Pinterest...I don't just pin! #4

I'm getting a bit burnt out on blogging pinterest stuff. I'd rather be pinning or making my pins I guess! That being said, this may be my last pinterest pin, maybe not, we'll see.

This was the water marbling technique, I loved it, it also actually lasted longer than when I polish my nails the usual way! I watched a how to video which helped a ton. It is a pretty easy way to get a very cool look. Below was my first attempt, I learned a lot. The more polish you drop in, the closer your lines are and the darker they are. Notice my middle finger that looks a bit like candy corn? That one didn't have as much polish dropped in.

This is after I removed the tape and most of the polish from my skin.
My right hand, the ring finger was less polish and I swirled it around a bit more than the others.

Deep fried battered chicken, I think it was called sesame ginger chicken. I had to change the sauce recipe quite a bit to make use of what I actually had. It turned into a grapefruit ginger chicken. It was actually really good. It was hard to keep my oil at the right temp. I got it way to hot at one point and smoked up the whole house. Next time I may borrow a deep fryer, that would make things much easier.
Loved this one, we have very few Halloween decorations so this was great. We ran out of trash bags so I sent Micah to a neighbor where he got 2 black trash bags. We cut them into strips all the way to within 1 inch from the bottom of the bag, then cut the side open and along the bottom of the bag. Then we stretched each strip, if it tore, we tied the back on. I taped the bottom of the bag behind the front overhang on our porch. Viola! Witch curtains. They look so cool when they sway in the breeze.

Pinterest...I don't just pin! #3

Black Licorice Caramels for Tyler's birthday. Even if you don't like Black Licorice you might like these, they were SO good.

I changed up the same recipe and made Coconut Caramels. Again, yummy.
I'll be making these again.
I found a recipe for sugar cookies that are as good, if not better than Lofthouse cookies, you know, the kind you find in the plastic containers that are frosted based on whatever holiday is closest. Anyway, really, really good. We made them for Activity Days too. I made them for Tyler's birthday as well, initially. I didn't have any powdered sugar to make the frosting and it was Sunday, so the store wasn't an option and I found out by googling that you can make your own powdered sugar! It's much cheaper, I will be doing this from now on.

Pinterest...I don't just pin! #2

I'm trying to get these posts done kind of quickly but also be organized a bit. This post is all wall or hanging stuff, mostly wreaths which I'm obsessed with right now.

This is my twig wreath. Tyler didn't like it on the front door, well, he really didn't like it at all, but I moved it off the door. It was getting bumped a lot and I had to keep gluing twigs back on. Now it is tucked back away where it won't bug Ty or get bumped.

These fabric flowers or rosettes are my favorite. I just found a tutorial on making a stretch ring with them and am going to do that soon. I made these to adorn my burlap wreath.
This is the wreath I did a class on for Super Saturday.
I did not see this on Pinterest but I bet it's on there somewhere. When I went to Utah my sisters in law taught me how to make it, it's just Lima Beans glued on a foam wreath form then spray painted. Easy.
These flowers I made with an old sweater of mine that I accidentally shrunk, a lot. You cut a circle, spiral cut the circle and roll from the inside out.
These are canvases my friend Kendra gave me that I stapled fabric onto, that is all over Pinterest.
Here is the back of my paper rosette wreath, the 97 cent pipe insulation that you can get 2 wreath forms out of. My friend Christie just bought some for my class though and it's gone up to a dollar something, still cheaper than the foam forms at the craft store.
I made this wreath for my mom for Christmas and I added some scrapbook paper to match her colors.
This is the first one I made, just book pages. I made it on a wicker form from dollar tree.

Pinterest...I don't just pin! #1

I am in LOVE with Pinterest! I am now never without ideas, ever. I am going to do another blog series, this time featuring the stuff I have done from Pinterest. I'm not sure I finished my "This summer..." series, so I might throw in a few of those here and there!

So, I'm starting with my least fun projects. I tried the glass cutting and wasn't very successful with it. I had my parents save some wine and liquor bottles for me. In this first pic is a whiskey bottle, I tried to cut it in several different places and it just wouldn't. Too thick? I have no idea.

