Pinterest Experiment 12 - "Frozen" Hersheys' stickers

For my daughter's "Frozen" themed fourth birthday party I passed out goodie-bags to the kids who attended the party. I'm not a big fan of just candy in the bags. I'm TOO big of a fan of small, cheap toys. I kept adding things to the bags because I kept seeing things at the stores for Easter baskets that would also work in goodie-bags.

Long story short: I needed a heavy-duty goodie-bag. I ordered these from Birthday In A Box. And yes, I fell for the "Frozen" marketing. I could have picked up bags anywhere. However, I liked the option of ordering personalized stickers to close the bag.

Alas, they were a plain blue. Which was OK, but I had to buy a lot of generic things because Frozen party items are sold out practically everywhere. I wanted to try to decorate these bags with something from the movie.

My friend, Vicki, told me about a blog in which these particular stickers were used. The stickers are downloadable. They are actually supposed to go under each Hershey's kiss. If you remember in the movie, Anna needed "An Act of True Love" to be saved. They thought she needed a true love's kiss.

Here is the original pin.

I printed these out on my printer at home on address label paper. They looked really good. Until ... (you know there's always an until with me) ... I couldn't find a one-inch hole puncher anywhere. So, wait for it, wait for it, I had to cut EACH one of these stickers with scissors. They were crooked, weird-looking, but I didn't care. By golly, I had Frozen stickers!!

I let Emily pick out the stickers to put on each bag. Just two pages of the stickers were more than enough to fill the front and back of the goodie bags.

Goodie-Bag Sticker Mania

This is definitely Not Pinterest Perfect. I'm reminded of octagon shapes from school. However, if you have a little Elsa or Anna, they would love these stickers. Just be sure to have a hole punch beforehand!

Pinterest Experiment 11 - Anna's "Want to Build a Snowman?" Party Snack Mix

I'm so far behind with the blog! I love to blog, but life definitely gets in the way. Sometimes you just have to roll with it and do a massive catchup of posts. So that's what I'll do this week!

The past few months have been a whirlwind of fun and exhaustion. Spring has brought many events like my daughter's four-year birthday party and Easter class parties. I researched for a couple of months before her party for ideas on party foods and goodie bags.

Her theme was, ahhhhhh, "Frozen." I'm sure Frozen has taken over your house too if you have kids. This movie, wow, it's impacted our lives in a lot of ways. "All good things, all good things," as Olaf the Snowman said.

We had her party at one of those jumpy tent places, which was awesome. We rented "Elsa" which was amazing and fun. It's definitely a decision I don't regret, even though the girls figured out immediately she was wearing a wig and costume. Smarty Pants!

Elsa!!!

For the food, we had the obligatory sheet cake (Anna & Elsa), cookie cake (from the party facility), pizza, the snack mix, Elsa's "Let It Go" York Peppermint Patties (I tried, I really tried to make my own and it was a fail) and Sven the Reindeer's Peanut Butter Truffles (post coming soon).

Here is the original Pinterest Pin.

Frozen snack mix
Ingredients:

• 1 C. chex cereal (any flavor will do)
• 1 C. pretzel sticks
• ½ C. Swiss or Provolone flavored Cheez-Its
• ½ C. Peanuts
• ½ C. York Peppermint blue & white minis (found in the candy aisle)

The great thing about this pin was I KNEW I would not be able to find these items unless I did some kind of crazy scavenger hunt in town. Somehow time got away from me - doesn't it always? - and I was scrambling a couple of days before the party.

So I had to improvise and luckily this recipe is very forgiving. I did have the chex cereal, swiss Cheez-Its. But I could not find pretzel sticks or pretzels, what the .... nor could I find the York Peppermint blue & white minis.

Darn it!!! Shaking my fist!

So I used a small bag of Chex Mix that had the pretzels in it already. I also used a nut mix for the peanuts. For the candy, I had to use Junior Mints. Seinfeld anyone? "You know you want one Junior Mint!"

Before

After

Another great thing about this pin was my daughter helped me. I let her pour all the ingredients into the bowls. Then she just shook the bowls. It was a lot of fun and helped her feel like she did something for her party.

My toddler is notorious for wanting to help. all. the. time. That can be tough sometimes when I'm in a rush OR I have an idea of how you want to perfectly execute a craft or recipe. So this was a chance to let her do something to be involved in a part of the process.

Sometimes there is a downside to too many ideas...nobody ate the mix. NOBODY. LOL! All I can do is laugh about this. 

As always, it's a learning process. However, this would be great for a home party where kids won't be so obsessed with jumping in the bouncy tents. Parents tend to gravitate towards where the food is, so this would be a perfect noshing snack.

This was almost Pinterest perfect, so I give it up a thumbs up.

Pinterest Experiment 10 - Valentine's Day gift for class

Emily has almost 20 kids in her "class" at daycare. That's a lot of little boys and girls to give presents for holidays. They have a Valentine's Day party each year. We are expected to bring Valentine's and treats for the kids. The last couple of years I made a goodie bag with candy. That's so 2013. This year I wanted to jazz it up and go for something less sugary.

Here is the original pin.

