Obligatory Ombre` Nails... Ombre` Project #2

Em here, so I posted ombre` walls earlier this week, and so of course after having done ombre` hair for many a friend (sorry I don't have pictures on hand, maybe I can track some down...get back to you on that one), I decided I needed to try out the ombre' nails we see ALL over Pinterest lately, so this one isn't so much of a Pinstrosity as it is a "Here's what we did, and here is what worked and what didn't" post, A.K.A.  Pin-Win!!!!

The Original

http://www.makeupwithdrawal.com/2012/04/tutorial-easy-sponge-gradient.html

The directions say to pick a base color, paint all the nails that color, and then using a makeup wedge put your darker color on, and the base color right next to it, and swipe it on. The more you swipe the more it turns to a gradient. Here is our version:

The Pin-Win

(A shout out to my toe model, Sweet Camille!!)

I think they turned out awesome! Here's what we did:

1. Prep all toes by putting Vaseline surrounding the nail.

2.Pick colors, she picked teal and grey (love!).

3. Paint toes base color, she picked grey.

4. Put a few drops of each color on a surface to sponge off of, like so:

5. Take your sponge makeup wedge, and dab one side with your base, grey,, and the other side with your color choice B, teal in this case.

 **We first tried doing the whole smearing thing that I have seen other places but it just looked smudged and ugly. That version requires your colors to touch before you put them on the sponge, for the way we did them you don't need to do that. Maybe I should write a Pinstrosity about the first attempt, hmmm...**

6. After your base is dried you can start dabbing with your sponge, you dab the teal on the free edge of the nail, and then flip the sponge and dab the grey where the base coat grey and the fresh wet teal meet. This will blend your colors beautifully! Also I would suggest dabbing gently and in tiny little sections, pressing too hard creates a sponge mark in the base coat, no bueno.

 **Note: Not all colors will create the awesome beautiful ombre` affect, some colors just clash, so if yours turns out horrific, it might just be your color combo**

7. It looks really textured and not finished until you add your top coat and then it all smooths out and looks awesome, and now your done!!

We had great success with this one, and I am going to do it on my own nails in the next day or two as well. Super easy and it was pretty fast, lots of options for color combos and fun to experiment with. Let us know how it goes for you guys! Have a great Friday everyone!!

                                               -Emilee

Ice Cream! No Really I Scream...

Em here, so I was in the middle of working on my doily project from yesterday that I promised I would show results of, when it started POURING! Hallelujah!! (We really need the rain.) Anyways so now I  probably have to do it tomorrow :( But on the bright side it opens up my time to write this awesome Pinstrosity from Andrea! It was her hubby's birthday, and he doesn't like cake (who does this guy think he is, jk jk my hubby doesn't like cake either. What the heck men?! Oh well, more for us :) ) and so she decided to be an awesome wife and make him and ice cream sandwich cake, that's right folks and ICE CREAM SANDWICH CAKE! So here is the original:

The Original

http://sylviagarza.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/ice-cream-sandwich-cake/

**Some comments brought it to our attention, that the website above is not the original, it is however the website that Andrea got her recipe from, just to give credit where credit is due, here is the other website that features this particular picture AND recipe: http://www.justapinch.com/recipe/ice-cream-sandwich-cake-by-donna-prouty-candibaby#.T5QPpoolGXG.pinterest Thank you readers for giving us this info!!**

Can I get an amen?! Amen! Here is how Andrea's turned out... :(

The Pinstrosity

Sad day!!! She said she followed the directions to a "T" and stuck it in the freezer in a cake container so it would be a, TA DA Surprise! And everyone's faces were surprised, but no the good kind... when she pulled off the top and the above is what she saw...

Tips:

The original says to layer the 8 ice cream sandwiches, top it with the cool whip, then the fudge drizzle and M&M's (are you drooling yet?) and repeat for all the layers. After you are done with assembly place it in the freezer for 3 hours. Seems simple enough right? Well seeing as cool whip is not solid by any means I would say the fault lies there, or Andrea;s freezer perhaps. Here's what I would do, however this version is more time intensive.

Take the ice cream sandwiches out of the freezer, top with toppings but only do the first layer, put in the freezer for an hour. Then pull it out and do the next layer at lightening speed, and freeze for an hour, and so on and so forth. I don't think that Andrea did anything wrong, the ingredients are just extremely time and heat sensitive...you have to keep it cold or it will turn out like Andrea's did, which she said her family ate, so all in all not so bad. But save your ego a low blow and freeze in between layers just to be on the safe side. Freezing between layers, and inserting all ingredients in their proper holding place (fridge, freezer, Arctic Circle, what have you) will not only insure that no melting happens, but I think it will make it easier to assemble as everything won't be falling apart on you...

