Mix It Up Monday- We're Famous!! (Kinda)

So...a total of 17 people have sent me this picture over the last few weeks...

If you haven't seen it, it is ALL over the internet, it has as they say "Gone Viral"...and well I thought it would be a good candidate for Mix It Up Monday.

Most of the comments made were something to the tune of "You're famous!!", or "You guys got owned!"...also there was one sweet reader who came to our quick defense...thank you sweet reader!

So, here you have it, our picture that is gracing the internet with its Less-Than-Pinterest-Perfect-Presence! Enjoy!

The Pinstrosity

Apparently we suck at taking photos, but if you have been following our blog you would know that this picture happened due to a series of unfortunate events. You can read that whole saga here!!

So Buzzfeed featured an article about Why You Should Never Reenact Pinterest Photos...most of the photos featured were originally featured on this blog, (and our watermark was cut off...grrr). At least they linked back to us at the bottom of their post, you can find the Buzzfeed post here!!

Also it was featured on The Meta Picture, and iFunny, and probably every other site making fun of stupid things people do.

In my defense we (the Pinstrosity is a picture is of my husband and I on our anniversary trip) had been trapped in an airport and we're sleeping on a bench next to a homeless man, and another man just chilling in a thong...like I said a series of unfortunate events...you should really read the whole story.

I guess it's good to be humbled now and then, and well this has been both humbling and hilarious.

It really gives me a new perspective when I see pictures of people and think "What in the world?!"...for all I know that picture was at the end of their own series of unfortunate events.

So there you have it, my fifteen minutes of fame and shame at the hands of a Pinstrosity.

Happy Monday Pinstrosipeeps!!



800 Bottle Caps Down the Drain

Using "unconventional" items to embellish furniture or decorative wear is a trend for the hardcore DIY crowd right now. Penny covered tables and counter tops. Crowns/bras/jewelry made of teeth (pop stars can be bizarre). Old brooches and earrings made into wedding bouquets. These projects end up being the ultimate "upcycle" adventure. The creativity and ingenuity that goes into these projects is amazing and wonderful. Sadly though, they aren't always as easy to reproduce as all of us would like. But then I guess everyone would have stuff like this and it wouldn't be such a novelty. 

Lauren and her husband found an idea to make an awesome table and eagerly got saving so they could make their own. 

The Original Pin

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bottle-Cap-Table-with-Poured-Resin-Surface/

The resin topped bottle cap table. It's not quite what I'd want in my dining room personally, but it'd be fun to do something like this for a patio table or an end table of some sort. This could be done with plain beer caps, pop bottle caps, or you could paint the caps to be whatever colors you want (like in this serving tray). I bought a big bag of bottle caps about a year ago thinking I'd paint them and make something neat with them, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I knew I'd never save up enough without losing them or just giving up and throwing the caps away...so I just bought the bag. Lauren however worked hard to save their own. 

She says, "thankfully we had been saving bottle caps for three years. When we moved to our home in Texas, we found a discarded coffee table that we sanded down for this project. We needed over 800 bottle caps for this project. Took a whole weekend arrange the design. An additional day gluing the caps down and this past afternoon pouring the resin. It seemed simple enough and blog upon blog told us you could spread the resin to fill in the cracks..."

The Pinstrosity

"...wrong. dead wrong. not only did the resin start to harden moments after we poured it, but trying to spread it created cracks, dips, bubbles, and worst of all started pulling up our carefully laid bottle caps. Now the resin is cracking into craters on the table and pulling off the bottle caps. Oh yeah, and the resin definitely doesn't level out. We poured from the center out. The center has about an inch of resin and slowly thins out towards the edge. We're beyond devastated. 3 years and 800 bottle caps down the drain in 10 minutes."

In a search to see if they could salvage their project the did come across a forum where they found the advice to lay out the resin in thin layer upon thin layer rather than pouring the resin all out in one big thick layer. This didn't help them after the table was done of course, but they hope to help someone else if they try this project out. Another thing they found after the fact was that many resins yellow over time, so even if their top and been clear to start with, it would have yellowed as time went on. 

Having this large-scale of a project go wrong is always heartbreaking. I think that's why so many of us are afraid to try something this big. If it works, then we have an awesome homemade item sitting in our house like a trophy. If it fails...what do you do with it now? 

