I've seen several cute ideas on Facebook lately, and usually a comment or two would mention that, "I saw it on Pinterest". "What is this Pinterest?", I asked . . . Apparently it's blowing up right now. Basically, it's a virtual bulletin board where you can "pin", organize and share all of the great ideas that you find while trolling the web. When you were a young teenager, did you have a bulletin board that showcased all that was cool in the world? This is the same thing for grown-ups. I have a male coworker who speculates that Pinterest will lead to an epidemic of diabetes in 20-30 something year old females, but what does he know (oohh, that caramel apple brownie recipe really does look good).
However, just like any other source on the Internet, be sure to double, or even triple, check your facts. Someone pinned that you could make cake out of cake mix and canned pumpkin alone. I did a little fact checking, and even Hungry Girl agreed, so I tried it out. My intention was to send them to work with my husband for a luncheon tomorrow. I made cupcakes, but after they cooled and I tried to unwrap one to give it a try, the wrapper stuck to the cake and it tasted terrible. I'm a little annoyed that I wasted my time and money, but lesson learned. Apparently it takes a little bit more than just cake mix and canned pumpkin to bake something that I would like to eat. If it sounds too good to be true (like diet soda), you probably shouldn't eat it.
So that my husband doesn't show up empty-handed at work tomorrow, I'm making Peanut Butter-Pecan Chocolate Chip-Granola Cookies instead. I didn't have much on hand in way of ingredients, but somehow had everything I needed to whip up some delicious cookies.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Yarn Wreath
My sister is very creative and extremely gifted, and she's an inspiration to me (i.e. - I like to copy her ideas!). She made a yarn wreath for my mom that was so cute, I had to attempt one myself.
This is a little project I was hoping to have finished before the baby shower that I blogged about previously, but I ran out of time. Fortunately, I did get it finished before baby Lillian's due date, so it's currently on the way to the proud parents-to-be.
I started with a pressed straw wreath form. I left the plastic on the wreath and wrapped it with some cheap yarn I picked up at Wal-Mart. The wrapping is the most time-consuming step. After finding a couple not-so-pretty spots, the only advice I can give you is to wrap tightly. When all of the form is well covered, you're finished.
The decorating is entirely up to you. My wreath looks nothing like the one my sister made, except that they both started with a yarn-wrapped base. For my "Welcome Lillian" wreath, I cut some flowers out of felt and secured them to the wreath with corsage pins, which also look like little stamens. I cut two circles out of alternating color felt squares (using two different size glass rims as my guides), and then cut the "petals" freehand. They don't look perfect, but I was going for a little bit of a rustic look so I was very happy with how they turned out.
I picked up an "L" from Michael's, painted it with some leftover wall paint, and hot glued it directly to the wreath. The ribbon was purchased at Wal-Mart, and it was my husband's idea to wrap it around the wreath. You'll see that I made a bow and placed it behind the stand-alone flower to give it a little more punch. Here's the finished product:
I hope that Lillian will enjoy her little "welcome to the world" craft.
This is a little project I was hoping to have finished before the baby shower that I blogged about previously, but I ran out of time. Fortunately, I did get it finished before baby Lillian's due date, so it's currently on the way to the proud parents-to-be.
I started with a pressed straw wreath form. I left the plastic on the wreath and wrapped it with some cheap yarn I picked up at Wal-Mart. The wrapping is the most time-consuming step. After finding a couple not-so-pretty spots, the only advice I can give you is to wrap tightly. When all of the form is well covered, you're finished.
The decorating is entirely up to you. My wreath looks nothing like the one my sister made, except that they both started with a yarn-wrapped base. For my "Welcome Lillian" wreath, I cut some flowers out of felt and secured them to the wreath with corsage pins, which also look like little stamens. I cut two circles out of alternating color felt squares (using two different size glass rims as my guides), and then cut the "petals" freehand. They don't look perfect, but I was going for a little bit of a rustic look so I was very happy with how they turned out.
I picked up an "L" from Michael's, painted it with some leftover wall paint, and hot glued it directly to the wreath. The ribbon was purchased at Wal-Mart, and it was my husband's idea to wrap it around the wreath. You'll see that I made a bow and placed it behind the stand-alone flower to give it a little more punch. Here's the finished product:
I hope that Lillian will enjoy her little "welcome to the world" craft.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Teacup Baby Shower
I <3 showers! I had the pleasure of co-hosting a baby shower with a great friend for one of our besties, and I've procrastinated too long in sharing the details.
We got the idea for a teacup theme after we settled on the venue - Serda's Coffeehouse in lovely downtown Mobile, AL. The DIY invites had a baby peeping out of a teacup. We continued the theme with the decor. I love using doilies, because I think they're elegant and they're also inexpensive. I filled a teacup with some faux flowers and put it on a matching platter. For a centerpiece, we planted some indoor plants in a teacup pot, and then awarded the plant to a lucky recipient of a painless shower game (the winner's doilie had a picture on the underside).
Here's a picture of the spread:
It was a co-ed shower, so the food had to be cute, but hearty enough for the guys. We served crudite with Green Goddess Dip (from Southern Living June 2011), chicken salad croissants (per the mom-to-be's request), fruit, Spinach Salad Wraps (from BHG August 2011), a bacon cheese ring (molded into the shape of a heart). I always seek out recommendations and suggestions from the honoree, and when she told me she really loves cream cheese these days, we opted for mini-cheesecakes rather than a traditional cake. Given that space was limited, it also helped not to have to cut up a large cake - people could just grab their own.
The baby's name will be Lillian, so I was able to reuse a decoration that my sister made for our wedding, and I brought a lily pod from home to make it a little more special.
I found many of these ideas by browsing other blogs. When searching for inspiration, I suggest that you start with Google, because chances are someone may have already created something wonderful that you can borrow.
We got the idea for a teacup theme after we settled on the venue - Serda's Coffeehouse in lovely downtown Mobile, AL. The DIY invites had a baby peeping out of a teacup. We continued the theme with the decor. I love using doilies, because I think they're elegant and they're also inexpensive. I filled a teacup with some faux flowers and put it on a matching platter. For a centerpiece, we planted some indoor plants in a teacup pot, and then awarded the plant to a lucky recipient of a painless shower game (the winner's doilie had a picture on the underside).
Here's a picture of the spread:
It was a co-ed shower, so the food had to be cute, but hearty enough for the guys. We served crudite with Green Goddess Dip (from Southern Living June 2011), chicken salad croissants (per the mom-to-be's request), fruit, Spinach Salad Wraps (from BHG August 2011), a bacon cheese ring (molded into the shape of a heart). I always seek out recommendations and suggestions from the honoree, and when she told me she really loves cream cheese these days, we opted for mini-cheesecakes rather than a traditional cake. Given that space was limited, it also helped not to have to cut up a large cake - people could just grab their own.
The baby's name will be Lillian, so I was able to reuse a decoration that my sister made for our wedding, and I brought a lily pod from home to make it a little more special.
I found many of these ideas by browsing other blogs. When searching for inspiration, I suggest that you start with Google, because chances are someone may have already created something wonderful that you can borrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)