A Moment To Breathe

or...What the Heck Happened to Pinterest Projects Week #2?

Okay, first of all I have to say I am completely sorry that I did not post the last three days of the Pinterest Projects week.  I had every intention to complete the week, and then...(cue blinking lights font) I GOT A NEW TEACHING JOB!

I know, reader, you are thinking, "Doesn't she already teach private lessons?"  And, yes, you are right, I do teach private lessons.  But this is a vocal music teacher position in a school - the same school the Ladybugs attend to be specific.  And when did I find out?  Tuesday.  Yes, reader, one week before the start of the school year.  I have been waiting ALL summer, and I actually had just finished my Fall household schedule a day before.

To be fair, I actually made the pasta this evening...

From Espresso & Cream - link

and it was pretty darn good.  We omitted the corn and added red pepper flakes, but all in all it was a very successful dinner.  So I suppose I did MOST of the week of Pinterest Projects.

What Happens Now?
Well I had to redo my private teaching schedule - I eliminated my Friday afternoon/evening students, I kept my Monday evenings and Tuesday afternoons/evenings and Saturday mornings/early afternoons.  However, with teaching two days at the school I will be more than overwhelmed with stuff.  Therefore, Friday was the day I eliminated.

I am diligently wrapping my brain around the fact I will be responsible for classrooms of students - which is a lot different than one-on-one lessons.  Regardless, forgive my inability to focus more on the blogs this week.

I Peter Bible Study - Weekly Update
Believe it or not, I did not complete the study this week.  However, like everything else, I was able to get through 3 days worth.  One of my favorite parts was the scripture what starts at 1 Peter 1:24:

"All men are like grass,

and all their glory is like the flowers

of the field; 

the grass withers and the flower fall, 

but the word of the Lord stand

forever."

I just love the imagery from this verse.  It is poetic and very truthful at the same time.  It moved me.

Another moving verse is found in 1 Peter 3:8:

"Finally, all of you live in harmony with one another; 

be sympathetic, love as brothers, 

be compassionate and humble."

As a musician, I love the parallels of harmony found in music and in nature.  Some of you know that my forearm tattoo says HARMONY in kanji.  I believe in order for us to survive we need to live together in harmony.  It seems like such a simple thought, but still so much hatred exists.  I have definitely been challenged with Hello Mornings, but I am confident once school starts this week I'll be able to achieve the success I need.

The Name Game
I have been Miss Michelle as a teacher for close to 20 years.  However, this school is a Christian school and children are expected to address the teachers as Mr or Miss/Mrs. So-and-so.  So now I have to use my last name.  Not my legal last name, mind you, which has a hyphen in it.  Just my Mommy last name: Martin.  I have become an adult (at least in the school setting).  I am officially Mrs. Martin.  I have this feeling a kid will call me the name and I won't respond.  We'll see how THAT goes.

Wish me luck!

Day #2 - Pinterest Projects Week 2

Today's project is Cloud Dough.

I saw this craft pinned on 99% of all my friends' boards.  So I thought it is a must.

Here is a picture of the original pin:

The recipe was very basic:

1 cup baby oil
8 cups flour


The How:
I took a large baking dish and measured out 8 cups of flour and then 1 cup of baby oil.  I kneeded the mixture together until it felt soft but the dough held together when released.

The Verdict:
If I ever decided to make this craft again I would have measured and mixed outside.  I'm sure you all know the frustration of vacuuming up flour.  It is so messy!  I also would not have ignored the Ladybug's attempt to change the consistency of the dough by adding copious amounts of water from the garden hose.  Flour and water make glue, and that is exactly what they made.

Here are some pictures of our fun:

Day #1 - Pinterest Projects Part 2

One of the most pinned children's crafts on Pinterest is Sidewalk Chalk Paint

picture from Pinterest pin

The recipe is quite simple - it is 1 to 1:

1 cup water
1 cup cornstarch
food coloring

The How:
First, I added a few drops of food coloring to each muffin tin divot.  Then in a separate bowl I combined the water and cornstarch.  I doubled the recipe - because why not?  The mixture takes awhile to come together, as cornstarch is a strange ingredient with properties of a solid when mixed with water.  Then I added a scoop of the cornstarch/water mixture to each divot of the muffin tin.  Finally I mixed each divot until color was incorporated.