I went to some projects that used similar ideas to see what I could glean about using epoxy to pour the table tops and here's what I found:

-they suggest using 2 part mixable epoxy and to closely follow the directions for mixing it

-either pour a number of thin layers, or pour the epoxy in a spiral, starting in the middle and working out, smoothing with an old credit card as you go. 

-after all the epoxy is poured, tilt the table/counter/desk/etc as needed to let the epoxy run and fill the thin parts. 

-One the epoxy is level-ish, they suggest either exhaling over every inch or using a blow torch (a creme brule torch works just fine) to help get the bubbles and cracks to rise out of the epoxy. 

-If the background under the bottlecaps is a tan or yellow color, the epoxy is really really going to look extra yellowish. Darker colors will show the yellowing of the epoxy less. The yellowing of the epoxy will show with a true white background, but it won't look as yellow for the first bit. 

And then there's this idea from me...I'd do a mini-test pour on something to make sure the epoxy is working just right. I could check for consistency issues, cracking issues, instant hardening issues, instant yellowing issues, etc. Then if I didn't have the consistency just right, I could work on the epoxy a little (or bite the bullet and buy different epoxy) before pouring it on my real project. 

Even though this turned out to be a huge disappointment and frustration for Lauren and her husband, I think it's really cool that they even tried it in the first place. I think I'm too chicken to try something like this, so I always think those who have the courage to try it are awesome. 

Faux Stained Glass

Michelle sent us this fun art project that ended up going awry!

Many of us love the look of stained glass, and the fun way the colors play with the sun. Why not have these fun colors and effects on a vase?! If your vase holds flowers the water in the vase will also have a fun effect on the stained glass colors and just adds a beautiful artsy edge ( I sound like I am describing a Stained Glass Vase for sale on Etsy haha).

 Check out today's Pinstrosity!!

The Original

http://allthumbscrafts.blogspot.com/2011/03/faux-stained-glass.html

This is achieved by using a specific technique using Alcohol Ink Air Splatter Paint (the link to the left will take you to a video on how to specifically do this technique). The original blogger tried this originally on paper mache easter eggs, and then took the tecnique over to glass which worked really well for her! **Warning, these finished projects should not be near flames or extreme heat becasue they can be flammable due to ingredients in the specific paint needed for this project!**

The Pinstrosity

Now let me preface this by saying that I LOVE this (Michelle if this vase needs a new home send it my way!!)! Michelle isn't a fan of how it turned out but I think it would make a great table centerpiece!! I like that it is funky and all the colors run together!!! I think it's fabulous!!

Here is what Michelle had to say about it:

"...It didn't turn out right. They used a votive and I used a glass medium size vase.
I put paper down that I got from Hobby Lobby and the paint soaked through and damaged my dining table. Ugh so upset.
The canned air sprayed out water like substance and I thought it was going to spray out air. That caused a different affect. Very dissappointed with the out come. The paints were $20 and vase $7.99 from Hobby Lobby.
The canned air from Kroger was $8.99. I've spent too much money on a project that didn't turn out. :( "

This technique involves using specific paint for the glass medium you're using, and then a dropper to put a small drop of rubbing alcohol on the fresh wet paint and then using the spray air to give a splatter and thinning effect.

(Unfortunately the computer I am on today is too slow to play the video or have spellcheck :( Ancient!!! So I haven't watched it, but I did read the directions and that is the jist that I gathered from there).

So lesson number one:

Put down carboard, or do this project outside becasue it's messy!

2. Sometimes when using spray air if the can is too cold the spray air won't perform like it should. If your can is too cold, let it sit for about 20 minutes and then try the spray technique again.

3. Also Michelle's vase looks like she painted lines of color, and then let the "water" from the spray can give it a runny paint look (which I like actually), if you are going for more of a "splatter" look I would suggest putting the vase on it's side, painting more of a circualr pattern of colors, then spraying each which will help keep a more circular paint shape. If the vase is on it's side the paint won't drip downward like in Michelle's case. This technique will take longer but if it's the effect you are looking for I think it would be worth it!!

Does anyone have experience with this project? Have any other tips!?

