2013 - Year In Review

2013 was filled with Pinterest projects for me!  I tried everything from recipes to making home decor. Some came out great, some not so much!  Here's a look back at some of my favorites!

Turning my Biggest "PASS" into One of My Favorite Projects

One of my very first projects was a DIY Wall Art using wood, spray paint and a rubber welcome mat.  It was an epic fail.  You can read about it here.  Well after spending so much on it, I didn't want the materials to go to waste so I did some recycling and created one of my favorite projects from my greatest fail.  This was the end result.  You can read the entire post here.  

Read the post:  Easy DIY Wall Art - Recycled Wood and Some Fabric

My Biggest Pin Project of the Year 

My biggest pin project of the year was my fireplace makeover inspired by Pinterest.  You'll see in the full post that I did not really do much of anything on this project LOL, other than pick out the materials and surf Pinterest.  It was really the hard work of my husband and Dad that made this one come together, but none the less, it came it awesome!

Read the post:  A Fireplace Makeover Inspired by Pinterest

The Pin that Has Benefited My House the Most

As you know there are a ton of things on Pinterest to help you clean and organize your home.  Well not all of them come out the way the original pinner says but one that blew me away was How to Clean a Microfiber Couch.  I have two small kids and my couch is always horrifying so this pin has really helped us keep our couch clean and we've used it regularly.

Read the post: How to Clean a Microfiber Couch

My Favorite Pinterest Inspired Event

My little sister got married this year and as her Maid of Honor I had to pull out all the stops on her shower.  We of course had a budget so I turned to Pinterest for inspiration.  My favorite part was the favors.  I used pashmina scarves as chair cover sashes and gave them to guests as their thank you.  It looked great and everyone really liked that they were different than the usual box of chocolates.  There were a ton of Pinterest inspired things at the shower so read the full post for more!    

Read the post: Unique Bridal Shower Favors and More Inspired by Pinterest

If you are not already, follow me on Facebook.  Throughout the month of January I'll be going back through the archives and pulling out some of my other favorite pin projects to share for inspiration.  In 2014, I have a lot I want to get accomplished so stay tuned for more exciting stuff and as always, I love guest posters so feel free to send me your PIN or PASS reviews!

Solving All Life's Problems One Pin at a Time

I've found some really great household solutions on Pinterest.  This week's post is dedicated to a few small pins I've tried that are worth sharing but don't need full posts to themselves...first up, cleaning those laminate floors!

Homemade Floor Cleaner

I have wood laminate floors throughout a good portion of my first floor.  Yes, they are easy to clean but depending on what cleaner you use, it can be tough to restore their original shine.  I've found that a lot of cleaners leave streaks and/or water marks even when using a microfiber damp mop.  With that said, this pin was a must try!

Originally found on Nature's Nuture, I followed the instructions that came with the original pin.  Here is her recipe and instructions:

Homemade Cleaners

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 cup alcohol
• 2-3 drops dish soap (Castile, Dawn, etc.)
• 5 drops lavender essential oil
• 5 drops orange essential oil
• 3 drops peppermint essential oil
• Fine-mist spray bottle – 24oz

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients to spray bottle and shake to combine.
2. Sweep/vacuum the floor.
3. Spray cleaner on the floor.
4. Wipe up with a microfiber cloth.
5. As with all cleaners, please do a spot test to make sure this will work on your floors!

The only modification I made was cutting the first three ingredients down to a 1/4 cup of each and that was enough to do my kitchen, dinning room, half bath and hall.  I make a new batch each cleaning because I like to use hot water.  Instead of using a spray bottle, I bought a Colorox mop that had a microfiber washable pad and a bottle that you could fill with your own cleaner.

I went to Walmart and bought two oils, a vanilla scented and an orange scented. I use these very sparingly maybe two or three drops of each at the most.  I mainly use it to mask the smell of the vinegar.  I bought vinegar and alcohol from the dollar store.

I didn't post my photos because my camera didn't capture the results the way hers did, I had a lot of sunlight in the room when I took them but I will tell you that her before and after is dead on the same results I got!  Awesome right?

I spent about $30 total when I first did this because I purchased the mop that was over $20 and the oils which where a few dollars each, but now that I have all the stuff, it's pennies to clean the floor each time.  This gets a PIN!