The Verdict:
This paint works a lot better on flat cement.  My girls had a hard time getting it to work on the heavily depressioned walkways at our home.  However, our porch is much more level and thus provided the perfect surface to paint.  We also ruled that fat paint brushes were the way to go.  The skinnier the brush the more difficult the paint adhered. 

Here are some pictures of our fun:

Colors waiting to be painted

Initial attempt on very bumpy sidewalk

SUCCESS!!  The paint dries beautifully too!

Picking Pinterest Projects - Week 2

A few weeks ago I did a blog series testing Pinterest pins, and I received a lot of positive responses.  So in response, I have decided to do another Pinterest series next week.  Next week is the last full week before the Ladybugs return to school, so I thought I would devote the week to them (well besides the yummy pasta salad).  Regardless, I wanted to make their last full week memorable (and as free as possible).

If you are interested in seeing the first 5 Pinterest Projects:
PICKING PINTEREST PROJECTS - WEEK 1

In no particular order, here are the 5 projects for next weeks blog posts:

Summer Pasta Salad

Sidewalk Paint

Cloud Dough

Naked Egg - Science Project

Homemade Rock Candy

Day #5 - Pinterest Projects

The week is almost complete, and I have had a lot of fun working on the "pins" I've been pinning on Pinterest. It was a great opportunity to see if pins work, or if they are just "pinned" by everyone because they look like a cool idea. I think that is my biggest complaint with Pinterest - a lot of pinning and not a lot of doing.

If you are interested in seeing the first 4 Pinterest Projects, you can click here: Pinterest Projects

Today I had two pins on my plate. The first one was to create a skirt for my laundry tub, and the other was to decorate my washer and dryer. Unfortunately the vinyl decals I ordered from Etsy are not here yet, so I am unable to complete that washer/dryer portion of the project. However, I did feel quite successful with the laundry tub skirt.

So lets get started. Here is the link to the original pin: Laundry Tub Skirt

Photo from Momstastic

First things first - why don't you see the way my laundry tub looked this morning:

Did you noticed the nasty floors?  Yeah, we are getting those done this summer!*

I measured the tub, and made note of the fact that the pipes on the right hand side were definitely going to make my job a bit more creative. Anyway, I found adorable fabric and trim and cut it to the indicated measurements. The bolt was on sale, so I was not able to get three-times the measurements to make the original pin's ruffles. However, that was okay with me. I cut it, pinned it up and off I went a-sewing.  You didn't know I knew how, did you?  I do!

My grandmother's sewing machine - pretty retro, right?

Close up view!

Adding the trim

Adding the velcro for extra sticking power!

voila!  ALL COMPLETE!

*I mentioned above that we are getting our floor redone.  We have lived in this home for almost 10 years, and the basement laundry/bathroom is the biggest eyesore we have here.  Truthfully it is the only space that bothers me.  I decided that this summer was plenty long enough to wait for Jim to do it  - so we now are working with Home Depot to get a day for install.  I'm really looking forward to this!  Small things can completely change the way a room looks.  

So...did you enjoy my Pinterest Projects this week?  Let me know, by commenting below!

Day #4 - Pinterest Projects

Before I get into my Pinterest Project for today, I want to make a slight suggestion on the GAK recipe: less is more when it comes to the food dye. My ladybugs both had purple stained hands after playing with it Tuesday and yesterday. They were totally cool about it - but as a mom I thought you'd like to know.

Today I decided to tackle one of the more popular pins: Holder for Charging Cell Phone. You know the one I'm talking about:

from www.makeit-loveit.com

She suggests using a bottle from baby shampoo. However, I wanted to have room for more than one cell phone to charge. Therefore, I used a orange juice bottle.

