Pinterest Challenge : Autumn edition

A lot of the projects that I've worked on around the house lately have been inspired by Pinterest, but the things I had planned to do this past weekend coincided perfectly with the second Pinterest Challenge that was hosted by Sherry, Katie, Ana, and Erin. Check out their projects - they are pretty awesome!

Since it was Halloween on Monday it was the perfect chance to try out some of the pumpkin designs I had pinned. My sister and I took M. to the Calgary Corn Maze over Thanksgiving and we picked out four lovely pumpkins. A. was in charge of two of them (M. coloured on one and then we carved a design) and I took the other two. The designs that peaked my interest the most were the pumpkin village {original source: Disney Family Fun} and the drilled holes {original source: Martha Stewart}. A. make a happy face using some cut out parts and we carved a monogram on M's coloured pumpkin.

I think they turned out pretty great although I should have stuck with one chevron row and used a bigger drill bit so more light got through. As it was, I had to leave the lid off on the little one so enough oxygen got in for the candle to burn.

The pumpkins were the main project I had planned for this challenge, but as luck would have it, we completed two others as well.

With winter fast approaching and snow in the forecast, we really needed to get some raised garden beds built so that I could plant my garlic, winter onions, and chives.  I had pinned many different raised bed ideas (like this, this, and this) but the design A. decided he liked the best was this cedar raised bed {original source: Sunset}.

I wanted two beds so we went with 6' x 4' so that it was easy to cut on a 12' board. Now, cedar isn't cheap so we could have done this project for less money if we had gone with pressure treated wood, but cedar is naturally rot resistant and we didn't want to run the risk of any of the chemicals from pressure treated boards leaching into our soil. Plus, cedar is beautiful and smells amazing!

A. built two 6' x 4' boxes in the garage in about an hour. It took another hour to dig trenches in our rock hard ground to settle the beds in to and about another hour to fill them with black garden soil. (I ordered a Big Yellow Bag from Eagle Lake Turf here in Calgary.) We did the digging and filling after M. went to bed. Now we are the weird neighbours who garden in the dark! All told we spent about $300 for the two beds - the cedar and supplies were about $150 and the bag of soil was $150 delivered. Seems expensive but the amount of money we will save on produce during the summer (fingers crossed) will pay off the beds in no time.

Last, but not least, I made these cranberry granola balls {original source: Sweet Potato Chronicles} for a Birth & Babies Halloween gathering we hosted on Sunday.

They were really easy to make and taste delicious! Sunflower seed butter is great if there are any nut allergies in the group and has a nice flavour but you could substitute any nut butter you want.

Did you complete a project recently that was inspired by Pinterest?

Rainbows!!

When I was a kid, my Mom made the best birthday cakes. I have strong memories of a Hickory Dickory Dock cake in particular and I want to be able to create these kinds memories for M. So, like any good Pinterest addict and parent, I have taken note of the trends that are big in kids birthday parties this year. The one that I thought would be fun for M's second birthday (and the easiest to run with) was rainbows! Specifically, I really wanted to make a rainbow cake. I was looking forward to seeing the looks of surprise on everyone's faces when I cut into it and who doesn't love bright colours on a summer's day?!

First, came the invitations. I loved these fun striped invitations by Chickabug on Etsy so I ordered the printable PDF file and easily printed them on my own. Unfortunately, the Canada Post strike foiled my plans of mailing all of them but luckily, since it was a PDF, I was able to email copies. Crisis averted!

 

Next, I decided that I wanted to start a new birthday tradition with a fabric "Happy Birthday" banner. Since the theme was rainbows this year I tried to find one that would work and would also be gender neutral (fun for the whole family!). This rainbow owls celebration pennant from stichinginsocks fit the bill perfectly.

I decided on an easy menu of BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, spinach salad and fruit skewers. These rainbow fruit skewers that I saw on Pinterest were a big hit!

| Original source: Quick Dish |

Finally, the star of the show (aside from the birthday girl, of course), was the cake. I looked at several different recipes but since I didn't want to buy additional types of flour that wouldn't get a lot of use, I decided on this beautiful cake by Kitchen Corners.

It was easy to make - I did three layers instead of six; two colours per layer - and most importantly, it tasted amazing! I think we only had a small sliver left at the end of the day which I call a success.  Here is my finished cake complete with a cake-topper inspired by this one I saw on Pinterest. I simply created some diamonds in Word (no fancy Photoshop for this girl), cut them out and glued them onto a piece of shipping string.

What are some of your best birthday memories?

DIY play kitchen

M. turned two in July and I decided that I really wanted to build a play kitchen for her. I had seen all sorts of great examples on the web and settled on this kitchen that I saw on Pinterest.

| Seen on Pinterest |

| Original source: Bits Of Becky |

Like a lot of DIY play kitchens out there, this one uses the RAST nightstand from IKEA as the base. So, off to Ikea I went to purchase two nightstands and various other bits and bobs like a towel rack, handles and knobs. I picked up a cheap faucet and mixing bowl at Wal-Mart and purchased all of the hinges, fasteners and wood from Rona. I ended up stealing one of my Mom's smaller mixing bowls when I discovered that the one I purchased was too big around. (Don't worry, I gave her my new one!)

