Lyndsay's Fastnacht Day Treats

Hey everyone! Found this super easy semi-homemade donut recipe on Pinterest, from Little Bit Funky.  I just made them this morning for Fastnacht Day!

What You Need:

Grands Buttermilk Biscuits

Small Biscuit Cutter

Vegetable Oil

Melted Butter

Cinnamon/Sugar

Pour Vegetable Oil into a deep round skillet, heat on medium. 

Separate biscuits and cut centers our with small biscuit cutter. 

Place biscuits (both parts) into heated oil and fry for approx. 1-2 mins; flip. 

Once golden brown, set aside on papertowels to drain.

Coat each side of donuts in melted butter and then coat with cinnamon/sugar mixture. 

And that's it! Sooooo super easy, and delicious!! Happy Fastnacht Day everyone!!

-Lyndsay

Amanda's Breakfast Braid

Breakfast Braid

I altered this recipe, but you can find the original at Gimme Some Oven. Mine was much bigger than the original one and lasted us a couple of breakfasts. I'd suggest making it the night before and just cooking the finished product the morning you want to eat it. It would be perfect if you have a big family gathering and want a good hearty breakfast that everyone will like. The worst part about this is you need to cook all your ingredients before they go in the braid so that's why it's a little time consuming.

Ingredients:

1 (13.8-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough

cooking spray

1 small chopped onion

1pkg bacon

5 large eggs, 

2 potatoes( shredded)

2 mushrooms, diced

3 cups cheddar and pepper jack cheese

Method:

Preheat oven to 425°.

Unroll dough onto a baking sheet coated, I lined mine with foil for easy clean up. Spray dough with some cooking spray. I used a regular cookie sheet and stretched the dough about an inch past the edge of the pan.

Cook all the ingredients separately. I cook my bacon in the oven so I have the stove to cook everything else. Cook your eggs to scrambled.  Cook your potatoes to hash browns. Chop up the onions and mushrooms to diced or minced, as small as you can make them.

Spread the eggs along the length of the dough and then sprinkle the onions and mushrooms along the length. Add the hash browns along the length.

Add cooked onions, mushrooms, potatoes, and eggs.

Layer with bacon and cheese.

Layer the bacon and spread evenly to make sure every bite has some in it. Then top it off with your cheese. 

Make 2-inch-long diagonal cuts about 1 inch apart on both sides of dough to within 1/2 inch of filling using a sharp knife or kitchen shears. Arrange strips over filling, alternating strips diagonally over filling.  

Bake at 425° for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes. 

Breakfast for all!

Be sure to keep an eye on it. Mine cooked in 10 minutes since my oven cooks fast. Cut crosswise into slices and serve with hot sauce or pancake syrup.

-Amanda

Kara's DIY Glitter Shoes

These are Louboutin glitter pumps. I'm in love with them. Aside from the teeny, tiny little fact that I can barely walk in tennis shoes, let alone heels, I'd buy them in a heart beat if it wasn't for one little thing. They're almost $200. ON SALE.  My wonderful husband lets me cater to my high heel obsession as much as possible, especially knowing that they'll only ever be worn briefly and they'll mostly be stared at longingly in my closest. Yea, I'm not buying $200 shoes. BUT I was determined to make some. 

Off to Pinterest! It only took me about 10 minutes to figure out that lots of people have done this before with good results. I'll go into your materials needed and then cover the two different methods I found for creating your new fabulous shoes. 

Materials Needed:

Paint Brushes- At least 2 small for crevices and 1-2 medium for larger, open areas

Shoes- Flats or High Heels will work

Mod Podge

Glitter- Any color. Avoid super fine and overly course. 

A Paper Cup-If you chose Method 2. 

The Two Methods

1. The Dump Method- In this method you paint an area of the shoe with Mod Podge and then dump glitter on it, shake off the excess and go from there. I didn't use this method and I also heard that once your shoes are finished, you shed glitter everywhere you go. 