I could have easily turned this into a "Mommy says this must be perfect so she will do it alone" project. I am somewhat obsessive when it comes to goodie bags of any sort. Last night the husband was covering a game for our local newspaper so I thought "Girls Night Project!"

We spent a good 30 minutes putting these together. I let her put the crayon box in each bag, then I'd write the classmate's name on the label. Then we had a nice gossip session about each kid. LOL! I had a great time finding out which kids cried the most.

So the end result were lopsided bags with air pockets. A good time was had by all though.

I made these labels, then stapled each label to a bag.

The project may be close to being Pinterest Perfect! but not these pictures! I apologize for the blurry iphone pics. Long story regarding my real camera, so I'm using the iphone camera.

There you have it. A "Color Your Heart Out" Valentine's present. The packs of colors were 57 cents each at Wal-Mart. So it's about what I normally would have spent on goodie bags. I also bought the clear bags at Wal-Mart which were only a few dollars.

Pinterest Experiment 9 - Mardi Gras Wreath

One of the things I promised myself this year was to dress up the house more for holidays. Now that my daughter is three, almost four, she is starting to really appreciate holidays. Although I think she is still too young to understand Mardi Gras. But, I thought a wreath for the outside would be fun.

For years I used a wreath my friend made for me. It was pretty fabulous, but the wear and tear was starting to show. Plus, I got loads of ornaments after Christmas for VERY good deals.

Here is the inspirational pin.

Mine did not come out as beautiful as this, OF COURSE! wink :) But, it's fun to pull into the driveway and see it.

I started with the usual styrofoam wreath:

It's Not Pinterest Perfect! The crown is not as crooked as it appears in the pictures. I had a hard time hanging the wreath in the center. So yeah, got that crooked crown going for me. But otherwise, I am happy with it.

I bought most of the ornaments, the crown and the ball stems at Hobby Lobby. I am getting a bit tired of the ornament wreaths, but they are shiny! What more can a girl ask for?

Pinterest Experiment 8 - Easy Peanut Butter Pie

One of my mother-in-laws passed away this year. She made the BEST peanut butter pie I've ever had. I have the recipe somewhere in my tons of paperwork (that I intend to organize). I've made that particular recipe many times before.

This recipe is almost identical to her pie.

Here is the original pin.

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter
8 oz cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
2-12 oz. bowls cool whip.

Check out the pin for mixing and layering. It's fool-proof unless you do something like don't leave it in the freezer/refrigerator long enough. Believe it or not, I have NOT made that mistake. But while traveling over the river and through the woods to Grandmaw's house, it can melt some. Be sure you stick it in the fridge or freezer to chill again.

This is one of my husband's favorite pies. I added Reese's peanut butter cups on top in this pie for Thanksgiving. But the pb cups are not necessary. It's plenty good without them.

Pinterest Perfect 7 - There's A Map For That Necklace

This pin is not a DIY project. I also use Pinterest to find gifts. We usually go the gift card route for birthdays and Christmas. We actually did that for most of the Christmas presents this year. But for my sister, I found this necklace on Pinterest. I thought it would be a cute gift because she is a world-traveler.

My sister's job carries her all over the country and the globe. I meant to take a pic with her wearing the necklace. I plum forgot.

But here is the pin.

The necklace is from ModCloth. It was $19.99 plus shipping.

The only problem was ... she is not big into jewelry. hahaha!!! You can't win them all. She loved the necklace, but I'm pretty sure she will display it on a dresser or a knick-knack rather than wear it.

But hey, it's the thought that counts right? She blew the gift she gave me out of the ballpark giving me a FitBit. So yeah the gift I gave her gets a womp womp...

Pinterest Experiment 6 - Santa Claus Wreath

This one turned out Not Pinterest Perfect! I got the sadz taking this wreath down last night and storing him for next year. I loved pulling into our driveway and seeing this wreath on the door. Nobody else in our neighborhood had this wreath. He was a couture wreath!

This is one you do not want to wait until Dec. 22nd to make. I made this one at the beginning of December. Next year the day after Thanksgiving I'm hanging it up!

Here is the original pin.

This project was so fun! And time consuming! But worth every minute of it. I'm not good at crafts, as we all know by now. So I took my time and yes it took about five hours over three nights to finish this.

Here is the supply list:

12" styrofoam wreath

3" red ribbon

gold rope [Christmas Section]

hot glue

red ornaments, regular size (you will need about 30 or so)

2 boxes tiny red ornaments (you will need about 30 or so)

tiny red, foam balls (I did not use any foam balls because I could not find any)

It was a ballalooza overkill! Fact: you do not need as many ornaments as seen in the above picture. I used felt and a sparkly gold padded material for the belt. I was completely over the whole thing by the time I made the belt. So yes, the buckle is too SMALL for the belt. haha! Better luck next time.

I plan on making one for my mother-in-law if I can find more red ornaments. I suspect that one will be easier. The hardest part was making that belt buckle. Seriously, it was tough. But I finally learned how to use a glue gun. I also gained crafty confidence after this one.

It came out Not Pinterest Perfect! but I loved this experiment.