Oh and to add, I might also point out that Andrea's freezer may be to fault here, it may not have closed all the way, been cold enough, or it could have been in a warm spot (weird but I had a freezer that did that), possibilities to think about, and a warning to future ice cream sandwich cake makers, check your freezer!!!

Let me know if anyone had a similar experience, we love your feedback, now  the rain has stopped, which means I have some doilies to see to! Happy Wednesday!

                                                -Emilee



Doily Do's And Do Not's

Em here, so along the lines of freaking awesome trends that I am in love with right now ( A.K.A. ombre`), one of them is doilies! What used to be Grandma's old table coverings are now the new decor trend and I for one LOVE it! The Mr. Chips and I have been wanting to do the doily lamp project, we have the doilies, now we just need to sit down and do it! That's the hard part, I know. Anyways Melissa sent us this project that I hadn't seen before but am now totally in love with (hello bedroom wall decor!!). Here is today's Pinstrosity!

The Original

http://shealynnbenner.com/2012/05/tutorial-7-spray-painted-doily-canvas/

Flipping fabulous right?! I LOVE this, 1st of all it is adorable, 2nd of all it's quick, 3rd of all. It. Is. Easy!!! The original blog Shey B, (which has tons of great ideas, pop over there sometime yeah?) uses spray paint (color of your choice), canvas, and doilies. That. Is. It. Can I say again how quick and easy this is, and say again how much I love this! Well Melisssa loved this as well, and went right to work, however not having all the things on hand that she needed, she (like so many of us) improvised, and wasn't pleased with the results (I for one thought they didn't turn out so bad, just some tweeks). Here is Melissa's version:

The Pinstrosity

So no, not awful we have seen MUCH worse. However she was hoping for a large masterpiece to put in her living room, and this just wasn't what she had in mind. She used paper doilies, and a lace scarf she had for the sides. She said the paper wasn't sticking to the spray adhesive (Shey said to use the adhesive if you were worried the doilies would slide around while painting). It just didn't look like what she was hoping for in her head, which we all know can be super disappointing. Here a few tips to help this one work out:

-Try to use the cloth doilies, you can find them at thrift stores, craft stores, or I have found them at antique stores for fairly inexpensive also.

-If you are using the paper doilies, and if they are sliding around, I would suggest sacrificing your hand and spraying with one, holding with another. There is more than enough room for a finger in the center of each doily to hold on to, plus paint of your hands make you look super crafty ;).

Other than that this one is pretty self explanatory, which is why we will do a quick recap ;)

Pick your canvas size, pick your paint color, place doilies on canvas in various patterns, if sliding around hold down with fingers, spray paint, let sit for 10 seconds, take off doilies, let dry, hang and enjoy!

There is a happy ending with this one however, Melissa did several smaller canvas doily art pieces and I think they turned out smashing! Here is attempt #2!

Happy endings do exist! I will FOR SURE be doing this project and then I will report back pronto to show off my fun pieces! Happy Tuesday!

                                             -Emilee

Ombre Wall Worries

Em here, so ombre` is super in this year, whether it's hair, nails, or the color of your walls, everyone is super in to this trend right now. I have to admit, I saw this pin on pinterest when I was pin-surfing the other day, and thought it looked clever. I for one HATE, and let me repeat myself, HATE painting houses. In our last house we painted one room and decided white all over the rest of the house wasn't so bad after all. Stephanie sent us her attempt at an ombre` accent wall, here is her tale:

The Original



http://psimadethis.com/post/29048629455/between-crushes-fascinations-and-lust-have

Freaking fab right?! I love it, wayyyyy too much work than I would personally do on a wall, but if someone would do it in exchange for cookies I would be ALL over that shiz.

Here is Stephanie's version...

The Pinstrosity

So no, it isn't as pictured above, but I think it has character. In the end she painted over the whole thing with the darkest shade and now has one awesome accent colored wall. Here is how it all went down:

1. Stephanie bought Wal-Mart paint, now nothing against Wal-Mart I am a frequent Wally World shopper myself, but some things are better bought with quality in mind. The original blogger used Valspar (which may very well be a plug, however it worked great for her, so maybe there is something to it eh?)