2. The Mix and Paint Method- This is the method I used. In this method, you pour some Mod Podge in a paper cup. Mix in some glitter. For about a quarter cup of Mod Podge, I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons of glitter. You want it thin enough to spread easily and to not clump up. The Mod Podge is going to cover the color of your glitter but don't worry- Mod Podge dries clear so your glitter won't be affected by it once its dry.

The How To For Method #2-

1. Put down newspaper on your work area. 

2. Wipe down your shoes and let them air dry (I just used a baby wipe). 

3. Mix up your Glitter and Mod Podge mixture. 

4. Start painting! 

Tips: 

1. It's easiest to do the inside of the heel and work your way out from there and then down. 

2. It will take about 2 to 3 coats to fully cover your shoes. Usually by the time you've fully finished the first coat, you can go back and start the 2nd coat, and so on. 

3. Letting them dry for 24 hours is a good thing before wearing them. =] 

And here are some pictures of the first pair I ever made! I've since made two more pairs as gifts for people since they were such a big hit! I've actually been on the lookout for a clearance pair of flats to glitter up! Hopefully I'll spot some soon!

They're certainly not Louboutins but hey, they're glittery enough that make me happy AND they have the added benefit of being awesome dress up shoes for my kids to play with. So there you go! A fun way to add a little sparkle to your wardrobe in an hour! Enjoy! I hope you were (p)inspired! 

-Kara

Corrie's 1-2-3 Cake Stand and Apple Cake

I like to pretend that I'm a good baker, when really I'm not. When I walk into a bakery of some sort, I always get so inspired by what I see. Just the way some of the desserts are displayed makes me want to go home and display my treats just the same, which brought me to one of my first Pinterest projects.....a cake stand! 

I've always wanted one, but never had a reason to have one (see above; not a very good baker). So when I saw some pictures of cute handmade ones, I decided to just go for it. Why not? I unfortunately have no pictures of the process, but the finished product is all that matters. All you really need is either a pillar-candle stand or a bowl, like I used, a cute plate, and some epoxy. 


It's as easy as 1, 2, 3....first make sure both surfaces are clean, second apply epoxy to the candle holder/bowl, third wait for the recommended amount of time on the epoxy's directions. That's it! I'm pretty proud of my cake stand, even if I don't have a reason to use it as often as I'd like- unless I actually bake something!


That brings me to my next project. William Tell's Never-Miss Apple Cake. So so easy to make, and so very delicious as well! I made it for a dinner club I'm part of, and it was a huge hit! Even when I brought the leftovers home, it was gone within three days. Pinterest is addicting but trying new things really pays off!

-Corrie

Sara's Menu Board

Sara is graciously sharing content from her own project blog with I Was (p)Inspired, and the first thing that caught my eye was her amazingly organized menu board!  Here is what she had to say about the creative process involved-


Ive been spending FAR too much time on Pinterest lately!

Something I repinned the other night was a homemade menu planning board. I thought about all the things I could buy to make my cute little board a reality... Then I scrapped the idea. Why you wonder? Because I already have everything to make one, I just needed to put a little more thought into what and how to make it come to life!

I keep cheap 8x10 frames on hand for our family photo wall. Thanks to my addiction to shutterfly and my desire to have pictures taken constantly, I need a lot! 

I still manually scrapbook occasionally. Shutterfly's photo books have kind of taken the place of sitting down with piles of paper and embellishments... And it's cheaper! But anyways, I still work on my husbands "Army Life" scrapbook by hand, so I still have some stuff. 

And then there's my stockpile of paint and wood cut outs from my side business... 

The gears start turning!

(I REALLY wanted to take a picture step by step of the process, but once I got into it, it just didn't happen!)

I took a simple black frame and made a funky collage of all the colors in my kitchen. I placed that behind the glass so the glue can cure and the paper can flatten, but at the same time I can use the background for ideas of where I can place everything else. (the glass is going to be removed)

I wanted to spell out 'MENU', but I didn't have any U's on hand, so I took the letters to spell out 'DINNER' and painted those. In addition, I also took 7 clothes pins and painted those.

