Favorite Little Princess

Oh my goodness. It's November. I'm stalling. I admit it. The days keep ticking away and all I can do is look at patterns. I can't seem to come up with a real plan. What do I give my mom? What would my husband's aunt like?  It all just gives me a headache. I hate just giving gift cards. It seems so impersonal. My kids, however, love the idea of shopping for what they want. It's a losing battle. I tend to make most of my gifts because I like to put thought and time into it. I also like the idea of buying from other crafters. Maybe I can find some fairs to go to before Christmas? Where do you go for inspiration? Magazines? TV? Blogs? Pinterest? Etsy? It doesn't help that I don't like shopping. Maybe it's time for a trip to my local library. I found some really great books for crochet patterns when I was hunting for baby gift inspiration. There's nothing worse than buying a book and then not liking what's inside. What's wors...

It looks like I'm not the only one who liked this pin. I just love the look of this bracelet. Simple, yet so pretty. You could easily make one to go with with each outfit. The pin contains all of the instructions, so no need to click through! I've got this one on my list to make ASAP. If you make one, I'd love to see it! DIY Bracelet

It's Monday again, but that doesn't mean we can't start the week off right. Let's get pinning! Favorite Pin #1 Leaping Strips and Blocks blanket This free pattern is available on Moogly , which has tons of free and paid patterns for crochet, knitting, and quilting. I'm actually right in the middle of making this one. So far, I love the pattern. It's quick and easy and something I can do without constantly referring back to a pattern. What I'm not thrilled with is the cotton yarn. Normally I like cotton yarn, but it's not cheap and it's a little heavy for a baby blanket. I'm thinking of making it into a lovey - a hugable blanket with an amigurumi friend attached. More on that later. Perhaps next time I will make with a soft, acrylic yarn. Favorite Pin #2 Sheep Cupcake How cute are these little guys? They remind me of Wallace and Gromit. No instructions with this one, but it looks simple enough. Cupcake + mini marshmallows + fondant f...

I'm back in my funk of pinning more than I am creating. It could possibly be that I'm over scheduling myself, but it's only because I have 8 days coming up where I will be out of the country. I'm looking forward to the trip, but it also means that is 8 days that I will not have to prepare for the class I'm teaching this fall or all the other little things that still need to be done before our new teachers start. Summer is always my busiest time of year. I'll just pretend I have at least 30 hours in a day and move onto showing what I found last week. Favorite Pin #1 Ticket Holder I noticed that my hubby was saving tickets in a pile on his dresser the other day, so when I ran across this holder I thought it might be a good way to display his collection. Whatcha think, honey? This pin is actually a link to a company that sells these for a measly, gulp, $150. Seriously? For a shadow box? I feel a tutorial coming on... Favorite Pin #2 DIY Burt's Bee...

I wish I could take credit for this one. Of course I found it on Pinterest. I'm so proud of myself for actually trying something that I pinned. Later, I read that this is a Weight Watchers treat. Even better, now I don't feel so guilty. It's so simple to make and it tastes like summer. Unlike regular cake, this gets better with time. Store it in a sealed container and the pineapple seeps into the cake making it taste like candied sunshine, and it's low calorie! **Sunshine Cake** Ingredients 1 box Angel Food Cake mix 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple in it's own juice Directions Pre-heat oven to 350 Mix the ingredients together and pour into 9 x 13 baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes.  Let cool before eating. I think next time I'll try baking it in my angel food cake pan. It's easier for me to cut using my electric knife. Enjoy!

Ok, ok, ok...so I've been slacking on my posts. It's partly because I've been so incredibly busy and partly because I'm so warn out from being busy that I don't feel like putting on my perky face and typing out bubbly words to all of you. Whining over. Time for the pins! Favorite Pin #1 Park Güell  Next month, K1 and I will be traveling to Spain. Even though this is a school tour, I'm such a planner that I've started researching all the places on the itinerary so I'll know what to expect. Note: I don't like surprises. Favorite Pin #2 Butternut Squash Risotto The weather is getting warmer (read: blasted hot even for Florida) and I am looking for alternatives to using the stove/oven to keep the heat down in the house. First step: create a crock pot/slow cooker board and pin like crazy. Next step: create a grilling board and pin even more. Favorite Pin #3 Landscape Design I want to say I'm environmentally conscious, but really I...

It was a slow week for pinning last week. I just didn't see a lot that interested me plus I was busy doing other things - like actually making the things I had previously pinned. I kid you not! You'll see more of that later this week. So, on with the show. Don't forget that you can click on the link under the pin to go directly to it. Favorite Pin #1 Crocheted headband How cute is this little headband!?! Unfortunately the page is in Japanese and the translation isn't great. I think I could figure out how to crochet this on my own just with the photo. It looks simple enough. Maybe I'll post the pattern when I come up with it. Would you be interested in that? Favorite Pin #2 Setting a table When I saw this, I realized that I haven't taught my girls how to properly set a table. So much to remember, so little time. Favorite Pin #3 Magic Carpet Cleaner Summer is the perfect time to get to those little projects that I have been avoiding. Although ...

