She Likes Purple

Pins of the Month: May, June, & July

I'm trying to tackle more Pinterest projects this year. Or, more accurately, I'm trying to buy more things I've pinned and then creatively label that purchase a victory instead of irresponsible spending. I bought something! I'm so productive.

Anyway, here are the previous months: January & February, March & April. 

May: I bought this iPhone case. I love it.

June (& parts of July): Since summer in Texas requires cocktails, I made a handful of drinks from my Pinterest drinks board.

From top to bottom, left to right: 1. Pomegranate  & Lime White Wine Spritzer (3/5 stars) 2. Grapefruit Sangria (5/5 stars; I added blueberries, to make it festive for July Fourth) 3. Pear Mimosas (2/5; I prefer the original) 4. The Very Best Margarita (5/5 stars; SO tart but that's my kind of margarita)

July: Vacation box! I was inspired by something I saw in Martha Stewart Living, a way to keep vacation photos all in one spot without taking up too much space, and also a cool way to display vacations, so you can reminisce any time you walk through a room. 

What you'll need:

    - Wood box (similar to this, but I prefer the ones where the lid slides out vs pops open)
    - Two cans of spray paint (I used black [for the text] and yellow for the boxes)
    - Alphabet stickers (you could also use stencils, but I just found these plain easier)

Mike sprayed both boxes black, then I spelled out the destination names in stickers, on the front of the box. Mike then sprayed (about a million coats) of yellow spraypaint onto the boxes. Peeled off the letters and there you go!

So easy, especially if you get your husband to do all the spraypainting for you. 

I printed a bunch of prints (all with borders) from mpix.com and tossed them in the box. I also included print-out menus, ticket stubs, etc. I love that I get to keep these things all in one place and revisit the trip anytime I want, without digging through drawers. 

We plan to display the boxes on a shelf we'll hang on our living room wall, along with some other keepsake projects like our family yearbooks. 

Pinterest Challenge #2

We've already established that I'm lame enough to love stuff like this. So, let's just embrace the lameness.

Here are a handful of pins I'd like to tackle before July 1st.

1. I saw this awesome idea in a recent issue of Martha Stewart Living, and I loved it for remembering trips. I also like the idea of actually printing vacation photos (instead of having them live and die on a computer) and slipping them inside.

2. Roasted Red Pepper Quinoa + White Bean Burgers. I'm always looking for a delicious veggie burger and not a "grill a portobello mushroom and slap it between a couple buns and call it a day" burger. This looks unique and delicious.

3. I like adding things to my Pinterest Challenge lists that are basically just me buying things. I need a new iPhone case, and this one is pretty fantastic, right? 

4. I think this spruced-up tote bag might be a big ole recipe for disaster but it is cute and looks relatively easy and canvas tote bags are cheap at Hobby Lobby. We'll see how this goes.

5. Glazed Chocolate Muffins. Need I say more.

6. Pomegranate & Lime White Wine Spritzer. This looks like summer in a glass, I'd say. I should have my girls over and serve these in pitchers.

Pins of the Month: March & April

A while back, I posted about a Pinterest challenge I was doing, inspired by Janssen. (I live such a wild life, I'm aware.) Anyway, I totally owned five of the six pins I picked. 

I'm choosing two to spotlight as my Pins of the Month.

March: Beer Biscuits with Spicy Lemon Meyer Butter. Confession: I used regular butter because I was tired. I cut a lot of corners in life because I'm tired. No shame. 

These biscuits were so delicious. Seriously, I won't be offended if you immediately stop reading this to go make them. In fact, Mike declared these the "Best biscuits you've ever made!" Granted, I don't make biscuits that often, but still. Many other people complimented them, too. I even think my father-in-law complimented them and that's a ringing endorsement, trust me. 

April: Technically, I bought a personalized viewfinder in March, but the glorious thing about my own weird, made-up things like Pins of the Month is that I get to bend my own rules. 

