Bake it: Banana Bundt Cake

Drool....Banana Bundt Cake!

This rich, delicious banana bundt cake will get your mouth watering and your taste buds buzzing. From Creative Juice - episode 408 - Rings and Things.


Ingredients:
1/3 cup Softened Butter
1 1/4 cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 eggs
3 Med Mashed Bananas
2 cups Flour
1 1/4 teaspoons Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Sour Cream
¾ cup Chopped Walnuts
Powdered Sugar
10” Bundt Cake Pan
1/4 cup Flour

Steps:
1. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Stir in vanilla and mashed bananas.

2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to banana mixture alternately with sour cream. Stir in nuts. Pour into a greased and floured 10" bundt pan.

3. Bake in a preheated 350º for 50 minutes or tests done with toothpick.

4. Cool on a wire rack.

5. Dust with powdered sugar and move to serving platter.

Painting with Paper Cups: Tote Bags

Modern Ring Tote Bags

 from Creative Juice 408 - Rings and Things

Wanna make perfectly cute circles?

Use paper cups dipped in paint to make oodles of designs.

Materials:
1 canvas tote bag
3 small plastic plates
Orange FolkArtpaint
Brown FolkArt paint
Tan FolkArt paint
FolkArt Textile medium
3 plastic cups various sizes
Iron
Stack of old newspapers
Circular Bamboo purse handles

Steps:

1. Press the bag to remove any wrinkles and place the newspaper in the bag to prevent the paint from seeping thru to the other side. Tuck in the straps to prevent any drips.

3. Pour a small amount of each of the paint colors on to the plates. Then add some textile medium to the paints. This will make your acrylic paint permanent. Mix well.

4. Dip the “Ring” opening of the cup into the paint, shake off any excess paint and press onto the bag to create stamped ring shapes.  Our Pattern is: Largest Cup = Dark Brown Paint, Medium Cup = Orange Paint and Smallest Cup = Tan Paint. Let dry for 25 hours and then heat set.

5. For the bamboo handles: Go into the existing handle area and fold the handles over the bamboo rings. Pin them into place.

6. Cut away excess handle. Remove pins and “seal” off edges - With a flame, sear the edge of the nylon webbing, to prevent fraying.

7. Pin handles back into place and with a needle and thread stitch handles onto tote.

Fashion This: Wood Disk Belt with Hippie Flair

Fashion This: Wood Disk Belt with Hippie Flair

 Making belts on the set of Creative Juice.

This project is from episode 408 Ring and Things.

Materials Needed:
Measuring Tape
2” wood disks (amount determined in step 1)
1/16” and 5/32” drill bits
Ruler
Pencil
Waxed hemp cording
Stiffy by Plaid
Fabri-Tac by Beacon
1/8 yard of cotton fabric or scrap fabrics
Scissors, punches or a die cutter
Faux suede cording – 4 yards
Decorative beads w/ large holes (to fit onto the suede cord)
Wood stain or paint (optional)

Steps:
1. Measure around your hips at the spot where you will wear the. Divide this number by 2 and the answer will be how many 2” wood disks you will need to purchase.

2. You can leave the wood disks as is or you can paint or stain them.   We stained ours before we drilled them.  Center and line the ruler up across each disk and use the pencil to mark your drill marks. You will mark on each side of the disks 1/8” from the edge. Using a drill and a 1/16” drill bit drill through all the holes, except for the designated end two disks. On these two, you will want to drill one side with the 1/16” bit and the 5/32” bit on the other side.

3. Decorating the disks: Apply the Stiffy to the fabric – follow the manufactures instruction. Once dry, use scissors, punches (if using punches, make sure they are sharp) or a die cutter to cut fun shapes like paisleys, daisies, etc. from the fabric. Use a Fabric Tac glue to attach the fabric shapes to the wood disks.  (be sure that you don’t cover the drilled holes)

4. String the disks together: Thread the hemp cord (3 times the length of the belt) through the holes of the disks using a backstitch type stitch. Start with the second disk, thread hemp through, leaving a little tail. Then thread the hemp through the first disk’s smaller hole. Then turn the 2 disks over and give them a good knot. Then thread the hemp through the third disk then back through the second hole of the second disk, flip and knot. Repeat for the remaining disks. This will prevent the disks from flipping around and facing the wrong way.

5. Cut 4 pieces of the faux suede cording – each piece about 3 feet long. Thread 2 pieces through the larger holes at the ends of the belt. Thread a bead onto both ends of each piece of cording and tie a knot to keep the bead from slipping off the end.