Chalkboard Paint

Chalkboard Paint.  You know you want to try it!! So many pins out there about chalkboard paint.  You can put it on ANYTHING! It's fun! And it is a craft for YOU, not just kids.

Source: abeautifulmess.typepad.com via Kate on Pinterest

And good news, super easy.   Warning... you only need about 1 TBSP non-sanded grout or less to make a small batch (which goes a long way).  However, the smallest box I could find was huge and will probably last me a lifetime and then some.  I will be sharing my wealth of non-sanded grout!

I saw one website, unfortunately forgot to pin, that suggested you mix the grout with a tiny bit of water before adding the paint.  I did this, and I'm glad, it wasn't clumpy at all! If you do this, just make sure to use the TINIEST amount, I can imagine using too much would make your paint too runny.

I used 2 2oz containers of paint from Joanns (89 cents each!). You can use ANY color you like, I decided to go with classic black. I wasn't feeling too adventuresome.  Within seconds, my batch was ready!  I have lots left over, so next time I will only make 1 container.  Here are my newly painted jars (counting down daddy's time away from us), and wine glasses!

So many fun things to do with your paint!

Source: etsy.com via Kate on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Kate on Pinterest

Source: inspirationforhome.blogspot.com via Kate on Pinterest

(So doing this last pin when the kids are old enough to play scrabble!)

Handmade Children's Belts

Source: handmademommy.blogspot.com via Kate on Pinterest

Sometimes the smallest things can make the outfit.  For my daughter, she loves to wear belts with her pants. She doesn't really NEED them, but she likes them and I can't say no.  I could not find belts that we liked last year, so I just bought some cheap ones that, of course, peeled paint off of and looked kind of icky after a few months. I saw a friend post pictures of some homemade belts she made for her sons and I thought, gee, I can do that!!

Since I have creative kids who find solid colors boring, I looked at this tutorial for something a little different:

Source: craftychicmommy.blogspot.com via Kate on Pinterest

I took the kids to Joann's and let them pick out their favorite ribbons.  (This could also be a great project to use up ribbons you have stashed up!)

Then, silly me, forgot to look at this tutorial when I actually sat down to MAKE the belts... so the ribbon doesn't wrap around to the other side... oops. Thankfully my kids love what I do, even with I mess up. Ah unconditional love. It's awesome!

Jello Playdough

Coco here....

Soooooo I have a couple of bored little kids today, and I thought I would try another pin I've been eyeing.

Jello Playdough!!

The link from the original pin is:

Source: playdoughrecipe.org via Kate on Pinterest

I made a few amendments, based on the comments.  By the way, tip for any sort of pin activity, ALWAYS READ THE COMMENTS!!  It will invariably save you a lot of grief...  The recipe omits to mention that you need to cook the ingredients,  and per the comments, make sure that it is on LOW heat, this stuff burns easily.  I also used a large non-stick frying pan (as suggested in the comments) and I'm glad I did, as I'm pretty sure it made clean-up a thousand times easier.  Here are the supplies I used.  (all stuff I already had lying around, which makes it about 12000 times more likely that I will actually do something):

I used Olive Oil instead of Baby Oil.  A. I already had some. B. My kids aren't inclined to eat play-dough, as a rule, but they know this one was made with Jello, and it would not surprise me if they gave it a try.

I mixed all the ingredients together, threw them in the pan, and stirred.  And stirred.  And stirred.  It took a while.  Once it balls together in the pan, plop it out onto a piece of wax paper.  Don't be an idiot, like I was, and put it on the wrong side.  *sigh*  Oh well, it was an easy enough fix...

Ok, the dough has cooled.  Be aware, you will need to add a LOT of flour to get it into non-sticky play dough consistency.  There is also a lot of kneading involved.  Much like a fairly sticky bread dough.  Here are the results:

It doesn't look like much, but the kids are currently playing with it, and seem to really like it.  The olive oil also means that my hands feel smooth and soft after all that kneading. ;)  I don't know how well it will keep, but the comments suggest that an airtight, refrigerated container will keep it pretty well.  We shall see....

