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

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!

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! :)

Made it Hap-Pin #3

So in continuing my series of Maine canvas paintings, I finished up the final two this week. All that's left is to put on a coat of sealer and hang them up!

I popped a shot of the lobster one in again on the bottom so you could see the set all together :). I'm pretty happy with them and my husband agrees the brush strokes give it a nice effect as opposed to just doing the spray paint on them.

Don't forget to link up over at Knit2Together and show off your "Made it Hap-Pin" project!

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 :).

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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!