Like I said, I love the way Michelle's turned out, but if you are going for a vase more like the original there are a few steps you can take to ensure that happens!

Happy Friday Pinstrosipeeps!!

Pin Spin/MIYO Wall Hangings

What do you do when you see something on Pinterest or Etsy, but you can't just bring yourself to shell out the money to go full hog with the project or product? You do it yourself. My house is full of DIY projects...some were great successes, others lined the trash can. One thing we've struggled with is what to put on our walls so it's not completely bare. Even just one or two wall hangings can make a huge difference in a room (it's always depressing when moving to take the stuff off the walls because that's when it doesn't feel like home anymore). Prints can be expensive. Canvases can be expensive. Shoot, everything can be expensive. Sometimes we can work with the expense, and other times it's not even an option. So what do you do when you are trying to decorate on a budget? Get creative and do what I call a "Use it Up" project. Some call it upcycling. Some call it "Crap to Crafts". I've seen all sorts of names for this. 

Some months I have "Use it Up" months where I'm not allowed to buy any craft supplies (no glue, no fabric, no paper, nothing) and anything I make has to be from things I can find around the house. Today's post features two of these "Use it Up" projects, showing ways to get projects done cheaper and how to use things that might normally be thrown away. 

Jessica sent us her Pin Spin (or we called them MIYO, "Make it Your Own" projects at the time) back in November. She found these prints that she fell in love with, but "for $45, then still needing a frame, I couldn't pull the trigger".

The Original Pin:

click here for the link (it's really long, so this is shorter)

Isn't that pretty? I think so at least. So serene and pretty. Jessica decided to get creative and use what she could find at home and at the craft store. 

The Pin Spin:

She started with a set of shoe paper box lids (thanks for keeping me in line everyone):

And then covered them in paper and stickers:

And hung them up on either side of her awesome clock:

I love how they look! And I love that she thought outside the box (or that she thought of using the box, hehehe) to get the project done. Great job! 

When the "upcycling" trend started, I started a box of "trash to crafts" items. I put in shoe boxes, cardboard edges that would work for mini shelves, and various odds and ends that I could use in projects. It's been fun to go through the box and be able to make useful thing out of objects that would have otherwise gone to the trash heap. 

A while back I started saving some of the empty cardboard fabric bolts from the fabric store I work at. 

I actually have a whole stack of these. I had visions of painting shutters on them, doing panel paintings, making them into "canvases", etc. They've been sitting in our "spare oom" (only ours never opened up to Narnia) for a while and I was finally able to put some of them to use. 

I've always loved the long skinny canvases...but it seems like the less "mainstream" the shape/size of the canvas is, the more expensive it is. Our specialty art store in town has various canvas sizes, but not usually these "funky" ones...and they are super nice quality and I just can't justify paying the super nice quality prices just to craft with them. If I were painting a masterpiece, maybe that would be a different story, but since I'm not at the masterpiece level...it'll be a while before I splurge on a canvas that nice. So for now I'm resigned to making my own, or stopping at a cheaper craft/art store when we're in a big town/city. 

So for my project I grabbed 5 of these bolts (I only needed 4, but I thought I'd get one extra one prepared just in case I messed something up), a container of gesso and I got slathering. 

It only took 2 coats of gesso to get a nice uniform coverage and I LOVE the texture that it gave the board. Never used gesso? Give it a try, you'll love it. It made such a great base to paint on and was so easy to use. 

They didn't take long at all to paint. By the time I got all 5 painted with the first coat, the first board was dry and ready for its second coat. Great stuff. This bottle cost me about $12 at Walmart (a regular white acrylic craft paint bottle was a buck cheaper, but I'm sure I had to use fewer coats of this and it gave a much better texture...so the extra buck was worth it to me). 

In the future kid's room we have a painting by my Great-grandmother of some circus clowns, and some clown figurines that we saved from my sister's trash can and thought it'd be fun to add just one or two more clown touches to the room. We're not going all out clowns, but thought just a few would be fun. So I got looking for clown pictures to put on these boards and finally happened on some great Aunt Martha's Hot Iron Transfers called Clancy the Clown. I wasn't sure if they'd work with the gesso or not, but I gave it a try anyway, and it did pretty decent! 

I picked the four Clancys that I wanted, ironed them on, and then pulled out my stash of craft paints. 

