Top 5 Posts of 2013

I thought that as we wind up this year I would take a look back on my blog and bring you the 5 most popular post of 2013. Granted I have only been blogging on Hooked on Pinterest since May I still had some memorable posts that were as much fun too write about as they were to create.

Top 5 of 2013

#5 - Flower Pot Cake: Food Network

This was one of my first posts on this blog. It was absolutely a fail, but it did taste pretty good.

#4 - DIY Outdoor Curtains from Drop Clothes

This project worked really well at first, it gave us the shade that we needed in our backyard and looked really nice. The problem we found later was that since we live on the coast and have high humidity in the summer the curtains started to grow mold and we had to throw them out. I think that if you live in an arid climate this project would work very well.

#3 - Pinterest Kid Craft: Turkey Hats

This was a great, fun Thanksgiving craft!

#2 - Pinterest Kid Craft: Leaf Wreaths

This was a fun fall craft, that got you outside for some fun too!

#1 - Cinderella Costume and Coach

This was by far the largest craft project and most creative craft project that I took on in 2013. My grandmother made my daughters dress and I constructed the Coach. Although it was really hot on the day of the parade, my daughter still had a great time being Cinderella.

I had a great time writing this blog during 2013. I hope you all had a great time following on my journey and I look forward to sharing more of my Pinterest journey in 2014.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I hope that 2014 brings you all joy and happiness and lots of Pinterest fun!

Merry Christmas

Merry 

Christmas

to 

Everyone

I hope everyone has a great Christmas with many family and friends.

Pinterest Recipe: Sweet Dilly Pickles: Last Minute Christmas Gift

I made these pickles over the summer and the recipe made 4 pints of pickles so I gave some to my family. They liked them so much I thought that I would make some to give at Christmas. If you are looking for a quick, inexpensive homemade Christmas gift these are great. My 2 year old even helped make these pickles, it only took about 30 minutes.

Recipe: Sweet Dilly Pickles

After I washed and cut the cucumbers. I gave them to my 2 year old to put in the jars, she loved doing this.

Then she helped me measure out the ingredients for the brine. I cooked the brine, let it cool and poured it over the cucumbers. The last thing that my 2 year old helped me, which she really loved was shaking the jars to spread out the spices in the brine.

Another thing that makes this a great last minute gift is that the pickles are ready to eat the next day.

Wrapping Presents with Toddlers

So, this year I have been trying to incorporate my 2 year old in as many Christmas activities as possible. Since decorating the tree and building/decorating the gingerbread house went well, I thought I would try wrapping presents. This one turned out to be more frustrating for both of us rather than a fun activity. She wanted to be part of every aspect of the wrapping experience, cutting, taping, folding, writing on tags and placing the tags on. I only wanted her to assist in taping and placing the tags on. Anyone who can avoid doing this activity with a 2 year old, should. I think I will try again next year when she is 3 years old.

Gingerbread House with Toddlers

I got the idea to build and decorate a gingerbread house with my toddler. I knew right away that I was not going to have time to bake the gingerbread and create the whole thing from scratch. So, what I did was buy a gingerbread house decorating kit with pre-made house pieces. I got mine for about $6 on sale at A.C. Moore, here is one that you can buy from Amazon.com.

 

I enlisted the help of my husband in building the house and it really did take two adults with a toddler to be able to put the house together. Once that was done we had to let it set, which was good because our daughter was starting to lose interest.

The next day my daughter and I decided to decorate the house. I knew it was not going to look like the one on the box, I decided that we would put a door on the front and ice the roof and decorate it. This was perfect because my daughter was able to decorate it on her own after I frosted it.

Result:

We had a great time making this house that only cost us $6. Definitely doing this again next year.

Decorating a Christmas Tree with a Toddler

This year I wanted to include my toddler more into the decorating of the tree. She is older now and I thought that she would have fun with it. My husband set up the tree and strung the lights. I removed all the breakable ornaments from the box and then let her fave at it.

Overall, this went pretty well. She started to get bored about 1/2 hour into it, so me and my husband finished the last few ornaments. I think that anyone who has a toddler should not be afraid to include them in decorating the tree. They love helping and participating in Christmas.

Result:

Christmas Craft: DIY Advent Calendar

After my husband and I got married I wanted to start some Christmas traditions of our own. I saw the idea of creating an ornament advent calendar on a talk show and thought that it would be a cool tradition to start. I decided to design my own version of the one that I saw on TV. I used poster board, thin fabric, card stock, push pins and a black sharpie. We have been doing this tradition now for 6 years and will be for many more, each night we put a new ornament on the tree. We usually have to put the first few on all at once because we don't get our Christmas tree right on the 1st.

Result: