In continuing with my “do not channel Martha Stewart” attitude (read: not trying to do too much or worry about perfection) this holiday season, I wanted to share a couple of my recent Pinterest highs…and lows. My mom has recently told me how awesome I am (duh.) because even if I don’t know what I’m doing I jump in and try anyway. Pinterest has this uncanny ability to make me want to create craft projects and eat foods that I didn’t even know existed with items I’ve never even heard about.  I typically have a good enough time with the process and can look past the unfortunate event of a #PinterestFail.

As a teacher, I utilized Pinterest all the time. ALL. THE TIME. The resources and ideas there are truly amazing. I have found the same great supportive resources when it comes to recipes and toddler play ideas, even if it makes me feel like I’ve walked into a Charming Charlie shop…while I adore that store, it is beyond overwhelming and unless I know exactly what I want I end up wanting to run out in tears because I can’t make up my mind. A+ for their mad color organization, though. Yes, I know I’m crazy.

Back to Pinterest…I’m not going out of my way to do anything crazy this holiday season. I’m keeping it simple in an attempt to not get stressed or feel too busy to actually enjoy the joy that I love about the coming of Christmas. I’ll start with a couple success stories…

1) Rice sensory play
So, so easy. After a quick trip to the store to buy some bulk rice, I tossed it with some food coloring and splash of vinegar, mixed it, and then set it out to dry. The next day, Caitlin had a new use for her water table and she LOVED IT. I threw in a bunch of different sized measuring cups and spoons to go with it. As a parent, seeing her practice transferring and pouring was awesome and the colors were so fun. I had to throw my Type A ideals out the door as the colors soon became mixed together and looked like a giant tub of Fruity Pebbles. There is something oddly relaxing about running your hands through the rice and playing with it. This was totally worth the half hour or so of prep work because Caitlin loved playing with the rice for well over a week. The only fail about this project was I think we unexpectedly fed quite a few neighborhood birds…oops!   {{{LINK HERE}}}

2) Bath Bombs
I always walk past Lush at the mall and stare longingly at their bath bombs. They look so fun. In an effort to not only keep costs down but to make more meaningful and homemade gifts, I took a shot at making my own. I tested them in a huge glass of warm water and THEY WORKED! They smelled divine (I made lavender) and the bubbles and fizz were super cool. I’ve given some as gifts and I’m excited to try some different scents for myself! (I also got the super cute tag on Pinterest…I’m going so simple I’m not even making my own!)  {{{LINK HERE}}}

3) Cake Batter Truffles
A no bake dessert that tastes just like cake batter? Sign me up, please. This was amazingly simple and I had almost all the ingredients on hand already. It only took about 15-20 minutes from beginning to end and they are DELICIOUS.    {{{LINK HERE}}}

And for my #PinterestFails ….

1) Shower Bombs
Remember those Vicks aromatherapy discs you could buy (maybe you still can?) that you would pop in the shower with you and it would dissolve and make the steam smell like good ole Vicks and help ease your congestion? These were supposed to be like that. SUPPOSED to be. I made a lavender/peppermint mix, following the recipe exactly, and excitedly hopped in the shower with a few. They didn’t do a thing. Noooothing. Couldn’t smell them and certainly no lovely spa-like steam to relax me. I went to pick one up and it just crumbled in my hands in a pile of mush. At least now I have my bath bombs to use and that will just force me to take a bath to relax! I didn’t even bother taking a photo of these due to their total lack of function.
{{{LINK HERE}}}

2) Bread Bowls
I never know what I’m getting myself into when I try and bake bread. My bread has a tendency to spread out instead of up, no matter how closely I follow recipes and rising times. With the chilly Phoenix weather we’ve had, I thought some soup in a bread bowl sounded perfect. No Martha Stewart here, just some Sandra Lee semi-homemade (Food Network fans?!). Soup was coming out of a package, so I figured I could make some bread bowls. I’m not sure exactly where I went wrong. But my “bowls” came out looking more like big hockey pucks…delicious hockey pucks. The taste was great but the function was NOT there.  I figured “whatever, at least we have bread to eat with our soup” and didn’t care. Then I decided to hell with it, I wanted a bread bowl. I picked the best two and scooped out the insides and took a deceivingly nice photo to showcase it (This further supports one of my older posts where I talked about how we never know what happens behind the scene. A great photograph is really all you need!).   {{{LINK HERE}}}

Reality – DEFINITELY not soup bowl worthy.

I’d love to hear about some of your Pinterest success stories or even your major fails! Here’s to having fun, though, no matter how it turns out! 🙂

XOXO
Courtney