2013 Pinterest Project Roundup!

Here is my Pinterest roundup for 2013!

Food:

Chicken with Orzo
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/108016091036449368/
Verdict: It was delicious. Like seriously I devoured it!

Bacon Crusted Chicken drumsticks
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/108016091036330980/
Verdict: These were a hit with the kiddos but seemed way too sweet for us adults.

Chicken with asparagus and parmesan cheese
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/108016091036452050/
Verdict: This was a very dry dish. I added cream to make a cheese sauce and it helped. Defeated the purpose of it being healthy however.

Loaded potato chicken casserole
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/108016091036519094/
Verdict: Meh. It was just ok. it looks much tastier then it actually is. If you substitute the chicken for sausage it would be a great breakfast dish.

Sour Cream and Chive sauce
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/108016091036527174/
Verdict: I made this as a sauce to accompany homemade potato, sausage, and cheese pierogis.  It. Was. Amazing. No joke, make this stuff. You won't be disappointed.

Ham and Cheese pinwheels
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/108016091036519061/
Verdict: These were just alright. They were a touch on the dry side (I MIGHT have overcooked them). I think it would be better if there was some sort of mustard sauce to dip them in.

5 layer Greek Dip
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/108016091035029837/
Verdict: I brought this to a party and it was a huge hit. It was expensive to make though because hummus isn't the cheapest ingredient to buy. This would be more cost efficient if you make your hummus from scratch.

Chocolate Pecan Tea Bread
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/108016091036713292/
Verdict: This recipe says Tea bread is dryer than coffee cake but I didn't expect it to be as dry as it is. Also, the chocolate flavor doesn't come out very well in this bread. If you make this quick bread, add some more moisture, throw in some chocolate chips and ditch the nutmeg (which overpowered the chocolate flavor). Or you can do what I did and smother it in caramel sauce :)

Lemon Crinkle Cookies
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/108016091035893197/
Verdict: these are the easiest cookies I've ever made. Period. They are so good! Ive tried this with strawberry and chocolate and by far the best flavor is the lemon.

Creamy tomato tortellini soup
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/259308891018368137/
Verdict: This is pretty good. It make a lot and we froze over half of it. I used cheese tortellini and I think it would be better with a meat tortellini as this soup is already cheese heavy.

Crafty Crafts:

Tractor Costume for Lil E
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/164803667587452508/

Complete with working headlights!

Halloween Yard Signs
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/260645897154890120/

Im sure there are more projects that I've done but have forgotten to take pictures of. I still have a bunch of holiday baking yet to do and a White elephant christmas party to organize which Pinterest will come in very handy for.

Making it my own: Tea Time

One of my most favorite things in the morning is relaxing on the couch, enjoying a nice warm cup of tea, while watching a chipper Lil E play with his toys. I would love to have one of those fancy oversized mugs to enjoy my hot beverage in but I haven't found one to my liking yet. We do, however, have a large mug that I try to hide from guests by pushing as far back in the cabinet as possible. It is pretty perfect for my morning tea but it is unsightly ugly. Now I do not blame Fiancé for having this ugly monster of a cup as I am pretty positive he did not and would not buy it for himself. I do blame the person who bought it and left it in his house for having horrible taste.
Anyways...
Today I decided to make this mug my own. I already have enamel paint so why not put it to good use?
Oh, BTW sweetie, I'm going to paint your cup...hope you don't mind!

Here's what I did:



Ugly isn't it!?

I cleaned the mug really good and made sure there was no soap residue left behind. Then I grabbed my paints and a foam brush and started covering the mug.


I had to coat it 3 or 4 times. I let it dry after each coat.

Ok I lied. I am impatient and I used my hair dryer between coats to dry it faster.

 

Goodbye ugly snowman!!

Once the basecoat was completely dry (again speeding up the process with my hair dryer) I got to work being all artistic and such. I used black and pink enamel paints, a small paint brush, and a cotton swab.

Done, Done, Done!
I let this dry and popped it in a cold oven at 325 for 30min then let it cool completely. The directions are right on the bottles of paint for this step. Dishwasher and food safe! Now I have a mug to call my own for my morning relax time with Lil E.

