DIY Ombre Calanders

I am a calender fanatic. Truly. I have ones that I stick to religiously. I have one on my phone, my Ipod, in my backpack, and a big one in my house! 

The thing I love about the one in my house is that I modeled it after this calender I found on Pinterest a while back:

http://fey-next2heaven.blogspot.com/2011/09/our-launch-pad-new-weekly-calendar.html

Now I have the exact same frame, Wal-Mart $10, but my paper is much more me, one will be glittery and the next wood and trees. I am my own opposite. I love it!

So my love for all things calender were appealed to when I opened the email this morning and read this cute project from Heidi.

The Original

http://thelittlelovebirds.blogspot.com/2012/06/call-me-thief.html

The Pinstrosity

(Not really, you'll see...)

Now I don't at all consider this a Pinstrosity, but Heidi didn't consider it a full out Pin Win either, we need a name for the middle ground...ideas?

The picture she followed didn't have a link so I had to find one similar. Heidi took it upon herself to be creative with this, and I really like that. However she doesn't feel this turned out as great as she had originally had in mind. 

"... I do admit it's not TERRIBLE, but, it doesn't look as pretty as the original.  I think one big reason was that I couldn't quite find enough paint swatches to match the ombre look exactly.  Reason number two, my picture frame was skinnier and therefore I couldn't fit the bigger paint swatches without it looking funky.  Next time, more patience in finding the right colors will probably do me well.  BUT, as far as how it works, it works great.  I hung it up on my wall in my college dorm and write big tests/events and decorate it every month according to the month."

I really like that she decorates this according to the month, I think that is cute and great way to personalize. As for suggestions:

Have patience in finding your colors, and check different stores.

In my town we have a Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware, Sun Valley Do-It Best, and a Tractor Supply Co.. I think that this would give a good range of colors to choose from, take your time and grab lots of options. 

While I am thinking about it though, I am sure that these workers hate it when people come in and just take a butt ton of free samples, so don't go TOO hog wild. 

Speaking of going hog wild with free paint samples, behold:

Please excuse the poor picture quality, this is an older picture taken on a phone. This was a Christmas Tree that my Hubby and I made while we were still in our dating stage. Cute right?! Totally wasteful of paint swatches? Yes. But did we literally blow it up after Christmas? Totally. Awesomesauce. Have I ever mentioned how Pyromaniac my family is? I guess that's what I get for having a dad that made fireworks for a living. 

Anyway I digress. 

Another thing to think about before you start cutting things, is to measure measure measure. I have a bad habit of not measuring or sloppily measuring and it has been known to get me in a  tight spot a time or two. Save yourself some trouble and heartache and MEASURE BEFORE YOU CUT!

Another thought is to get a larger frame with a mat, that way you aren't worried about not having enough room. This way you can use the pretty mat, and I think buying  a mat of your own specifications is fairly cheap, I can get one here from a custom frame shop for under 3 bucks for a large picture. 

Sometime we get so excited about a project that we just want to do it RIGHT NOW and not wait till the store has what we really need ( I am so guilty of this), but sometimes it pays to wait. 

Keep that in mind crafters!

Happy Friday Pinstrosipeeps! 

And stay tuned for Marquette's post tomorrow!

Stuffed Cookies

Today, you get two Pinstrosities in one post! It's like we're taking an awesome submission and stuffing it inside another awesome submission to create a bigger and more awesome post. Hey...that sounds oddly like those cookies we've seen all over...

The Original Pin

http://picky-palate.com/2011/01/06/oreo-stuffed-chocolate-chip-cookies/

I remember seeing these on Facebook before I got on Pinterest, but they've been big for a while now. That recipe above is Jenny's original recipe and was one of the first stuffed Oreo recipes to go crazy online. Go check it out. 

Since then though, people have tried variations on the recipe and some have come out fine...some not so much. Here's one that didn't quite work:

The Pinstrosity

Stephanie sent in the above photo and this is what she said, " I used a different chocolate chip cookie recipe so that could have contributed to the failure, but also when I put the trays in they were tilted which caused the cookies to slide."

