Baseball Wall

I am not the only person

perusing Pinterest.

Breese is too. 

In anticipation of a 

four year old guest on a regular basis

she is decorating her spare bedroom in

a baseball motif. 

Yuck.

Not a fan of the game. 

But I am a fan of Breese's.

So here you have it:

The baseball wall.

Some of the images on Pinterest don't include

the shading. 

I felt the shading added a lot.

You also will be hard pressed 

to pick up any tips on doing this, 

so here are mine. 

First, I used a 

thumb tack, 

a piece of string

and a pencil

to draw my arcs. 

I would have preferred a piece of chalk to the pencil

because figuring the width of the arcs

along with how far apart they should be

turned out to be an act of faith.

Also, the wall I was painting was oblong, not a square

so the space between the arcs seems a bit off.

I think squaring off an area might have worked better.

And here's a little tip you won't find

anywhere else, 

make a template for the stitches, 

it sets a consistent arch along with consistent spacing. 

Still not a fan of the game.

Thankfully, still a fan of Breese :)

Giant Kerplunk

Remember that game with the marbles?

You had to pull pick up sticks out of the cylinder

and try to not make the marbles fall through?

Well, someone came up with a giant yard

version and they have called it

Shishkaball.

I had to read it a couple of times.

It was one of those things that most 

people look at and think, 

"that looks like fun." 

And then never think of it again.

I'm not most people.

I also put a spigot in a 

watermelon. 

Pineapple Tree

 I saw this on line and was just waiting for

an opportunity to make one.

Carol's birthday was just my chance!

Val threw the party and was gracious enough to let 

me have my fun.

It was surprisingly easy to make.

This was all it took. 

A dowel rod slightly thinner than an apple corer,

a block of wood and aforementioned

apple corer.

I used three pineapples but the one I saw

on-line used 5, so you can adjust

it to meet your needs.

I cut tops and bottoms off two of 

the pineapples but only the bottom

off the top one.

The corer was a pretty good fit top 

to bottom on each pineapple, 

I guess I just lucked out in getting pineapples

that weren't terribly tall, next time I will

be more aware of that requirement.

I was able to borrow some palm fronds, 

an eclectic circle of friends helps, 

but if I am going to make this a habit I may

invest in some of my own.

Possibly shorter ones.

LOL

Now for a reason to do this!

(ps, not my photo)

Transporting Cupcakes

Found this little idea on

Pinterest.

Pretty self-explanitory.

What I'm not so sure about is how they got them 

out of there. 

Hash Brown-Crusted Quiche

This is starting to look like 

The Maddie Channel

so I thought I had best post some food.

This is a little something I 

spied on Pinterest.

It's basically frozen shredded

hash browns that you mix with some melted butter,

line a greased quiche pan with 

and then bake for about 20 minutes to brown up. 

Then you add your own idea of quiche filling

and bake.

Couple of things:

The hash browns don't really stay up

on the sides to form a crust.

They don't really get very brown.

And the ones on the bottom get way

crunchy. Kind of hard to eat crunchy.

So, it wasn't a bust but not so good 

that I will be doing it again.

And here's a picture of Maddie for you. 

It IS the Maddie channel.

Batik-ish

Always on the lookout

for projects to keep 

one Ava busy, 

I happened across this one on 

Pinterest.

I gathered all the supplies,

pre-washed the t-shirts

and stashed it all for a 

rainy day. 

Or spring break as it turns out.

It's hard to tell from this photo but you use

the Elmer's Gel glue.

It's washable, very important. 

You just make a design on a pre-washed 

t-shirt and let it dry.

Then you water down some 

acrylic artist paints. 

And I mean 

Watered Down!

We really started to get the right

consistency towards the bottom of the 

shirt on the left.

After the paint dries you soak it in 

warm water to wash off the glue and then

toss it in the dryer to heat set the paint.

Nice!

That kept her busy for oh, 

about 1/2 hour!

Can You Bake That In a Jar?

Why yes, you can.

Cheryl, Carol and Val

were coming for lunch.

We decided that we really want to be deliberate

in getting together more often.

Usually we like to craft together but our schedules

are just so nuts right now that if

we can find a day with just an hour that we are all

available, we had better take it.

Today we had one and a half hours!

YeeHaa!

We decided to meet here and each 

of us bring our own lunch.

But I just had to make something.

These three are too much fun to experiment on.

So, to Pinterest I went and found 

this idea:

It's just a 4 ounce Ball jar

that I lined with refrigerator pie crust, 

filled with canned pie filling

and topped with more pie crust that

I cut into strips, wove and cut

into rounds.

The post I found these on just said to

bake as you would any pie.

Right.

I GTS and decided to go

400 degrees

for 40 minutes.

Nice thing about the clear glass

was that I could tell when all the crust

was good and golden. 

So, can you bake that in a jar?