Like my painting mat? The DDR game pad doesn't work any more, but it serves as a great crafting/painting pad. 

Basically if you can color in the lines, you can paint these. That's all I did. It was relaxing and fun to sit there and paint these. I finally go them done, dried, and eagerly ran to the room to see how they look. 

And here they are a little closer up: 

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out! The only thing I bought for these was the $2 Iron-On Transfer (which can be reused a few more times), and the $12 bottle of gesso (which I didn't even use 1/4 of, so I have it for future projects). 

So if you're decorating on a budget, just giving yourself a "go cheap" challenge, or if you just don't want to go to the store but you really want to make something, take a walk around your house. We all have things we can use for projects, we just don't normally think of them as "project fodder". 

What Pin Spin/MIYO projects have you done? Send them our direction and tell us what you did!

Ombre' Cake Take Two!

Here we are in the throws of summer, and of course many of us are working our butts off to have that hot summer bod, but at the same time, many of us have some new found free time and will be baking our butts off this summer! Today we are talking about the later!

Jessica sent us her Pin Tale about her experience with Ombre' Cake, and her tips on how to make this a Pin Win!!

The Original

http://www.krissys-creations.com/2012/04/celebrating-my-1-year-blogiversary-with.html

The original pin is a fun Strawberry Cake that will surely be the life of any event!

Those colors just scream "I'm fancy!!!!" !

The Pin Win/Pin Tale

Her is Jessica's tale about her lovely Ombre' Cake!

"So I saw this pin and loved how simple and pretty the pink layers looked. It seemed simple enough and with enough wow factor to make it seem like I did a lot more work than actually done. Decided to recreate it myself as a present for Mother's Day to the ladies in my family.

Bought two boxes of basic white cake mix but discovered that the "white" cake mix when made into batter was more of a off yellow color. Wasn't fazed, thought that at worse I would have a very pretty Peach ombre cake.
Mixed up the entire two boxes with a few extra tablespoons of water (makes the cake moister, almost uncooked in the middle) and divided up into three bowls. Used red food coloring, 12 drops in the first bowl, 7 in the second and just 3 drops in the third.

I used cheap aluminum tins, round 8 inch cake pans from the local supermarket. To get the cakes out easier, I sprayed sheets of tinfoil with Pam and laid it around the edge of the cake tin so I could lift it out when it was ready.

When my first and darkest pink cake came out I was a little worried because it wasn't as dark as I had hoped for. The two lighter layers of the cake were very close in color and I was worried it wouldnt show as well. My first layer was more of a hot pink, the second a rose and the third barely pink. Next time I would definitely use a little more food coloring for the layers.

The cakes themselves came out bloated and with a weird brown baked layer on both sides, probably from my super old oven. Luckily, they were thick enough that I could shave off layers from both sides of the cake to make somewhat round cakes that were fairly even in thickness. Once I had trimmed them down I layered them without icing and used a bread knife to make the round shape even.

Used a whipped frosting made from cool whip, instant vanilla pudding and vanilla extract. Once I got the frosting on the first layer of cake it was easy as the thick frosting covered any holes and messes in the cakes. When I got the last layer on top, it looked surprisingly good! A few chunks of cake got torn but the frosting covered it up nicely.

Later at my mom's house, we cut into the cake and I was pleased to find that the inside looked amazing! I didn't think it would turn out that nice. Everyone enjoyed the taste and I would absolutely make this cake again! It was much easier than I thought. Next time I want to make the frosting on the outside a little more fancy to complement the ombre layers."

So there you have it, the key with these ombre' cakes is LOTS of food coloring. I will add that the single drop liqiud coloring can make things have a a strange taste if there is too much coloring in something. If you are going for strong vibrant colors I would suggest using a gel coloring. You can find these at a bake shop, Micheals or Hobby Lobby in the cake decorating section (perhaps even Wal-Mart? Don't quote me on that, but in the cake sections by the crafts? Walton brand I would guess).

Did anyone see the post we had a few months ago on this? The results were similar, and the fix is similar, you cna find that post here!

I LOVE ombre', I don't know how I got sucked into this trend but I can't get enough!

Anyone have any tips to make this an even greater success? Or have any tips on icing that will blow our minds?!

