Too early for Christmas?

Over in the Pinterest group I participate in on Ravelry, we've started a "Twelve Months of Pinterest" where each month we do a project that will get us on the right track to getting ahead of the December holidays! For January, I chose to whip up a few tags using my Cricut Expression 2 and a simple stamp. Nothing too fancy but they're perfect to have on hand for cookie trays, neighbor gifts, and just for that stash of "just in case" gifts.

I'm not 100% sure I like the font that Winter Greetings is in so I may whip up a second batch using something else. Only took me about 15 minutes to whip up a pile of 24 tags for the stash.

Pinterest Catch-Up 2/2/13

Tried out some homemade fruit snacks this week courtesy of this pin. I followed the directions as written (using water and gelatin) and I have to say they're mighty tasty!

See those trays I used? Aren't they great?! I found them in the $1 section of Target a little more than a week ago. These were the only two shapes that they had but I may check the other Target near us to see if they have other ones.

I'm sure you're itching to see the finished product...right?

Voila! My strawberry flavored (yet raspberry and apple shaped) fruit snacks. The little one was quite cautious of them because she's never had fruit snacks before but I'm sure they'll grow on her. I do think the next time I might give it a try to use some V8 fusion juice in place of water to make it at least a LITTLE healthier because let's face it, it's sugar water in a solid form really :-P.

I would make them again though overall

Applesauce bites

Last week for my Pinterest project I decided to try Applesauce Bites. Instead of just applesauce, we used some Plum Mashups in berry instead. I figured, hey, the little one is yet again getting more teeth so these should be perfect! Not so much in our house.

The bites themselves turned out fine but my toddler really would've just been more interested in a chilled food pouch or her usual slushie instead of these. I think they were almost TOO cold on her gums so needless to say we probably won't be making them again. Don't think that your little one won't like them though since every kid is different so it's still worth a try!

Looks like we'll stick with our original plan...using the homemade baby food trays to freeze puree then using our Ninja blender (pulse 3 times) to make a mini slushie.

Getting back to Pinterest projects

It's well overdue for me to get back to blogging about my attempts at various projects I come across on Pinterest.

This week I decided to try these clothes pin magnets. My fridge was in need of new magnets and it'd be perfect to have clip magnets to hold Taylor's artwork she's creating these days. The random business card magnets just aren't cutting it anymore.

I did end up with a pretty good batch, 18 total magnets, 4 of which are currently being used. I have these cute little "mat stacks" from my scrapbooking days and they were PERFECT for this!

I already have a few projects picked out this week that I'm itching to try!

Made it Hap-Pin 4/27/12

This week's Made it Hap-Pin post probably more features a blog that I had pinned as opposed to a specific recipe. I found Real Mom Kitchen as I was browsing Pinterest and she happened to be featuring mug cakes so of course I can't resist a lemon cake that can be made in a minute as well as a one minute brownie or nutella cake so I gave them a try!

I think the picture above (lemon cake) was the 2nd time we (my husband and I) made them. We've since had them nearly every day this week...yeah it's that good.

The brownie I would share with you but as you can see from the picture above...it was THAT good. Didn't get around to trying the nutella cake since we were so hooked on these two but just judging from the desserts, I'd definitely recommend giving this blog a look, it's amazing! We're planning a few dinners from recipes off her site as well (and she has a book)! Enjoy!

Made it Hap-Pin 4/20/12

Have I been MIA? Why yes, yes I have. Besides having family in town and a to list a mile long...I have no excuse :-P Buuuttt....remember that Cheesy Ranch Lasagna I was going to try out? Well I did (that week too)!

Here it is ready to go into the oven. I followed all the directions but as you can see...there really wasn't a significant amount of shredded cheese or sauce to cover my noodles. The recipe also said you were to use already cooked noodles but I've ALWAYS used the oven ready lasagna noodles.

After baking time...

Here's the thing about this. I can't say my husband or myself was thrilled that because there was not enough sauce for the noodles, they didn't properly cook on the edges and nobody likes crunchy pasta...yuck.

I will say the sauce, chicken and noodles (those that were cooked) were absolutely delicious.

