Category Archives: Pinterest {Hit or Flop}

Indoor Snowman

When it is too cold to build a snowman outdoors (or too warm for others) I found a fun way for the kids to build one anyway.

snowman

With five kids we go through a ton of toilet paper.  I am not sure how much is actually used and how much is flushed for the fun of it.  Anyway I found a fun idea when I was looking for Elf on the Shelf place ideas.  The kids had fun decorating the TP with washable markers.  They spent 2 hours stacking, moving, and restocking their own 3 rolls of snowman.  Then, they next best part was getting to use the TP and watch it turn the toilet water turn colors 😉

Do you want to build a snowman?

Share

TMNT Ornaments

Our tradition each year is to purchase an ornament for each of our kids.  The hope is that when they leave they will have 18 ornaments to take with them for their first tree.  The best part is finding that perfect ornament for them each year.  It can be tricky to find the one that fits their current likes.  Many times we visit the Hallmark store or PersonalCreations.com to find/create the perfect one.  This year neither of those places had what I was looking for.  Even Etsy didn’t have something for each of my five kiddos.

I had seen a really cute TMNT ornament on Pinterest that I had wanted to try but at the time my kids weren’t really into them.  That was until we moved to Iowa and lost the Disney Channel.  Now Turtles are their favorite show, even my little lady’s.  Since we now live near a few craft stores I can easily visit them when they have sales.  So… I made 4 Ninja Turtles and 1 girl turtle.  Did you know there was actually a girl turtle?  I didn’t.  Guess in some threads online there was a girl turtle by the name of Venus.  If I had done my research I would have had 2 blues turtles instead of 2 purple. Oh well, Haleigh’s favorite character is still Minnie Mouse and her favorite color is purple.  So that is what she got.

Turtle Ornaments

I think they turned out pretty cute!  They were super easy to make. It took me less than 20 minutes to create all 5.  I didn’t go into a ton of detail.  I know I could have made their mouths a bit different to create more aggressive turtles but that would mean I would have had to paint them all.  I opted for a little makers and ribbon instead.

My only dilemma was on how to package these individually so each kid could unwrap their own.  I certainly could leave them in the 6pk but there is no way 5 kids would open that gift without some elbows flying and frustration for us.  While I was out looking for cake stuff I noticed the individual cupcake boxes and thought they might work.

Turtle Ornaments packaged

They worked great!  So we had five little packages ready for five young ones to open Christmas morning.  They loved them.  🙂  Definitely a Pinterest item worth making.

Share

Celebrating 12 Days of Christmas

I like to do nice things for my husband.  This year I wanted to try something new.  After leaving behind my cake business I found a lot of spare time on my hands.  I took to my favorite place… Pinterest to find something fun to do.  I found a cute “12 Days of Christmas” idea.  Here is a link to the page :http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2011/12/on-the-first-day-of-christmas-my-true-love-gave-to-me.html

I jumped on board and started planning.  It was a lot harder than I expected.  I was trying to stay in a small budget and still be creative and fun.  Originally my first gift to my true love was going to be a shadow box for our family ticket stubs from movies, games, and other events but on impulse I gave that to him for his early December birthday.

As December days passed I started to worry I wasn’t going to find enough things to fill up the calendar.  A few days before I started leaving gifts, he was raving about the Christmas blend of Starbucks coffee he had enjoyed.  Finally an idea I could use!

Day 1:  On the 1st day of Christmas his true love gave to him… A Bag of Coffee to brew.

So there you have it!

day 1 of 12

 

Yes I found it necessary to make each day rhyme.  That, and him sitting on the couch while I was working them out, made things interesting for sure!  He was quite surprised on the first day.  Actually I wasn’t sure if he liked the idea or not.

Day 2: Two Tasty Treats

Day two was supposed to be our son’s surgery day so I opted for something I could share with him at the hospital.  Of course the little man’s surgery got rescheduled so instead my husband got his Throwback Mt Dew and Reese’s Fastbreak at home.  The funny thing is I had purchased a bottle of pop a couple days earlier and then accidentally left it on the counter and he drank it.  When I saw him walk into the living room with it took all I had not to shake me head.  I had to make an emergency trip to the Casey’s to get another one.  It made for a fun and memorable day 2.

Sadly, I didn’t get pictures of each day.  Some were more personal than others, some less.  I did take pictures of a few of his favorites.

Day 3: Three Naughty Pics

By day 3 he was asking if there was a gift since I didn’t leave this one on the counter like the others.  Boudoir photos in an envelope on the seat of his car.  That was a winner.  Yeah and  sorry no pictures to share on this one 😉

Day 4:  Four Date Night Things

This was supposed to be day 5 or 6 but plans were to go out of town and I didn’t think I wanted to drag along a couple wine glasses, a bottle of wine, and some massage oil.  Lol… It just didn’t feel right.  So it became day four. Rather than purchase a new bottle of wine I chose to use one of the 3 bottles of the wine I still have from my bridal shower.   Six and a half years was not so friendly on the bottle we tried to drink.  It was ok but nothing great.  We probably should have drank it long ago but 4 kids in 5 years hasn’t allowed much time for enjoying a glass here and there.

Day 5: Five Ornaments

We have five kids in our arms so I thought it would be fun to enlist the help of the kids on this one.  Each of them painted their hands white and helped me create snowmen out of their handprints.  The turned out cute. *Another Pinterest idea*  My husband actually got to watch us create these over Thanksgiving while we were making other family gifts.

day 5 of 12 (2)

Day 5 of 12

Day 6: Six Beers for Drinking

There is nothing more weird than walking into a liquor store at 11 in the morning to purchase booze with three kids under the age of 5 in tow.  The guy at the counter snickered while we were digging in the cooler creating our mixed 6pk.  Or it could have been when my 5yo desperately wanted to carry the 6 glass bottles to the counter 2 at a time. Either way, we did a good job of picking a few favorites and a couple ones he had talked about trying.