I didn't think construction paper would be sturdy enough on its own, but I have card stock/scrapbooking squares and I cut those into strips. I've seen some ideas where people write the meal on one side and all the ingredients for the meal on the other, but that's a little too in-depth, even by my standards! 

We have about 35 favorite meals, so I wrote all those onto the strips, left a few blank and added some that say things like "eat out", "leftover night!" or "date night".

So, take all these things... Stir in a big pot and then cook at 350 until done and you get THIS! 

Editor's note: I mean, seriously, look at this gorgeous piece of work!

Isn't she pretty?

My thoughts on the end result:
-The letters for "DINNER" were a little too big and I couldn't get them on just right so I resorted to scrapbooking letters..
-The "stitched" effect didn't work out so well.. I put the bow on the wrong side..
-The orangey color doesn't work that great (I'll probably change it later)..

But overall I like it!

Now I'm toying with the idea of hanging it on the wall, or getting super industrial magnets for hanging on the fridge... I'm still undecided with this!

But total cost out of my pocket so far: $0

If you were to go and buy everything because you had none of this on hand, maybe $20 or less. The magnets I'm considering will run me about $3-4. Still - not bad at all! :)


EDIT: I went to Walmart and spent $2 on an 18 pack of stick on magnets. It took all 18 because this thing was HEAVY! But it works! We're happy with it! :)

- Sara D.

Author of Operation: Domestication

Shurrece's Heart-Shaped Pigtails

Here is my baby girls hair Valentine's Day morning.  It was so much fun and she was so patient!  This was my second pinterest project.  


I made pigtails, fed the tail up through the hair, then I divided each ponytail into two sections.  If you have a topsy turvy it would make things so much easier, but I don't.  

I twisted the right side to the right, had my daughter hold it, then the left side to the left.  Then rubber band the bottom, tie a bow around it and put a hair pin at the top of the heart arches. 


-Shurrece

Amanda's Crock Pot "Girl Scout Pouches"

Growing up my family always made Girl Scout pouches on hot coals during the summer time. My oldest sister had learned how to make these during a Girl Scout camping trip and we loved eating them but we only could have them in the summer. I'd gotten a big craving for them not long ago so I figured out how to make them in the crock pot to have them year round.

 You will need a crock pot and:

1lb hamburger meat (divided into 8 small patties)

1/2 head of cabbage(chopped)

1package of baby carrots(sliced)

about 7-10 mushrooms(sliced)

1 whole onion (sliced)

2-3 potatoes(sliced to chips)

seasonings of your choice

1/8th cup of water

You can add other vegetables if you'd like but these are all I ever use. Season your patties before you get started that way the layering process goes faster. I like to season mine with salt, pepper, seasoned salt and cayenne pepper. These seasonings will be the only ones used for the whole meal so you can change it up however you'd like.

 Pour the water into the bottom of the crock pot and then start to layer your pot. You can layer it any way you please as long as there is a layer of cabbage at the bottom and a thin one at the top of your pot. 

This is how I like to do mine- I put a layer of cabbage, mushrooms, 2 seasoned patties, onion, potatoes, and carrots and then I repeat the steps until the pot is full or all my veggies are used up. However you layer it I do recommend putting some onions touching the meat so it gives it more flavor. Also don't forget the thin layer of cabbage on the top of the pot when you are done. It's to make a "pouch" to keep all the steam surrounding the ingredients. Sprinkle some of the same seasonings you used on the meat on the top of the cabbage.   

 Cook on high for 4-5hrs. Before serving stir it all together so that everything gets a good coat of the juices in the bottom of the pot. This also will make sure the veggies on the top of the pot get some of the flavors mixed into it. 

Enjoy!

I hope y'all enjoy this meal as much as my family and I do.

-Amanda

Shurrece's Lollipop Valentines

Well, this is my first project that I have committed to from Pinterest!  I was so nervous that it was going to be too in-depth and take a lot of time.  In expecting this I put off making them until the last second....procrastinator is my middle name.


