Pinterest Hit or Miss

So I've been trying out a lot of recipes from Pinterest and some are just as fantastic as they look and others...not so much. So I thought I would do you all a favor and tell you which ones are actually worth trying. I would also appreciate if you would do the same!

Chic-fil-A Copycat Sandwiches

These are exactly what they claim to be, so if you love Chic-fil-A, you will love these. In general, it's just a good-tasting breaded chicken recipe that could be used for lots of things. I'm excited to try it cut up in a salad.


Saucy Roast Big-Mouth Sliders

Jacob loved these! I thought they were pretty good and really easy. The recipe was WAY too much for the two of us so the beef ended up lasting forever and was good wrapped up in a tortilla too!


Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

It was fine, but a little blah. Not something I would make often.


Mongolian Beef

This was really good but kind of a lot of work. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to cooking.


Lemon Feta Pasta

This looked really good. I don't know if we got the recipe wrong or if it was because we didn't use fresh basil, but ours was pretty nast. I don't think I'll even bother trying to make it the right way.

2 cakes in 1 weekend

I made some cakes for a brother/sister birthday party this weekend.  It's A LOT of work to get two done by the same deadline!  I had to literally pull an all-nighter to get them finished in time.  Thank goodness for a mom who came and watched kids so I could sleep the next day!

 The boy wanted a lego stormtrooper.  It turned out to be as big as a small child becuase they had a lot of people coming to the party. I made chocolate cake with caramel buttercream.  The head is formed from rice krispie treats.

Here's the Hello Kitty cake I made for the little girl.  I formed the kitty with a mixture of fondant and gum paste.  Fondant alone is too soft, and gumpaste alone was too hard for me to get really smooth, so the combo worked great.

The top layer is pink cherry cake with cherry buttercream, and the bottom is white cake with chocolate buttercream.

This time around, I got a cake leveler and a new rolling pin.  The right tools make the process so much easier.  I also made the MMF(marshmallow fondant) in my Bosch mixer, which was better than doing it by hand, and it turned out really smooth.  I rolled the fondant thicker than I have in the past, which also made a more smooth surface with less bubbling/sagging issues.  I'm learning as I go!  I feel like I've run a cake marathon, but I think the family was happy with the results. 

Decorations for Valentine's Day

Before school got too crazy, I did a little crafting of Valentine's Day decor.

1. I cut some of Martha's Handmade Heart Doilies out of fabric instead of napkins. Disclaimer: It's a lot harder to cut through 8 layers of fabric.

2. I put my InDesign skills to work and made this little print inspired by a little valentine I saw somewhere online.. I don't know how to share a PDF on here, but I can send it through email to anyone who wants their very own (ndellsworth@gmail.com)

3. I made some little oragami hearts (tutorial here and here) to hang on my glittery branches

4. I also made some little tissue paper flowers, roughly following  this tutorial, and hot glued them to some of the branches. If I'm ever feeling motivated enough, I make several more.

The card is last year's valentine.

#8 Oreo Pops

I've been wanting to try the dipped oreo pops floating around on pinterest.  I was in charge of treats for my niece's baptism, so I came up with my own version of oreo pops to create a number "8" for the occasion.It's just two mini oreos on a flat craft stick, dipped in melting chocolate.  I used some flower sprinkles I already had for the centers of the "8".  I think using an M&M would be even better proportionally, but I forgot to get them at the store, and didn't want to make another trip with the 3yr. old!  Next time!

To make these, I opened up each oreo, lined up two, placed the stick on the frosting side, squirted a little of the chocolate on like glue, then put the tops of the cookies over that.  I then put them in the freezer for a while before dipping them.  I used a spoon to help get them coated with the chocolate, then put the sprinkles on while the chocolate was still wet.  I put them back in the freezer so they would be solid.  They were a hit at the baptism party and tasted so yummy! 

Christmas Goodies

I have been saving Crew's formula cans for the last couple months in hopes to find a clever way to use them. Then while looking for cute goody packaging ideas I saw the idea of using the formula cans for our Christmas goodies this year. I just wrapped a 4" thick strip of wrapping paper around them and cut a circle for the lid (to cover the Enfamil label). They were just the right size, and I was able to cram a lot of stuff into the cans. I made matching bows out of coordinating wrapping paper using this tutorial I found on Pinterest.
For the goodies, I kept it relatively simple. I dipped some Oreos in white chocolate and put Landon to work making our version of "bulls eyes"(snap pretzel + Rolo + peanut butter m&m). The "hardest" thing I did was make this toffee. I was surprised at how simple it was to make, and it turned out SO SO SO good! I threw in some Butterfinger Bells (for the kids, since I do not believe in sharing Ghirardelli with children) and topped it off with a few Lindor Balls. We had a blast looking at Christmas lights while passing out the cans to our friends and neighbors.

Landon has 4 teachers this year... So since I didn't have enough cans, I decided to make some of the cute paper gift boxes I've seen on Pinterest.

I used this tutorial and can't stop making these! I even made some mini ones for part of my YW lesson last Sunday. I used 12x12 cardstock and filled the teacher boxes with toffee. I made the labels on Picnik.com and cut strips of scrapbook paper to "tie" the box closed.

More Christmas Decor

I made one more little tree and covered  it with little red rosettes. I just took strips of tissue paper, twisted them up, and wrapped them into roses of various sizes.

They're hanging out on my bookshelf along with this free printable and some branches that I covered in glitter which remind me of something from the Labyrinth. And obviously they're prettier in real life.

Jacob's noticed that I've got a thing for covering stuff in glitter lately. We saw some tiny pinecones on our way home from church and he said, "Those are cute. You should cover those in glitter."
I probably will, even though I think he was mocking me.

Christmas Stockings

I decided this was the year to make our family's Christmas stockings. After perusing Pinterest I came up with a perfect combo of all the styles I loved. This is the Tutorial I used for the shape and overall construction of the stockings. For the tops I used this for the pleating inspiration. I pleated a long wide piece of fabric into a strip the size of the stocking top.(WARNING: Pleating is hard!!! If anyone knows a trick please let me know!) I wanted them personalized and decided to cross stitch some buttons (using a button covering kit) instead of spending a fortune on pre-made ones. I let Landon pick out which pictures to use, although I may remove them and just use the letter button with a plain white button. I can't decide.
For my stocking I wanted something more girly so I came up with a bow top I've seen done on some throw pillows.I love how they turned out, and hope they last a while... or until I get sick of them and decide it's time for a change. Now I just need a fireplace...