Real life Pinterest

As you probably know…  I ♥ Pinterest.  I’ve told you about multiple different things I have pinned.  But I haven’t shared any actual pins that came to reality recently… So today we share!

Exhibit A.

Idea from Chiot’s Run

Our version:

    

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Exhibit B:

Martha Stewart’s Christmas card display

    

And ours…  I took this photo before the majority of our cards came in.  I loved the way it looked when it was full of our loved ones.

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Exhibit C:

Better Homes & Garden beautiful front door

I also pinned lots of ideas for gifts for the Holiday season.  I made a goodie basket for the neighbors from recipes I found on Pinterest.

     

Links to sources click on picture

These cookies were delicious!!  I highly recommend them!  They are little nuggets of nutty goodness.  In the instructions it states that they are good for 3 days which is true… so eat up and enjoy right away!

And some other Christmas present ideas…

The Lemoncello is still steeping away – but coming along nicely!  The ornaments were a little more tricky than I thought they would be.  The earrings were a big hit and fairly easy to produce, a good “busy work” project.

   

Have you been pinning?  What projects has it led you to complete?  Would love to see!

Change of Address...

With the recent move I knew I wanted to send out "Change of Address" cards.  Even though I know no one seems to use "snail" mail anymore there's something about getting a note in your mailbox.  And I want to make sure everyone knows how to find our mailbox!!  I can't miss out on Christmas cards this year, right!??!  So anyhoo... I was on the hunt for an inexpensive option.  Oh and of course cute.  

I went to my best friend a.k.a. Pinterest and started doing a little research.  I found this super cute link to a free printable.

Loved the image!  Also loved the colors but knew it would be more expensive to go with a color option and putting it in an envelope would also add to the cost (stamp and envelope).  So I decided to go the black/white post card route.  I used the image from the printable and put into a gray-scale image.  

Then for backside of the postcard I cropped the suitcases for a repetition of the theme, added our return address and a spot to fill out.

I made the document in Microsoft Publisher and sent it to OfficeMax to be printed.  They used a #110 paper in cream and then they cut into 4 postcards.  The total for the printing, cutting and paper was $4.42!!  Bargain!  Of course stamps added to my endeavor but totally worth it.

Yours should be in the mail - don't forget to update your address book so I get your uber cute Christmas card!!

Birthday Crafts

Well it’s that time again…  Craft giving by pinning!  This time it’s for Birthday presents.  My mom and Aunt have their birthdays one day apart and we celebrated this past weekend. 

Here is Mom’s Board:

I was happy to see a mixture of pins…  some crafts and some actually gifts.  A nice mix to give some ideas!  Mom had a theme of: earrings, orange pillows and homemade beauty products. 

My Aunt’s Board:

A mixture of outdoor ideas and a mix of artwork ideas. 

So which ones did I choose??

          

And here’s how it went down:

 

I found pillows (cushions) @ IKEA for $3.99 each – BARGAIN! I took out a little of the stitching and removed all the stuffing. I then printed out a large “R” for my Mom’s last name.

 

Cut out 2 sheets of freezer paper.  Trace the “R” onto the non-slick side of the freezer paper.

 

Using an exacto knife cut out the negative images.  Use another sheet of freezer paper inside slick side up.

 

Center the “R” on the pillow.  Using a medium iron no steam – iron the freezer paper.  It will create a fusion between the two.  Make sure you’ve gotten a good fuse between the edges.

 

Using acrylic paint the image.  Apply at least 2 coats.  Let dry overnight and pull off freezer paper.  Refill pillow (I used some extra polyfil to make them feel a little more full.) Sew closure back together.

 

And voila pretty monogrammed pillow!

You can use this method for so many different things.  You can do t-shirts, totes, etc!

Menu board:

You can find the 8 picture frame @ Wal-Mart for $10.  They have them in black and brown.  I also went to Michaels and grabbed some scrapbook paper and stickers.

  

This was a super simple project and turned out so cute!!

  

You use dry erase marker to write your menu each week!  I love this and *may* be making me one of these as well!!

It’s about time for me to start pinning for my birthday in July!  Wonder what will end up on there??  Have you been working on any projects lately?

Crafty-Madness!

You’ve been checking out the crafts that we made for our families “Christmas Craft Challenge” and I’m super excited to share all the crafts that I received! 

You may want to check out my Christmas Craft Challenge board via Pinterest

So many fun ideas!  So I had no idea what to expect on Christmas morning.  I was under the impression that we were making ONE craft per person, but I should have known with my family there’s no such thing as just ONE present!  They out did themselves with the amount of work they did!

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

Yes – I know!!  Crazy awesome cool, huh?!?!  I was blown away!  We all really enjoyed this idea of making something for each other but next year we’ve made a couple more “rules” for the challenge. 

•  Must have more options on our boards •  Now we’ll have all year to work on the crafts and find “deals” •  And I say a limit on the amount we do!!  We’ll see if they’ll agree to that!

Overall I would HIGHLY recommend this!  It would be a great way to exchange gifts with friends as well.  A homemade gift just means so much!!  What were your favorite gifts this year?  Did anyone make something for you?  I have to say I did enjoy getting my craft on – it had been a while!!