Yes.

Next, 

chicken pot pie?

Too Many Necklaces

And too many picture frames will 

get you 

this:

I was scouring the house for random frames

to do this:

I had plenty.

The frames as sculpture I found on 

Pinterest.

The frame with screening stapled to the back

to hold necklaces was somewhere in the 

recesses of my mind.

Probably that part labeled 

Pinterest.

Scary.

PS, mom, I found that pesky missing "e." 

Cheesy Garlic Bread

I found this on that website that shall 

remain nameless. 

Well, alright, 

Pintrest.

Basically you take an Italian loaf

cut it diagonally in both directions

so as to make diamonds across it. 

I think an extra pair of hands could be helpful

as the bread gets pretty wobbly

when you are making the second 

side of cuts.

Then you mix up 

6 T. of melted butter,

2T. olive oil, 

fresh minced garlic, 

dried minced onions, 

dijon mustard and

parsley 

and put it over top, getting down into

all those nooks and crannies you've created.

Then take a mix of shredded cheese and shove it all 

on, in, and over.

Wrap it all up in foil and bake for about 20 min. 

What's not to love?

Well, maybe not the dried minced onions and 

dijon mustard the recipe calls for

but that is easily remedied.

Next time.

Because there will be a next time. 

You hear me Christmas Eve?

Turkey Onesie

 Did I mention  Pintrest isn't just for recipes?

The best thing about making this myself is

that I could match the feathers to

the pants I found.

Here's hoping Maddie doesn't outgrow 

this before 

Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Spice Bites

Another entry in my

"Can I Call You Pumpkin"

board.

These were really good but I was very surprised at 

the steps that were troublesome.

One might think forming the cups of cookie

would be difficult but given the right tools, they were

a piece of cake. 

Or cookie.

Finding the pumpkin cookie mix was a problem.

After three stores I decided sugar cookie mix

with a healthy dose of pumpkin pie spice would 

suffice. 

And it did.

Mixing pumpkin pudding (not hard to find)

with a cup of heavy cream proved to be an issue.

It turned to cement.

Immediately.

The recipe called for you to whisk it till smooth.

Can you see the folly in that?

And then it said to put it in the fridge so it 

could set up enough to pipe.

Set up enough to pipe was NOT a problem.

Piping cement pumpkin pudding

was.

But I persevered.

24 times.

http://www.createdby-diane.com/2012/10/pumpkin-spice-bites.html

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cobbler

As you can see I could not wait

to try this before it's beauty shot.

What you can't see is that I burned my mouth

in the process.

I found the picture for this on 

Pintrest, 

but where I got the recipe is anyone's guess.

Here's the link:

http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/pumpkin-cheesecake-cobbler/1/

As best I can tell it's a recipe site.

I think someone named Diane created it

and in this world of bloggers

being so concerned they get their credit, 

there.

Here's what I have to say about Diane's recipe;

while the ingredients make for a tasty

treat, her process is whack.

In my humble opinion.

The recipe calls for you to grease a pan

and then put canned pumpkin and evaporated milk in 

it and mix. Then add a dry cake mix and 

graham cracker crumbs and mix.

 Again. 

Not the easiest way to accomplish this task. 

Next time I'm using a bowl. 

Call me a renegade.

But here's the hardest part, 

next you mix softened cream cheese with powder

sugar, making in essence frosting/cheesecake

that you are supposed to *spread* over this

raw cake batter consistency layer in the pan.

Yeah, not gonna happen.

I made little blobs and dropped them all over.

Eh, not perfect.

I think next time I will try warming the cream cheese

and see if it gets thin enough to pour.

Oh, 

because there will be a next time.

As I said, 

her ingredients make for a tasty treat :o)

Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifles

In my effort to create all things 

pumpkin from Pintrest I submit

the Trifle.

Mini-ized.

This was so easy that it gets to be a 

keeper.

Here's the link to the recipe:

http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-cheesecake-trifles/

Here's where I went renegade:

the recipe calls for 

"Biscoff cookies",

yeah, I don't know what those are so I used 

ginger snaps.

Could be the same thing for all I know. 

Could GTS, but naw.

It also called for 

pumpkin pie spice.

I had a chai spice blend sitting around from

those chai cookies with the pumpkin kisses

and while I wasn't a fan of the cookies, the spice 

blend was pretty nice.

One thing I didn't do but will in the future is

to put a layer of the crushed cookies 

in the middle. 

It's just too far a distance to get down to 

that crunchy layer.

Here's the spice blend formula:

1 1/2 tsp. cardamom

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Enchilada Pasta Casserole

Yep, Pintrest.

This was really good and not terribly difficult.

Maybe a little prep-pan intensive

but in the end worth it. 

I'm always on the look out for a good recipe

to take people and this one fits the bill.