Share them below!!

Happy baking Pinstrosipeeps!!

I've Got Gas

Well, I did...(okay, I do...but everyone does...even you deniers). 

Early in Pinstrosity's life I did a post about a pin I had seen everywhere. We were able to spread the truth about the mis-captioning of the pin, and, at least on my friends' boards, the pin either quit showing up or began to be correctly captioned. As more friends have joined Pinterest and as I've started following more people, I'm seeing that pin recirculating with the same misleading caption, so it's time to pull the post out of the files and redo it. 

So what is the pin? This one:

The Original Pin

http://www.momto2poshlildivas.com/2012/01/blow-it-up-exploring-gas-with-balloons.html 

Most of the time I see this it has a caption along these lines: "No helium needed to fill balloons for parties."

While that caption isn't necessarily false, as you can fill a balloon with just about any gas, many who read it get the idea that the gas you are filling the balloon with will have helium-like properties. They go to the blog, look at the ingredients and put it together without reading what the blog author actually has to say about this project. 

So before I jump into details...here's how things went when I tested it: 

The Pinstrosity

There's the set up. The bottle with magic ingredient #1, and the balloon with magic ingredient #2 inside it. 

Tip the balloon upright to dump the two magic ingredients together and gas is produced, which does indeed fill the balloon:

But then when you take the balloon off and tie it:

No flotation. At all. 

So what's going on? What's going on is that someone somewhere along the line hadn't read the post completely when they pinned it as an alternative to Helium. This was a science experiment for kids to learn about gasses, not a development of a alternative to Helium. The secret ingredients are vinegar and baking soda, which, when combined, create Carbon Dioxide...which doesn't make balloons float. If CO2 made things float we'd all live in some sort of Willy Wonka world where we would have to burp to get back down to the ground.

I think one of the problems here is that many people don't like to read as much. They just want to look at the picture, get the basic details and go on. We've gotten a few comments about how we write too much and we should just show pictures like many humor sites. But then we wouldn't be Pinstrosity, would we. So, those that don't want to read, don't have to. What the non-readers didn't read in the original pin was this statement by the blog author in her post:

** Due to lots of comments left below I feel the need to add (for clarity) that this does NOT produce helium. Carbon Dioxide gas will inflate the balloons but they do not "fly" like helium inflated balloons as it is not the same kind of gas. This is meant to be a fun science experiment/demonstration. **

So this pin works perfectly as described in the original blog post, but it doesn't work at all per the description I saw on so many pins.

Lessons learned:

• As Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas stated...CO2 will be formed, but it DOES NOT float. 
• Read. Read. Read. I think we're all conditioning ourselves to text messages, tweets, statuses, etc. and anything longer we just blow off. Don't be afraid of reading. It's great stuff!
• Don't take the descriptions on every pin as the gospel truth. Check into things before you get too excited. 

So I'm rating this, again, a Level 4 on the GCT Scale since it failed as to the pin description, but if we were rating it by how it worked according to the original source, it'd be a perfect piece of toast with raspberry jam.

Salted Lawns

For those of you who live where it rains (which isn't here, as we've mentioned before)...you may be tenderly caring for your garden, struggling with your lawn, and trimming up your flower bushes. Here in NM, or at least parts of it, you can get a huge fine for watering your lawn...so if you're the only one in the neighborhood with a green lawn, you know something's up. So while all our plants are dying (whether by lack of water or because all the wildlife are starving and they come eat what little green shows), in other areas of the country and world there is the opposite problem. I think there are a few places getting normalish rain...somewhere. So for those of you who can water a lawn, you probably have grand visions of lush, soft, green turf...maybe with kids or grandkids somersaulting down the yard, or garden parties oohing and ahhing at your master work. Whatever your vision...I imagine some shade of green is what you're going for. 

Lori wanted a green lawn and found this pin that she decided to try out:

The Original Pin

I'll get to the source in a minute...hold on

The caption on the pin said, "Epsom salt is particularly useful for preventing a yellowing lawn and creating lusher, softer, deeply green grass. It can be applied using a tank sprayer (which can also be used on your flower and vegetable gardens), a lawn spreader, and by using a hose and spray attachment. Use three pounds per 1250 square feet If using a tank sprayer or a hose and spray attachment, make sure to dilute the salt in plenty of water (enough to make it dissolve), so that it is a concentrated solution."

