Pinterest Wednesday : Mug Brownie

Hi all, I know I am a day late on this one.  It was due to my travels this past week.  We had a wonderful time with my brother and his family.  So today I decided to do something easy peasy.  I found this recipe on Pinterest for a brownie in a mug and I just had to try it.  Here is the original pin:

The link to the pin doesn't go anywhere but a thumbnail picture.  So I just followed the directions on the pin.  I combined 1/4 cup each of sugar, flour, and cocoa powder.  Then I mixed in 2Tbsp of olive oil and 3Tbsp of water.  I then placed the mug in the microwave for exactly 1 minute and 40 seconds.  Here is what came out:

The top left picture is of the ingredients, the top right picture is of them mixed all together, the bottom left is what came out of the microwave, and finally the bottom right is my girls enjoying the brownie.  I was pleasantly surprised that it came out as well as it did.  The girls loved it.  I made another for myself and topped it with some vanilla ice cream.  It was really good, but really rich.  I wouldn't say the best brownie I have ever had, but if you really had a craving this would certainly fix that problem.  Now if you are on Weight Watchers, like I am supposed to be, it came out to 15 points plus for one whole mug.  I couldn't finish it because it was so rich.

So there you have it, go ahead a try out some of those crazy recipes you find on Pinterest, they might just surprise you!!!  Have a great evening!!!

Easter Layout with the Silhouette Cameo

Hi all, I am writing from Connecticut today!!!  We decided to make an impromptu trip to visit my brother and his family.  It has been really fun with sledding included!!!

This is my girls with their little cousin.  We have been having some fun!!!

So tonight I want to share with you a layout I did about Easter.  This is of course two years ago now, that's how far behind I am.

So I used my Cameo to cut out the titles and the eggs.  They were found in the Silhouette store.  I also used my Cricut and the Elegant Edges cartridge to cut out the bunny border.  I also used a gift I received from my sister-in-law, who I am visiting with, to "sew" in the ribbon on the edges.  It is the We R Memory Keepers sew ribbon tool.  I am in love with this now that I have used it!!!

That's all I have for tonight.  Hope you have had a great weekend.

Pinterest Wednesday - Valentine's Wreath

Hi all hope your week is going well.  Well today is Pinterest Wednesday and I have decided to do a home decor project.  I want to do more home decor this year because really I only decorate for the fall and Christmas.  I would love to decorate for more of the holidays, such as Valentine's Day.  I got this idea of course from Pinterest.  Here is the inspiration: and here is the link that the pin goes too:

So my kids constantly collect pine cones and I keep them in a box in the garage.  Sometimes we make pine cone bird feeders but mostly they just sit there.  This wreath gave me a way to use some of them and add some Valentine's Day decor.  Here is what I created:

First the kids and I dipped the pine cones in some house paint that we had.  These are all colors that are actually in my home.  Allowing them to dry was the biggest pain, because I constantly had to turn them as the top side dried to get them to completely dry.  Then I cut a shipping box into a shape of a heart and hot glued the pine cones to it.  Next I used the Silhouette Cameo and the free shape of the week to make the banner.  It was really convenient that the free shape of the week was a Valentine's banner.  I used the print and cut feature to make the banner all one layer.  I only have one more step that I would like to do to make it more weather resistant.  I want to go purchase some self laminating pouches and laminate the banners so that the paper isn't exposed to the elements.

So I hope you have enjoyed and make sure you go do stuff with all those pins!!!  Have a great evening.

Welcome Baby Card with the Silhouette

Hi all hope your week is going well.  After a really beautiful weekend it is now freezing cold.  So cold I didn't even want to take my daughter to school!!!.  My youngest and I decided that we need to move to Aruba.  So last week I made a Welcome Baby card for a friend of mine who just had her second baby.

This is the card I created. It is a 6"x6" card.  I used my Silhouette to cut out the font art made by Lori Whitlock.  I found it in the Silhouette store.  The ric-rac border is also cut from the free designs Silhouette provides.  I used some pink Stickles to add some sparkle.  On the inside I used a My Pink Stamper Everyday Life stamp.