2. Stephanie purchased Latex paint, for this project that isn't great, as Steph (can I call you Steph? I'll call you Steph...) said in her email, this dries to fast to make the whole ombre affect work out well.

3.Steph purchased four colors thinking this would eliminate having to mix, but really didn't save her any time, and really just increased the amount of brushes, paint cans, paint containers she had around the room.

4. She painted the primer, no problems there, she then painted the lightest hue over the whole wall, no problems there. Then the darkest hue at the bottom in a panel, again no problems.

 *Pay attention here is where things went wrong*

5.She then proceeded to paint the next color up RIGHT above the darkest hue, so that there borders are touching. (We will get to why this went wrong)

6.She started running out of brushes, wet and dry. The original blog says to use a DRY brush to blend the colors. She tried to salvage the project but started running out of paint, and because it was latex it was drying too fast to blend adequately.

How To Fix This

-First off, you need to purchase oil based paint, Steph suggested this and I completely agree with her, it dries much slower, and will in turn be much easier to blend.

-Buy quality paint, I think you will find it is easier to work with, and you will generally have more option for colors.

-When deciding on your colors really try to choose colors from the same swatch, but make sure that they aren't too big of a hue jump from color to color. Steph said she ran into this problem with the darkest being too dark to blend with the color above it.

-Choose three colors, your light, medium and dark. Don't try to short cut by adding more colors it doesn't seem to bode well. The tutorial on this isn't very specific and leaves a lot for assuming, so I did a little diagram of what to mix and what panels go where below.

Here is how the panels go (Starting with the panel closest to the ceiling):

Light

Medium+Light=Medium #2

Medium

Dark+Medium=Dark #2

Darkest

-Leave a small section between each panel for blending. If you don't you are using too much of each panels actual color and it seems to defeat the purpose of painting all those panels. Are you still with me, I know this is a bit lengthy...sorry.

-Steph has suggested also that you have extra brushes and paint containers on hand, and I would have to agree again. It is better to have too many than to be a chicken with your head cut off running around trying to clean brushes and containers all over the place.

-Lastly have lots of time on hand, this project is time consuming. I would also suggest reading the original tutorial just for a basis seeing as I didn't include the full one here. You can find it by going to the link below the original picture.

If any of you have done this and had utter and complete success please let us know! We love your feedback! Happy painting, and seriously if anyone wants cookies for painting my house I would love me some ombre` wall action ;)

                                       -Emilee

Do-Not-A-Saurous-Cake-Es

Em here, yesterday's post just didn't happen. I know. I'm sorry. One of those days that literally just slips through your fingers. Again, my apologies. While our dearest Marquette is celebrating her 6 year wedding anniversary (woohoo!) I am in charge here, and you are in luck, we have some fun posts for the next week, starting with this doozy from Whitney...

The Original

http://www.birthdaydirect.com/dinosaur-cake-pan-p-16068.html

Fun right?! I love it, and the website Birthdays Direct (the link is above) gives you three different dino cake variations, and instructions and supplies for each, handy right?

Well here is Whitney's version...

The Pinstrosity

Overall, (and you all have seen my cake decorating skills...I'm so sorry, please forgive me) I think it didn't turn out too horrific. But alas, Whitney thinks otherwise, she titled her email "Major Fail". Here are a few things to make this Dino, maybe a little...friendlier...

1. Use the supplies suggested, including the specific cake tips, (they say to use specific numbers, but then there is no where on the site to buy, or even see what tips they are talking about, so I would go with the below guide, and eyeball it) 

**A super awesome cake tip guide I found to help out :) http://twistnswirl.blogspot.ca/2011/09/decorating-bag-tips-by-wilton.html

Seriously though, this lady is a genius!**

2.The colors are good, the only suggestion I have with this is that maybe Whitney should have used a color that would contrast better with the green for her outline color, such as black for example.

3. In the original picture, the teeth, and eyes look to perhaps be fondant. I for one think that if you have the fondant on hand, it might just be easier to cut them out and place them on with icing than trying to do all the teeth same size with icing from a bag.

4.  And this is important!! Don't be too hard on yourself, the example cake was obviously done by a professional (see the white edging?) This cake artist has hours upon hours of practice, and every tool imaginable at their fingertips. I have had a few people (not just any people, cake people) tell me cake decorating is about trial and error, and TONS of practice.

So make some cakes, practice a lot, and whats the worst that could happen, your cake gets eaten? Let us know YOUR cake tips, I know we have some foodies out there, let yourselves be known! We love your  input! Happy Saturday everyone!

                                             -Emilee