My husband and I both agree that it's a dish we'd make again with a few changes:

(1) Make double the amount of sauce
(2) Bake it more like a baked ziti casserole kind of thing instead of layering it all lasagna style
(3) Try it with meatballs instead of chicken

So with those suggestions in mind, I'll definitely be trying it again soon. I"ll let you know how it goes! Until then, check out Shateen's great cookies in her Made it Hap-Pin post on Knit2Together

Pick A Pin 4/2/12

Decided to try more food this week. Found this pin for cheesy ranch lasagna. My husband and I love italian food so this has to be perfect to try!

The pin itself links back to the "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" Recipe blog but she actually got the original recipe and modified it a bit from Real Mom Kitchen.

Sooo....the original blog was chicken lasagna...the pin was ranch and chicken...what will I come up with?

Come back Friday to see!!

Made it Hap-Pin 3/30/12

Posting a few days late but I have a good excuse. Little one has decided that on random nights (generally not consecutive but we'll knock on wood for that) she will wake up screaming and crying at oh about 1 in the morning. She started doing it last week and it would take up up to 2 hours to get her to go back down with her screaming on and off. I reluctantly gave in and let her have a few ounces to drink on a few nights and it settled her back down but we mostly think it's either a)she's getting more teeth (she just got her bottom two maybe two weeks ago) or b)she's doing the "nighttime wake up" that usually comes in anticipation of a big milestone. That next big milestone for her is walking and um, I'm not too sure we're ready for that one yet! She's everywhere as it is! :) But...enough about my little one...I DID manage to get some time to whip up the Jell-O mousse that I was wanting to try! I actually did it in two flavors and both are delicious!

Who would ever think that the simple addition of cool whip to Jell-O would make it taste that much different...and better! (Not that I don't still love Jell-O). The orange pretty much tastes like the Jell-O equivalent of an orange creamsicle...delicious!

Next flavor? Blackberry fusion! Apparently we bought the box the end of last summer and forgot about it but luckily it wasn't expired so...blackberry fusion mousse!

Had to wait to mix this one. My husband insisted on making this batch :)

Yummy pink goodness ready to set up in the fridge for a few minutes!

I kind of want to pour some of this into popsicle molds and see how it tastes but we'll need some more warmer weather for that. The second frost warning in a week is tonight so no popsicles just yet here!

Pick A Pin 3/26/12

Time for Pick A Pin Monday! This week I decided I'd give the home decor a break and try out some food! I'm pretty sure my mom made this for us when I was younger but I personally had never made it: Jell-O Mousse.

The recipe came off this blog but she refers to another blog from where someone else shared it as well. Then come to find out, a somewhat similar version of this is already on the side of the Jell-O box so we'll see!

I've ditched my household blender so I'll be using my Ninja system on this one and my husband and I agreed on trying this with orange Jell-O first and then with some blackberry fusion flavor (raspberry/blackberry).

If all goes well, this may be a favorite summer treat of ours very quickly!

Not going to lie, I don't have a prep picture for this week because I may have already made a flavor of it ;) and was so anxious to try it that the camera was left behind...oops! Making a second batch tomorrow likely so I'll edit with a picture later :)

Made It Happen 3/23/12

I didn't get a chance to post my Pick A Pin on Monday due to a certain little one's teething which has made for quite the week but hey, it happens and we get through it :). Onwards to the crafting!

This pin was my original inspiration for the piece this week.

Here's the original blog resource with the directions as well.

I went to the Dover Publications website as this is always been my favorite for coloring books, coloring pages, etc. I scrolled through some of the sample pages they have and came across a nature design that I liked.

The original creator is this project did a much simpler design and took her puff paint to freezer paper before taking the dried designs and attaching them to the canvas. I knew that certainly wasn't going to work for me with this design so I transferred the design straight to the canvas and put the puff paint right on.

This is the final product with some extra shadows thanks to photo editing so you can see the full extent of the design. It's really much more subtle.

I tried to take this picture to better show the lightness but still...photography likes things to show up so there's a bit of extra shadow here as well :)

You'll also notice in the pictures that my paint glitters. That's right, when I was in the craft store, I was in a hurry and grabbed what I thought was pearlized white but once it dried and I looked at the bottle...well...looks like someone put it back in the wrong spot. Total pet peeve of mine in retail stores...ugh!

So because it turned out clear glitter you can somewhat see my pencil sketching underneath so my husband and I are debating taking some spray paint to it so the design will still pop from the canvas but will tone down its disco ball-ness.