Verdict:  Success!

Microwave Cleaning Made Easy

                                                                     Source: onegoodthingbyjillee.com via Kate on Pinterest

The microwave is one of my least favorite things to clean.  But thanks to the this super easy tutorial, I may actually not  mind cleaning my microwave

All I needed was 1 cup of vinegar (which I buy in bulk at Costco because it seems you can do just about anything with plain ol' vinegar!), and a cup of water. Microwave for 10 minutes. Wipe out the microwave. 

NO SCRUBBING

NO EFFORT

Could cleaning a microwave get any easier??  You can bet my microwave will be clean from now on! 

Here is a photo of my results.  

Shower Caulk Mold Removal

Hi everybody!  This is coco, and it is my first post!  When my bestest bud told me about her idea for this blog, I thought it was an awesome idea, and promised to contribute to it. Erm, three months ago.  I'm not what you might call "super on the ball" these days...  At any rate, I was mucking about on pinterest last week, pinned a few totally awesome ideas, and realized that I will never ever do them.  Ever.  Soooooooooo, I am going to try to start actually doing some of the things that I'm pinning.  *Gasp*  I know.  Quelle concept...  I figure on trying one pin a week, or thereabouts.  That should be doable, as it can be any sort of pin, including recipes, and those are easy to try. 

So.  For my first pin......  (there is a drumroll going in my head, for what it is worth)

Shower Caulk Mold Removal!!

Source: thisblessedlife.net via Kate on Pinterest

I know.  Ew.  I can't stand mold in any form, and the mold that grows on the caulk around a bathtub just makes me start to imagine huge mold colonies forming behind the tile on my bathroom wall.  ew ew ew ew ew.  It is so hard to get rid of, being constantly exposed to moist heat, i.e. mold nirvana...  Hence my excitement when I came across this pin!  The idea is: take a cotton perm coil.  Soak it in bleach.  Line the caulk on the tub with it.  Leave it overnight.  In the morning, remove it, and scrub the heck out of the tub.  Enjoy your sparkling clean, 100% mold free tub.

Let's hope it works that way....  (fingers crossed)

Here is the gross gross before:

My Supplies:

I put bleach in the pie pan, soaked the coils in them, and squeezed them out.  I didn't have them in the photo, but I wore rubber gloves...  Then I laid the cotton along the lines of caulk, and let it sit all day.  My house smelled like a swimming pool.  Was it worth it? See for yourself....

The Results:

That is a crappy picture, taken with my phone, but in person it is even more impressive.  By the way, that involved ZERO scrubbing!  I will be doing my bathtub next...........


Verdict: TOTAL SUCCESS

No Sew Tutu!

I adore little girls in tutus.  For my daughter's birthday, I wanted her to wear a tutu but didn't want to spend a fortune buying one.  I'm so glad I didn't, because once I looked at this tutorial, because a no sew tutus  are incredibly easy to make. I bought the tulle at Joanns, so all I had to do was cut the fabric into 6" thick pieces.

After posting a picture of my tutu on Facebook, I got a lot of interest from others about making tutus, which lead to me being approached by a bride to be about making a tutu dress for her flower girls.  Using the basic idea as the tutu I made for my daughter, I came up with this: 

However, this time I bought the tulle on spools, so I had to cut required length instead of width.  Then I added ribbon to help keep the dress up, and a removable flower clip.

I apologize for the poor photo quality. I tend to finish projects late at night and am too tired to snap a good photo! 

Father's Day Gift Ideas

If your husband is anything like mine, trying to figure out the perfect father's day gift is a nearly impossible task.  There is nothing he needs.  The things he wants are far out of my price range nor my ability to shop for (new tuba, new computer, new nook... you get the idea).  So I am opting for all kid participation gifts this year.  Cute, and frugal!

My favorite idea, and you probably saw these around mother's day are the printables where you ask kids questions about their parent, and they fill in the blanks.  I found this one and printed it out for my kiddos, but there are plenty out there to choose from.