And true to my last post,

here's the link:

http://www.tablefortwoblog.com/2012/08/29/enchilada-pasta-casserole/

There IS Value in Pintrest

There's a new movement out there

among Bloggers.

They are all up in arms that people are crediting

Pintrest with ideas.

They argue Pintrest does not create the idea,

Bloggers do.

Well, that is true, however, I was never

gonna find that recipe or craft idea on my own.

I don't have the time to cruise the internet *that* much.

I love Pintrest as a clearing house of good ideas.

So, I'm gonna tell you where I

 found that idea or recipe. 

Pintrest.

Give credit where credit is due. 

I do, however, and will continue to,

provide links to where the recipe etc. can be found. 

Because it's true, Pintrest didn't create it,

they just provided the vehicle to know the 

idea is out there.

And there is value in that.

 PS, can I tell you how many Blogs I have found

thanks to Pintrest?

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

I started out thinking I would make

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread.

Sounds good, huh?

I saw it on Pintrest and when I went to the recipe

I found it was all in metric.

Not gonna happen. 

Did I mention it was 4:30 AM?

I'm not sure I've got what it takes to convert

measurements and temperatures 

at 4:30 PM, 

I can guarantee I

DON'T

have it at 4:30 AM. 

But I can 

GTS

any time of day and I came 

upon this recipe.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spiced-Pumpkin-Bread-840

I had the presence of mind to peruse the

comment section.

It seemed unanimous that the 3 cups

of sugar was a little excessive.

So I cut it back to 2 1/4 cups.

There were suggestions of altering the spice

combination as well as adding

dried cranberries.

So I did both!

I left out the cloves and put in

cardamom instead

and added cranberries.

All thoughts of chocolate chips melted away.

I will say it is not overly 

pumpkin-y tasting

but it is very good.

Maybe next time swapping out the spices

for a chai spice blend?

Maybe some time I will get around to those

chocolate chips.

Chai Pumpkin Spice Thumbprints

There was a double draw to these for me.

First the flavors sounded good but

perhaps more intriguing was the thrill of the hunt.

Could I really find 

Pumpkin Spice Kisses?

Why, yes I could, and true to the advice from the 

recipe author, I found them at Target.

Back by the Halloween candy.

I will link the recipe for these 

but let me say this about that;

The Kisses themselves are very sweet.

The *sprinkling* of chai spice on top is rather sporadic.

I would suggest adding sugar to the spices

and rolling the tops of the cookies in that.

And lastly;

the Kisses are far too flesh toned for my comfort.

Two of those cookies together look like a body

part to me. 

If you know what I mean.

http://passthesushi.com/chai-pumpkin-spice-thumbprints/

What A Little Time, A Little Wine.....

And 235 corks will get you.

I have been collecting corks for years.

Many years.

I have been in search of the perfect

 thing to do with them. 

I found it.

On Pintrest.

But really, it was Anthropologies to 

begin with.

If you look on the left there you can see the 

depth of the corks.

Luckily I drink red so there are all sorts of

shades of purple on the cork bottoms.

I used the band saw to slice off the tops

of the corks and therefor get a flat surface

and then I hot glued a flat thumb tack to each one.

I drew out the pattern with chalk and then 

just started pushing away!

I have more corks.

The 

Art Installation

may expand.

Pretty sure that by calling it 

*art*

and 

*installation*

I can get away with it.

Donut Topiary

Wonder where I got this idea?

Whereas I did get the idea for this on

Pintrest,

I did not, however, get instructions.

So here's the down-low:

it's a 12 inch styrofoam  cone,

50 donut holes,

(could have used 60)

toothpicks, 

and one little extra,

mini cupcake liners.

You could see the styrofoam 

between the donuts.

I used brown because it was an 

animal theme but how 

cute would colorful liners be?

Those are Oreo balls around the bottom. 

Like I said, could have used 60. 

Margarita Frosting Shooters

When on Pintrest I pin anything "Margarita".

It is my goal to make all things

 "Margarita" by the end of the summer.

And so it begins.

http://keepitsweetdesserts.com/margarita-frosting-shots/

I am not a big sweets or frosting person

but I am always interested in things I can

fill these little glasses with.

(thank you Nancy and Steve)

Well, I ate 2!

I was a little leery of the graham cracker/pretzel

layer but it totally works.

That salty kick is just what the 

sweet, limey, tequila-y frosting needs. 

I used pre-smashed graham crackers

because I had them but next time I'll

smash my own and not pulverize them like

these were. 

Other than that,

Yum!

These?

Pretty but, not so yum.

In all fairness the recipe did state that they were a bit

"stiff" and you may want to substitute

water for half the tequila.

I am of the opinion that when making a recipe 

for the first time you should make it as written. 

I may reevaluate that stance.

But, pretty, yes?

http://jelly-shot-test-kitchen.blogspot.com/2010/07/ocean-margarita.html