Banana Bread

So, I've decided to make bread every Sunday.  My ward starts church at 8 o'clock, so it's nice to get back at 11.  I'll have plenty of time to make bread! So, I'll try to make bread once a week/every 2 weeks.  I'll try to post the recipe by Saturday so you could do it with your family, too! Today, I decided to make banana bread.  It's REALLY good! Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas.  (I almost had enough with 5, so next time, I'll use 6 bananas.)
• 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350º.  
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda.  
3. In a separate bowl, cream brown sugar and butter together.  Stir in the eggs and mashed bananas, until well blended.  
4. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture.
5. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan, and pour batter in.
6. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips onto the batter, so they are on the top.  
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 60-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.  
8. Let the bread cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then devour it! :D

"I Believe" Mirror

For YW's, we had a "Polar Express" activity.  While we were on the Polar Express, (small room, lots of girls sitting together at 4 person tables), we got to make a craft.  We each got a box all wrapped up.  We each opened up our boxes, and there was a little mirror, glue dots, ribbon, fake white flowers, beads, and vinyl lettering that said, "I Believe".  We could each decorate our mirrors however we wanted, and I don't know about the other girls, but I had a GREAT time doing it :) This is what mine looks like, hanging in my room:

(eventually, the ribbon for it to hang on fell off, so it's not hanging by that now)

So, that's the craft for today! It was super fun, if you're a leader in YW, you should definitely consider doing something like this for your girls :)

Elf Donuts

The other day, I had Jaynie and her friend playing together.  They were bored, so I decided to give them a little Christmas craft! I got out milk and white chocolate, cheerios, powdered sugar, and little sprinkles.  I melted the chocolate, and put everything in little bowls.  

  What we did, is we got a cheerio.  I'd dip it in some chocolate, stick a skewer through the hole, (or else the chocolate would dry over the hole), and dipped it in sprinkles.  We also made powdered donuts, by dipping the entire cheerio in white chocolate, then in powdered sugar.  You have to be careful though, because the powdered sugar clumps a little bit.  Once they had made a few, we put them in an Altoid's tin.  (I LOVE those things!!! :) They turned out super cute, and the elves devoured them.  Want to see?

Santa's Footsteps...

  So, I got this idea off of Pinterest, and thought it was so cute, so I had to do it! Here's what it was:

As you can see, it got a little messy.

What I did, was I got just a piece of paper.  I got my boot and traced it onto the paper, but tried to make it look like a bigger size.  Then, I cut out the shape of a boot, and put it on the doormat.  I got the flour, and sprinkled it on the mat, in the stencil, so it was flour, shaped like a boot.  Then, I flipped the paper, and did it again! It turned out so cute, and it will definitely be a tradition! (Our chimney is a fake one, so Santa comes through our back door:).  I told the kids (the ones who still believe in the magic of Santa), that it was the magic north pole snow, that never melts.  They loved it!

New Blog!

  Hi! Welcome to my blog! I am Lindsey, and I LOVE crafts! I've decided to create a blog to show you some of my ideas and to give you ideas.  Lots of my crafts are ideas I've gotten from Pinterest, which I am addicted to.  I'll also post my favorite recipes, quotes, and other good ideas!

  I'll try to update my blog once every 1 or 2 weeks.  If you ever have any questions, or ideas for me, please e-mail me at gingersnapcraft@gmail.com.  I love comments, so feel free to comment whenever you want! Thanks for checking out my blog!