thursday's ten: pinterest love

have i mentioned i love pinterest?


today's list is compiled of ten ideas i've ACTUALLY used from the site!  these are the first ten pins i've completed, but i'm sure there will be more editions to come :-)






(1) my very first one was this idea to use magazine racks for pantry organization.  i did this pretty much when i moved in in august.

"pinspiration"

i started with one...

and ended up with a "few"

verdict: LOVE.  our cans are no longer out of control!

(2) i FLIPPED when i saw the idea of the date stitched into hem of your wedding dress so i asked my friend who was doing the alterations if that was a possibility.  she replied that she was already thinking of surprising me with that very thing!

pinspiration

unfortunately, my dress is currently at the in-laws and i can't post a picture of my result...but i'll try to remember to do that later!


verdict: loved making this my something blue, and love it being permanently on the dress!

(3) then i kept seeing a pin for a crock pot breakfast casserole.  tried it one saturday morning...

pinspiration

actuality

even though it went IN looking good!

verdict: one time only.  it was dry and even though it tasted ok, it's nothing spectacular.




(4) then i saw one using spice shelves for organizing the bathroom sink.  since i was frustrated with our medicine bottle organization, i decided to adapt it.

pinspiration

our take on it

verdict: it's not perfect, but it's WAY better than before!






(5) then i saw this one.  it was two dressers back to back to make a kitchen island, but that's not what drew me in.  see, we had repurposed a similar dresser as our entryway piece, and i wanted it not to look like...a dresser!  and i already had some fun bird and branch wall stickers...

pinspiration

result

i love the bird on top :-)

verdict: i really like i, and so does anthony!  it's subtle, but just quirky enough to be "us" AND bonus: it makes the repurposed dresser "fit" more in the living area.




(6) i thought these crescent roll desserts looked yummy...

pinspiration

adaption 

verdict: we loved them and experiment with other flavor combos when we make them :)


(7) i found another idea i thought was brilliant: sheets stored in their own pillow cases.  i decided to try it out.

reality

pinspiration

verdict: it may not look as neat as the original but it definitely makes life easier!

just wanted to prove that the closet as a whole is neater than that shelf!

(8) natasha and i wanted to make one of the several recipes we have found on pinterest.  we settled (easily) on buffalo chicken tacos.

pinspiration

we did a build your own bar 

Anthony's plate was a work of art!

verdict: we loved them!  definitely a keeper recipe

(9) the idea of wine cork journaling was intriguing to me -- basically you open a bottle of wine and have the guests who are there that night sign the cork.

pinspiration

our ONE example :-)

verdict: it's a great idea, but we don't open wine for every occasion that we'd like to remember...and some wine isn't corked!  so we'll use it when we have a chance :-)

10) menu dry erase board

pinspiration

ours

 verdict: we've just started using it, but so far i'm a fan!


are you a pinterest lover?  have you used any of the ideas from the site?  tell me!

and the reason we talked about nuts and dried cherries yeterday...

guess what?
it's wedding related.  :D
(had you already guessed that?)

anthony and i had a tough time trying to figure out how to deal with reception food

first of all, we didn't CARE what we served
secondly, we didn't want to spend a ton of money.  and let's face it...there's a LOT of money wrapped up in food for as many people as we are inviting to this.
thirdly, we still wanted to be creative

this presented more than a few problems.

but one day, after coming to the conclusion that just serving nuts and mints may as well be the way we went since 'spectacular' isn't in our budget
we came up with an idea

what if...
we created a 'make your own trail mix' bar?
and the wheels started turning

right now, what it looks like
is metal scoops
antique-like candy containers
and handwritten cards labeling each one

i have a great group of people who have individually and collectively
offered to help with anything we need
so a couple of them will be responsible for keeping these filled
and others will be doing other things which you'll hear about eventually

this will be the 'favor' too...
but i'll explain how that works later ;-)

thursday's ten: diy centerpieces

that's right, ladies and gentlemen. i hereby vow to NOT let this become a wedding blog (or a marriage blog...or a baby/kid blog when that time comes) BUT because this is the stage of life i'm currently in, expect at least one post per week about wedding planning!

so, we're on a pretty tight budget and i've been perusing the internet for ideas for beautiful and cool things to do. i'm a teacher, and our motto is pretty much "beg, steal or borrow" so i have no qualms about it!

i have found SO many cool ideas, just in the last week or two for DIY centerpieces. some of them are cool enough that i'll probably keep them in a file for future entertaining ideas. we plan to host people in our home quite often, so i am anticipating needing ideas for beautiful and inexpensive decor!

here are 10 of my current favorites (it was hard to limit the post, so there may be another post or 3 of these before october!)



(clicking on the picture will take you to the original site.)

harvest centerpiece -- definitely appropriate for our october date!

these candles are STAMPED.  genius.  another tutorial on the same site uses vellum paper

morrocan is not our theme, but these were too cool not to include (i would make sure to wrap wire at the top to hide the obvious lid grooves if i were doing it...but that would be easy to do with copper wiring and copper paint instead of gold!)

 

LOVE this "chandelier" made with varying heights and styles of taper holders.  gorgeous.

 we likely will not use flowers in our centerpieces, but if we DO, this would be a fun way to incorporate a few.

 

our reception site ceiling isn't low enough for this one, but how COOL is it?!  if i ever host a crafting party...

mmm-kay, this one is UBER cool and a great way to recycle your own wine bottles!

for a summer wedding?  perfection.  and honestly, for our fall wedding we're considering using apples and other appropriate "harvests", so this could be adapted.

another relatively inexpensive way to use florals

if we were having a winter wedding...but i can TOTALLY see myself making this for a dinner party in mid-january...

 

it's a little overwhelming to find so many GOOD ideas!  i definitely have some thoughts running through my head of what i envision on our tables, but i'll have to play around with it some before i announce it here :)

what did you do?  or what do you think you'll end up doing when that time rolls around?