I was glad to find the company, as this is something I've been wanting to do for ages, but I was (sadly) a little disappointed with the overall experience. The website was a little difficult to use, and you can only choose six photos per viewfinder. The photos each repeat twice and...call me crazy but wouldn't it be fabulous if you got twelve photos instead? (I probably just don't understand how viewfinders work.) 

Also, I planned to buy a reel for each huge event or family vacation, so Kyle could have this cool viewfinder and a bunch of vacation reels one day but the reels are a mere $5 cheaper than a reel and viewfinder. That was a little disappointing. 

Still, he thought it was very cool, and I'm always a sucker for things my son finds very cool. 

Coming soon, my next Pinterest Challenge with a whole new set of pins I want to tackle. Edge of your seats, all of you, right?

Pinterest Challenge: Extended

Janssen (one of my absolute favorites) extended a challenge to choose a few things from our respective Pinterest boards to attempt to finish over the next six weeks or so. A Pinterest Challenge! Six things = 1 pin a week. That's mighty ambitious, well of me, but I'm still excited to see how it goes.

The Pins I've Chosen

1. Beer Biscuits with Spicy Meyer Lemon Butter. I think I'll add these to our Easter brunch menu. 

2. I'm planning to host a champagne dinner in a couple months and, hey!, I already have invitations for it. I'll practice some fancy handwriting on those. 

3. For ages, I've wanted to make a viewfinder for Kyle, to remember a special event or occassion. I finally found this how-to that seems to promise it can be relatively easy and affordable to make a viewfinder. Let's hope that's true. I'll make a viewfinder of our California/Disneyland trip. 

4. I've wanted a pair of Kendra Scott earrings for a while now, and I think it might be time to break down and splurge on myself. Hopefully I can find a coupon code. (Wait, do you have one?) 

5. It seems fitting that in a Janssen-inspired challenge I choose a Janssen-inspired pin. A Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie. 

6. Spraypaint a few of my Mason jars gold, for storing fun things. 

A (Couple) Pins of the Month

I had a goal (on my to-do list this year) to choose one pin a month that's been gathering dust on my Pinterest boards and attempt to tackle it. It could be anything, really, from a DIY project to a local restaurant I've been wanting to try. Annnnd then I failed right out of the gate because January was pin-less. I know! But, hey. My list, my rules. I still get to cross that bad boy off if I finish 12 pins by December and since I did TWO in February, I'm back on track. 

Phew.

(I also might attempt Janssen's Pinterest challenge, so there's an extra six. I will basically own Pinterest by 2014.)

Pin of the Month #1: Dinosaur Egg Party Favors 

(original pin)

I won't quit my day job to create dinosaur egg party favors for a living, but I still think this was a solid attempt. Even Mike was impressed, and that's saying something.

I bought clear party favor bags (at Michael's), candy rocks (I bought 2 bags, which was a good amount for about a dozen favors), and tasked Mike with printing the notes (front and back) on regular ole printer paper. Then I folded evenly and stapled. I would have preferred a sturdier stock, but this was a night-before-the-party project, so. 

Pin of the Month #2: Kyle's Party Shirt

Turns out, I really like buying Kyle shirts to wear to his birthday parties. Here's a snapshot over the years. (Minus his third birthday, when I didn't buy him anything special except a few hundred balloons.) 

I pinned a few possible shirts for his party, and purchased the winning one about two weeks before his party. The seller was awesome and put it in the mail the day after I bought it, since I left a note about when the party was.

In fact, all the Etsy sellers I've bought his party shirts from over the years have been great. Here are links to each: first birthday, second birthday (we had a small family party, with a transportation theme, so this airplane shirt was perfect), and fourth birthday. 

I know, hitting purchase and calling that a Pinterest project might feel like a stretch, but I often (LIKE, WEEKLY) pin things I'd like to buy one day only to forget all about those things and wind up just dropping $50 at Target on similar (but less awesome) things instead. 

So, there you have it! One post with a lot of references to pins.