What I'm Pinning Wednesday

So, for lack of energy {yes, wah wah - I'm still not feeling 100%, which means my level of creativity is fairly nonexistent}, I am starting a new post today called What I'm Pinning Wednesday. Because lack of energy, does not translate to lack of interest on my part. Just can't seem to get motivated. So...

Here's a little eye candy for you...

I have been pinning a lot of Christmas ideas and pretties lately.

Especially the vintage variety. :)

So precious... and I have something going on right now with wanting to live on a farm.

I have been thinking a lot lately about wanting a piano. 

Mostly for the kids, but I would like it, too. 

{Because we definitely need more noise around here, hee hee!}

An old painted piano would make my heart happy.

I really need these to grow in my garden!

Gotta have a little "Hey Girl" in my life. :)

Loving this idea to fold a strand of pearls in half and add ribbon, preferably vintage.

I would use a similar soft-hued velvet ribbon for the holidays.

Must find a vintage pair of ice skates for holiday decor.

Even though it's missing a cozy blanket, this room looks so elegant and dreamy.

One of the best funny photos...EVER! 

The tagline on this photo said, "Lemonade is for Losers"

Don't get me started on how much this would fit my daughter's personality.

She wants her own Harley for Christmas. And not a pretend motorcyle. The real deal. She's 3.

Could be not feeling well, or the fact that I live in yoga pants, but I think this ensemble would fit me to a T, or technically a North Face hoodie. Sans the makeup and earrings. I won't kid you, that would take a lot of effort on my part. So, it would be a waste of money. But Starbucks, never a waste of money. :)

I find these dresses stunning. And so is the styling and photography.

Makes me wish I was a runway model so I could wear such lavish clothes.

But then, the outfit above is a far closer reality - but boy, these are glamorous.

I am definitely loving the aqua and red of this simple, stylish tablescape.

Lastly, here's a quick snapshot of some of pins today...

If you decide to follow along on Pinterest with me, leave me a comment and I will follow back :)

All photos shown can be found on my Pinterest boards.

Happy Wednesday!

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

My sister is a Pampered Chef consultant. This fact comes with perks for me!

via

We happened to babysit my nephews for her this past Saturday, and to thank me she gave me a stone muffin pan that I've been coveting. {All my other muffin pans get rust stains even washing by hand.}
Never seen that happen to stoneware. So... Lucky me!

I was so excited to try it out, and I just happened to have some pink lemonade cake mix I picked up on clearance at Target (summer is not over yet!). I knew just what I wanted to do with it.

You see, my 8 year old son has severe food allergies. He used to be allergic to everything on God's green Earth. The great news is that now he has grown out of all of his food allergies with the exception of eggs, peanuts and tree nuts. Baking is hard - eggs are in everything. And alternatives are not so tasty.

~ But, again, I count my blessings for what he can now have. ~

I have tried so many variations of eggless cupcakes/cakes for parties. Everyone sweetly eats them like they are yummy... Everyone, that is, but my son! :) He touches the tip of his tongue to it and declares it inedible.

He doesn't trust food. I don't blame him. Certain foods could cause him serious harm or even death. Again, I do NOT blame him for this. If anything I blame myself. {You know the "what if" game we mothers play.}

Anywhooo...on to my actual topic! I decided to try a quick recipe from Pinterest that was egg-free - and super duper easy. 'Cause that's how I roll.

Oh, and yes, I used a boxed cake mix. Don't hate me too much!

via

via

Ingredients:

• box Pillsbury Pink Lemonade cake mix

• 1 cup greek yogurt 

• 1 cup water

Directions: 

• Mix the cake mix and greek yogurt until well blended (mine looked very crumbly like couscous)

• Add water and mix until smooth and creamy (mine was thicker than typical cake batter)

• Follow baking directions on box {I baked cupcakes, so I baked them for about 18 minutes at 350 degrees}

I realized after making my cupcakes that I didn't have frosting. So, back to Pinterest I went! I had been wanting to try this recipe for a quick frosting that, again, was sure to not have egg.

via

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg Jell-O instant pudding (any size, any flavor desired)

• 1 container Cool Whip

• 1/2 the milk called for on your pudding box

Directions for Frosting:

• Mix pudding packet with 1/2 the amount of milk called for on the box. {Mine said to mix with 2 cups of milk, so I used just 1 cup.}

• Fold in Cool Whip

• Stand back and appreciate how simple that was! :)

Once your cupcakes are completely cooled, frost away.

I had some adorable strawberry cupcake liners waiting for the perfect opportunity. I even added a fresh, homegrown strawberry from my little deck garden.

Now, I can only imagine the amount of combinations/adaptations these two recipes could make. The greek yogurt is supposedly delicious combined with chocolate cake mix. And you could add flavored pudding to the frosting. This is fairly low-fat, but you could use sugar free pudding mix and Cool Whip Lite, to reduce calories, too. 

{I wish I had taken the time to pipe the frosting on, but hey, it was naptime - I do what I can with the time that I have!}

I even decided after all the cupcakes were eaten that it would have been SO cute to dip the rim of the cupcake frosting in Country Time lemonade powder.

Such a perfect summertime treat!

Somtimes I link up with the following fabulous linky parties: House of Hepworths, Fireflies and Jellybeans, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Lil' Luna, The 36th Avenue, Blissful & Domestic, Six Sisters' Stuff, Tatertots and Jello, Country Momma Cooks, Be Different Act Normal, Ladybird Ln, Simple Home Life, Cheerios and Lattes, ...

