Pinteresting-The Craft Version and The Pinterest Challenge

Update-I originally posted this a few weeks ago but I'm re-posting it today for the Young House Love/Bower Power Pinterest Challenge. 

A few weeks ago I decided to 'pinter' some art work.  I made this picture one night while my husband was watching some sort of sport downstairs.  He never even saw me in action.

I got the idea for this from here.  Here is where I pinned it.  Essentially you just paint or draw branches with brown marker or paint and then paint circles on the branches as leaves.  I used some old acrylic paint I had lying around.

I was not 100% happy with this when I finished.  Once I put it in the frame, I liked it better (fun fact-you can make most bad art look decent by framing it).  I like how it looks from far away but not so much from up close.  Fortunately, I usually only look at it from far away.  So for now, it's a keeper.  I can always re-frame something else when I get sick of it.

The second thing I made didn't come from a specific pin.  I had seen a lot of people use paint sample chips (cards from Lowe's, Home Depot) to make art work.  So I thought I'd give it a try.  After some trial and error I went with these hearts in varying shades of blue which I taped onto a piece of white paper.  Then I framed them in this dollar store frame. 

So if I end up hating it in a few weeks there will be no big monetary loss.  (Free paint chips+ $1 frame=$1).

Here's how it looks all together.

Have you pintered any art for your house?

UPDATE 2-So I'm actually still liking my tree painting.  It's growing on me, so I think it will stay up there for awhile.  Now I need to re-pinter some art for the basement since my first attempt was a failure.  You can check that one out here.

I Pintered and I Failed....Wall Art Take 2

I saw this on Pinterest and I thought it was cool and neat and awesome.  So I decided to attempt to make one.

original pic from here
pinterest link here

So I made a smaller version with different colors.  I hate mine.  There are just too many things wrong with it.  The colors.  Too much white.  Too much of a contrast.  Too much brown.  The zigzag lines are too big.  They bled through.  Basically I just hate it.  Luckily acrylic paint is cheap as were the canvases I bought, so I will probably just paint over it.

I made this male model I found in my living room pose with the art to make it more exciting and to distract from the actual "art work".

I also made this one.  I don't hate it as much but I'm not in love with it.  Also the squares at the bottom being smaller than the other squares will slowly and steadily annoy me over time until I go crazy most likely.

Maybe abstract art is just not my thing.

Any ideas for cheap DIY wall art?

The Weirdest Thing I've Ever Pintered-Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough??

Have you ever seen something on Pinterest (or the Internet) that just seemed too good to be true or just plain crazy?  Well that's what I thought when I saw this pin for "healthy" chocolate chip cookie dough dip.  It wasn't that I didn't believe it could be healthy.  It was that I thought it would taste disgusting since one of the main ingredients was chickpeas.  But I was curious.   So I decided to give it a shot.

I did as the recipe said and mixed together the chickpeas, peanut butter, vanilla, etc in my food processor and then added in the chocolate chips.

So the big question.....How was it?  It's hard to say.  It tasted pretty good.  There was a slight hint of chickpea taste and texture and I honestly just kept thinking about the chickpeas the whole time I was eating it.  It definitely wasn't disgusting.  I felt healthier eating it than I do when I "taste" raw cookie dough.  I really wish I could have had a blind taste test without knowing about the chickpeas.  I think that would have made me like it more.  My husband seemed to like it ok but I didn't catch him running back in for extra servings.

But yes I would maybe make this again.  It would be fun to take it somewhere and see if people like it before telling them there were chickpeas in it.  Someone do this and let me know.

In other news, I also pintered these really easy pretzel and peanut butter truffles.  I thought these were really good and I'm definitely going to make them again.  You just food process some pretzels and mix a little peanut butter in until you can form balls.  After freezing the balls, dip them in chocolate and let them set.  Good stuff.  Make some for your boyfriend for Valentine's Day.  Or maybe your Dad if he really likes peanut butter.

So those are my recent Pinterest projects.

Has anyone else made the "healthy" cookie dough?  It was a really popular pin on the site.

What have you been pintering?

Should I stop using the word 'pinter' as a verb?  Yeah probably.