My 3 year old son's answers

  My 5 year old daughter's answers

My daughter also insisted on drawing a picture for daddy.  This is our family, watching madagascar 3 at the movie theater... Doesn't get much cuter than that! 

 

I also really liked the road shirt idea.  The image I had re-pinned from another user does not take you for a link.  Simple idea - get a plain shirt, buy colored sharpies. Draw pictures and a road.  If you child is more of a train enthusiast, no reason you couldn't draw train tracks instead of a road. 



 There are many other ideas that are inexpensive and easy for children to help with.  Most involving candy, so if your husband is a health nut or allergic to chocolate, you may want to avoid any of those ideas.  My personal favorite is the candy bar letter. I bought poster board today and will hunt down the necessary candy bars tomorrow! 


Whatever you decide... crafts, a nice dinner out, or a fun family outing, I wish all the fathers out there a fantastic Father's Day 2012!!

Baby Photo Prop Sac

I have been asked by local pregnant friends and photographers about baby sacs for newborn photography and searched online for a pattern.  I found this pattern over at Knit Together Designs. 

As with any pattern I find for free online, I try to change it up a bit so that when I sell a product, it isn't the exact replica of someone else's pattern.  Do not ask me what I did... I have forgotten.  I wrote down what I possibly did, but since I wrote it AFTER finishing the product (fail!) it is not exact. 

This pattern was great... to begin with. Loved having a guideline as to how many stitches to cast on, size of needle.  I was not, however, a fan of the bottom part of the original pattern.  I wanted something a bit more solid and not as curly, so I did something similar to the top of a beanie. 

Striped Baby Blankets

I was asked to make a baby blanket for a customer and for the life of me could not find my favored pattern.  So after searching patterns online, I found this one from Red Heart.  Simple and adorable!

Seriously, this pattern is perfect for beginners, or for someone who wants an easy project.  The only challenging part of this pattern was I didn't want to do a knitted border, so I learned how to crochet from a good friend so that the edges looked nice.

Teacher Gift Idea

End of school is upon us and many of us are scrambling for last minute Teacher's Gift ideas.  Well, look no further, thanks to Overworked SuperMom and Pinterest I stumbled upon this great idea!

I was able to fill drink dispensers with the rest of the gifts, and kept cost close to $10 per teacher (my fall-back plan was to contribute $10 per teacher to the group of parents pitching in for gift cards), and I think that this will be a more memorable gift! All you do is pick up a drink dispenser and buy whatever you can fit in it!  My husband got a kick out of me putting different cups into the dispensers to see which would fit best.  FYI - chocolate covered pomegranate seeds are delicious!!

A similar idea is to just buy the cup and fill with different drink mixes.  Either way, I'm sure this teacher gift will be greatly appreciated! 

Oven Fried Drumsticks

I'm always looking for healthier recipes of yummy food, and who can resist fried drumsticks??  I found this recipe and filed it under Dinners.

What to say... well, to prove to you how well liked this was in my family, my somewhat picky daughter, who never would eat meat off the bone before, ate TWO of these drumsticks.  I tried the recipe again a couple weeks later, and again, she ate two (and my even picker son tried it!).  I really liked this recipe and it will definitely be added to my family's list of favorite meals. 

For some reason when I made mine, it wasn't crispy like in the original post's photo. Maybe I didn't use enough butter or flour?  Not really sure what happened... but we still liked it.  I also decided to exchange cajun seasoning for the curry seasoning.  Still quite tasty.  My favorite part about this recipe is that all the ingredients are things I always have in my house, so no special planning or extra trips to the grocery store.

If you can figure out how to make the chicken crispy, be sure to leave a comment on my post! I'd like to know your tips!

Crispy Chicken With Creamy Italian Sauce

Another fantastic meal!  Even my picky daughter ate the chicken (but we compromised with plain pasta).  The recipe for the crispy chicken is pinned under Dinners.