And yes, I went to hang up my Maine canvases from the other week and turns out I was in a bit of a hurry and the glue wasn't dry all the way on one of the hooks so I need to replace that and then get the final picture! ;)

Made it Hap-Pin #4

Took me a grand total of 15 minutes from start to finish! I love this project and it's bright colors work so well on my boring white door!

I used my Cricut Expression 2 to cut out the paper designs and gave everything a nice coat of mod podge for finishing touch!

Sidenote, my canvases from last week haven't been hung up yet! I didn't forget, there WILL be a picture of that soon! :)

Pick A Pin 3/12/12

I decided because this week's temps are all in the 70's it's time to put the winter decor away and put the spring stuff up!

Here's my pin for the week!

I had a lot of old unused blanket CD's around and I'm always one that loves finding the "use what you have" projects. The only thing I had to purchase for this week's project? One can of spray paint!

I did this project over the weekend and can't wait to share it on Friday!

This link is the link to the blog with the instructions on it :)

Here's my supplies picture for the week (not pictured is the cardstock and Cricut machine I also used)

Made it Hap-Pin #2

Here's my first canvas piece in my set of 3! Number two will likely happen next week (hopefully)!

The original project called for spray paint but I wanted the look of brush strokes in there so I switched it to acrylic and I'm quite happy with how it turned out! Still deciding which one of the remaining two silhouettes I'll do next week!

I also simply taped the stencil to the canvas temporarily, painted the first coat over it to get the silhouette and then I used a smaller brush to define it on the following coats :).

BANNERS:
Here's the images for you to use if you'd like when joining in! Just make sure to right click and "save image as..." to keep it on your own computer :)

Monday Banner

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Also don't forget to head over to Knit2Together and add your post to the Linky!! :)

Pick A Pin #1

Time for my first Pick A Pin post!

My first one is off my "For the Home" board.

The project comes from V and Co. whose site has a lot of very, very cute tutorials (both free and for sale). Her book, Make It Sew Modern has officially caught my eye as well. It came out the beginning of this year, I'll have to look into it more because I'm highly intrigued!!

So my project for the week is somewhat based on her "Make Your Own Custom Art" tutorial that silhouettes a shape on a piece of canvas and then spray paints the background remainder of the canvas. Feel free to click the link for the tutorial so you can see exactly what I'm talking about via her beautiful pictures.

My take on the project will be still on canvas but using a cutout to block off my silhouette area and paint the remainder of the canvas in acrylic. I want to see how the brush strokes will pan out looks wise for a unique effect.

The husband and I have always enjoyed Maine so I'm doing a 3 canvas "set" of these silhouettes. It'll be a several week process as I have many projects going on and a little one on the move. My crocheting can be done during the day but paint will have to wait until the evening.

Can't wait to show off the first canvas on Friday!

Supplies are all ready to go! The only difference is the paint in the picture. I thought I would have enough for all 3 but shook the bottle and quickly realized that wasn't going to happen so I have 3 new colors for the set :)

**Don't forget to link up over at Knit2Together and share your Pinterest project for the week!**

Made it Hap-Pin #1

So I'm going to be joining in over at Knit2Together for Pick A Pin Mondays and Made it Hap-Pin Fridays!

Any ideas as to what those may be? Well, you're going to find out!

Many of us have become addicted to Pinterest and have been creating tons of boards, pinning all these things we "plan" to do at some point. Well now is the time!

Choose something off one of your boards and share the idea on Pick A Pin Monday. Maybe give little hints on how you'll give it your own twist, background as to why you like the project, whatever it may be!

Then on Friday's Made it Hap-Pin post, share the finished product! Voila, you've put your Pinterest addiction into action!

DON'T FORGET TO LINK UP ON KNIT2TOGETHER'S BLOG EVERY WEEK! She's graciously set up the wonderful Mr. Linky for us!

There should be a banner/badge available soon as well...it's in the works!

I think for mine I'll probably have a good mix of crafty things, trying out some of those random recipes on there, party decorations, oh heck, we're keeping all doors open for this!

Obviously this week I don't quite have a finished product to share but I did spend my week planning out any supplies I need for upcoming projects and what those projects might be so I have a running list so it was more of a planning week for me!