Lori said, "With the warmer weather coming I was all excited to get my lawn looking good.  I was intrigued by the pin about using Epsom salt as a fertilizer.  I had to try it.  The magnesium should make my lawn lush and green." So she gave it a go and here's what her lawn looks like now:

The Pinstrosity

Definitely not what she was going for. At all. 

Not being a lawn specialist myself (my front yard consists of dirt and cactus), I knew I had to do some reading on this (you guys make us learn all sorts of cool things!). I started first with the actual Pinterest pin. 

When I clicked on the pin, it took me to Google image search for "lawn"...not an actual site with any information about Epsom salts, lawns, or even pink furry unicorns with horn amputations. So the next step, I copied the entire caption and pasted it into Google and found this:

http://www.saltworks.us/gardening-with-epsom-salt.asp

LAWN CARE & EPSOM SALT

Just as Ultra Epsom Salt can revitalize your garden, so does it improve the greenery and sustainability of your lawn. Epsom salt is particularly useful for preventing a yellowing lawn and creating lusher, softer, deeply green grass. It can be applied using a tank sprayer (which can also be used on your flower and vegetable gardens), a lawn spreader, and by using a hose and spray attachment. Use three pounds per 1250 square feet (25’ x 50’), six pounds per 2500 square feet (50’ x 50’), and twelve pounds per 5000 square feet (50’ x 100’). If using a tank sprayer or a hose and spray attachment, make sure to dilute the salt in plenty of water (enough to make it dissolve), so that it is a concentrated solution.

Hey! Same picture. Perfect. So the caption wasn't someone just yanking our chains, it came from a real website. Good deal. So this sounded legit. But I decided I should read a little bit more. I Googled "Epsom salts and lawn care" and found a number of sites lauding the virtues of epsom salts for your lawn, garden, and house plants. Oddly...many of them were epsom salt companies or sites...so of course they are going to tell you how awesome they are. One Home Guide article of an online San Francisco periodical did say that epsom salts will "help yards better absorb nitrogen and phosphorus and aid in the production of chlorophyll, ensuring vibrant green grass." So everything sounded good to me. 

But then I have play the devil's advocate too...so I looked up "epsom salts harm lawns". According to gardenguides.com, "The Epsom Salt Council, a trade group, promotes Epsom salts as a gardening supplement that will produce more flowers, increase chlorophyll, make plants grow bushier, and increase the likelihood that seeds will germinate. Some gardeners also believe that Epsom salts will deter slugs, voles and other pests. The University of Washington's Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott cautions that scientific tests on Epsom salts only show that it increases magnesium levels and therefore, she concludes, all other effects that people attribute to Epsom salts are possible misconceptions."  When people quote a University study, I tend to believe it. But just in case...I looked up Dr. Chalker's study (I'm feeling nerdy and research happy this morning). 

You can read her article (the one I linked to above is only 5 pages and it's not too dense of a read to get through), but I'll summarize for you. Basically she says that the only real thing we know for sure is that Epsom Salts temporarily add extra magnesium to the soil, but since it dissolves so fast, it doesn't stay in the soil. Her final paragraph says, "The science behind the use of Epsom salts is only applicable to intensive crop production in situations where magnesium is known to be deficient in the soil or in the plants. It is irresponsible to advise gardeners and other plant enthusiasts to apply Epsom salts, or any chemical, without regard to soil conditions, plant needs, and environmental health." Another article I read says that some think that the excess magnesium "accumulates in the top soil and create toxicity problems for the plant."

So pretty much...there's a much bigger science behind adding Epsom salts. Your soil may not need it. In fact, if you don't have grazing animals or you aren't on a irrigating farm, your soil is most likely pretty okay. How do you know? Take a sample of your soil and send it off for testing (but unless you're a lawn enthusiast, that's a little overkill for most of us). 

So what is your best bet? Save the epsom salts for baths and soaks and just buy lawn fertilizer that is specifically designed for turf. Ask at your local nursery (try to find an actual nursery and not just the Walmart Garden center...nursery owners usually know great plant tips for the local climate and soil conditions) about what helps lawns/plants in your area.