You Win Some, You Lose Some

I recently (within the past few months) joined Pinterest.  It is a website that allows you to "pin" ideas you've seen from anywhere online (crafts, food, places to visit, fashion, home decoration, etc).  It makes it easy to keep track of everything you like.  You also have a social circle within Pinterest (if you'd like) that allows you to see what they are pinning and share your pins.

I have a love/hate relationship with the concept.  I love seeing great ideas, but it's easy to get discouraged and overwhelmed with everything.  Why didn't I think of that?  I did think of that, and now everyone will think I found it on Pinterest!  I never do anything like that with Millie!  Wow, I need to decorate.  Millie will look so cute in this.  Those are just a few things I think to myself frequently.

With the start of my new "strict" schedule, I was able to fit in a few of these "pins" to see if they were as great as I thought they would be.  Like the title implies, you win some, you lose some.

Winners first?  Okay.

1.  Play mat turned "rug."  You can find the inspiration here.

I actually love this one so much, I'm working on two!  This first one was already white on the back, which saves me hours of painting.  I'm planning a chevron striped mat for the kitchen.  Comfortable, simple.  Oh, and I bought this mat at a tag sale for $1.

This other one is for Millie's room.  Poor girl really needs a rug in her room.  I'm doing a stencil but haven't finished/perfected the method so just white pictures for now.  It will be mostly green when all is said and done.

My only complaint about the play mats themselves is that Millie is obsessed with pulling them apart.  I'm just hoping that when they are finished the design on the front will convince her it isn't a play mat anymore.  She's so smart though.

2.  Halloween Decorations

Pinterest is full of Holiday decoration ideas, and the black & white color scheme was showing up everywhere.  I made and bought our Halloween Decorations for literally less than $5 this year.  I'm not completely finished, but here are a few of the decorations.

These stuffed pumpkins are my favorite.  I used scraps of fabric and bought a pillow from Goodwill for $1 (to supply the stuffing).  The tutorial and inspiration can be found here.

3.  Reading Nook in Millie's Room

The inspiration can be found here.

Although this might not look like a winner, it is.  After reading that the original creator just used things from around the house I decided to do the same.  I used old curtains, a shower curtain rod, a big piece of ribbon, a command hook, and some pillows.  The whole thing took a few seconds to put together.  Of course with the items I just listed, it's pretty obvious it isn't durable or permanent.  I hope to make it so, but for now it's perfect.

I'd say Millie approves.

 4.  Artwork by Millie

Inspiration can be found here.

Love this so much.  I opted for watercolor since that is what we had and what I trusted Millie with using.  She didn't mind.  Basically you use painters tape to cover an area on a paper, have the child finger paint, remove the tape and you're done.  The best part is, I felt like Super Mom just for planning ahead and doing this simple little activity.

The Losers:

1.  Sleeping with socks in your hair to try and wake up with curly hair.  Terrible idea.  I slept horribly and it didn't work for me.  I would consider trying it again, maybe.  I would definitely place the sock curlers more strategically next time.

2.  Crockpot French Toast casserole.  We like our French Toast crispy on the outside.  I should have thought about that.  Basically I cooked it only to have to fry each piece of bread again to get the crispiness.  For us, it was a loser.

3.  Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies.  These were labor intensive (for a darn cookie) and tolerable at best.  I threw most of them away.  Definitely the biggest disappointment of my weekend.

For my Pinterest Followers, I'm planning on creating a pin board of the things I've actually done with a brief review.  I'd hate for someone to make those cookies and dis-like them without me warning them!

If you're interested in joining Pinterest and need an invite (you can join on your own, it just can take a few days) I'd be happy to invite you.  Just make sure you know it's great, time consuming, and might make you feel like a loser occasionally.  But we know you're really a winner.