I really liked the chicken recipe.  The steps were easy.  The only thing I changed was using less oil.  Even so, the chicken was crispy and held in moisture well.  I will definitely make the chicken again, especially since I always have the ingredients on hand.  And now I own a meat mallet!

The creamy sauce was incredible.  It used a product I have never used before, Philadelphia cooking cream.  There were four flavors to choose from, my husband chose pesto.  Which worked out nice with the spinach we added to the sauce.  I had a better likelihood of family members eating a vegetable if it was covered in sauce! But the sauce was easy to make, a little heavy (180 calories for half a cup), but it made a lot, at least for my family it was a lot.   Next time I make it, I will use a different flavor. 

I definitely recommend this recipe.  It's a little heavy, but definitely worth every bite!

Mongolian Beef

I don't often have a difficult time waiting for my husband to return home from work before starting dinner, but I could NOT physically wait for him when I made this meal.  Mongolian Beef, pinned under Dinners, was that amazing.

The recipe was incredibly easy, and used ingredients I often have on hand at home.  Paired with rice and steamed broccoli, it was perfect.  Better than any take out I can get around here, this beef was tender, and incredibly flavorful.  The combination of sweet and the red peppers left me wanting more.  I recommend this for anyone who adores Asian food. 

Go. 

Make this NOW!!

Knit Wig Hat

I had the Knit Wig Hat pinned in my "Knit" board for awhile before someone on Facebook asked if I could make her one.  I took her up on her request quickly.  The Knit Wig Hat is something I personally wouldn't wear but was dying for an excuse to make!

The patter is pretty easy, though I had to learn how to do a backward cast on to complete the upper half of the wig (yay youtube videos!!).  With fairly limited skills needed, this is a great project for Easy/Intermediate level knitters who want to do something a little cooky.  The pattern was a little tricky to read once it came time to do the decreases on the bangs... hence my slightly off end product. 

 

The Knit Wig Hat is definitely an easy alternative to dying your hair for a Halloween costume or for a themed party!  I look forward to making another one some day! 

Easter Egg Decorating Idea

Some years I dread the dying of Easter Eggs.  It's messy, I fuss about the kids potentially dying the entire house, I just don't wanna.  But I saw this super cute idea on Pinterest and had to try it!  I'm not sure what the original link is, the one I pinned is just a photo of eggs with beautiful temporary butterfly tattoos on them.

I rummaged through our tattoo collection... all I could find were Halloween themed tattoos, patriotic, and dinosaurs. Pretty much sums up my family! It was just as easy as putting temporary tattoos on the children, and less messy than dyes.  Personally, I much prefer dinosaurs over little bunnies and chicks on our eggs!

Frosted Zucchini Brownies: A Different Take

The Frosted Zucchini Brownies is a pin a friend of mine made under her "Cuisine" board.  I re-pinned from her, but have yet to try the recipe.  She graciously wrote up a review for me and took a photo. 

My friend, Emily N. substituted 3/4 cup applesauce for the oil, added 1 tsp all spice, and left off the frosting.  She also made them as cupcakes instead of a sheet. 

Her verdict:  "Not bad for taste but I found them to be a bit bland but moist enough. I think I need to up the all spice or try just a cinnamon/ginger/clove mix and go a bit heavy handed. I think a cream cheese frosting might be a better contrast with a dash of apple syrup and sprinkled cinnamon to complement the applesauce flavor."


The recipe does not contain eggs, so it is good for those with children who have egg allergies.

I am still looking forward to trying this recipe, so I will edit the post once I have made it!

Felt Fractions: Nice Tactile Way to Visualize Fractions

Here are my felt fractions (please click on the link to see original post!). I had pinned this under "Preschool/Kindergarten Learning Tools". 

These were super cool.  My 5 year old has been asking us "how much is left" when she is eating/drinking during meals, and she adores math anyway, so I thought this would be a fantastic way for hear to visually understand when we say half, third, fourth.

The tutorial had used primary colors.  I allowed my children to pick which colors I ended up using... I think you can tell which two my son picked and which two my daughter picked! I also didn't do the blanket stitch as per the tutorial.  I was using my sewing machine and was too lazy to make them look super nice (as you can see my sewing skills leave something to be desired!).