Battery Organization

Anyone with kids knows that it requires a million batteries to power all of their toys.  I was sick of batteries floating all over my "junk drawer", so I tried this pin.  Originally found on Better Homes and Gardens, this is a great way to organize your batteries.

I bought a container like this from JoAnn Fabrics and with my coupon is was about $5.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I typically "go big or go home" and so unfortunately I bought a container that is a little too big. Once I find another use for it I will buy a smaller one, but otherwise, this is a great idea and worked well for me.  PIN!

Other Problem Solving Pins for the Home

I've done several other posts about pins that solve problems in the home.  In case you missed them, here are links to the others I have tried.

How to Clean a Microfiber Couch

Using Shower Curtain Hooks to Organize Scarves

How to Keep Throw Rugs in Place

Also, feel free to visit my board "Pins I've Tried."  I have done everything on there and would be happy to tell you more if there is something on there you are interested in but I haven't posted about yet.

Up next...another summary post like this one but about few kid pins I've tried.

How to Make a $2 Cake Stand

Who doesn't need a cake stand, right?  To be honest, I really don't LOL.  I don't make cakes all that often and when I do they are usually not placed on a fancy cake stand but I kept seeing this pin and I had to try it.  I figured I would use it at one point or another and if I didn't I was only out a few bucks!

Here is my original inspiration:

Originally found on Design by TJEJEN

The blog I originally got this from  was written in Swedish.  When I just went back in to reference it for this post I realized that my browser (Chrome) had the ability to translate!  So can see where this is going right?  Since I didn't figure that out until now, I also didn't see that this pinner got her idea from a very popular American blogger I see all the time, the Centsational Girl.  On her blog she had step by step instructions, so if you decide to try this, go to her post! If I had to do it over I would follow her instructions.   

So with no instructions, just pictures, I went to the Dollar Tree and bought a clear martini glass and a clear plate.  I also got crazy glue to adhere the plate to the glass.  (The Centsational Girl's post used silicone.)  

I flipped the plate over and put glue around the plate where the glass fit.  I stuck it on and let it dry for a bit.  A little glue oozed out so I had to wipe that off.  You can see how this got a little sloppy in one of my photos below. 

Sloppy Glue

From there I took it to the garage and spray painted two coats of my purple spray paint, letting it dry in between each coat.

Here's my end result (I didn't have any cakes handy for my picture!):

For $2 it's not bad, but I can see where following Centsational Girl's instructions would have helped out. You can't tell from these photos but if you get up close, the paint is a little spotty even after two coats.  Priming it with the frost spray as she recommends would probably have helped that.  I totally would have used silicone too...I'm nervous my stand is going to buckle under pressure, literally, as soon as a cake gets on top of it!

This project gets a PIN with modifications...if I had found the right instructions right off the bat, this would have had a better outcome.

This is the frustrating part of Pinterest for me.  I HATE when I see something I love and want to try but can't find instructions or at least some sort of details that can point you in the right direction. So I want to know, as something like this ever happened to you?  Comment on the blog or on Facebook, I'd love to hear from you.

DIY Spring Wreath

Although it doesn't feel like Spring here in good old Buffalo, New York, I was cruising Pinterest and got inspired by this Spring wreath!

Originally found at the Piccadilly Peddler

Since my front door has been empty since my Easter decorations came down, I got to work on making one.  Here's the supplies I bought: a wreath, felt in various colors, yarn, a wood letter with our initial and some straight pins.  From my supply cabinet I used my glue gun, some gems and burlap I had left over from another project.

I followed the directions of the original Pinner and also went online to find some other felt flower tutorials so I could get a variety of flowers made.  Here's the start of my flower pile.  

I wrapped the wreath in the burlap and attached it with pins.  

From there I made the rest of the flowers and attached them with pins.  I used the yarn to attach our initial and hot glue to add the gems to the flowers.  I sacrificed a reusable shopping bag and cut off the handle to use as a hanger.  Here's my finished product:

I'm really happy with the way it came out.  It was pretty easy to do even though I had never made the felt flowers before.  I spent around $20 for all the supplies.  Given how easy this was and the cost, this gets a PIN!  

DIY Wall Art - You Are My Sunshine

It's been a while but I am back!  The Easter holiday had me busy, busy!  With Spring on the way, hopefully, I thought it would be a good time to share a project I did with my son last year at this time.  Since he was a baby, I have sang "You Are My Sunshine" to him.  My Grandma sang it to me and I've always loved the song, so when I came across this DIY wall art idea, I had to do it.  