With the holiday last Monday, I skipped posting round 2 of my Pinterest Round Up. Now I have more pins to choose from to share with you! Favorite Pin #1 Color   I love these colors and thought this would be a good reference for future home and craft projects. Good thing I pinned it, because the actual page is now gone. At least I have the image to look at. Favorite Pin #2 Tea Cup Cupcake How sweet is this? I love the blue and white together, but if you really like this, you'll have to figure out how to do it on your own. It's just from someone's tumbler account. The good news is that I can always use the image to have someone else make them for me.  Favorite Pin #3 Chicken, Bacon, and Avocado Salad I am totally going to make this yummy looking salad. You can find the recipe over at the Gimme Some Oven blog and you can also bet that I am now a subscriber.  I'm always on the lookout for new recipes. Favorite Pin #4 That's What She Said Blog ...

I get a lot of inspiration from Pinterest, as do many of you, so I thought I would start a weekly posting of my top five pins from each week. The more I pin, the more I find I need to add more boards to organize all those pins. This past week I created a new board based on one such pin. It wasn't long before I accumulated 89 pins. That's a lot of cupcakes! Favorite Pin #1 Cupcake This was originally pinned from Rachelles Beautiful Bespoke Cakes , out of London. Her creations are just amazing. If you check out her blog, which is linked on her site, you can see how she puts together some of these sweet designs. Favorite Pin #2 Chevron Baby Blanket This precious little blanket can be found over at Eat, Knit, & DIY . which I find amusing since this is a crocheted blanket. I often get requests from crocheted gifts whenever a new baby is close to arriving. This blanket will make a fine addition to my collection of go-to gifts, especially with the recent popularity ...

Facebook followers saw that I was making this for dinner Monday night. Tuesday got away from me and I didn't get this posted, but Wednesday is just as good, right? I pinned this little gem from All Recipes Pinterest Boards. If you aren't already familiar with the All Recipes web site, you should really go. It huge! Anything and everything you could ever want to eat is there with plenty of reviews and reader feedback. Too bad I didn't read all the feedback before I started.  Pinterest Pin Mine didn't turn out so crispy, but there are some suggestions to help that on the All Recipe site. Regardless, I'm a big fan of edamame and I liked it. Want to try it? Crispy Edamame Ingredients 1 (12 ounce) package frozen shelled edamame (green soybeans) 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese salt and pepper to taste Directions Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Place the edamame into a colander and rinse under cold w...

There are so many really cool web sites out there. A little something for everyone. Every once in awhile, one or two of these niffy little places fall into my lap. I like finding stuff that I didn't know I was looking for. www.sewset.com The first one was for SewSet . It's like it's own Pinterest board for sewers. You can free and near free patterns for lots of different projects. It's still new, so it will be growing quickly.  www.pinalerts.com Speaking of Pinterest, the other site that came to me today was about that. PinAlerts notifies you when someone pins from your website or blog. Cool, huh? It's not particularly useful for me, but it is neat to see that people are pinning my stuff. I guess it does help me see what my readers are interested in. What the best part about these sites?  Go check them out!  They are both FREE. My favorite word. What cool sites have you found?

Have you ever heard someone say, everything I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten? I think that expression needs to be revised. Maybe if there had been a Pinterest when I was in kindergarten I could agree with it. Ha! This one is so simple that I could kick myself for not thinking of it first. I finally tried this trick out when I opened a new roll of wrapping paper to package my baby shower gift this past weekend. I love when it's all new and perfect. The problem is keeping the paper neat and perfect while storing it.  If you wrap a rubber band around it, it gets all wrinkly and can even tear. If you tape it closed, you ruin the paper when you remove it to wrap the next gift. I have resorted to just leaving it loose, but then it gets caught up on the other rolls of paper and still gets messed up. What I learned from Pinterest: Toilet Paper Rolls! Just cut the roll down the side. Then cuff it around the paper roll. Ta-da!  Probl...

Not long ago, I saw a pin on Pinterest about cleaning your car headlights.  So I pinned it and proceeded to forget about it.  I've been seeing a lot of commercials about headlight cleaners, so I thought I would go find my pin and see if this really works My Pinterest Pin Time to run my own Myth Busters episode. The only thing you need is toothpaste and a rag, which is promising because the ads on TV aren't selling the cheap stuff. See how foggy my headlight looks?  I thought it was condensation on the inside. Nope.  This is actually a build-up on the outside. Ten years worth. Before I grabbed some toothpaste and a clean cloth.  The instructions don't say not to use gel, but I took it as a rule since I don't know that it would have much of an abrasion to it. Then I started rubbing it in with little circles.  I thought my arm was going to fall off.  I could see some of the junk coming off, but I could also see some still there.  I wen...