The 1850 Mile Pinterest Challenge - February Edition

In case you don't remember, last month, I mentioned that a girlfriend of mine and her sister were participating in a challenge to replicate things they had seen on Pinterest.  I horned in and agreed to participate as well.

First let me explain what kind of crafter I am...a half-assed one.  I often see something I want to do, and start even though I don't have all the supplies or I don't take all the necessary steps, like sanding or wiping off the sawdust.  It's just the way I am..my mother can contest to that!

Anyhoo, I had a number of smaller projects or things for the kids that I wanted to complete this month and that is what I did.

First off,

I read this book

It was OK, the ending made me want to read more and there is supposed to be a sequel and a movie based on it.  I was surprised at how fast of a read it was...I read it in one day.  I discovered after that it is considered a "Young Adult" novel, so that explains the reason for it going by quickly.  That also explains why it wasn't as creepy as I hoped it would be, but I enjoyed it none the less and look forward to the next book. The author got the idea of the story based on random old photos he found and that to me, makes it pretty interesting.

Next, was a quick update to the knife block in my kitchen.  I had seen a post here and finally worked on it. I have no idea why it never occurred to me to paint it up.  That is just one more reason I love Pinterest.  I love crafting, but I am not crafty enough to create my own things...I need to copy someone else!  Here is my version of the knife block.

It started out like this

And ended up like this..in a buttery yellow

A close up of the butterfly I cut out using my Cricut and contact paper

The next thing I crafted was something for one of Hayden's daycare teachers for her birthday.   I didn't intend it for her birthday, I had wanted to do it for Christmas, but didn't know how to give just one teacher something different.  In about November, Brian and I ran into her when picking up the kids and we were chatting and at one point, she spilled her coffee and mentioned a quote on a little plaque her mother had on the wall, but when they cleaned out her mom's house, it went somewhere, but she wasn't sure where.  I got in the van and wrote down the quote as best as she could remember...knowing I could look it up on the Internet.   That is exactly what I did and when I gave it her, she was so touched!  It made me happy to do this for her...it didn't cost me much at all to make, but the impact was priceless!

 A couple of years ago, I bought about a dozen of these plaques at Winners,
not having any clue what I would do with them, but they were only
0.30 each!

Here is the finished plaque.  I printed the quote onto some scrapbook paper
and mod podged it on

Finally, I worked on some Valentines for the kids.  Between daycare and school, I had to make about 40 Valentine's.  For Hayden, I wanted to do different ones for daycare and school.  Now, I know I could have gone out and bought a box of them for way less money then I spent making them, but I am an over-achiever! (or a bugger for punishment, you decide)  I also learned last year, that it is WAY easier to just make them yourself and not let your kids help.  Last year I decided to buy some foam hearts and let Hayden put stickers on them, after about 5, he told me I could do them and I was stuck making it look like a  4 year old created them!

I got a couple ideas from here and here and one more, but somehow the link got deleted and I couldn't find it again.

Hayden's for daycare, I just printed off the pictures on cardstock,
glued them to more cardstock and taped on a couple crayons

Hayden's for school...I attached a bouncy ball onto the card

Abby's for daycare, it's a round piece of cardstock, taped into a small
container of playdoh

So there you have it.  My Pinterest completions for this month. Now to search for items for the next post!