A Tale of Woe... Pinterest strikes again....

One of my resolutions this year was to craft more.  I have a Pinterest Board filled with fun crafts and projects, just waiting for me to find the time to work some magic on these ordinary objects and make them into something magical.

So, over the past few months, I've gone through my boards and pulled out a few things that I felt like following through with.  They were quick and easy, and I thought for sure I had the skill level to pull these little gems off.

So, without further ado, here is the update on my Pinterest Projects of the year.

Glitter Dipped Mugs

My original post about the glitter dipped mugs was here: Glitter Dipped Mugs.   The original directions I followed were posted on White House Black Shutters. 

The appeal of these mugs to me was that they were supposed to be dishwasher safe.  We have a space challenged kitchen, and I hate hand washing anything, so there was definite appeal to me for a dishwasher safe version of this.  

These purple beauties were my original mugs.

The cheap knock off sealant.

If you read through my original post, I talk about a 3 layer mug that I had to redo.  I had also run out of the dishwasher safe Mod Podge I originally used.  So, I went  to my local craft store and bought a different brand of decoupage sealant that claimed to be dishwasher safe.   Moral of the story here, not every sealant is equal.  It's worth tracking down the "official" dishwasher safe Mod-Podge brand sealant from the store. I ran both cups through the dishwasher on the same day.  (I labeled the bottoms with a sharpie with the initials of the product because I was curious if they would hold up in the dishwasher.)  Imagine my utter frustration when I opened up the dishwasher and found that ALL of my dishes, silverware, everything - was coated with a fine layer of purple glitter....

A disaapointing result.  HOW am I going to get the rest of the glitter off of that cup?

Coke Can Succulent Garden

I found this totally adorable garden, along with instructions on Polka Dot Chair.

Cute beyond words, isn't it?

Alas, my black thumb struck again.  Less than a month later, THIS is all that is left of the garden:

And here I thought cacti and succulents could withstand even ME?

Kitchen Organization

We have been challenged for space in this kitchen since we moved into this house 10 years ago.  We don't have the money set aside for a kitchen remodel, so we've been trying to find space within the existing cabinets.  I found this little trick on Pinterest, and it was awesome!  I found some vertical dividers, specifically for pans at a home improvement store.  They are screwed into the bottom and the back of the cabinet.  Voila!  Look at this!  Space!  The cabinet is not wide enough to hold ANYTHING horizontally - pans, pots, etc.  With this one, wonderful little trick, we now have more than enough space to hold the large, long cookie sheets, pans, and cutting boards!  They're no longer sitting on top of the toaster oven! 

Vertical Pans!  Everything fits!

I'm curious.  What Pinterest projects have you tackled, and how did they turn out?

Glitter Dipped Mugs

With the winter weather we've had this week, I've been out of work for the majority of the week.  I've worked 2 days this week.  In the meantime, I've been hitting up my Pinterest Boards, and working on craft projects.  This is the latest find!  The glitter dipped mugs look beautiful, and I had to try!

The necessary supplies- glitter and mod podge

 I found the original project here: http://www.whitehouseblackshutters.com/glitter-dipped-mug/

Since the directions for the mug itself are written on the white house black shutters blog, I am not going to repeat them here.  You can follow the link to see the step by step directions.

Setting up the craft area:  lots and lots of newspaper.

The blue stripe is painter's tape.  Pretty purple glitter on my mug!

The mugs have been glittered - waiting for their layer of Mod Podge.

I do have a couple of very important notes on this.  The blue and green glitter is extra chunky glitter.  The purple glitter is superfine.  While the blue and green looks really cool, the purple is a little more understated, and it doesn't "glitter" the way you think it should.  It's pretty, but it's not glittery.

In her blog, Ann Marie recommends waiting overnight before applying anything over the glitter.  The directions on the bottle of Mod Podge say you can apply a second layer after 2 hours.  Don't do that!  Wait overnight between layers!  I waited an hour, and I applied three layers over the glitter on one mug.  On the other mug, I ended up waiting overnight between layers and I only added two layers of Mod Podge.  I also left the tape on my mug and didn't pull it off.  All big mistakes, let me tell you.  The entire purple glitter layer ended up peeling off of my 3 layer mug yesterday.  I'm going back and redoing the entire thing today.  I'm going to wait overnight in between layers, and I'm going to only put two layers of glitter on my mug.

So, was this a pinterest success or fail?  One mug was a roaring success!  Okay, so it was the one that I followed the directions to the letter.... The other one, I rushed and took a few shortcuts.

I'll claim this as a Pinterest Success Story!