Crafty

I love looking at Pinterest for ideas of things to make for my nieces and nephews.  I'm already starting to think about Christmas and what I am going to make them all.  With 14 nieces and nephews, it is too expensive to buy presents for them all.  These are 2 gifts that I've made so far.  I hope they like them!!!

Original pins...
http://pinterest.com/pin/270849365062761390/
http://pinterest.com/pin/270849365062429174/

Ironing board solution

Is your ironing board always in the way?  Hang it behind the bathroom door.  

The Doors!

I've been wanting to do this for a while now, but it was a big change so I was hesitant.  Well, today I took the plunge and started painted my inside doors...

BLACK!!!

What do you think???

Here are a few tips when painting doors.  Take the door down and lay it on two saw horses.  Do not try to paint it when it is hanging.  Remove all of the hardware from the door before you paint.  Use a paint brush to pint in the indented spaces and be sure not to leave extra paint in the corners.  Use a roller to do the rest of the surfaces.  3 coats of paint should cover it, be sure to let each coat dry before you put on the next coat.  To speed up the process you can use a fan.  When you flip the door, use two people and set the door down gently so you don't scratch the paint that you just did.  Once it's painted and dry, put the hardware back on, hang it back up and then touch up any spots that you need to using a paintbrush.

All about painting

Today's blog is all about painting.  Pinterest has so many pins with amazing painting ideas and colors, so I decided to try them out.  I love colourful front doors and, inspired by this pin, I decided to paint my door yellow today.  

Earlier in the spring, I was really craving some color in my house so I went to pinterest for some inspiration.  Here's what happened...

I painted the inside edge of my front closet door to add a POP!

PIN                                                                                                 

My House

PIN

My House

Sweet Tooth

I had a craving for chocolate chips today so I tried a new pin.  They claim to be the "best-ever chewy chocolate chip cookies".  I've tried many recipes for chocolate chip cookies in the past and this was the first recipe that I've see that called for corn starch.  I'm not sure if that's what made the difference, but they sure lived up to the claim!

"Best-ever chewy chocolate chip cookies"

Here come the snakes

I like to believe I'm a crafty person.  And let's face it, if you're on Pinterest, you probably are too.  I love to look for pins of crafts that I can make for my nieces and nephews.  And because I have 14 of them, I make a lot of crafts.  Today I tackled a fun craft that I plan to send to my nephews.  What boy wouldn't like a box of snakes???

http://pinterest.com/pin/270849365061743919/

Tonight I tried my hand a pin to make my own Ricotta cheese.  The pin promised that I would be out of the kitchen in 15 minutes and that it would be delicious.  Well, it didn't disappoint.  The whole process took about 15 minutes and the ricotta tasted good.  This was the first time I've tried my hand at making cheese and while it was easy and fast, it would be cheaper to just buy ricotta in the store.

I doubled the recipe and used 8 cups of milk, 2 cups of buttermilk and 2/3 cups of cream.  I was disappointed that from all of that I only got about 1.5 cups of ricotta.  I used it to make a summer lasagne that the website had the recipe for and it was a hit with my kid and my hubby.

Pins I've Tried

As an avid pinterest user, there are numerous pins that I want to try.  Here's my blog on my pinning adventures...

This is one of the pins that is on my DIY Board.  I love the beach and I love shells so I gave this one a go today.  It was so easy.  I used materials that I had on hand and it didn't cost me a penny.  I took my my own take on it and used the materials that I thought would look great.  Here it is...

For supper tonight I also tried some new pins that I found, Ultimate Chicken Fingers and Southern Biscuits.  

The chicken fingers were excellent.  I used regular Bisquick for the chicken fingers and they were a hit.    I used 3 chicken breasts as the recipe called for and ended up needing 5 eggs instead of the 2 that the recipe called for.  I also had to double the batter as there wasn't nearly enough.  Be sure to spray the foil really well because when you flip them they tend to stick. 

The biscuits had only 3 ingredients and were simple to make.  And, while they tasted alright, they didn't look like the picture.  Mine were flat and didn't rise and the baking time in the recipe was about 5 minutes short of what you needed to cook them.