Then I cleaned it, and cut it to my desired shape.

A little sanding, and then it was time for a little Modge Podge and fabric. *hint hint* The Ladybug fabric will be used for the laundry tub skirt.

So the Modge Podge was something I had done before (simple glue and water mixture) but with tissue paper.  So the fabric thing was new to me, AND it took forever!

Then my creation was ready to try out.  I must admit I was really excited at this point!

So I stuck it on the outlet and plugged stuff in.

Do you see the problem?  There is a fire hazard here!  Big time!!!

So then I looked more closely at the original:

And I realized that her invention touched the plug too!  It is a different design, but it STILL is a fire hazard.  But that's okay, because like any good crafter I must have a plan B.  And here it is, reader:

I take pictures with my cell phone, but you can picture two cell phones charging happily...can't you?!

Day #3 - Pinterest Projects

I have fallen in love with this salad, which I re-pinned awhile back on Pinterest.  I love to bake, so this recipe was one for my husband, Jim, to accomplish.  

Photo from Eat Yourself Skinny -  http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/

The recipe is found here: Pita Bread Salad with Mint & Feta

We made two changes: 

1. Instead of cooking up the pita, we purchased pita chips (total time saver)

2. Instead of watercress we used arugula (watercress is super hard to find)

And here is a picture of our test results:

I love this salad - I really cannot get enough!  Which, of course, would defeat the purpose of eating yourself skinny.  However, this is why I am not skinny.  HAHA!

Want to see my other Pinterest projects I'm working on this week?  Click here: PINTEREST PROJECTS

Day #2 - Pinterest Projects

So, due to the fact that Zoe was in bad spirits earlier this afternoon, I decided to change the order of the Pinterest Projects.  So we all decided to make GAK!  For those that have never made GAK, it reminds me of Slime that was in vending machines when I was a kid.

Here is the original post that was linked on Pinterest: GAK

First we dumped 2 4oz bottles of Elmers Glue into a disposable dish (the store brand was in 5oz bottles, or I would have gone for the cheap version).

Next, we filled the bottles with warm water, and shook the bottles hard to release the excess glue.

Then we dumped the water from the bottles into the gluey bowl. I added food coloring to the glue and water mixture and stirred until the food coloring was incorporated into the mixture.  I cannot tell you how much food coloring, but lets just say I added until we all liked the color (kind of like making icing for a cake).  I have a bunch of food color, so this was a very cheap craft for me all together.

In a separate disposable cup I added 1/2 cup of warm water.  Then I added 1 tsp of Borax to the warm water and mixed until incorporated.

Then I added the Borax mixture to the glue mixture and began stirring.  Zoe and I couldn't believe all the water that was being added throughout the process, however, voila! it was done.

Here are the ladybugs playing with their GAK.

So two days of Pinterest project success! I am doing much better than Pintester, who is a woman that tests items pinned to Pinterest and then blogs about her successes and disasters.

Day #1 - Pinterest Projects

Today is the first day for my Pinterest projects, and I decided to start with a reading nook that I created for the ladybugs' play room.  The idea came from these two pictures:

From Family Fun magazine - August 2012 issue

From a Pinterest "pin"

And here is the nook we created - bought a prepackaged tulle/circular frame thing, but added purple trim we all picked out at JoAnn Fabrics.  I hung it over the day bed in the play room, and the girls decorated the bed with their pillow pets.  Here ya go!

Picking Pinterest Projects

As most of you, I too enjoy going to Pinterest and pinning items for the home and crafy ideas for future projects.  However, this week I have decided to actually do 5 of the items I have pinned on Pinterest.  I figure if I am going to spend the time to pin, I should spend a bit of time actually doing the projects.

Here is the list and links to this week's projects:


1. Monday = Reading Nook

2. Tuesday = Cell Phone Holder

3. Wednesday = Cucumber Mint Salad

4. Thursday = GAK

5. Friday = Washer/Dryer Redo and skirt for laundry tub

What have you pinned on Pinterest that you'll try to do this week?