DIY Christmas Ornament: Toilet Paper Roll Flower

This is another installment of The Pintester Movement: Ho Ho Ho Edition

I know it's a little early still to be talking about Christmas, but really it's the Pintester's fault, not mine. This time around, we were challenged to do a pin of a DIY Christmas ornament from Pinterest. After browsing for awhile, I decided on this one, because apparently I have a thing for toilet paper roll crafts. So does E, and this one was a really easy and fun one to do with her. 

I already had the toilet paper rolls, of course, and the paint (we used acrylic paint that I had lying around), so I just had to run to the craft store for some twine and tacky glue.

Supplies

1 toilet paper roll per ornanament

Scissors

Tacky glue

Craft paint (I used my acrylics)

Twine, ribbon or string

Anything else you want to use to decorate it with (we left them as is because by the time we were done painting, E was bored)

Step 1: Squash the toilet paper rolls flat

Step 2: Cut roll into six equal(ish) pieces. Don't let your preschooler convince you that she can do this part by herself.

Step 3: Start gluing.

Step 4: Let dry for a few hours. Find another way to entertain your preschooler while they dry or she will constantly be checking them and actually hindering the process.

Step 5: Paint!

Step 6: Once the paint is dry, cut a six-inch length of twine per ornament, and attach. Tada!

Now E is continually asking me where the Christmas tree is, because why on earth would we make Christmas ornaments if we weren't going to put them on a tree? But we stayed busy for an afternoon and now I have a cute flower that she made to hang on the tree once it's up, so I call this a win.

Happy (early) holidays, all!

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Chicken & Pumpkin Cream Sauce Pasta

When I run out of actual planned meals for the week, but haven't made it back to the store yet, I like to play a version of Chopped with myself. I find a protein and a starch or grain and see what I can whip up with them. This week, I was left with a pound of chicken breast and some whole grain pasta. I also still have a ton of pumpkin left, and thought maybe I could incorporate it into a chicken pasta dish. So I scoured Pinterest for "chicken pumpkin pasta" and came across this pin of this recipe.

I glanced at the ingredients and figured I would have everything I needed. As it turned out, I didn't have any chicken broth or heavy whipping cream. But I was able to find substitutes for both of them, so I forged ahead. And then I realized I didn't have any sage, so I looked up spices that typically accompany sage and used the ones I had from that list instead. The recipe you see here is a result of all those substitutions, a sort of Frankenstein's monster of mish-mashed ingredients that I figured would be "good enough."

Don't worry, unlike Frankenstein, this story has a happy ending.

Ingredients

8 oz whole grain linguine 

2 Tbsp butter

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch strips

2 cloves pressed or chopped garlic

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/2 cup water + 1/2 Tbsp olive oil mixed (sub for 1/2 cup chicken broth)

1/2 cup milk + 1/4 cup melted butter mixed ( sub for 3/4 cup whipping cream)

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions: 

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and keep warm.

2. While pasta is cooking, melt butter in 12-inch skillet until it sizzles, then add the chicken and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through (8 to 10 minutes). Add chicken and garlic to pasta.

3. Combine the pumpkin puree, chicken broth (or substitute), whipping cream (or substitute), herbs, spices and salt in medium bowl. 

4. Pour over pasta mixture and stir to coat. Heat everything up over medium heat until heated through (3 to 5 minutes).

The end result was actually pretty good! My husband said it was "surprisingly good" (a glowing recommendation if ever I've heard one). It was pretty devoid of color, though. If I were to make it again, I might try it the way it was originally intended. But without having the original version to compare this one to, I think this was a pretty good substitute.

This has been another installment of The Pintester Movement, where I pick a pin and just go for it, win or lose. I'm counting this one as a mostly-win, since all of the substitutions didn't render the dish inedible!

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style: Pinspired

Necklace and flats/ Target | Cardigan/ gift | Tank/ Target (thrifted) | Pants/ Post Exchange

This is one of the pairs of pants I bought this past weekend. They are the farthest I've pushed myself out of my comfort zone since making the decision to start pushing myself out of my comfort zone, so while I knew I could pair them with a lot of clothes in my closet, I wanted the first time I wore them to be something I was comfortable with. So I perused Pinterest for some inspiration.

But since blue pants are such a trendy item, most of the pins I saw had them styled with other trendy items that aren't really conducive to the SAHM lifestyle. Then I stumbled across this pin of an outfit of Audrey's that I had forgotten about. I had been thinking of all the other colors in my closet that I could pair the blue with (fuschia? green? red?) and it didn't even occur to me that I could just pair them with black and white so that the pants were the star and there wasn't too much else going on. Which makes it the perfect way for me to dip my feet in the waters of colored jeans without psyching myself out. I am in love with this outfit and can't wait to wear these pants again.

 

Linking up with Sarah's Real Life for the Pin to Real Life Challenge!  And to Fashion & Beauty Finds for Keeping It Casual Wednesday!

Kid Craft: Umi Goggles

I don't know if you're familiar with the show "Team Umizoomi," but if not, it's a Nick Jr. show that teaches kids math skills which is great for them but mind-numbing for adults (though, what educational kid's show isn't?). If you are familiar with the show... I'm sorry.

Anyway. E and I were watching it a couple days ago. There's this thing that the characters on the show use to see into things like water or trees, called "Umi Goggles." (They're basically some sort of crazy combination of x-ray vision and binoculars.) They were using their Umi Goggles to find a gold star or something, and E wanted some too. 

I had an idea.

 

I grabbed a couple of empty toilet paper rolls. We glued them together. I let her paint them with her water colors. Bam. Her very own pair of Umi Goggles. They have been inseparable ever since. She uses them to look for and find everything from her toys to the toilet. 

 

Is this a serious craft post? No. What this is, is a reminder to us moms (myself included) in the Pinterest era that not every craft has to be Pinterest-worthy to make your kid happy. See that smile up there? That's what it's all about. 

Note: I am in no way knocking Pinterest. I love Pinterest. I am also in no way knocking the super-crafty moms who come up with and do those crafts all the time. We all have different strengths. I myself have suffered a mild existential crisis at my inability to do a lot of those crafts with my kid and the feeling of failure that comes with that, and I thought this would be a nice reminder for those other moms out there like me.