 



 

Oops! I thought I posted this already. I fail

I realized I forgot to post the outcome of all my Christmas Crafting!
I totally fail. I realize I'm missing a couple. Apparently during Christmas crunch time I forgot to take some pictures.
Oh well.
I added the coasters to gift baskets I created for our friends. Sorry for the late post on this!

"Wish."
Framed Ceramic Tile

Why blend in when you were born to stand out!
Oil on Canvas Paper

"Sunrise ship"
Framed ceramic Tile

"Grow Wise, Little Owl"
framed ceramic tile

If you want to Stand Out don't be different, be Outstanding!
Oil on canvas paper

Priest Lake, ID
Acrylic on stretched canvas

local wineries Framed tile collage

Local wineries framed tile collage

Soaring high
acrylic on canvas paper

Brave hearts never back down
acrylic on canvas paper

Coasters.
Modge Podge and ceramic tile.
I used felt dots for the back

Tile Collage

Coasters

Coasters

Coasters

Coasters

Coasters

Chimney Rock, Priest Lake, ID
Oil on stretched canvas

Never judge a book by its cover, or a Dragon by its teeth
Acrylic on canvas paper

Wedding Crunch Time

I've been putting off doing "wedding stuff" until the holidays were over. Honestly I don't think I could've handled trying to do both Christmas and Wedding planning at the same time. The unfortunate part of my plan is now I only have 3 months left to plan everything. Thank goodness I already have my dress and the bridesmaids dresses picked out or else I'd be losing my mind right now.



NOT this color

This color is correct

Sangria. Not my original color. I was going for a lovely shade of green, however seeing the sangria on my little sister blew me away. It was a gorgeous color on her. So Sangria it is.

Check.

We have invites, menus, RSVP cards, and labels, ordered and on their way to be mailed out to guest in the next 2 weeks. Check that off my to-do list as well.

Venue booked, menu created, room booked, and guest list done.
Checkity, check, check, check!
We have a DJ lined up thanks to my wonderful Aunt and cousin and table centerpieces purchased.

Check. Check.

But before I can get to the fun part, namely buying shoes and jewelry, and figuring out my hair and accessories, I need to order the cake and flowers.

Yeah I know, I know. I'm a little late with this. Most places want 6 months or more notice. Oh well. It's not like I need to feed an elaborately decorated, gold and diamond encrusted cake to 400 people. A simple 2 tier confection to feed 65 is all we require. Surely 3 months is plenty of time for someone to bake me a cake. And flowers...really? How hard can it be to tie a bundle of flowers together right?

So that is what is on my to-do list this weekend. Cake and flowers. I hope Fiancé is ready for a fun filled weekend of cake tasting :)

 

Here are some of my ideas:



Obviously NOT the ugly orange and yellow.
I like the White on White look



Not the dress, The Flowers silly!
They are Ranunculus's. Very soft and pretty

Procrastination (part 2): Persevere and Prevail

December 19th, 2012: A lesson in Perseverance   

     A couple of weeks ago I told you I was not going to give up. That failure was NOT an option when it came to creating a painting for my in-laws. This week I came to the realization that Christmas is less then a week away and the "big one" was still sitting in my bedroom untouched. I have had zero motivation to paint these past few weeks but I NEEDED to get off my lazy butt and get it done because if I didn't start this week it wasn't going to get done at all (I'm already nervous it wont dry in time for our gift exchange). So reluctantly I pulled out my oils, sketched on canvas and reference material, turned on the holiday music (hoping it would put me in a merrier mood), and got to work.

1) Painting is substantially more difficult when one has to stop every few minuets to keep tabs on a very mobile baby. Lil E decided yesterday that he was going to be a handful and get into EVERYTHING. So the first half of the work, which was the most difficult part, took almost twice as long to complete.

2) Painting is substantially more difficult when there is a lack of motivation to do any sort of art project.

3) Painting is substantially more difficult where there is a Law & Order: SVU marathon on T.V.

 After 3 hours this is what I had accomplished:

If I never paint another rock in my life it'll be too soon

 

At this point Lil E went down for a nap and I got significantly more accomplished. After a few more hours I breathed a sigh of relief. I could officially say I was DONE.