Teacher Gifts

I don't know about you, but I am always scrambling at the end of the school year for teacher gifts. Yes, a gift card will suffice, but I like to give something else with it. Usually I end up spending $10 or more on the little gift - and I'm not even that impressed with it. Well, that changed today!

I kept a promise to myself, that I will use Pinterest for good, not evil! Okay, not evil - just a positive influence and not just a major time suck. (You may have seen my previous post on my Pinterest addiction.)

So I am challenging myself to create some of the things I pin. With such amazing ideas posted every day, surely something would be a great DIY teacher gift to accompany a gift card to Starbucks, right? But it needed to be something I could accomplish with supplies on-hand at 10 o'clock the night before the last day of school. Yup, that's how I roll.

Enter the current project - super simple, inexpensive (most items everyone has on hand) and downright adorable. I followed the links from my pin to a tutorial for a 3-dimensional apple made from an old book. I did modify my supplies, only because I can be a bit lazy and impatient when completing a project. Don't judge! It's still really stinkin' cute.

No worries about deconstructing a good book. This was a children's math logic book that is seriously out of date! (I chose a paperback - I think that is less work than a hardcover.) My book was even tall enough to cut 2 apples from it. One for the teacher and one for the teacher's assistant. 

It was a fairly simple project. I promise!

I used the following supplies:

~ an old book 

~ a pen or pencil

~ sharp exacto knife

~ hot glue gun

~ twigs or even a real apple stem

~ ink or paint 

~ extra embellishments

Now, here's where I get lazy. The original tutorial I found used a template. And you may want to cut a template for yourself, but I like to wing it sometimes. I'm just crazy like that.

First, I tore off the cover. Then I drew a half of a heart shape - but left about 3/4 inch at the bottom for a base. (Very technical, I tell you.) Hopefully, the image below will help. This shows the two heart shapes I cut out of the book. The spine is to the left.

I started by cutting through a couple pages at a time and then increased as I went along. Again, a template could be useful for someone who prefers a less "wing-it" approach.

Once I had my shapes cut out, I took my handy-dandy damp paper towel and and dabbed red ink long the egdes of the curved shape. I found it easier to do this before you open it. You can put on as much or as little as you want. I ended up with two different looks. You could also do yellow or green on the apple if you prefer.

Next, I opened them up (approximately in half) so I could see the spine. Then I used hot glue to adhere my "stems". If you haven't noticed yet, I am a very impromptu kind of gal, so when I realized I needed something to resemble a stem, I ran into my family room and broke off a few tiny branches from my birch twigs in a vase. Hey, they worked perfectly!

Once the hot glue was cool and dry, I fanned open my book shapes and again used hot glue to adhere the front page to the last page. {I didn't feel like waiting for craft glue to dry.} Be careful not to burn your fingers. My hot glue gun must be a low heat type, as it wasn't too hot to burn.

Again, once dry and cool - I continued to fan and fluff the pages until they looked full and even.

Next, I cut a free-hand leaf from green cardstock. I wrote the teacher's name on one side and "Love, Bella" on the other. Then I hot glued the appropriate end in between two book pages at the top. (I left a long stem on the green leaf to make sure it would have something to adhere it.)

Now my apples were finished! Yeah! A homemade gift to include with the gift cards. So cute, and pretty unique if you ask me. And free to boot - I had all items on hand.

I even took a few pages from the cut book to make personalized gift bags.

I used glue dots to adhere the open apple pages to a kraft gift bag. Then I hot glued another "stem" and leaf with the teacher's name. I drew on seeds with an embossing pen. I wrapped the apples in tissue paper and put them in the gift bag. The tissue paper left a good fluffy spot to set a gift card.

These are for preschool teachers. And my 3 year old is very curious, so I decided to tie the bags shut with some red and white twine.

I was so happy with my finished product! And proud of myself for making a craft instead of buying something at the store. I also fulfilled a promise to myself to create some of the fun things I pin on Pinterest.

I'm giving this project an A+. Sorry - I couldn't resist!

~ All images on this post are my own and can be found, where else, on my Pinterest boards. ~

Linking up to the following great parties ...

There should be a support group for this...

I admit it. I am addicted to Pinterest.

ad·dic·tion /e'dikSHen/
Noun: The fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.
official Google definition ('cause I'm official like that)

It started out innocently enough.

I would click around and pin during my daughter's 2 minute time-outs.

It was a nice break and gave me a moment to remove myself from the heat of the moment, as well.
She just turned 3, by the way. We have heated moments already. Yeah, she's that good.

Then, I started pinning at bedtime. [Even long after my hubby falls asleep.]

Now, I'm pinning right during the middle of the day! It is a sickness, I tell you.

I may need a pintervention.

Until then, you can follow my illness here { Pinterest }

Fair warning, for anyone who has not tried it yet, this is seriously habit forming.
It should come with a surgeon general's warning:
"May be bad for your health. Can cause excess weight gain in thighs and butt."
As you will be glued to your computer screen and unable to burn calories
except for your fingers clicking the mouse.

{gotta love Jillian Michaels}

My new resolution might be to only Pin while riding my stationery bike.
Hmmm...I could be so skinny in no time! Uh oh, I'm bargaining already!

As Ben and the Pinterest Team always say, "Happy pinning!"
{It's an inside joke. You had to be there. See I even think they're my real friends,
but they're just feeding my disease.}

* P.S. Please know, this is in no way intended to offend anyone. *

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism. 

 ~ Carl Jung

~ All images can be found (with original links) on my Pinterest boards. ~