I gathered the kids on the eve of Valentines Day in whatever they just happened to be wearing, had them stand against the wall and hold their hand out in a fist like I had seen in the examples on Pinterest.  I ran to Walgreens, put a boarder and a message "I hope your day is super sweet" onto the photo then had the store print them out. I rushed home, grabbed a thick piece of cardboard, a razor blade and sat down to go to work.  

Original photo, pre-editing at Walgreens.

I experimented with the first couple to find out how long the slits on the top and bottom of the 'fists' had to be.  Once I had an idea I grabbed 3 at a time, stacked them and started cutting the slits en mass.  Finally the lolipops go in!  SO CUTE!!  

Finished products with lollipops attached!

The most difficult part of the entire project is storing them after the lolipops are placed in the photo's.  I put them into plastic shopping bags and will hope for the best that they don't get bent up in route to school tomorrow on the bus!  =) 
 
From picture taking to completion was 2 hours.
From getting home with pictures to completion was 1 hour.  
 
I'm already looking forward to our next pinterest project tomorrow morning before getting the kids off to school......twisted hearts hair-do.

"I hope your day is super sweet."

Lollipops for everyone!

-Shurrece

Becky's Saltine Toffee Kerfuffle

If you love cheap, easy, and delicious sweets- this post is dedicated to you!  

I found this particular Saltine Cracker Toffee recipe courtesy of The Girl Who Ate Everything (-slash- Pinterest, of course), though I know I've had similar desserts before.  The finished product photo from The Girl Who Ate Everything is gorgeous and super inspiring.  I mean, really, I was drooling.

courtesy of The Girl Who Ate Everything

The recipe, which you can find here, is so easy.  You need saltine crackers, butter, brown sugar, and chocolate to melt down.  You can use salted crackers or butter, but should avoid using salted versions of both.  

Assembly is so easy.  You cover a tray with a nonstick liner (ahem... more on this soon) and cover your tray in crackers.  The butter and sugar are melted and boiled together in a pan, then spread over the crackers and baked to get things saturated and caramelized.  Lastly, you spread your melted chocolate over the top and let the whole tray set until hardened, so that you can snap the toffee into pieces and eat as you go.  Ohhh yum. 

I made it through the chocolate part with no obvious issues.  This is what my toffee looked like just before I put it in the fridge.

 That's wax paper lining my cookie sheet.  It smelled good and looked right and I was so excited to dig in as soon as the sugar wouldn't burn my finger prints clean off.

Sadly when I began to remove the toffee from the tray, I quickly discovered that the wax paper had partially burned to the bottom.  I had to dissect the paper from the toffee.  Some parts of the bottom had burned and were not as delicious as I had anticipated.  Major bummer!

Sad charred bit with wax paper attached at the top.

From the side, it did look pretty close to the gorgeous inspiration photo.  And the taste of the non-burned parts was totally divine.

Pardon my really awful photography.

So the lesson I'd pass on to those who want to enjoy this yummy treat, is to make sure your non-stick liner is *actually* non-stick.  Next time I'll either grease the wax paper (I know it seems redundant but peeling paper off of your toffee is no fun!), or use some extra strong non-stick tinfoil.

If you've got 15 minutes and the desire, I definitely recommend this recipe as a nice treat to stash around the house or to share with friends... if you don't eat it all first!

-Becky S-R

Hello Pinterest fans!  I'm glad you've found your way to I Was (p)Inspired.

As I write this entry, I have great aspirations for this new blog.  I intend it to be a collaborative representation of the amazing things we can accomplish with our own two hands.  I hope that my crafty and talented friends will join me in presenting a visual record of the projects we attempt.  Most will be great successes; some may leave us with nothing more than a mangled pile of supplies and a really good story to share.  Our projects are all worth discussing, regardless of the outcome.

Many (perhaps most) of the projects we review will have been inspired by our Pinterest feeds, but any creative fodder is fair game.  Recipes, crafts, creative storage, cleaning tips- you will find these and other fun things here!

Welcome to the conversation.  Visit often and share your thoughts, your tips, and your (p)Inspired projects!

-Becky