a large Ball jar, starting with the dressing, then the veggies (so they don't get soggy) and then the lettuce on top (so it stays crisp as well.) The pin says they will keep for a week. 

So I tried it. And I LOVE it!!!!! It really does NOT get soggy!! I bought the jars at ACMoore for $1 a piece. I don't follow the recipes from the pin exactly, I just put whatever I have in the jar. Every Sunday afternoon I just line everything up, chop for a few minutes, and put them together. So easy. 

During the week, when my daughter is tugging at my leg (or trashing my house) I can just reach in the fridge, pull one out, dump it in a bowl and continue chasing her! Helps me stay on track for eating healthy, and protects my house from the living tornado all at the same time!