This wine bottle was the first one I was able to cut. It would have been an awesome shape too...but it cracked, sniff, sniff. If I could do it successfully it would be fun to make a bunch of drinking glasses from wine bottles.
This Maker's Mark bottle cut, surprisingly. It chipped on one side but I sanded it and got it smooth, painted it orange and turned the chip to the back and it's ok.
This Bogle Vinyards bottle would absolutely not cut at all.
Close up of the one I kept.
Another bottle project, painting them white, easy peasy, worked perfectly.

So, the cutting method. Wrap string (I used yarn) around the area you want to cut, tie it off, slide it off the bottle, soak it with polish remover, slide it back on, light it on fire and turn bottle while string is on fire, submerge in cold water and snap it. There are videos and picture tutorials available online if you google it. If anyone has some beer or soda bottles or other cool bottles they want to donate to me I'd like to try this again.

Printable Quote (Thomas S. Monson)

This was said in a talk given during the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference by Elder Cook from the 70 (one of the quorums and I forget his first name, it might have been Brad). I liked it. Just click on it and save, if you want to.

Oh yes, credit to "A Little Boy's Pocket Collection" a collab by Pamela Donnis Designs and Chere Kaye for the arrow brushes.

This Summer...(4)

we went camping! It was so much fun. We found a new spot. Granite Creek. It is right by the creek and there isn't drinking water, you have to bring your own, but the campsite is free! It was beautiful. The water was freezing but we went in anyway and had the best time. There was an area that was almost like a waterslide too. We rested in the hammock...

we acted silly...
we sat by the fire and visited (Aunt Morgan (my sister) and Nana Paula and Papa Larry (my parents)) were there. We roasted marshmallows.

Tyler and all my kids caught their first fish!
I cleaned my first fish, my little sister taught me. The grimace on my face is because I was cleaning a live fish with a dull pocket knife and feeling very sad.

One morning, before any of the kids had caught a fish, Jacob asked if he could take the pole and go fishing. He soon came back with this fish, caught all by himself! So, of course, everyone else had to have a go at it.
This is Jake's fish close up, there were only a few Brookies caught (they are fish that are not planted but natural to the creek)and his was a good size, the Brookies tend to be smaller than the Rainbow.
Micah caught a big one too, and I'm so glad, who knows what would have happened if he didn't catch one!
Peyton caught one with Aunt Mo's help.
Benny caught one as well.
Tyler thought that since everyone else caught one that I needed to catch one too, so I did. Right as my bait went it I caught one. Sadly it was a tiny little thing that I would have let go had he not swallowed the whole hook and had blood gushing from his gills. I had to work to smile in this picture and turn him so his bloody side was to me.
Ben and Roxie had a good nap together. Do you like those dirty feet?
Ahhh, we love to camp! Oh yeah, and did I mention that we ate, and ate, and ate? Well, we did, a lot!

Star testing results, yes Ty, I'm posting them, sorry!

When I told Tyler that I wanted the boys Star testing results so I could scan them he immediately gave me "the look". The look that says it all. He said, "You're not going to blog them." It wasn't a question as much as it was counsel. I said that of course I wasn't going to blog them, which translates to...I was going to blog them but now I wont because you said that but maybe I still will but later. Got it?

So, it rubbed Tyler the wrong way to hear me tell people how well our boys did on the Star testing. He is very aware of bragging. I don't think we should brag, but I do think it's good for the kids to hear how happy we are with their success. We make a big deal when the kids aren't making good choices, so why not make an even bigger deal when they do something great? Anyway, the first week of school they had a rally and honored the kids that got perfect Star testing scores, so, in my mind, I got license to blog it! I am not bragging, I am just saying that my kids did well in something and I'm proud of their progress and efforts...WAY TO GO BOYS!

We received Jacob's results several days before Micah's and we were blown away by the fact that he scored a perfect 600 in math! Both of our kids have always tested well, scoring in advanced every time, but a perfect score? Wow! I can tell you truthfully that I am not tooting my own horn here. I take zero credit for their math success, I am terrible at math. They must have gotten Tyler's math genes and great teachers.

Many days later we were blown away yet again to find that Micah also got a perfect 600. I was especially surprised at this because he always complains about math and says how hard it is. I am now expecting great things from these kids, when I go back to school they'll have to help me with my math!

One last thing I had to add, both boys wanted to know what they scored in the other category, the exact number, just so they could see who was smartest! I didn't let them look.