Pin TRY: Crayon Pumpkins

Yahoo! It's the weekend and good lordy am I happy. My boyfriend is out of town until Sunday and went to Chicago for a work function, so I was home alone with my two pups. The dogs were acting ridic this morning, so I packed them up and sent them to doggie day care. Boy, do I suggest doggie day care to all the dog owners out there. They get to see all their favorite four-legged friends from around the area, the staff at the daycare we go to, Dog Diggity in Raleigh NC, are awesome, and our dogs are EXHAUSTED when they come home.

With that said, I'm trying to decorate my house for Halloween and get into the fall, spooky spirit. It's much easier when the girls are out of the house. So, I checked out Pinterest for good ways to decorate and specifically looking at pumpkins. I really like carving pumpkins and making scary faces, but wanted to try something a little different this year. I found this pin to add a little bedazzle Madeline flair. 

 So, I bought a pumpkin from Wal-Mart, a pack of crayons, and sat down with newspaper and a lighter to make these Crayon Pumpkins. I had so much fun making these. I'm thinking because everyone has a little bit of a pyromaniac in them (fireeeeee), and I love crayons (eeee!). So I got to burning, and lighting, and smoking the crayons and just let them drip all over my pumpkin. Perfect craft for me because I struggle, this we know, and there's no way to mess this up. -- Well, I guess unless you get a little too happy with your fire and burn your house down. DON'T burn your house down.

I decided to do a few different colors on this one, but as you can see from the original pin, you can paint, add glitter, or make one main color. The possibilities are endless, people! 

My end result:)

Happy crafting!

Pin FAIL: One Dish Meal

Hello and Happy Wednesday, blog world. It's been quite a week, quite a day, sigh sigh sigh. I'm on a health kick, that started... this morning when I couldn't fit into my gray work pants. They fit. Kinda. But, I was definitely rockin' some "too tight for work and you look borderline inappropriate" pants today. I was pretty embarrassed. Don't judge me. 

So, in order to fix this situation, I've decided I need to cook healthier. I need to cut out the fast food (I'll miss you Chick-fil-a with your delicious nuggets and shakes), I need to cut out the ridiculous snacking (is it bad that I eat three 100 calorie packs at a time? Yeah?), and I need to cut out the chocolate...okay cut down...okay ONE piece... tiny piece? of chocolate a day. UGHH I struggle!! I just love eating. 

Well, not only does Pinterest have super awesome crafty crafts, but the site also has really great food ideas too. I found one dish that looked awesome. I found THIS dish, One Dish Meal - easy to make and healthy chicken, green beans, and red potatoes. Sounds easy, sounds healthy, sounds great to me. 

I'll admit. This looked identical to the picture, however was AWFUL and definitely a Pin Fail. Beware. The chicken was dry and unflavorful, the green beans were overcooked and I'm pretty sure there was no health benefit left to them, and the potatoes were undercooked and very hard to eat. Even my boyfriend who eats everything gave the thumbs down. "Thumbs down?! You eat everything?!"

Perhaps I made this wrong, but I'm not really sure how you could mess this dish up. It was not good and I would recommend steering clear of this one. 

If there's a better suggestion out there (if anyone is actually reading this), I'd be all ears and up to retrying. 

Maybe I'll have Chick-fil-a for just one more night... :) 

Good luck!  

Pin TRY: Tape Paintings

Hello, blog world. I have to say I felt super awesome after I made this tape painting. I chose to do this outside because 1) it was really nice weather 2) my dogs played outside while I painted 3) I'm really messy and would get in trouble with my boyfriend if I was inside. 

I found the original posting on Pinterest and viewed it here. This is such a cute idea and a really cheap way to decorate our bedroom. I absolutely hate spending money on pictures and decorative items because they are insanely expensive, but have realized that I am not artsy enough to paint or create something for our walls. As this project requires no real ability, but putting color onto a board, yep... I got this. 

I'm an artist!