I stood back and took a nice long look and decided it wasn't full of crap. Like, not at all. I was actually PROUD of what I had just accomplished. My hope is that Fiancé's parents like it and will be equally as proud to hang it on their wall.

 

The Finished Product- Chimney Rock, Priest Lake, ID:

 

The color is just a touch off because of the poor lighting in the house and the stupidness of my camera flash

 

Now everyone cross your fingers it dries in time for me to frame it for Christmas!!

 





Procrastination and failure

Monday, December 3rd: A Lesson In Failure

I am a procrastinator. I have gotten every other art project done for Christmas gifts except one. The one I've been dreading. Logic would suggest to do the "big one" first and get it out of the way. Logic and I have been battling for the past 3 months. So instead of sitting down with my oils and brushes to do the "big one,"  I did all the fun, little holiday projects instead. Before I get too far ahead of myself, Let me start from the beginning...

Last year my soon-to-be mother-in-law commissioned me to do a painting for her. It is to be a painting of  Chimney Rock large enough to fit over the fireplace at the family cabin. I reluctantly said yes and have been putting it off for over a year now. I have 2 main issues with this piece of artwork. 1) it is large. I have never painted anything bigger then 11x14 so to look at a canvas that is 16x20 or large is daunting. That is a lot of white space to cover up.
2) Painting mountains is not a difficult task compared to other types of landscapes...painting Chimney Rock however is a challenge. I don't normally like to paint from photographs because I feel artistically restricted and obligated to make my painting look exactly like the picture. It NEVER turns out looking like the picture...ever. However, to make the Chimney Rock Painting look like Chimney Rock I have to paint Chimney Rock. I know that didn't make a whole lot of sense. In other words I need to paint from a photograph with as much accuracy as possible so I don't make Chimney Rock look like just another mountain. Its the focal point of the entire piece so I better get it right. That's a lot of pressure...pressure I've put on myself, but still. I have a fear of disappointing my "clients."

A month or so ago, after a 2 small scale and failed trial runs I sat down to take on this terrifying task with my over sized canvas, oils, and brushes and began to paint. I finished "a" painting but it wasn't "the" painting. I stood back and looked at my masterpiece and realized it sucked. Not just a little but a whole lot of suckage. Suckity, suck, suck, sucked. I scrapped it and vowed to start over. I decided the photograph I was using that I took this past summer was one of the main problems. It was a photo of Chimney Rock and the Selkirk Mountains from across the lake. The Rock was set in the background of Priest Lake and the mountains and forested hills that surrounded it sort of took away from the focal point. After scouring the Internet, family pictures, and personal pictures of that damn Rock, I pieced them together and sketched it out onto a fresh canvas. Where it has sat...for a month.

 

 Trial on canvas paper attempt #1. Apparently I forgot how to paint mountains.



 

Trail on canvas paper #2. Not AS bad but still full of suck.









Okay. Here it is. The reason I am starting over from scratch. 16x20. It. Is. Crap.

 

The new "big one" will be a totally different angle. It is a look from atop the ridge to the side of Chimney Rock as opposed to the view from across the lake.

I have failed at this 3 times now. If the 3rd time is a charm, what is the 4th time?

I refuse to give up

Wish me luck....I'm gunna need it.

 

Pinterest Inspired Ornament Wreath

I found these really cool looking Ornament wreaths on pinterest and decided to give it a try. I grabbed an old wire hanger out of my closet and shaped it into a circle (well mostly into a circle). I have some old ornaments that were too banged up and scuffed to go on the tree this year so they have been saved from the trash to be re-purposed into this little craft. I added a little bit of beaded snowflake garland to jazz it up but you don't need it. I think if I ever do this again I might add some ribbon (I'm out at the moment and didn't want to make a trip to the store).  I then busted out my handy-dandy trusty glue gun and went to work. It only took about 45 min total (including glue gun warm-up) to finish the wreath. Everyone should add this project to their list of stupidly easy craft projects. I'd say this is easy enough for a child to do but the hot glue gun would be a concern with young kids. Maybe a carefully supervised kids craft where the adult glues and the child arranges the ornaments. I'm sure you can use super glue or E600 for this project but it would take significantly longer due to the drying times of each piece.

Anyways...Here it is:




TA-DA!