Different recipes sometimes work out great and other times it can bite you in the bum. We've seen a lot of pictures online with stuffed cookie results like Stephanie sent in. It's happening to a lot of people. What's the issue? The wrong kind of dough. If you remember back to our Cookie Bowl posts, sometimes you really have to have a specific dough for these to work. Some Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes will work, and others won't. Generally, chocolate chip cookies spread quite a bit while cooking. This works great when you're making Chocolate Chip Cookies. This doesn't work so great when you're trying to make a cookie bowl or a stuffed cookie. What can you do to combat that? Try out Jenny's recipe, she tweaked it so it won't run all over. If you want to try out a different recipe, do a test bake first. If it spreads too much, it probably won't work. DON'T use store bought Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. It will not give you happy results with stuffed cookies. 

One variation on the whole stuffed cookie idea, and one which helps the whole spreading problem, is this one:

The Original Pin

http://www.sugarloco.com/2012/09/stuffed-cookie-cups-recipe/

What's fun though...they didn't stop at just Oreos. Check this out:

http://www.sugarloco.com/2012/09/stuffed-cookie-cups-recipe/

Jenny @ Sugar Loco posted these cups online for all of us to drool over. I think there must be something about the name Jenny that makes you a cookie genius...or maybe it's just a coincidence. Either way...these two Jenny's are cookie geniuses. This Jenny has the problem of the spreading dough fixed by baking the cookies in muffin tins. 

Stephanie (a different Stephanie than the first Pinstrosity in this post...today is full of double names!) and Hannah found this recipe and decided to give it a try. Here's their story:

"One day my friend Stephanie and I decided to try and make the stuffed Chocolate Chip cookies that are supposed to be baked in a muffin tin. We instead tried to bake them on a cookie sheet, but made them in the exact same way as on the original pin. Not being a professional baker, I thought the cookies would keep the cup-like shape that they had before being baked.....WRONG!"

The Pinstrosity

"Instead we ended up with what I think look like chocolate chip pancakes, with a piece of a Reese's in the middle. Another thing that may have made a difference is that instead of using an entire candy bar we cut them into fourths. Because the candy bar pieces were so small, they rose to the top of the cookie. Although they didn't turn out as planned, they still tasted okay! Our cookies started off at half-dollar size but we ended up with 4-5 inch pancakes."

So when you're playing around with Chocolate Chip cookie dough and working on new creations, just remember that the dough will spread. You either need to contain it (as in the cookie cups), or tweak the recipe some. 

RIP Beloved Iron

If you are like me then you frequently like to change around the look of your house. Sometimes this means re-arranging furniture, sometimes this means buying a new lamp. But sometimes none of those options are working out so great. 

In comes this awesome pin that I think I might try, granted seeing as it is on Pinstrosity that means something went wrong, so maybe I should experiment at Marquette's house first ;) Just kidding Marquette, unless you're up for it, than let's do it!

 Girls craft day anyone?!

Here is this fun project we got from Lillie, that I had actually never seen before! I love seeing new pins! I'm a Pinterest-a-holic, so this is a big deal folks!

The Original

http://www.brassyapple.com/2010/06/fabric-wall-artcreate-your-own.html

This is actually fabric, ironed on the wall if Iron On Transfer Paper! Genius!!! It's cheap, I already have everything I would need for this in my craft room right now, and according to the original it is safe to take on and off of your walls with not backlash whatsoever. Whew! That was a lot of excitement in one sentence haha!

So Lillie has a little closet that she has turned into a reading nook ( awesome right?!) that she thought would be fun to embellish with some wall decor. Check it out:

The Pinstrosity

Doesn't look too bad right?! Well upon further inspection we see that it did some real damage to her closet wall. 

RIP iron :(

(Anyone have any awesome iron cleaning pins they can share with Lillie, and the rest of us for that matter?!)

So needless to say, this didn't go as seamless as she was anticipating. So what happened here?

I have some theories:

1.The iron was too hot.

