Pin It

The problem is, for a site that is so big on sharing, it is not the easiest site to implement into your blog.  After a long time spent finding the code, I finally have the little PinIt button in my GetSocial plugin that floats in the left side of my page and I could not be happier! Now I do not have to worry about going to each individual post and choosing a URL and image.  Of course I still can choose to do this by using the Pin It instructions on the goodies page, but by having it right there with the other sharing options makes it available on each and every post I have ever written. Of course, I have added it to this post…feel free to pin!

I finally found the code snippet you will need at Chykalohpia and then I just changed it a little to get what I wanted.

The Magic Pinterest Code

If you want the PinIt button at the end of your post with other social media sharing buttons like twitter or facebook you have a few choices.

1. You can use a plugin like GetSocial as I have and add it to the additional options in the menu.
2. You can add the code to the end of each post or page in the HTML view.  This option is not preferred if you have other social media sharing icons here that will not match your new PinIt button.  However, it will work.
3. You can add the code to the loop of your post and / or page files.  Usually these are single.php or single-post.php.
4. If you are using Thesis (as I am) or another theme that has hooks you can use your hooks to add this code and the button to the bottom of posts or pages. I add code directly to my php files but you can easily break your blog this way so if you are using the Thesis plugin for hooks you would use the Thesis_Hook_After_Post.

Without further ado, the code!  Please note that this image pulls from one of my sites.  If you have a particular PinIt button you would like to use, make sure to replace the src portion of the code below with your own image file location.

<div><a href="javascript:void((function(){var%20e=document.createElement('script');e.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8');e.setAttribute('src','http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r=' Math.random()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());"><img style="margin: 0 0 -5px 0;" onclick="doPinIt();" src="http://www.tiptopnest.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/pinitbutton.jpg" alt="Pin It" /></a></div>

As a note, when you add this to the end of your post you can modify it’s placement using the margins in the code above and / or by applying specific css rules to it.

Using the code with Get Social

I chose to add this to my Get Social plugin because it puts them with the other sharing items.  If you use a sharing plugin and it allows you to manually add a site like pinterest, this should work. Get Social is awesome because it floats next to your posts and you have the option of easily setting in the menu where it floats, how far down it starts, what color it is and what icons you want to show.

The simple code to add for Get Social is as follows.  You simply add it in the box!

<div class="sharebutton"> <div><a href="javascript:void((function(){var%20e=document.createElement('script');e.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8');e.setAttribute('src','http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r=' Math.random()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());"><img style="margin: 0 0 -5px 0;" onclick="doPinIt();" src="http://www.tiptopnest.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/pinitbutton.jpg" alt="Pin It" /></a></div></div>

Here’s what my profile looks like.  It is full of things I love! I would love to share Pinterest with you so please check out my profile and of course, let me know if you have any questions! Let’s Get pinning!

Pin It

This is a simple monthly calendar made the way I like it.  Any extra space is used for notes and it is formatted so you can easily put three holes in the top and pop it in a binder or insert it into a plastic sleeve.  It prints on standard 8 1/2 x 11 paper.

It also has a nifty little place to write your main goal for the month.  For me, having weekly and monthly goals is a big help.  Giving yourself a focus for a smaller period of time can be very rewarding and help you to pin point a specific achievable goal.  Anything from cleaning out the attic to organizing your closet to finding a date night with your husband is fair game.  Write it down, look at it when you glance at the calendar and make it happen!

Go ahead, get organized with the Monthly Calendar 2012 or the Monthly Calendar 2012 with Jewish Holidays and get your new year started right!

If you want to download the calendar in MS Word, here it is!  I made it in Word 2010 so hopefully it will work in whatever version you have.  Monthly Calendar 2012 MS Word

If you missed it and you have a blog, check out the Weekly Blog Planner Printable!

If you want more organization, I will be sharing my whole family binder and printables with you this coming year!  Please consider subscribing via RSS or Email so you don’t miss a thing!

Once you have your silhouettes you can use them to make cool graphics or create awesome art for your house, holiday cards, thank you notes, mugs, mouse pads…anything!

