Pinterest Challenge #1

I know it's not the official Pinterest Challenge time as per Sherry Petersik at Young House Love and Katie Bower at Bower Power Blog, but hey, I'm on my own timeline - especially now that summer is here!  :)

A friend and I made a goal yesterday before leaving work.  The goal: make two things from Pinterest before the end of the summer.

I'm already halfway to meeting my goal, Jenn!!!

I saw this photo on Pinterest a little while ago...

I thought the beer can cake was so cool!  I've been seeing more and more of these types of 'cakes': diapers, school supplies, and now, beer!

We have a 30th party to go to tonight for one of our friends, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

My first step was to creep Facebook and see what brand of beer he actually drinks.  Random and stalker'ish'? Maybe.  Resourceful - yes!  Stella Artois was it!

Then I grabbed a platter from the dollar store - just a plain white one, as it seemed to be the sturdiest. 

I went to Michael's figuring they MUST have ribbon that said Happy Birthday on it, but they only had one roll and it was clearly girly with its pinks, purples and light green.  I needed something a bit more masculine.  I could've went with something plain, but then I noticed Party City across the street.  I headed over there in search of something and came across those foil birthday banners.  They had lots of different ones, so I picked one of those, after trying to decide for about 10 minutes.  Yes, for real.

Next stop, beer store, where I picked up a 12 pack of Stella.

I took everything home and set to trying to put everything together.  Admittedly, I dropped a few cans on the floor and finally decided to use some tape to hold everything in place, since the beers cans don't sit on top of each other really well, unless they are directly on top of the one underneath it.

I got everything stacked, then just used some leftover 30th birthday napkins from my husband's party to make a bow. 

This was my final result:

It turned out pretty cool, but I still think I like the original Pinterest photo and how the ribbon around the cans is not as wide as the banner I got.  Also, I love the lime green in the bow, but it doesn't go perfectly with the banner. 

My husband was thoroughly impressed though, especially with the fact that it's made from beer, so hopefully the recipient will enjoy it too!

Happy birthday Todd!  :)

We Interrupt This Program....

I know.  I am taking forever and a day to finish writing about our trip, but it's coming.

I just thought I would share this little DIY project that I did tonight.  I already have a post written that is entitled "My Very First DIY Project", however, that is on hold as I am still searching for fabric that I need to finish it.  So, this will have to be the placeholder.

One of my very favourite blogs to read is Young House Love.  Earlier this summer, I read about the Pinterest Challenge: Summer Edition on YHL, that was initiated by Katie at Bower Power Blog.  Basically, it was a challenge for people to (actually!) make something that they had pinned on Pinterest - instead of just thinking, wishing, hoping to get around to it one day.

So, this was my inspiration...

Because this is my reality.

I am not much of an accessory person, so this was never really an issue.  Lately though, I seem to have acquired more and more, especially longer necklaces.  I was getting really annoyed with them hanging on the knobs of the bathroom drawers and cupboards, because I have to go into them every day for something and the necklaces are always getting in the way.  I'd had enough! 

I must say, this wasn't the only necklace holder I saw on Pinterest.  There are tons of ideas on there and because I wanted something quick and easy, I chose the one above.

These are the materials I worked with:

• Wallpaper (leftover from a bathroom project)
• Hooks (Lowes)
• 1 pkg of two 12x12 Cork Tiles (Dollarama) <--picture shows two packages, but I only used one
• Stapler
• Glue Gun
• Scissors

Here is what I did...

 Lay the two cork tiles side by side.

Put hot glue all over one of the tiles.

Line up edges and stick the tiles together.

Place tile on wallpaper and cut out a piece, making sure that you have a couple inches on all sides of your tile.  Once you have your piece of wallpaper cut, put glue all over one side of the tile, centre, and stick to the wallpaper.  I forgot to take a picture of that step - oops!

Glue along the side of the tile.

Pull paper tight and hold for a few seconds until glue is dry.

Staple the wallpaper to secure it to the cork tile.  Then, do the opposite side the exact same way.

Next, fold the sides in as if you were wrapping a present.

This part was tricky to get photos of because I was trying to act fast, but basically I just glued where I thought it needed it (along edges, mostly).  I made sure to pull it really tight, so that the edges would look square from the front.  Add some staples as well, so that everything is secure.

Once all the sides are done, you should have something that looks like this.

The back of mine looked like this.  Oops!  It's not nice, but I figured since I was going to hang it, I didn't need to cover it.  If you are really picky, just cut another piece of wallpaper to fit over the back.

Figure out where you want to place your hooks.

Screw the hooks in.

It's coming together....

I decided to hang it in my closet, so I marked where I wanted it to go.

I used nine squares of 3M Heavy Duty Mounting Tape to hang this up.  It says to use four squares for each pound you are going to hang, not to exceed two pounds.  I wasn't really sure how much weight I'd even be hanging on it, so I just sort of slapped a bunch on.

I stuck it to the wall....and....

Voila!!! 



This was easy AND cheap.  All in all, it cost me about $7 to make.  I already had the stapler, glue gun/glue and the wallpaper.  So it was really just the cost of the cork tiles, hooks and the 3M mounting tape.  I even have a ton of extra hooks.  Maybe they will come in handy for another project.

Have you made anything you've pinned on Pinterest yet?  Let's see it!