2. The paint was cheap.

3. She ironed the fabric too long.

In all the searches my brain could think to do I couldn't find anyone else having this problem. This is not to say that Lillie isn't alone in this, but maybe they aren't brave enough to send this to Pinstrosity. Go Lillie! You are now our honorary Pinstrosity Sister ;)

So with the first thing I think may have happened, sometimes I turn the iron on way before I need to iron something thinking that it will be a while before it heats up. Now this is only true with my grandma's old iron, not the new fancy ones. The new fancy ones, which I now have, are fast! So if she turned on the iron before she cut out her letters, that might have been too hot for her wall and fabric. If you didn't know this before you CAN burn fabric onto an iron. And while we are talking about burning things on irons, may I suggest not ironing felt. Personal experience, don't ask. Ok go ahead and ask but it is a REALLY lame story and I feel totally stupid lol. 

The paint is cheap. I feel like this is a lame reason that this may have gone wrong. And I am not saying cheap paint is a bad thing to use, because sometimes you REALLY need to paint something but you are a poor college student and Wal-Mart paint sounds about as good as it's gonna get. With that being said it may have been the paint. I know some paints scratch off and get dingy and don't work as well as others and maybe this is one of those times, but Lillie didn't specify her paint type so I really can't say.

The third one kind of goes with the first, but it may very well have been the reason. If you iron the fabric too long it may have started to burn or melt and caused the paint to get too hot as well. This may have caused the paint to then get nasty and then transfer onto the iron, and then the letters and all sorts of bad stuff. 

I need to reiterate that you need Iron On Transfer Paper to make this work, that is how it sticks and easily peels off the walls. With that being said I would suggest trying this out on a small corner behind some furniture before you put up a life sized fabric picture of dogs playing cards, just to be on the safe side. We don't want that do picture getting ruined now do we!

I would also like to add that the original blogger had no trouble getting the fabric on and off. This does work, and in poking around I found several other blogs, and magazines that have used this technique successfully, so it can be done. When in doubt, try it out, in a dark corner, with fabric you hate.

Has anyone else had luck with this? Good or bad? Let us know, we love your feedback!

Happy Wednesday Pinstrosipeeps!

Conversation Heart Cookies

It's getting that time of year, and I'm still not done with my Valentine project. I'm still hoping to be able to finish it up, but I may need to think of a backup plan. Well, I have a backup plan, but I may need to think of a backup plan for my backup plan. I don't think I'm going to get my backup plan done either. I wouldn't worry too much about it if it weren't my year to be in charge of Valentine's Day. Good thing we don't base how much we love each other off of Valentine's Day celebrations (I never really did understand couples that did that in high school...or now either really). 

Today's Pinstrosity comes from an email we were sent in our early days (I know...we're still in our early days, but the early days as of right now) that we have held on to for Valentine's Day. Check these out:

The Original Pin

http://kelseyskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/02/conversation-heart-sugar-cookies.html

Aren't those cute? Conversation heart cookies. I love it. They are made with a nifty little gadget like this one from Williams-Sonoma (no, we're not sponsored by them, nor are we advertising for them...this is just the type of gadget you need to make these so we're showing it to you):

Lexy tried to make these last year. Here's her story:
"This past Valentine's Day I had one of my worst Pinterest creations to date and I thought it would be fun to share!  I saw those adorable conversation heart cookies, and I thought they would make a great Valentines Day gift to my husband.  It is a good thing that its the thought that counts, because not much else worked out with these things!  A little bit of background info, about a year or so ago he decided to cut out all processed foods/chemicals/artificial dyes from his diet.  So, when trying to recreate this pin, I was unable to use the fake and toxic food coloring, which, lets face it, works WAY better.  I used the natural (and SUPER expensive!) food dyes, which work like crap.  Sometimes we need a few toxins in our diet, and when you're trying to make pretty cookies, that is one of those times!  I don't feel like I should be faulted for the dye, I was trying to make sure they were "all natural."  However, there were a few accidents that were my fault.  I did not read (of course!) the instructions on the cookie cutter box.  This resulted in me cutting out the cookies, but then lifting them onto the cookie sheet, which makes them those wonky shapes.  Instead, you're supposed to cut, and lift the cookie dough while it is still in the cookie cutter.  I followed the recipe exactly and the quality/taste of the cookie was totally fine (not sweet enough in my opinion, but that's neither here nor there)."