I Pintered-3 Easy Meals

I have been using Pinterest for awhile and I love Pinning stuff to my boards.  This past weekend I decided it was time to turn my pins into a reality again.  So I made a few recipes that I had pinned.

Let's start with the healthy one.  I love What's Gaby Cooking and she had a delightful looking raw kale salad on there the other day.  Raw kale scares me a little but I trust Gaby, plus it looked insanely healthy.  So I went for it. 

My Raw Kale Salad...

Results-I think I did a good job following the recipe and I loved the flavor of the lemon vinaigrette but I'm just not a huge fan of the raw kale.  I prefer my kale cooked down.  But yeah, I still think eating this benefited my body somewhat.

2 Ingredient French Dip.
Ok I didn't exactly follow this recipe.  I was looking for easy slow cooker recipes that weren't chicken and I found this 2 ingredient recipe at Six Sister's Stuff .  There recipe called for a beef roast and beef consomme but I couldn't find consomme.  So I bought a beef roast and cooked it in the slow cooker for 8 hours on low with a box of beef stock and a packet of onion soup mix.

I also added cheese to the sandwich and a side of the au jus made from the juice/broth that was left in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Both my husband and I really enjoyed this although I think it's on the high sodium side (but it's ok, we ate kale the day before).

Last but not least, I made these Slow Cooker Pork Chops (ok I actually made these first but whatever).  Again this recipe was really simple.....pork chops, cream of chicken soup and a ranch dressing mix packet.

I like the flavor of this (I used cream of celery soup instead) and I think it would have turned out slightly better if I cooked it a little less.  I used less pork chops than the original recipe called for.  (I also used frozen mashed potatoes instead of making my own garlic ones like the recipe suggests.)  But overall it was good and far easier than trying to grill a pork chop.

In conclusion, Pinterest is cool.  These recipes were easy (especially the last too).  And if you want to feel healthy, eat a bunch of raw kale.  Not only is it good for you but I think you burn extra calories by chewing on the kale for so long. 

What have you pintered for dinner lately?

Oh and let me know if you Pinter so I can follow you.  You can click on the big P at the top to go to my Pinterest and see all these recipes (and a bunch of other stuff I have pinned).

Coming soon...my recent craft Pinters.

Handmade Birthday Presents Continued...Inspired by Pinterest

I accomplished 2 goals this past weekend.

1-I finally finished Mo Yo's birthday present and

2-I made something inspired by Pinterest.

(ok well this was one thing but it accomplished 2 different goals.  Multi-tasking)

(Oddly enough my Pinterest insipration came from something I repinned from Mo Yo's sister.)

When I was visiting Mo in Las Vegas last month, I was reminded of the lovely bar/pool table area in their home and I decided I wanted to make something for that.  I found a coaster tutorial on Pinterest and went with that.  It seemed easy enough.

How to Make Easy Coasters from Tiles and Scrapbook Paper.....
Needs-Tiles (from Home Depot or Lowes), Scrapbook paper, Modge Podge or other glue, paper cutter or scissors, clear spray paint.
1-Get your husband or man friend (well or yourself) to buy you some tiles (4.25 x 4.24 inch is a standard size) from Home Depot.  I'm not sure what section, I just know they have them there and my husband has to go to Home Depot a lot for work.  They are really cheap.
2-Buy some pretty scrapbooking paper from Michaels or another craft store.  The 12x12 paper works well for this.
3-Use a paper cutter (you can get these for cheap at a craft store) or scissors or an exacto knife to cut out 4x4 inch squares from the paper.  The 12x12 works well to make exactly 9 even 4x4 squares.
4-Then glue the paper square to a tile with Modge Podge.  I only put Modge Podge on the backside but i think next time I might do a coat on top too.  Let this dry.
5-Once this is dry, spray a coat or 2 of clear spray paint (follow instructions on can) onto each tile.  This seals the tile and makes it water resistant.

I think these came out really well.  Plus they are very cheap to make.  I can just picture myself making millions of these for Christmas presents in December.

Yay, Pinterest success!

Do you use Pinterest to come up with craft ideas?
Are coasters an acceptable birthday present?