Originally found at The Polka Dot Pavilion's Facebook Page

This was another project that was done before Pin or Pass so I don't have any before photos, but I went to the craft store and got a blank canvas and paint in royal blue, red and yellow.  I had coupons and everything was on sale so I probably spent around $10.  

I wanted this to be a project my son and I did together so I let him take his hands, dip them in the royal blue paint and smear it all over the canvas to create the background.  I let it dry for several hours, then I dipped my hands in yellow pant and made hand prints in a circle.  Then he dipped his hands in the yellow and I helped him fill in the areas I missed with his hand prints.  From there, I took a medium sized paint brush and wrote You Are My Sunshine on the picture.

Here's our end result:

It's cute but I am a bit of a perfectionist.  I like DIY projects that don't LOOK like DIY projects.  I should have used a lighter color for the background and I would have gotten a little more meticulous in terms of the background application, maybe adding in a little white as well.  I also would have done the letters differently, I'm not sure how but I feel like mine look a little sloppy.  

Like I said, overall I think the picture is ok and he had fun making it so that is worth it alone but if I had to do it over again, I would do a lot differently and I'm still not sure it would have come out to the point where I'd be really happy with it.  This pin gets a PASS from me but only because I'm nutty and like things to look a certain way!  

What do you think about this one?  PIN or PASS?

A Baby Girl Nursery - Pinterest Style Part 3

Welcome to the last of my 3 part series, a baby girl nursery, Pinterest style!  In today's post I am going to cover the last two major projects I did for her room, a dresser makeover and a tutu table.  Let's start with my inspiration:

Originally found at Real Simple

Originally found at Good Bye House, Hello Home

Let's start with the dresser.  Now, I will tell you up front, much like our fireplace makeover I didn't have much to do with the manual labor on this project, I was the Visionary :) and Chris (my husband) did the hard stuff!  The dresser we got was handed down from his Mom.  It was a very high quality piece of furniture but it was a blonde stain.  Not going to work with our color scheme at all, so Chris started sanding!  He sanded it down quite a bit to get all the lacquer off.  From there, we primed it using regular paint primer.  Then he went over with 4 (or 5 I lost track) coats of white paint.  We spray painted the handles hot pink to match everything else in the room and after a lot of dry time, here is our end result!

I am very happy with the way it came out.  Since the dresser was free, the only thing we had to buy was paint so it was inexpensive to do this dresser makeover.  To dress it up a bit more, I took the left over scrapbook paper I had from the DIY wall art project and made a mat to put underneath the glass on top.  Here's a the finished product. 

I love the end result of this project.  I think it looks really cute and she'll be able to use it as she grows.  Plus if she ever wants to change the color scheme in her room the handles are easy enough to repaint.  If I had to do all the manual labor on this, it would probably be getting a PASS because he put a lot of time into doing all the coats, but since I didn't :-)  this project gets a PIN!

Onto the tutu table...I LOVE the tutu table.  Who am I kidding, I love all things tutu.  I'd put her in one everyday if I could!  When I saw the idea to make one out of a table I had to do it.  I got a $20 white table from Ikea and sprayed it...you guessed it, hot pink.  Then I got black tulle and lime green trim to accent the edges with.  My originally thought was I was going to hot glue the tulle along the inside lip of the table top.  Well when I sat down to put it together I quickly realized that wasn't going to work.  The tulle wouldn't stick to the table that well and it wouldn't bunch up nicely, so I had to enlist the help of none other than my Grandma D.  Now, a quick side note on Grandma D...she is the Craft Queen.  She can do it all, knit, crochet, paint, create, you name it, she can do it.  So when ever I have a project emergency, I go to her for help.  

Anyway, I took all my supplies to her and she used some elastic to string the tulle together.  Then she sewed the trim along the top of the tulle so it almost looked like a Hula skirt made from tulle.  From there, we hot glued the skirt to the edge of the table.  Here's the end result.