The Pinstrosity

"You think its just the lighting in the photo, but no, that's how the colors turned out!" -Lexy

She even did the tips and tricks portion:
"So, for future bakers: 1) use toxic food coloring it makes all the difference if you want bright pretty colors, and 2) press cookie dough, and pop out on the cookie sheet, don't try to pick up the cookie and move it over to the sheet on your own."

I'm sure she didn't mean toxic food coloring...more like synthetic. 

Cookies can be tough. There should be a college lab science class called "Making the Perfect Cookie 101". It would count as a Chemistry course, an Art course, and a Math course (learning how to increase and decrease recipes...totally math). Everyone would want to take it, and it would get so many requirements out of the way. Seriously...that's genius. When I found Marquette University...oh wait, there's already one of those...I never found my name on those key chains or bicycle license plate things, but when I go to name my college my name is already taken? Life is weird. Okay...so when I found Marquette's Awesome University (who wouldn't want to go there with a name like that?) Making the Perfect Cookie 101 will definitely be on the course list. Anyone want to preregister? 

What are you putting together for Valentine's Day? 

As of this moment...we have 60 entries in our Pinstrosiversary Challenge! We've loved seeing everyone's projects so far. Have you looked through the list yet? There are some great ideas, go check them out! And, there are still 15 days left to get your entry in...go through your boards and pick a pin to put into action. 

http://pinstrosity.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-upcoming-pinstrosiversary.html

Get Glad

I'm going to take a diversion from the norm today. Bear with me. I have had today's post floating in my head all night. So much so that I couldn't sleep. So here I am, approaching 4 a.m., and I'm finally typing it up, hoping it will help me and you. 

There are days and weeks (or for some, months and years) that drain you completely, mind, body, and soul. These past two and a half weeks have been such for me. I'm not depressed, or on my way to being depressed; I am just drained. My gas tank only has fumes left in it. These periods in my life seem to come when I have become complacent in life, when I've gotten a little too big for my britches, or when I feel like I am finally getting life figured out. It is easy to only see the downward pull into darkness as you struggle to get through these periods, and it doesn't take much to feel like you'll never make it out again. And then you find something that you are able to hold on to. A rock. A life preserver. An extended hand. Suddenly you have a shred of motivation and hope. It can be the littlest things that can bring a ray of light to pierce the depths of frustration, sorrow, stress, self-pity, etc.

I wanted to share with you two of the little rays of light that has found me this time around, one of which is Pinterest...but I'll get to that in a minute. 

I love to read. It is my escape, especially in hard and frustrating times. I love a good deep book, but sometimes I just need something light that I can lose myself in. I keep 10-15 happy and light books on my Kindle so that I can have they at my disposal anytime I need or want them. For some reason this past week, I was really drawn to one title. Pollyanna. I'd seen the movie before. I knew the story and how it goes. But for some reason I felt compelled to read Pollyanna. So I did. It was a fun, lighthearted story. I thought it would just serve as a temporary retreat, but it ended up being more. It ended up being the ray of light I needed. In the book, Pollyanna says, "You see, when you're hunting for the glad things, you sort of forget the other kind" (Porter 25). I'd also say that the reverse is true too: When you're hunting for the negative things, you sort of forget the other kind. You find what you look for. I get so fixated on the faults and frustrations in people and situations, that I forget to look for the good. "But looking for the good won't change a bad situation." I've said that before, and I know some of you are saying it now. I've started playing the "glad game," where you find something glad about everything, bad or good. My grandfather is still dead, I still don't agree with all the decisions made about summer girls camp, and there will always be the one family member who loves drama...none of those things have changed. What has changed though is my outlook. Bitterness and anger is leaving and I'm able to approach the situations with healing, with a more open mind, and with more understanding. I'm able to feel happier and more at peace. 

This leads me to my social experiment I am going to conduct, and I welcome you all to try it with me. Here, straight from the pages of Pollyanna, is what I am going to test out:

"What men and women need is encouragement. Their natural resisting powers should be strengthened, not weakened...Instead of always harping on a man's faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold up to him his better self, his REAL self that can dare and do and win out!...The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious, and my revolutionize a whole town...People radiate what is in their minds and in their hearts. If a man feels kindly and obliging, his neighbors will feel that way, too, before long. But if he scolds and scowls and criticizes-his neighbors will return scowl for scowl, and add interest!...When you look for the bad, expecting it, you will get it. When you know you will find the good-you will get that" (Porter 121). 

