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It's August!! For us here in Arizona, that means our children will be going back to school this month!
This will be a sad and happy month for me. Sad because I will miss my girls but happy that we all will be getting some time away from each other. I will be hopeful this month too that this will be a happy and positive experience for both my girls. I hope that if your children are going back to school this month that you all will be excited about it and that we will have a safe and happy school season.


Our Get-To-Know-You question this month is on honor of all the Lefty's out there for National Left Hander's Day in August. Are you right handed or left handed? All hosts, please answer this on our Community Leaders board.


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August 1 - Ramadan Begins, Austrailia Picnic Day, Respect for Parent's Day, Sports Day
August 2 - National Ice Cream Sandwich Day
August 3 - National Watermelon Day
August 4 - Coast Guard Day
August 6 - National Mustard Day, Wiggle Your Toes Day
August 7 - American Family Day, Sea Serpent Day
August 8 - Dollar Day
August 9 - National Rice Pudding Day
August 10 - S'Mores Day
August 11 - Play in the Sand Day
August 12 - Middle Children's Day
August 13 - International Left Hander's Day, National Filet Mignon Day
August 14 - National Creamsicle Day
August 15 - National Relaxation Day
August 16 - National Tell-a-Joke Day, Roller Coaster Day
August 18 - Bad Poetry Day
August 19 - National Aviation Day, Potato Day
August 20 - International Homeless Animals Day, National Radio Day, Mosquito Day
August 22 - Be an Angel Day
August 23 - National Sponge Cake Day
August 24 - National Peach Pie Day, International Strange Music Day, National Waffle Day
August 25 - Kiss and Make Up Day, National Banana Split Day
August 26 - Women's Equality Day
August 28 - Dream Day (Martin Luther King speech), National Cherry Turnover Day
August 30 - National Toasted Marshmallow Day
August 31 - National Trail Mix Day

Special Goings-On
Friendship Day (1st Sunday)
National Clown Week (1st Week)
Elvis Week (2nd Week)
National Apple Week (2nd Week)
National Smile Week (2nd Week)
Air Conditioning Appreciation Week (3rd Week)
American Dance Week (3rd Week)
American Artist Appreciation Month
Foot Health Month
Home Business Month
National Catfish Month
National Golf Month
National Inventors Month
National Water Quality Month



*Our Recipe and Craft this month will be geared for little hands to help*

Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes



Based on the classic pan-size dessert, these cupcakes offer a delicious introduction to baking. Whether they're cutting up ingredients with a plastic knife, arranging the fruit in the bottom of each cup, or mixing the batter, beginning bakers get plenty of chances to pitch in. And while these cupcakes don't call for finishing touches like frosting and sprinkles,
they do offer the fun of flipping the pan and unmolding a dozen fruit-topped, topsy-turvy desserts.

Ingredients
FOR THE BATTER:
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 1/2teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
FOR THE TOPPING:
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar, tightly packed
6 maraschino cherries
1 (20-ounce) can pineapple rings

Instructions
Heat the oven to 350º. Place the butter and milk for the batter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Warm the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the butter melts, then transfer the mixture to a small bowl to cool.
Meanwhile, prepare the pine-apple topping. Into each cup of a 12-cup muffin pan, add 1/2 tablespoon of unmelted butter, then evenly sprinkle 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over the bottom. Place the pan in the oven until the butter melts, about 3 minutes.

-Halve each maraschino cherry, then cut the pineapple rings into quarters. Place a cherry half, sliced side up, in the center of each cup and lay a pineapple quarter on each side. Press the fruit gently down into the butter-sugar mixture, then set the prepared pan aside.

-Finish making the batter. In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir the ingredients with a fork until they're evenly blended. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir until the flour is fully incorporated. Add the milk-butter mixture and stir well to combine the ingredients into a smooth batter.

-Pour the batter into the muffin pan, dividing it evenly among all the cups. Bake the cupcakes until they're lightly browned, dry around the edges, and pulling away from the pan a little, about 25 minutes.

-Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Use a butter knife to carefully loosen each cupcake from the edges and bottom of the pan, then place a cookie sheet over the top. Invert the pan, turning the cupcakes out onto the cookie sheet, then transfer them back to the rack to cool completely. Serve the cupcakes at room temperature. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Nutritional Information:
Per serving (one cupcake):
Calories 276
Total Fat 12 g (19% DV)
Saturated Fat 7 g (37% DV)
Cholesterol 66 mg (22% DV)
Sodium 194 mg (8% DV)
Total Carbohydrate 39 g (13% DV)
Fiber 0.5 g (2% DV)
Sugars 31 g
Protein 3 g (5% DV)


Fingerprint Pals



Ages: newborn and up

Help your little chick welcome spring with a custom-decorated onesie or shirt that's fun for older siblings to make. You could also paint these onto walls for a sweet newborn bedroom or onto Mother's or Father's Day shirts from your little ones.

Materials
Cardboard
Onesie or shirt
Fabric paint
Paper plate
Fabric marker

Instructions
Slip a piece of cardboard inside the shirt to keep the paint from bleeding through. Squirt a few drops of fabric paint onto a paper plate.
-Dip a thumb or finger in the paint, then press it onto the shirt, repeating as needed to make one of the patterns shown.
-When the paint is dry, draw on details, such as beaks, legs, and eyes, with a fabric marker. Let the marker dry, then remove the cardboard. Set the paint according to the package instructions.
Here are a few animal prints to get you started!




We will be offering one or two new glitter siggy snags every month on the Glitter Board here. So drop on by each month to see what we have offered to brighten up your signature. *We have several glitter snags from past months that are still available right now. You can sport a "gnome" snag that you can see here or a beachy snag that you can view here
I have a new one in mind that I will be putting up for August in a few days.


We have started our monthly scrapbooking challenges here at Graphic Central. We had our first winner, Danielle (Danelle), who won this cool graphic for her siggy. Congratulations Danielle for a great scrapbook page.
Richelle (sweetpea2020) has decided that we can do TWO challenges a month, each with a winner graphic. She will be posting a new kit for each challenge. Check here on the Scrapbooking Forum, for a new challenge starting August 2 and ending August 15th.
One of our members asked what kind of software we use to make our pages. Several of us use Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop and Gimp, a free program. You can get trial programs for PSP and PS for download. If you have any scrapbooking questions, including software questions, please feel free to post a message for us. We would love to help you on your way to entering one of our monthly challenges.


If you have any questions or concerns about anything here at Graphic Central, we are always available by email, private message, or you can even post here!.

Community Director - Marg (Margarita) at signesmom@yahoo.com