I don't love it.  In fact, I don't even really like it, but it's fine for now.  I needed way more tulle to make the skirt fuller.  I should have either went a little shorter or took the tulle all the way to the floor because I feel like this length looks awkward.  I like the lime green edging but it doesn't stay well on the table.  Since the table is metal, it is hard to get things to stick to it.  If I had to do over again, I would have found an old wood table, repainted it and stapled the tulle to the inside making the changes to length that I just mentioned.  Not including the cost of the table itself, I spent over $20 in supplies using coupons.  I think using a wood table and using more tulle would have made the outcome better but then it would have been even more expensive so while it breaks my heart to say it, the tutu table gets a PASS!

I had a lot of fun doing her nursery!  I think everything came out really well with the exception of a few projects I'd pass on, if I had to do it again.  Here's a a few overall photos, hope you enjoyed my baby girl nursery, Pinterest style series!

A Baby Girl Nursery, Pinterest Style - Part 1

When I found out my second child was a girl, I was SO happy!  Don't get me wrong, I love having a little boy too.  Although I will admit, when I first found out he was going to be a boy I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure what do with a boy.  You can't paint their nails or get their ears pierced or buy them tutus!  But, it turns out boys are pretty cool too and I wouldn't trade him for the world!  I digress, regardless of how cool he turned out to be, boy stuff is not as fun as girl stuff.  There isn't as many options and everything looks the same so when I found out Julianna was on the way, I couldn't wait to get started on a baby girl nursery inspired by Pinterest!

I had just really gotten the Pinterest bug when I started planning.  Pin or Pass wasn't even a thought yet so unfortunately I don't have any before and after photos, just finished products.  Getting started I knew I wanted something different.  I didn't want the typical pale pink with butterflies kind of thing.  That theme for a baby girl nursery is very cute, just not me.  I'm more of a animal print/hot pink kind of person :-).

Over the course of a few posts, I will go over all the projects I did for her room.  Let's get started with the focal point of her room, the crib with a collage above it.  Here's my inspiration.

Originally found at Project Nursery

Originally found at Lilly Cakes

Original site is no longer available

Originally found at Small Chic Home

So after seeing all of these I selected a color scheme.  I chose hot pink, lime green and Zebra print.  I know, I know, I'm sure that seems a bit unusual for a baby's room, but once you see the comforter I found you'll understand and hopefully agree that it looks cute.  Plus I figured it would be something she could grow with for a few years.  Here's my end result:

My favorite part of the collage over her crib is the black frame with the "J' in it.  I got that on clearance at Hobby Lobby and I believe it was less than $10.  The sign hanging by the pink ribbon is also from Hobby Lobby and I bought scrapbook stickers that say "It's All About Me" on them, which are tough to see in this picture.  The picture with the words on it is from Walmart, $5!  The three items along the right side I made.  The top pink circle is just a piece of craft wood with her picture Modge Podged to it.  The middle piece is a canvas wrapped in zebra cloth.  The word Princess is made in wood and bought from the craft store for a few dollars.  I spray painted it hot pink to match.  Last but not least, our butterfly foot print.  I took her feet and dipped them in paint, then put them on the canvas.  

Everything in the collage is a PIN except for the wood with the picture and the butterfly print, those two items get a PASS!  The wood with the photo only gets a PASS because of the way it came together based on what I used.  I should have either cut the picture into a circle or bought a square piece of wood.  I think it just looks a bit awkward the way it is now.  

The butterfly picture while adorable was nearly impossible to do.  It took 3 tries before I got it to this and I'm still not totally satisfied with the end result.  The second I would put the paint on her feet she would squish them up because it was cold, so it made it impossible to get a good foot print.  As soon as I'd push them on the canvas she'd inevitably squish her toes again and ruin the print.  Cute idea for an older child, but not practical for a newborn, so PASS on this one.  

So that's the focal point of her room, the crib and the collage above it.  Stay tuned for my next post...DIY wall art for a baby girl nursery.

 

Home Organization - Part 2

Every body has that place in their kitchen that becomes the dumping ground for paperwork "stuff."  You know what I am talking about...invitations to upcoming events, book club order forms, paperwork for school, etc.  Ours was typically attached to the side of our fridge with magnets.  It always looked messy and it would end up so overloaded that the magnets wouldn't be able to hold them up.  My solution...our central communication center as I like to call it!

The Pins that Provided Inspiration
Inspired by several pins, including these two from A Diamond In the Stuff and Whipperberry (pictured from left to right respectively), I wanted a place to hang random pictures, documents that needed attention and a place to put our weekly menu and grocery list. I also liked this idea from Crate Paper, using cookie sheets to hang things with magnets but I wasn't quite sure how to incorporate it in my plan at first.

