All Jacked Up On Mt. Dew

It’s time for my final Pinterest inspired post of the week.  (Here’s #1, #2, and #3!)

Today’s Pinterest inspiration was this recipe for Mountain Dew Cupcakes…


Mountain Dew and Cupcakes.  Two of the world’s greatest gifts. 

Diet Dew is my vice.  I’m not afraid to admit it.  I wouldn’t make it through a day in the pharmacy without it.  It helps me deal with situations like this (keep in mind, the following is a true story)…

Pharmacy technician:  “Ummmm, Michelle.  There is a clown in line to pick up meds.  What do we do???”

Michelle: Looks at line.  Holy cow, there is a real life clown.  I am going to be killed by a serial killer clown.  I knew this day started horrible but I really don’t want to be murdered…by a clown.  Calm and cool….”Just wait on the clown.  I’m sure they are just heading to a party.”…..at 9:30am. Oh man, I am going to be killed by a clown.  (I have a vivid imagination.)

Luckily it was a very nice hobo clown who was headed to an award ceremony for National Clown Week (which is this week…Shout out to all of my clown readers!)…but I totally needed a Dew after this one. 
I digress…

How can you go wrong with Mountain Dew and cupcakes together?  I know about 85% of you are thinking “You can go very wrong, very easily on this one.”  And the majority of you are correct.  Not good.  Not bad. Kinda weird.  I made them for work.  I work with vultures…who also love Mountain Dew.  The vultures ate like 4 of the 24.  Not such good odds. They looked kind of pretty though…



You can find the recipe here….if you don’t trust me and want to try them yourself.  I even cut back on some of the citrus flavor and they were still a citrus lemony-limey mess.  A moist cupcake with good frosting consistency but weird tasting.  It’s like you take a bite and you think…hmmm..a little weird. How about another bite?  Still weird.  But I think I might like them. 3rd bite. Nope. Just weird.

This recipe concludes my attempts at trying out projects that I pinned on Pinterest. I will go back to pinning away with no real hopes of attempting any of the them any time soon…those truly are the best pins.

What’s the worst recipe you have tried?  What’s your vice..or vices?  Anyone else automatically think a clown in a pharmacy in a bad part of Quad Cities, IA is a serial killer?

Hive Vase Sort of Knock Off

It’s time for Pinterest Challenge #3 (Here’s #1 and #2 ).

It’s no secret that I love West Elm. Just not their prices. 

Take this vase for instance….$24….seriously?  It’s tiny.

I REALLY liked it…but not $24 liked it.  So I pinned it and moved on.

And then I got to thinking (scary, yes), didn’t I pin something about using puff paint on glass jars and then spray painting them?  Why yes, I did!

How hard could it be to do a hive pattern on a $0.50 vase from the Salvation Army?  Quite hard actually.  About half way through I was about 2 seconds from clicking on “buy me now” on the West Elm site because I was so frustrated with this project.  And I went I get frustrated, I buy things.  (I should mention that it was also near nap time…my nap time.  Note to self.  Don’t do crafts when sleepy.)  But I did eventually finish it.

Eh.  The puff paint didn’t come out quite as even as I would have liked but at this point I was just glad that I had found a way to get some resemblance of a hive pattern.  It looks good from a distance.  Ish.

If you have a steadier hand, it may be worth trying.  Here’s how I did it.

Round up your supplies:

• A jar or vase
• Puff Paint
• Stencil

Step #1:  Figure out how to get your stencil onto your vase for easy tracing.  Or freehand it if you are super crafty.  Just don’t tell me about it.  I may hurt you.  The memory is still a little to fresh on this project.  I ended up printing out a bunch of little hives and then taping them to the inside of the glass jar (which I failed to photograph…because I was angry).

Step #2: Trace stencil with puff paint.  It helps to have a steady hand.  I do not.  (Dental school dreams were crushed when I realized that my shaky hand would cause some problems in a person’s mouth.)  The puff paint didn’t come out evenly.  I decided I liked it that way.  Because I was tired.  Don’t mess with my Sunday afternoon naps.

Step #3: I spray primed and painted the vase after the puff paint had dried.  Easiest step of the whole project.

Step #4:  Display it…proudly?…in your master bedroom.  You know, the room that a lot of people don’t see.

I’m kind of over crafts right now.  At least my dresser has a little bit more life.

Have you ever tried to knock off something that you loved? How’d it turn out?  What are your thoughts on knock offs? Are they thrifty or theft?  (Here’s a link to this topic on Apartment Therapy that has me thinking.) 

Washer Monogram

It’s time for Pinterest Challenge DIY project #2.  (Check out Project #1 here!)

I’m usually not a huge fan of monograms but I thought this one was unique enough for me to get past the whole monogram thing.

And the dresser in our master bedroom needed something to live on it.  And washers are surprisingly pretty and cheap, especially when you already have a bunch hanging out in your garage.

This project was pretty straight forward.  Slightly time consuming. Lately I have this impressive ability to make simple tasks extremely difficult.

I printed out a large “S”.  I then placed a piece of cardstock over the printed “S” and lined up various sizes of washers on top using the “S” as a guide.  I then glued the washers in place using tacky glue. I liked using both sides of the washers for added contrast. Easy.  I did get a little carried away with the glue at the beginning.  I was like a pre-schooler on the first day of class…except I didn’t eat it.  Luckily it dried clear.  I then placed it in an inexpensive from purchased from the Target.

Here’s my final product…

It makes me smile.  I kind of want to make the entire alphabet. Making this was weirdly therapeutic.

It now lives happily in our bedroom.  Along with a couple of Salvation Army finds, our framed engagement collage, and another Pinterest inspired print that I made in Photoshop.  (The word “darling” makes me laugh. These heavenly muffins were part of the inspiration.)

Are you a monogram fan?  What would you call someone “darling” for….muffins, waffles, pancakes, ice cream??  A new ceiling fan in your master bedroom?  Oh darling, Nate….

Check out project #3 here!