I love these, I think they are really awesome.  My children agree!

Knit Bunnies

These super cute Knit Bunnies can be found via Ravelry, a site for knitters and crocheters.  The pin can be found on my "Easter" board.

These are PERFECT for a gift, decoration, probably could stuff them with cat nip as cat toys (which I probably will!).  An easy pattern, great for beginners, easy techniques, and knits up fast!!

The pattern said to use needle size US 6, but I used US 4. I liked the tighter knit look, plus if I decide to stuff with catnip, there is less likelihood of the catnip coming out if I knit tighter.  

Quick, grab your needles and make some for Easter!!

Kids Crafts: Easter

My daughter LOVES to do crafts, and with Easter being in just under two weeks, we rushed out, stocked up on cotton balls, and decided to try the Paper Plate Easter Bunny Craft that I had pinned under "Easter". 

The craft was cute, used items we had around the house (except cotton balls, I was shocked that we were out!).  However, after completing her bunny face, my daughter was completely bummed out that we ONLY did the face and decided to make her own bunny to include the body and tail.

 

I have to admit... I kind of like her idea a little better, it allowed for more creativity instead of just following my directions.  But both are very cute (of course I think so, she is MY daughter!!).  

Berry Danish Minis

I pinned this under "Desserts"... but will be moving it to "In The Kitchen" (which eventually I need to split up, in that case it will go to "Breakfast" or "Brunch".  I still need to reorganize my pins!

You can find the original link here: Inspired by charm.

Of course, I forgot to take a photo... so you will have to visit the link to what they looked like.  I will try to get photos of everything I make next time, and I don't want to copy/paste her photo since that just seems a little bit wrong and I want to make sure I go about this as legit as possible!

These were SO easy to make, and my kids loved them.  We made them yesterday as an afternoon snack. The best part about this recipe is it used ingredients we had on hand: Cream cheese, crescent roll dough, jam, sugar, vanilla extract.  I made half of mine with apricot jam, the other half with strawberry jam mixed with fresh strawberries.  I accidentally forgot the sugar and vanilla.  But honestly, I don't think you need it, and if you are watching calories, its best not to have extra sugar, right?  With just the three ingredients, these tasted great.  My family and I ate all 12 up that afternoon!!

We will DEFINITELY be making this recipe again! 

Welcome to my blog!

If you are reading this welcome page, you are either a family member, friend, or have recently fallen in love with Pinterest.  That is what happened to me... Like most new people to Pinterest, you don't quite get "it".  You see the empty boards on your profile, not quite sure what it means to "pin" something, or where to find it.  But eventually you figure it out... and then you can't stop! Suddenly you are overwhelmed with ideas.  You wish you had more hands and time to craft, bake, cook, garden, do everything you see.  You may lay awake at night thinking about your next project.  Oh wait, you have to run to the craft store first.  What fabric will your child like most?  We have an empty milk jug...what can we make with it? Does that recipe really taste as good as it looks?

My goal with this blog is to let you know what I've pinned and tried.  If I thought my final product was a success or failure. I hope to guide you through Pinterest to discover amazing recipes, crafts, fun things to do with your kids, ways to enrich your life. 

Here is my one disclaimer.  There are certain things I do not pin.  I am not interested in fashion or makeup.  I do not pin anything that has to do with home decoration or remodeling, since we live in military housing and don't dare paint a speck on the wall!  I don't have a green thumb.  However, I have blogger friends who are interested in these subjects, and from time to time will guest blog with what they have tried. 

Here are my most favorite Pinterest boards:
In The Kitchen
Desserts
Knit
Preschool/Kindergarten Learning Tools
Kid Fun
Sewing for Kids

Of course, I have many more boards. I have provided a link for my Pinterest account, and you are welcome to follow me. 

I have also (shamelessly!!) provided links to my Facebook knitting page and eventually will add my Twitter account (once I tweak it a bit to my liking!).