I had a little fun with this and created Sibling Rivalry using profiles of my 5 year old Sophia and my 3 year old Miles.  The sky is the limit!

Pin It

You will need one of these two programs plus a photo that you want to turn into a silhouette.  I will be using profile shots against a high contrast background for ease.  You can get awesome action shot silhouettes though!  When you are working on a profile it is really helpful for hair to be off the neck so that you can get the line of the skull to the neck right.

Step 1:  Open your photo in Photoshop / Photoshop Elements.  You will see your main image as well as the Layers Palette to the right.  When you first open your image it is locked.

Step 2: Go to the Layers Palette and right click on your exiting layer.  Choose Layer from Background.  You can name it anything.  Hit okay and your photo layer should be unlocked so you can play with it.

Step 3: Select the part of the image you want as a silhouette.  You are going to use the Lasso tool for this.  When you locate the lasso tool in the menu to the left of your image right click to see your options.  I have used both the magnetic and the polygonal.  Play around and see which one suits you and your image.  The magnetic lasso will automatically find points around your image and wrap around them.  It is faster but it sometimes misses the portion of your image you want to select.  The polygonal lasso requires that you click all the way around your image at each point you want the line to move.   It is more precise and does allow you to more easily go around hair or accessories.

Once you have your selection and the beginning and end points of the lasso meet (this can be a little frustrating) you will see dancing lines around your selection.  Notice I did not have a perfect picture and chose not to include all that random hair.  Also, I can fix any irregularities later with the paintbrush.  What I really want is a good outline of the face and neck.

Step 4:  You want to remove the existing background.  Click on Select from the top menu and then Inverse.  This will create a dancing line around your entire photo.

Hit Delete and your background will disappear and your selection will remain.

Step 5:  Now you have your outline and you need to create the silhouette.  There are a couple of ways to do this but the easiest one I have found is to create a new layer.  You can go to the Layer Menu on the top and select New.  With the new layer selected use your paint bucket tool and fill in that layer.  I chose black (#000000) for my silhouette.  Do not freak out when the entire image turns black!  Oh no!  All you need to do is tell Photoshop to apply that paint bucket only to your “clipped” area.  Simply select the Move Tool (the little arrow and compass in the top left of your left side menu) and then hit CTRL+G.  This is the shortcut to create a clipping mask in Photoshop.  Then hit CTRL+E to merge your layers, use the paintbrush to fix and problems (or in my case finish the ponytail) and you have your digital silhouette!

Step 6:  Save your file! Please remember that if you are going to use this silhouette on a background (like on a website or for digital scrap booking) you want to make sure to save the file as a .png to preserve the transparency.  When you are ready to print and have a background you can save as a .jpg for use online or for projects.

Not only could you use these digitally but your could print them out, cut them out of black paper and use as beautiful art in your home.  They are oh so vintage and yet modern with the black.  I will attempt to figure out how to cut these using my cricut too.

Happy Silhouetting!  Please shoot me any questions in the comments and good luck!

I am linking up to…

Sophia absolutely loved it…and the yummy brownie.

This year as we were strolling along the beach we stopped strolling when we saw something sticking out of the tide as it rolled out.  It looked like the top of a large shell to me.  We eagerly started digging and found a giant conch shell!  As the morning progressed we dug up at least 40 huge conch (with nothing left inside except sand of course) and collected them to make a giant palace.  As we were admiring our hard earned shells, Sophia said she wanted a sea-shell treasure hunt at her birthday party.  With that, the ocean theme was born.

With every birthday party for young kids we try to have activities to keep them all busy and we always involve the kids in the planning and execution.  They love having a hand in their parties!  For the ocean theme we decided on simple blue and green ribbons, streamers and balloons for decoration highlighted by our DIY carnival style ocean games.  There is no need to go overboard with decor.  I promise – your kids will love balloons.  You already knew that though, didn’t you?

Here’s the lowdown on how we put together the party!  I will be posting a full DIY on the Octopus, Mermaid and Jellyfish so stay tuned!