My Final Product
Here's what I came up with:

I bought a white board that also had a cork border around it.  I bought two cork tiles to go on each side and a cookie tray from the dollar store to use for pictures.  I used letters from the scrapbook section at the craft store to spelling out "shopping list" and "menu."

PIN or PASS?
If I had to do over again, I probably wouldn't use the cookie sheet or cork tiles. The cookie sheet can't fit much so it's kind of useless.  I've basically just used it for random pictures and for that it's fine.  The cork tiles are nice but they aren't very thick so the thumb tacks go through the tile and hit the wall.  If I ever take them down, I'll have tiny holes all over the wall.  So using these items in this capacity gets a PASS.

Over all I spent about $20 on this project and I gotta tell you, it's been working out great!  We have a place for all that "stuff" now that used to junk of up the fridge and it's semi organized.  The idea of a central communication place is a PIN.

DIY Key Holder

A quick little project on this Sunday afternoon...I made a new key holder for our front door.  I found inspiration for this project at an Etsy shop that was selling this item.

I liked this idea because it was different than your traditional key holder, the standard piece of wood with some hooks.  I took a piece of craft wood from the craft store and covered it with fabric.  From there I went online and downloaded a free template to create the picture in the middle.  The design was downloaded then I added the words myself in Publisher.  I printed it on photo paper to give it a richer look.  I bought the wooden frame, which I love, at Michael's for $2!  I taped the picture to the frame and used a hot glue gun to glue the frame to the fabric covered wood.  I used mug hooks for the key hooks.  My husband drilled the holes for them first, them screwed them in.

Here is my end result, a unique key holder!

For less than $10, I created my DIY key holder.  I added my own little twist by adding the wood frame,  which could have been painted to match anything.  This key holder actually looks more like a wall decor but it's hanging by our front door, waiting for it's first set of keys!  Covering wood is a great way to create a unique piece for your home that matches exactly what you need it to.  Overall this project gets a PIN from me.

A Fireplace Makeover Inspired by Pinterest

The home decor section on Pinterest is killer!  There are so many great ideas and so many beautiful homes to  get inspiration from. When you have a room with a fireplace, it is often the focal point of the room and if the fireplace is old, dull and outdated...it's time for a fireplace makeover!  Our fireplace is the focal point of our family room and since we moved into our house about year and half ago, a fireplace makeover has been on my short list of projects.

Here's why:

How cute is our little helper in his footie pjs with his toy drill?  He's ready to work!

I found inspiration in several places. Here are links to each to give you an idea of the direction I was headed.

These first two were found on Centsational Girl's website and she doesn't really say whether they were done professionally or whether they were a DIY fireplace makeover.  The inspiration below came from DIY Show Off.  I think the name of the blog speaks for itself that this fireplace makeover was a DIY project.  

So I clearly wasn't tackling this project on my own.  In fact, I will admit I didn't do anything for it except for design the look of it by picking out the paint and stone.  Other than that, my husband Chris and my Dad, a licensed Contractor*, did all the work.  

Here we are as it was a work in progress.  

                                                     

I'm not even going to attempt to give you step by step instructions on how this was done.  The third inspiration photo from DIY Showoff provides instructions but as I said my Dad helped us do this and he is a Licensed Contractor.  The DIY fireplace makeover in the third photo looks good, but I am not sure we would have gotten the same result we got had my Dad not been involved and my husband is really handy and good at stuff like this.  So note to self, this probably isn't the best DIY project for a beginner in my opinion.

I took bits and pieces of each inspiration photo and incorporated them into our project.  I liked the clean look of the light colored book shelves in each photo.  I liked the green color and the stone that was used in both the Centsational Girl's photos. 

Anyway, after a month of working on it here and there, this is our end result!

I love it!  Chris and my Dad did a great job.  I need to do a little bookcase styling, which I will be turning to Pinterest for help with and it will be complete!  Overall, I would recommend using Pinterest for inspiration on your fireplace makeover project.  The ideas I found turned this project into a big PIN, but proceed with caution...this may not be a DIY project for beginners and could turn your PIN into an expensive PASS! 

Fireplace Makeover - Before and After

*If you live in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, or any area within Western New York and would like more information on my Dad's company, visit his site, www.malfaconstruction.com.  Tell him Jenn sent you :-)!