August 8

 I have done a lot of pinning and not much doing.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to set a goal of making cards once a week

using a card pinned as the inspiration.

Today, I used this as my inspiration card.

http://mypapersecret.blogspot.ch/2012/07/fabulous-frames.html

This is the card that I created while my Sweet Pea napped this afternoon.

Experiment #3

One of the (many) reasons why I am really enjoying Pinterest is that just before each holiday, the site is full of creative ideas for showing off your holiday spirit.

I do feel that Valentine's Day is simply a Hallmark holiday and doesn't require going overboard BUT I do like to spread a little love (or baking as the case might be) every year. I usually bake and decorate sugar cookies but this year 2 things on Pinterest caught my eye and I decided to make them instead.

The first is Strawberry Heart Oreos

http://thirtyhandmadedays.com/2012/01/valentine_cookies/

After reading the recipe, I made my grocery list and set off to the store. PROBLEM. After searching 3 stores, I couldn't find Strawberry Cake Mixes (another one of the products that is apparently only available in the US). SOLUTION: Cherry Chip Cake Mix and 1/2 a package of Strawberry Kool-Aid crystals.

When I got to baking, I realized that the recipe was very similar to the one I have used for years so I decided to use my own since it used significantly less fat.

You can see my recipe here:

PINTEREST PICTURE:

MY RESULT:

 

VERDICT:

These were a HIT! I would have never thought of this on my own. I can't wait to adapt these for more holidays and parties.

Secondly I made Valentine Chex Mix

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/valentine-chex-mix-12-recipe/f6d4a741-f15c-4c78-8f40-94ab312a2e46

It's maddening when nothing goes according to plan. In addition to not finding strawberry cake mix I couldn't find Valentine M&M's anywhere. After searching 6 stores, it turns out that there were discontinued in Canada and I had to substitute Smarties instead. BOO, M&M's are so much better. This also meant that the batch I made for Erin didn't have any chocolate in it at all since Smarties are not gluten free.

PINTEREST PICTURE:

MY RESULT:

(not the greatest picture)

 

VERDICT:

YUM!! I can't wait to make again (hopefully with M&M's).

Experiment #2

Friday's are my day off! Before you get too jealous, I work on Saturday and Sunday. BUT this makes Friday's great days for us to have people over for dinner. It gives me all day to get the house ready and the food prepared and it is nice for guests because they don't have to worry about cooking after a long work week. This past Friday Erin and Ryan came out to spend the evening. I don't usually do an appetizer but this pin http://pinterest.com/pin/36380709459470791/ caught my eye and bacon being one of Brad's favorites, I thought I would try the recipe out.

The recipe is super simple and can be prepped in advance (which I love). I used my Pampered Chef stoneware bar ban to bake them and it worked great. They did take a little longer than stated to bake but it was worth the wait.

PINTEREST PICTURE:

MY RESULTS:

VERDICT:

This recipe is a DEFINITE make again.

Experiment #1

When we moved to this house I was super psyched that I had double ovens. Then I realized that they were not self cleaning : (  I'm not going to admit how long it has been since I cleaned my ovens last, the pictures are going to give that away.

With a bun in the oven (pun intended, yes it's true) and my ovens in dire need of cleaning, I needed to find a way to safe way to clean them. My first option, leaving for a day and getting Brad to clean them with Easy Off didn't go over well . Really, that wasn't fair to subject him or the dogs to that any way. Option two was to look on Pinterest for a solution. I was able to find this pin http://pinterest.com/pin/36380709459475145/ that claimed to be "the best oven cleaner". Worth a shot I guess.

BEFORE:

The pin claims that all you need to do is sprinkle some baking soda in the oven, pour some vinegar on it, wait 20 minutes and then wipe. WELL . . . I tried that. "Wipe" is definitely an understatement. It took considerable elbow grease and a good scrubby pad to get results. Even then I had to repeat the process, and this was just for the bottom of the oven. Here's the thing, you can't just sprinkle baking soda on a vertical surface like the walls and my door. So they were still in rough shape. I turned to google and found several other "recipes" for green oven cleaners. I decided to try one that was very similar. Mix 5 tbsp baking soda, 3 drops dish soap & 4 tbsp vinegar to form a paste. I then applied this to the walls and door and let it sit for 20 minutes. With a bit more elbow grease I was happy with how the walls and door looked.

AFTER:



VERDICT:

While not perfect, my oven looks a lot better than before I started my experiment. It took a lot of elbow grease but my health and the health of my family was worth it.

As a happy side note: My nails were super white and clean by the time I was done!

Welcome to my Pinterest Experiment

Like many, in the past couple of weeks I have become addicted to Pinterest.

I was given due warning as I got the invite that I would spend even more time baking, making and crafting the things I found. It's true!!

I already blog about the recipes that I try and really enjoy it. I figured I would start an extension of that and let you all know what from Pinterest works and flops. I hope you enjoy reading about my experiment!