I am entering this in the Pink and Brown challenge over at the Cameo Creations Challenge blog.  I hope you have enjoyed the card and don't forget tomorrow is Pinterest Wednesday!!!  Have a great day.

Wednesday is Pinterest Day

Hi all hows the week going?  Mine is going great.  Have really stuck to my WW points and gone to the gym everyday.  Trying to keep it up for the rest of the week.  So today I have a new series that I am going to start.  I don't know about you but I am addicted to Pinterest.  I actually enjoy it more than watching TV.  So I was thinking that I pin a bunch of stuff that provides great inspiration, but I find I forget about pins with my obsession of pinning more stuff.  So I decided that I would start a series on the blog where I would try one of the pins I found.  It may be a craft project, a recipe, a kids craft, or inspiration from a scrapbook layout.  Whatever it may be, I will share my successes and failures.

So here it goes.  Today I am sharing a sewing project.  We are about to have a first loose tooth in our house and I wanted to make something to hold the tooth under the pillow so we really don't LOOSE that first baby tooth.  Here is the pin I found on Pinterest in my searches :

Now I am a newbie to a sewing machine so getting this done in one day was daunting.  Luckily the pin had a link to the actual directions.  Here is the link to the actual site.  So here is my tooth fairy bag:

I followed the directions on the site to a tee.  I used the template they had for the tooth, obviously I am not good at tracing.  I also used some sew easy floss for the drawstring since I didn't have any yarn.  The one thing I did do different was add a seam to the bottom of the bag.  Again I am paranoid about really loosing that first tooth.  All in all I am really happy with the way it came out and I know my daughter will be super excited to add her tooth for the tooth fairy.

I hope you have enjoyed the start to this series and hope I have reminded you to revisit all those images you have pinned and really use them.  Hope you have a great week.

New Craft Planner

Hi all - I am back for two days in a row!!!  Must be starting the week off right.  Hope fully my diet stays on track!!!  So I wanted to share with you my new Craft planner for 2013.  I followed much of the same format as I did last year.  You can view the post here.  I liked the size of it, just added new printables and different tabs and such.

I used the same paper and transparency pack as from last year just different colors for the cover.  I decided not to make a matchy-matchy planner like I did last year, and just chose papers that spoke to me.  If you want more pics just let me know in the comments.  I used my Cameo to print the month labels and cover text.  I kind of mixed up the insert pages.  I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to blogging, where you can find the planner pages that I used.  Again I kind of used a mixture from the sites that I found to create my perfect planner.  I am also entering this in the New Years contest over at the Cameo Creations Challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is fantastic.

Happy New Year -- I Know I am a Little Late

Hi all - whew what a start to the year.  I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year even though it is a little late.  It has a been a weird start to the new year for me.  First I have been missing because I didn't even have family gone until the 4th and then two days later I promptly got sick with some virus that caused me to have vertigo followed by extreme weakness.  Let's just say it hasn't been fun.  So now I am back up and running and ready to start my New Year.  I have been crafting sporadically in my absence.  I have to say a big thanks to my DH who got me a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas.  He didn't even know I wanted one!!!  Did all the research by himself.  I have to tell you I am absolutely in love with it.  Now don't go getting the wrong idea and thinking I will be kicking my Cricut to the curb, because that is definitely not the case.  It is just has way more capabilities when it comes to making your own designs and typography.

So with that here is my first project of the year.  It is our New Year's cards.  I usually don't send New Years cards, but since I didn't get around to making Christmas cards this year I thought I would send them out. Here is the pic:

I again had to keep it super simple because I had to make 25 of them.  I used the Cameo to cut the 2013 and the tag.  The text on the inside is done with the Cameo's print to printer function - which opens up a whole new world of possibilities in making your own cards and invitations.  The Chevron paper on the bottom layer was from a pin on Pinterest here.  Happy New Year is stamped in silver ink and I used silver Stickles to accent the tag.  If you can believe it, I actually took that photo of us.  I love my camera remote!!!  I am entering this in a challenge at the Cameo Creations Challenge blog, a new blog I found in my Cameo research.

So there you have it.  I hope you have had a great New Year and continue to find inspiration throughout the year.