Pinterest Day at the Cloud House

If you know me, you know that for the past 5 months Pinterest has been my go-to for ideas (some might say obsession, but they can just stop judging). I see something delicious. PIN IT! Something great for the house. PIN IT! Something for the baby. PIN IT! The problem is that I've pinned more than I can ever do in my limited spare time. I decided to combine my love of Pinterest, parties, food and making things into one big ball of fun. I had to clean my house to host said party, so I got a clean house out of it to boot. Win-win.

I invited several friends over and asked them to bring a recipe they had pinned but hadn't made yet or a craft they had pinned but hadn't done. It was an interesting mix of friends whose only common thread was knowing me. I work with Priscilla and share grandma stories with her. I used to work with Mycah and she is one of my original travel buddies and is now my Dancing with the Stars buddy. Our mutual goal is to score some tickets to see a taping, so if anyone out there can help us, please email me. She is sure Mark Ballas would marry her if he could meet her. I used to go to church with Kat and also went to the same camera club. You all know Lori. Current travel buddy, grandma to one of the cutest little boys in the world, and mother of a past girlfriend of my son. Here is what we came up with. Links to the Pinterest page can be reached by clicking on the blue words.

We started with a white wine sangria. It got 5 thumbs up.

Priscilla and Kat testing the sangria.

For crafts, we did a couple of DIY canvas prints like this and this.

Mycah working on her print.

Mycah did a canvas with a print I had printed on tissue and she glued to a stretched canvas using Mod Podge (that we made, too). It was a little thin, but worked fine for her project. She used pictures that she took on a recent trip to Paris.

Thumbs up for this one. It looked great.

I did 2 different types of canvases. One was of a subway art type of print that I did using a song that I (try to) sing to Reid, otherwise known as my Little Sack o' Sugar. (As a side note, this song is by Elizabeth Mitchell. She does beautiful songs for children that parents can enjoy over and over without wanting to poke themselves in the ears. Give her a listen). I had it printed poster size and glued it on a canvas with the Mod Podge. It was a little more difficult because the poster had been rolled and was a little unwieldy but all in all, a success.

Subway art for the nursery, not quite dry

Next were the invites that Lori and I did for the baby shower I'm giving with a friend for Lori's son and his wife. Definitely a thumbs up. We added an information card about registry and mailed them in a glassine envelope.

LOVE!

The other canvases were made of prints that I had done some time ago. They were done on heavy art paper and that coupled with the too thin Mod Podge made for some less that wonderful results. The prints bubbled a little and dried with wrinkles on one. Good thing that the subject of the photos was so adorable.

Probably the cutest kid in the world. Notice the wrinkle over his right eye on the top pic? The bottom bubbles dried out flat.

Had to go neutral thumb on this one.

I made a Feta dip and Kat made some bread sticks and Pricilla made a black bean/corn dip (recipe to follow).

Kat's bread sticks

My feta dip

P's black bean dip

We had a great time and plan on doing another Pinterest day for Christmas decorations and/or gifts. If Meg has a girl, you can also count on a Pinterest day for girly accessories! Start your pinning now!!!!

Sherry's Black Bean and Corn Salad

1 can of black beans

1 can of corn

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 package of grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 purple onion, finely chopped

Small green bell pepper, finely chopped

Chopped cilantro to taste

Sweeten to taste with Splenda

salt to taste