Day 18- chalkboard paint experiment

I've been seeing a lot of handwritten signs in Pinterest photos lately. When we took our engagement photos a couple of months ago I decided to try my own sign, inspired by this pin. I purchased a wooden plaque at Michaels and sanded it down a bit. I painted the entire front of it with one coat of chalkboard paint and was sure to let it dry overnight before writing on it.

I wanted to blog about it today because I use this piece so frequently! I've used it in the engagement & some holiday photos, thank you cards and a birthday sign. It's a great personal add to any photo, and here's the example!

Day 17- canvas wall decor

I debated putting this pin up, everyone says that this decor in my house looks so much more expensive than it really is!

I saw this pin that suggests using fabric over shoe box tops as decor. I'd been searching for fabric that matched our wall or pieces that matched each other and had no luck. I recently read a different pin that said to try scrapbook paper. I went to Michaels and found pieces I liked and used adhesive spray and double sided tape to fix them to each top. I basically wrapped them like a gift and everyone thinks they are canvas pieces! Here's the finished product:

Also, if you're reading my blog and you want to see the original pin, I always post it in the description of the project. It's underlined and if you click the link it will take you to the original pin. It's usually labeled "this pin" or "title of project."

Day 16- wedding centerpiece idea

I wanted to accomplish something quick and easy for the wedding today and I'd seen a pin about submerging silk flowers in distilled water for center pieces. My tall, thin vase is currently occupied with flowers; I tried a larger jar. I arranged the flowers in a circle since I knew I didn't have enough to stand them up as the pin demonstrated. I also wanted to let the flowers sit in the water and make sure that the flowers weren't changed in any way while they sat overnight (we may be able to set up at the wedding venue the day before the wedding). I think that this is a good possibility for center pieces.. thoughts anyone?

Days 14 & 15- Wedding dresses & frame

The wedding planning is in full swing in our house.
I decided that I should take a step and try on dresses. Since I wasn't sure if I wanted Kelly (my fiance) to see me in the dress before the day I'd been dragging my feet. I know that all bridal rules say she shouldn't see me in the dress before the wedding, but we talked it over and decided that Kelly would be there when I tried on dresses. Not only do I want her to love the gown I pick, she knows me best. She knows what makes me feel comfortable and is always honest about what I'm wearing.

Day 14:
I was armed with this pin and my very useful knowledge from Say Yes to the Dress and made my way to the bridal store. They suggest wearing a gorgeous bra which is a GREAT tip. I knew I didn't want a bridal bra.. I know they aren't made to be comfortable and great to job everyone who does wear one, but I don't think it's for me! I also had a few inspiration dresses on my wedding pin board, but went in with an open mind, only 2 friends and a camera. I did schedule an appointment late in the day but my consultant was fantastic. Friendly, listened to me, didn't rush me, and gave me lots of options. If you're on your way to try on wedding gowns, this pin has fantastic advice. My personal advice: rest up. I wasn't expecting to get so emotional while trying on gowns, but once I found the dress I did get weepy!

(There won't be a photo for Day 14, no spoilers here :) )

Day 15:
We're still adding small things to the new place, and I loved the idea of framing the key to your first home together (Found here). I did print a map of the area where we used to live, and here's the photo of the finished product:

Happy pinning, friends!

Days 12 & 13- a thank you and valentine's decor

Day 12 was my favorite pin this far!
I love to send thank you cards for gifts. It's polite and I know people appreciate it. I'm always looking for new ways to say thank you and I found this pin on the "Red Stamp" app. I downloaded the app to my iPhone and it's very simple to use. You can make any kind of card and either e-mail/text/or save it to your camera roll. You can add your own photos or it can be a blank canvas. Below is a photo of a thank you note I've written:

Day 13- I love to decorate for holidays and have a blank space where we hung the Christmas garland. I saw these Valentine's day hearts strung together and thought it would fit perfectly. Very easy and thrifty holiday decor.

Day 11- crock pot mac and cheese

In the 20 degree heat wave we've had today I decided to try some comfort food!
Crock pot mac and cheese  sounded very easy and delicious. With less than ten ingredients (all of which we already had in the house) it was very simple and cooked quickly. I tried cavatappi noodles and was instructed to cook them first.  I should have really undercooked them, since they sit in the crock pot for 2.5 hours and they fell apart easily (see the photo below).

The recipe itself is very easy to follow and easily served 8. Now back to the couch under a warm blanket for an episode of Downton Abbey :)

Day 10- up do #fail2

I went to the opening of a show and I wanted to try a "fancy" hairstyle. I also had about 30 minutes to get ready and didn't have much time to invest. I previously found this twisty bun hairstyle and it seemed easy enough. Two ponytails, twist and a few pins? I can do that in 5 minutes!
I did it in about 10 minutes and it didn't come out like the photo at all--it looked a mess! More like a floppy bun...the photo is below:

I ditched that hair-do in a hurry and in 5 minutes wound up with this simple braid on the side with a flower:

Can't have all wins! 2 fails out of 10, not too bad!

Days 8 & 9- earring display & guest book

I've got WAY to many earrings... and I love them all. I had a small display in our old apartment that was lace on the wall with the earrings hooked in. I wanted a more sophisticated look than just tacked up and I followed this general pin. It displays the earrings on lace in a frame, but I knew I had more to display than they demonstrated. I took the lace I already had and secured it to the back a new frame and completely removed the glass. (Warning: the back of the frame will be hard to position back in since the lace does add bulk) I fit 4 long strips of the lace and about 40 pairs of earrings in a 10x14 frame. Here's the photo of what I made:

We also had a few friends over to warm our home last night and wanted to do a unique guest book. I found this pin and thought it was perfect since we were having a wine/dessert party. Our friends helped by spacing out their signatures and think we will need to seal it at some point (so the sharpie doesn't rub off). But I think it came out quite well!


















