Vacation is Over

It's official.  Vacation is over.  We had a great 6 days with my family, but we're all 'back to work' now and it's time for me to get back to my routine.  I'm working on getting photos from the week organized, and my to-do list for the week is already incredibly long.  I think I'll be drinking a lot of coffee today.  We have storms rolling in, but if I can dodge them, I have errands to run in between swim lessons for both kiddos (Riley's is indoors, so those are for sure on; Gavin's might get cancelled if the rain does come in...), plus I have a lot of Fun School ideas to work on and of course, cleaning...  

But for now, I wanted to share some pics of my new mantle.  I actually finished them a couple weeks ago, but I wanted I didn't want to post the pics until my parents saw them in person.  A while back, I saw this idea from Etsy that someone pinned on Pinterest.   I loved the look, so I wanted to recreate them a bit.  I had Jarrod buy a piece of unfinished wood for me from Lowes (it was about 11x48) and cut it into thirds.  I imagined a beat-up, distressed look, so I took a hammer to the pieces prior to painting them, but aside from around the edges, you can't really tell.  Then, I painted them a light green color to go with our new green theme in the living room.  It took me a little while to decide on what I wanted the next step to be, but I ended up using an old dish cloth to 'scuff up' the wood a bit with some black shoe polish.  I used some rub-on words from my scrapbook supplies, added some felt flowers from Hobby Lobby, and nailed $0.97 frames from Walmart onto them, and voila! 

  

Pinterest Tutorial

I'm by no means a 'Pinterest Expert.'  I don't work for them.  They aren't paying me to write this.  But, I've been talking about Pinterest a lot, and a lot of friends are asking me about it.  Some don't get it.  And honestly, I didn't either when I started.  But I've learned to love it, and I've gotten so many good ideas, so I told a friend I'd post some Pinterest tips.  So, here you go!

First of all,  set up your boards.  Think about topics you like to get ideas for and make sure you have boards for them.  Recipes, fashion tips, craft idea, homeschooling topics, art you love...whatever it is.  {But know you can add a new board any time you want.} 

Make sure the Pin It button is added to your toolbar.  That way, when you're browsing the web and find something you want to remember or come back to, you can click Pin It and add it to the board you want.   


Start following people.  Find your Facebook friends (or use Twitter) and start following people.  


When you sign on to Pinterest, the pins that people you follow will show up on the main feed.  You can also search pins of random people by selecting 'Everything' at the top and choosing a category you want to browse.  I do this a lot when I want to look for wedding ideas for Megan.  If come across someone random that shares similar tastes, start following them!


Want to find something you pinned?  In the top right corner, hover over your name and select Boards or Pins (however you want to search for the pin).


Lastly, if you have an iPhone (not sure if there's an app on the Android or not), get the app.  I love to scroll through on my phone in the middle of the night when I'm feeding Riley.  


Jarrod thinks I spend too much time on Pinterest.  But I quickly reminded him that if I didn't have Pinterest, I never would have found Chipotle's cilantro lime rice recipe, which we've made at least once a week since I found it.  :)  

Just let me know if you have questions.  

ETA: You can find my boards by going to www.pinterest.com/mrspate22


 

Doing Pinterest

In my resolutions for this year, I talked about wanting to actually DO the things I've found on Pinterest.  I can spend hours on that site if I wanted, but it does me no good if I don't actually do some of the things I find.  So, I was busy this month!

On top of the numerous recipes we've tried, I also made these:

I found a planner I loved on there, but instead of printing it out repeatedly, I put it in a frame and use a vis-a-vis marker to write on it each week, then erase with a baby wipe!

I love this, but I think I might change the background to gray.  I framed each state the kids were born in, with a heart on the city...Kettering for Gavin, Bentonville for Riley.

This is our new 'I love you because...' frame.  Again, we use vis-a-vis markers on it.  It's a simple way for Jarrod and I to let each other know the little things we appreciate and love about each other.  Of course, Jarrod had to write something silly on my birthday, and he let Gavin draw me a picture, too.

And, as silly as it seems now, it took Pinterest to inspire me to put hooks in my closet to hang my scarves.  Duh!

If you're not on Pinterest and want an invite, let me know!