My step-dad was a huge help in the building process seeing as how the last time I used power tools was in grade 8 industrial ed. when I built a birdhouse. Bits of Becky provides great instructions including all of the cut dimensions so it was fairly straight forward. It took us about 5 solid hours of work and then another couple of hours by my step-dad to finish things off (apparently the oven door was a bit of a pain) and re-sand all of the edges. I should have started this project way before M's birthday but I'm a bit of a procrastinator. We did have it finished and ready to go for her birthday party though so I met my self-imposed deadline.

There are still a couple of things I need to do like add legs to the fridge (at least), sew a curtain for under the sink and possibly paint the whole thing. I might even add a backsplash with some of our left-over glass tile.

All in all, it was a success and I hope it stands the test of time so that one day our grandchildren can play with it.

Here it is loaded with all of the play food and the Green Toys kitchen set that she received as gifts.

Have you DIYed any birthday gifts recently?

Library : work in progress

About a month ago I saw the bookshelf below on Pinterest and fell in love.

We needed to buy new bookshelves for our basement library anyway so I decided that four Billy shelves from Ikea would do the trick and that I would paint the backs yellow. We stopped by our brand new, friendly neighbourhood Lowe's and purchased a test pot of Olympic No VOC paint in their Bumblebee colour. I sanded all of the backs (the two smaller ones were a chip board type material but the two larger ones where paper so they took more paint) and crouched on my hands and knees this past Sunday and got painting. They turned out really well and only took one $5 test pot of paint!

We finished putting together the bookshelves tonight and lined them all up and I am so happy with how they turned out. I can't wait to FINALLY unpack all of our books and knick knacks! It's going to be such a bright, happy space.

Sunday pancakes

Growing up, pancakes on Sunday mornings were something of a tradition. Every Sunday morning I would get up with my dad and help make pancakes. Plain, banana, berry or cheese - we liked them all! When my Dad moved to Yellowknife ahead of us to find a house and start his job I took over the pancake making role at the ripe old age of ten. There was a period of time in my teens when I went off pancakes. I'd simply had too many of them and was sick of pancakes. Now that I have my own family, pancakes are making a comeback as a Sunday tradition. And, without fail, my husband requests cheese pancakes. Cheese pancakes may sound weird, but I promise you, they are the perfect blend of sweet and savoury.

The recipe that I have been faithfully following for the past 20+ years comes from my Mom's old Five Roses cookbook. It produces a flavourful and, most importantly, fluffy pancake.

Click to see the larger image.

Some pancake cooking tips:

• make sure your baking powder is fresh. You should hear a fizzing sound when you mix the wet ingredients into the dry. If you don't, your baking powder is too old and the pancakes won't be light and fluffy.
• I reduce the sugar by 1 tablespoon. I don't like overly sweet pancakes. Plus, if you add fruit that will make up for the missing sugar.
• Flip the pancakes when bubbles stop forming on the surface and when the edges are starting to solidify and look cooked. After 20 years I can also tell they are ready to flip by smell. They smell like cooked pancakes. :)
• Without a doubt, I have had best results using my electric frying pan. I get consistent heat and know what the product will end up like every. single. time. I set mine to 350 F and always get perfect pancakes.
• To make cheese pancakes I add a good handful of grated old cheddar - about 1 cup.

 

Bubbles have stopped forming and the edges are looking cooked. Ready to flip!

 

Deeeelicious!

My favourite part of being designated pancake cook? Chef's choice! I always reserve the last bit of batter to make a pancake of my choosing. Today I made several mini pancakes.

Enjoy!!

Does your family have a Sunday breakfast tradition?

Rawr! I'm a turtle!

I have been woefully inactive here in recent months. I said at the new year that I wasn't going to try so hard to "be a blogger" and then just kind of gave up. I have thought about what to post and have certainly been inspired by people on t'internet but it always seemed like a lot of effort to come over here and write something. I certainly haven't been totally absent from the social media world. I've been Tweeting and Pinning to my heart's content. In lieu of a long post, here are some of my favourite things I've come across on Pinterest recently.

 | The feeling of flight |

 | Play kitchen |

I really want to make something similar for M's birthday but I'm having trouble finding a suitable night stand.

 | Always remember... |

 | Chevron shirt |

I can't find this on Old Navy Canada sadly.

 | Rawr! I'm a turtle! |

| Camping? In a yurt? In France? Yes, please! |

Hopefully summer will arrive in the Canadian prairies soon and we can go do some camping close to home. :)

Have you come across anything wonderful lately?