Happy pinning :)

Day 7- baking day

We're hosting a small get together tomorrow for a few friends and baked for about 5 hours today! I wanted to try a few recipes (it's a dessert party). One was peanut butter graham cracker balls and the other was cake batter cookies. The peanut butter balls were very easy to make. I haven't melted chocolate on the stove before, and it worked very well. It's a quick, easy, delicious recipe. The cake batter cookies were more time consuming. They were a lot of steps to combine everything but they were good. The recipe says to bake for 8 minutes but I baked them for 12. I know that pudding cookies should be softer, but I didn't want them to be undercooked. I'll let you know how everyone likes these recipes tomorrow, there will be more than one person as a critic :)

Below are the batter photos that I took while making the recipes, they aren't provided in the pins:

Cake Batter Cookie batter

Peanut Butter Graham Cracker balls batter

Day 6- Cleaning the hardwood trim (while watching the HAWKS!)

First, hockey is back!

Today I wanted to multi-task while watching the Blackhawks game. We painted our second bedroom a couple of weeks ago, and had a spill on the trim. I read this pin, that said it would make your hardwood floors shine. I decided to try this on the trim where we had a small paint spill. The pin didn't specify what kind of tea to use, so I went with black. Basically, I let the black tea steep and placed it on the trim. I know it's not perfect, but here's a photo of a section of where I did the tea and another where I didn't. Let me know what you think!

NO TEA

TEA TREATMENT

Now back to the game; GO HAWKS!

Day 5- fried rice & $

We had some left over rice from last nights dinner and I've had a taste for Chinese food for awhile. I also wanted to try more crockpot recipes for the busy times in my life!

I followed this recipe (http://pinterest.com/pin/221802350369722769/) and it was fairly easy. My rice came out to the photo below and was fairly tasty. A bit too much pepper for me and I added pork pieces instead of burger (because that sounds just gross to me..).

I was feeling ambitious, and decided to try a 52 week saving plan today. I came across this (http://pinterest.com/pin/83175924339966642/) , and recruited Kelly into helping! We gathered the money for the first weeks and put in for this week. In theory we'll have saved a good amount of money at the end of the year!

AND... My fiancé's verdict on the creamer made Day 3.. Excellent ! She loved it!

Again, you can find all my pins at pinterest.com/Chicagocm

I may take tomorrow off, I'll be baking Sunday for a party and have a feeling I'll be making more than 1 pin.

Enjoy your weekend !!

Day 4- pancake #fail

For breakfast Kelly and I tried to make this pin, of banana and egg pancake. It's supposed to be a healthy substitute for flour pancakes but really became just a mess. It didn't taste anything like a pancake, and was very messy. Here's the pic of the pin of what it was supposed to look like:

It actually looked like this:

Maybe we didn't mash the banana enough? Maybe we just don't like eggs as much as everyone else? Maybe we were expecting pancakes? On to another pin!

Day 3 - coffee creamer & a candle

Woke up early and jumped on Pinterest. Saw a recipe for a 3 ingredient homemade coffee creamer and new it was something we were almost out off. This lead me to:

Pin #1--
Click on the coffee creamer recipe here. This was an easy pin, because I realized we had some leftover condensed milk from the banana cake made Day 1. Followed the easy instructions and the verdict will be in tomorrow morning when my fiancee tries it in her morning coffee.

Pin #2--

In a way to save a few pennies , we decided to do homemade Valentine's day gifts for each other this year. I've been meaning to try out the hot glue gun my sister gave me for Christmas (I know, I ask for silly gifts..) and started with this  decorative piece. I used a small jar we already had and frosted glass spray paint. I made a small mistake on the "L" when I was writing love, but it was easy to fix since it was just hot glue. Too cute not to show it off almost a month early!

Day 2- Two projects

I had some more free time today, so I decided to do two projects- both in the kitchen!

Pin #1--

The first one is a skinny taco dip , minus the olives. Super easy to make, and I've had it before at parties. I usually notice that it is store bought, and I knew that it would be a very inexpensive recipe to make. I cut the recipe in half, even though it's skinny there are only two of us in the house! The picture of what I made is below.

Pin #2--

A few months ago I found an index card of a family recipe my grandma hand wrote. Since we just moved I knew I wanted to follow this pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/221802350369036090/  ; to hang her recipe in the kitchen. I chose a two section frame and hung it above the kitchen sink. She passed away in June 2010 and it's great way to remember her daily. 

Day 1- banana cake

First, here's a link to my pin boards on pinterest-- http://pinterest.com/chicagocm/
You can find me as "chicagocm"


After waiting a few days for the bananas to really ripen, I attempted the banana cake pictured below ( Http://pinterest.com/pin/221802350368333139/). I was nervous that the frosting on the cake would be too sweet ( and I think it was), but the cake itself was fantastic. The suggested baking time was 20 minutes, and I let it bake for about 30. The sides were brown, but still very moist. Not too difficult to make and delicious for someone who loves banana. Day 1= delicious !

Pin-spired Project

My friends and family say that Pinterest is tough to get into. I'm addicted and can't be stopped.
In the past few months, I've gotten engaged, moved into a two bedroom apartment with my fiancée, planned a housewarming/engagement and have been working on healing an injury.
Pinterest has actually helped me with projects in all of these categories and I've fallen into completing a pin or two a day. My lovely fiancée suggested that I blog, and share my successes and failures (which yes, there have been some!). I'll keep this up as long as I have readers, or become too busy :)

Here we go!