So, I booked up and headed to Wally-World aka Wal-Mart aka you can purchase everything there. I got a pack of three canvases, some tape for paintings, some cheap paint with a lot of different colors, and some paint brushes. I set up shop outside and painted away. It probably took about 30 minutes for each painting to finish. As soon as they were dry, I took the tape off and voila! Masterpiece!! 

I really like this idea because it didn't take long, it's therapeutic to paint, and it made me feel really crafty (even though, we all I know, I struggle. Oh yes, I struggle). 

I did have a few little pieces that bled through the tape so it didn't look as nice with a sharp white line, but I touched those up with white paint. Other than that, I had no problem and really enjoyed this one. 

Happy crafting! 

Pin TRY: Yarn Flowers

Happy Wednesday, blog world. What a day at the office it's been. Very, very busy and to make matters even better, I chose a dress that had a lot of static cling and my rear was framed not so nicely throughout the entire day. Nice purchase on my part. At least it's over, and we are so much closer to the weekend I can taste the sweet freedom on my lips. ...... OK ... Now that I have that out of me -- 

I made something so simple and so easy that I found off of, you guessed it, Pinterest. I found yarn flowers that could easily go in a mason jar for display. Here is the actual pin that I discovered. I was worried that this would come out tacky, but fortunately for me, they didn't and look pretty cool. 

To make these fabric beauties, I was first instructed to go buy yarn (obv), sticks for the stems of the flowers, a jar if I didn't have one, and a pom-pom maker. Whoa...a pom-poo what? I had never heard of that, but saw a YouTube video about this thing. I did search Michael's trying to find it and just like a small child, I got lost in the store and got very frustrated. No, I didn't have a temper tantrum. But, I thought about it. Turns out, after 20 minutes of searching, they don't have it, and they only sell them at Hobby Lobby...which they don't have where I live gahhhh! Fortunately for me, there's a cheaper (yahoo) and easier (woowoo) way to make these puppies. I used this tutorial on YouTube to create the actual flower, or pompom. Needed items: cardboard, scissors, yarn, and Sex and the City marathon to keep my ADD brain entertained. I then took some green, bendy (like my terminology?) sticks very similar to pipe cleaners that I found at the dollar store.

I filled a Mason jar up with rocks (dollar store...or to be very cheap just go outside) and put those newly mastered crafts in there for display. At my house, they're in the half bath, but these are super cute they could go anywhere. 

I will say my only issue making these was that you do have to make your Pom Pom's larger. If you cut out a smaller cardboard piece, it's really really difficult to keep the Pom Pom together, cutting it is impossible, and, in my case, stay patient with it. 

These were fun to make and I'm planning on making more for different areas in the house and different themed colors (potentially for football season -- geaux LSU Tigers!!). 

Happy crafting!

 

First Blog Post... Ever

I've never done anything like this. Never written a blog online or even kept up with a personal journal. I'm not one of those really crafty type of people and I've never been creative. The creativity runs through my sister who is a television editor. She's got the brains, the style, and the wit. I've... got a good personality. I've definitely never been the one that friends look to when they're coming up with stellar themed party and need advice on good ideas and planning the function. I just attend the party and if I'm in a really good mood, I sign up to bring the napkins or the plastic forks.

My two dumplings. Scout (black - my dog) and Abby (white)

In saying all this, I was intrigued when Pinterest became popular. There are actually step by step manuals and tutorials on how to become crafty! This is incredible for someone like me. AND you can find things to make for incredibly cheap. The dollar store is a very good friend of mine. While I'm not hurting for money, this girl is definitely on a budget. I've got a hefty car payment, two dogs (one is my boyfriends that I have adopted and now have decided is mine), and a strong chocolate addiction that has been raging for ... oh .. the last 26 years. 
 At any rate, I've started pinning, repinning, liking, and following. Oh, boy, do I follow. There are so many things to choose from and so many new projects, crafts... man oh man the list goes on and on. WELL, I started making new things and some worked and some really... well they really sucked and did not look like the pictures. "Why doesn't this look like the picture?!" 

I've decided to write a blog about my new adventures of becoming crafty. What works, what doesn't, what I love, and what I'm filling my new found craftbox with.

Look out world, it's the next Martha Stewart!