Day 7: Seven Ways I Love You

The higher the day number the harder, and more creative, I had to be.  So for day 7 I opted for different candies.  I will admit I am creative however I am not good at creating many things completely from scratch.  I really wanted to attach little tags.  I had to google a while to find exactly what I was looking for but I finally located something I liked.  This sight is where I got the generic tags.  http://www.thedatingdivas.com/you-me/show-him-the-love/clever-candy-sayings-for-almost-every-occasion/ I wasn’t completely satisfied with just the tags to I included some special moments that we have shared together that make me love him more.

Day 7 of 12

Day 8: Eight Blocks for Building

The kids and I sifted through 2 totes of pictures to find enough to fill some cut up 2×4’s and 2×2’s.  We painted the 8 blocks and used mod podge to attach the pictures.  One side was pictures from our wedding and the other was our superheros.  I attached our special Dad quote to the main block.  I think the kids like them since they have already run off with them!

Day 9: Nine Years of Christmas

When I started this project I knew this day right away.  This year we celebrated our 9th holiday season.  While we were sifting through all our pictures I also located memories of our first two Christmas seasons as well as a picture card we have sent each year for the last seven.  When I gave this gift my husband’s exact words were, “I thought you didn’t like scrapbooking.”.  He is right, it really isn’t my thing but I will do something once if it might mean something to him.  I left a place for writing our memories later.  I thought that might be a fun way to spend a few date nights.

day 9 book

Day 9 of 12

Day 10: Ten Quotes Inspiring

I thought this day was going to be easy.  I was definitely wrong.  I couldn’t decide if I wanted bible verses or quotes.  There are good bible verses but I couldn’t quite find ones that fit the bill.  I googled and found lots of quotes too.  Again nothing quite was what I was looking for.  Instead I used some of the quotes that were close to what I needed and added/changed some words to make them more personal.  After the work I put into coming up with the quotes, I had no time to make them pretty.  Just some construction paper and scrapbook stickers.  I think he liked them just the same.

Day 10 of 12

Day 11: Eleven Favorite Cookies

This was supposed to be his very favorite homemade chocolate chip cookies but if you had seen my counter you would understand why he got a bag of oreo cookies and a rain check.  Christmas baking season and a holiday party filled the counter and 3 tupperware containers full of yummy treats.  I think I can fit his special treat in January when he can enjoy them.

Day 12: Twelve Date Nights Prepped

So my husband is not a date night planner and likely never will.  I decided to take day 12 to prepare a date night each month.  Since day 12 landed on Christmas, he got to open a small box to find 12 envelopes. Each envelope has cash to use during our date and a certificate and cash to pay our two older boys for their daycare services.  Each envelope has a date it must be used on.  I chose the 12th of each month, fitting I suppose.  According the to calendar it will only fall on a busy Friday or Saturday night once.  All the other 12th’s are on week days.  Now all we have to do is take turns deciding where to go or what to do.  I can’t wait until Jan 12!!

Day 12 of 12

My husband and I enjoyed this project enough I might try it again next year!  I was able to keep days 1-11 within my $50 budget by using things around the house and purchasing a few things as needed.  Now that I have a whole year to plan who knows what things I could find to do.  The hardest thing will be keeping it under budget. 😉

Share

Pinterest – Easy Peanut Butter Fudge {Hit or Flop}

Hit!

This was the easiest and most delicious fudge ever!

Easy-Peanut-Butter-Fudge-Recipe-1240

http://communitytable.com/237303/lorilange/the-easiest-peanut-butter-fudge-recipe-ever/

It is different from your more firm fudges and is a bit crumbly in your mouth but my taste testers loved it. We will be making a lot more of this for friends and family!

Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

By ABIGAIL R. GEHRING
  • MAKES

    About 16 pieces

  • ACTIVE TIME

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups granulated white sugar
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

  1. Grease an 8×8-inch baking pan.
  2. In a medium saucepan, bring sugar and milk to a boil. Allow to boil for about 2½ minutes, stirring regularly, and then remove from heat. Add the peanut butter and vanilla and stir until smooth.
  3. Pour the mixture into the pan and allow to cool until set. Slice into 1-inch squares.

COOK’S NOTE

*To make this fudge “dairy-free,” use coconut milk in place of cow’s milk.

KITCHEN COUNTER

Makes About 16 pieces.

Share

Pinterest Cream Cheese Mints {Hit or Flop}

FLOP!

I found a very pretty looking idea on Pinterest for Christmas cream cheese mints.

Cream Cheese Mints

http://realwomen.phillycanada.com/recipes/542739/Cream-Cheese-Mints

Let’s start with problem #1:

Way too much powdered sugar!  It was so think my poor Kitchen Aid mixer could barely handle it.

Problem #2:

Peppermint flavoring was terrible with all that sugar.

Solutions:

After working with the recipe I just finally pitched the bowl and started over with a better recipe.  It is one that was handed down to me and is by far way better!  I was able to make with both mint and banana flavorings with success.

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 oz cream cheese
1/2 tsp extract flavoring

Mix cream cheese, food coloring, & extract.  Add in powdered sugar. Add to pipping bag with large 1M tip.  Create stars on top of parchment paper lined pan.  Chill and package.

Keep this pin purely for the pretty packaging idea but forget the recipe!

Share