So, something as seemingly simple as an easy to read story can end up changing your whole perspective. It can be the boost you need to jump back into life. 

Sometimes I'm not in deep long drain. Sometimes we just have a draining day. A hard day at work. A rough encounter with a loved one. A harrowing day of emergencies. Sometimes you just need a good pick-me-up at the end of the day to remind you that life really isn't trying to skin you alive. I've discovered something with Pinterest that helps me out on these days, and while it may seem silly, it helps me so I'm stickin' to it. A while back I started a board called "Inspiration: Anti-Depressants". I started with about 5 good quotes and left it at that. Anytime I have a rough day I pull up that board and re-read those quotes, and then I go and find a few more things to add to the board. They can be quote I love, that motivate and uplift me. They can be photos of things that make me happy. They can be pictures that just warm my heart and make me laugh. The process of searching out pictures and quotes that make me happy warms my soul, helps to ease tension, release anger, and sooth the cockle-burrs in my heart. It sounds cheesy, and overly simple...but it works. Every single time. 

Here are just a few things I have in my Anti-Depressant Board:

http://www.typcut.com/headup%20/are-you-happy
I seriously want to print this and hang it on my wall. 

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2011/04/free-font-steelfish.html

Anything orange makes me happy. Ask Em. Poor thing, anytime we're out and about together and I see something orange, I yell "Orange!" and I have to look at it. I just makes me happy. 

original source unknown, but this cracks me up every single time. I love every bit of this. 

I sometimes even pin pictures of my sweetheart and I. He makes me happy. I love this photo of us, just being silly in the beautiful snow. It brings up good memories. 

Etsy says, "Uh oh! Sorry, the item listing you are looking for does not exist." but this photo did once come from some awesome Etsy shop. 

So there you have it. My take on the world this morning. Worth everything that you paid for it. I hope it helped someone, but if not...this helped me. Thanks for being my therapist. 

(Porter, Eleanor H. Pollyanna. Public Domain. [Kindle version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com)

Sugar Wax and Cracked Glass

Fair warning men this post is about shaving legs!!

So I know I can't be the only lady out there who's least favorite thing in the world is shaving her legs. Don't get me wrong I still shave everyday because I hate the way it feels if I don't but it isn't the high lite of my day for sure.

There are a million different things out there to get rid of that pesky leg hair, and Jasmine tried one that she found on Pinterest. This pin definitely didn't go her way though!

The Original

http://www.bubbleteafordinner.com/2013/01/14/how-to-make-sugar-wax-at-home-without-a-thermometre/

So the original uses sugar, lemon juice or vinegar, and water. She says you can combine all to a boiling point and you don't need a thermometer because it is ready whenever you drop it into ice cold water and turns into a ball. However I would probably use one if you had it on hand. She says you then put it into a clean glass jar, let it solidify and then microwave it until it becomes like a thick honey consistency.

This recipe worked wonderfully for the original blogger, but somewhere along the way something happened when Jasmine did it, and hers didn't go so well.

The Pinstrosity

What your seeing here is the sugar wax that cracked her glass container after she microwaved it, it then preceded to get all over her glass top oven. Then it hardened to a rock like consistency. Bad business.

"[I]...microwaved the mixture, took out dangerously hot glass bowl simply set it on the counter and watched it shatter into a million little pieces sending the gooey concoction ( that was the consistency of concrete and the stickiness of gorilla glue) all over the beautiful glass stove top hardening itself for impossible removement."

I think the problem here is that either the glass didn't get evenly heated in the microwave for some reason, or it may have had a small crack somewhere Jasmine may not have seen. Also a lot of times if a glass goes from really cold to really hot in a short period of time I think problems can arise there as well. From everything I have read those are the most common reasons for glass to crack in the microwave. 

Please keep that in mind when trying this pin, often times we get Pinstrosities where there is a warning we can give out, and I like to do so! If we have the option to make sure someone doesn't get hurt than I always take that option!

Please be safe DIY'ers!

Happy Friday Pinstrosipeeps!