The Invitations

We made these clam shell invitations on the computer and printed them out on some excess gold sparkly paper I had from my wedding!  Actually, this was the last of the paper but we have used it for every girl’s birthday party yet!  A little glitter paper and a little sparkle go a LONG way.

The Party Girl

As usual, Sophia wanted to be in costume.  This time she was a mermaid and for the first time in her life, she had the long hair she has been longing for since she was not even two.

Activities

We had a ball with these games…both making and playing them!

Ocean Freeze Dance – We made a huge ocean mix of fab songs like Wipe Out and Teenie Weenie Bikini and all things Nemo and Little Mermaid.  It was the soundtrack for the whole party.

Octopus Toss (Like Bean Bag Toss / Cornhole for kids) – we had fun making this and the kids still play with it every day!

Sea Shell Throw (Like the old Bozo Buckets)

Pin the Shell on the Mermaid – we made this gorgeous mermaid for this game and Sophia will hang it in her room as soon as I build a frame.  It was so simple and cheap and she really is a beauty!

Sea Sketch (Simple ocean outline with a pile of sidewalk chalk for kids to draw ocean creatures)

Jellyfish Pinata

Seashell Flashlight Hunt with Glow Necklaces and Necklace Flashlights – this was a HUGE hit.  We ordered glow necklaces in bulk and let the kids put them together as we waited for the sunset.  Then we handed out tiny necklace flashlights that were $7 for a dozen!  We hid hundreds of clam shells all over the yard and had the kids search for them.  Here is Miles in his necklace.

Food

We fed the kids dinner as the party was at 5:30 p.m.  It was simple: hot dogs, fruit, goldfish and macaroni and cheese.  The kids munched away and were rewarded with the goodies from the Jellyfish pinata and the Mermaid Fin brownie!  Yum!

Party Favors

The kids took home their glow necklace and flashlight as well as a giant conch they got to choose out of a big basket.  We wrote Love, Sophia on the inside with gold paint pen.

Overall the party was a big hit and once again, I am so glad to have not only the memories of Sophia and all her friends at the party, but of all the projects we did together getting ready for her big day!

I joined in and had a blast making these chocolate marshmallow treats with my kids.  We mixed it up a bit because my kids are little and don’t like their marshmallows over fire.  So, we made them in the oven and they were just perfect!  This is also a great idea if you want to serve s’mores at a party because you can make so many at a time and they come out thinner and stackable.

First, get your kids and their friends good and excited about the Hershey’s chocolate and marshmallows with graham crackers.  This should be easy.  Oh, heat your oven to 400.

Then line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay out graham cracker halves over the sheet.  Place a large fluffy marshmallow on top of each cracker.  I let the kids do all of this.  Clearly Sophia and her friend Sean have some mad skills here.  Also, she looks like she is making evil s’mores and he looks like he knows how good their layout is.

Patiently (yeah, right) wait approximately 5 minutes and be sure to open the oven to check the marshmallows.  This will release a tantalizing smell and make everyone super excited.  The kids will ask “are they done yet?” a million times.  You may feel like you are in the car.  At least this is just 5 minutes.

When your marshmallows are huge and have a gorgeous light brown top, they are ready.  Don’t they look just perfect?

Ready for some awesome Hershey’s chocolate!  Hershey’s delivered me some yummy bars and they melted a bit in this heat so we stuck them in the fridge and then just cut them up for this and it worked perfectly!  Toss some chocolate on those hot marshmallows.  If you like your chocolate a little firm then pop your cracker top on and eat.  If you want your chocolate melted completely then stick your assembled s’mores back in the oven for a minute.

Throw your yummy s’mores on a plate and you are ready to devour them!

Devour them we did!  The kids absolutely loved them and they were thin enough for the kids to eat!

We have always loved S’mores and had a blast making them at home and eating all of them.  Yes, we had more than one.  The kids were in chocolatey heaven!  Make your own s’mores with friends and remember, The S’more, the Merrier!

Win a Canon Rebel and more from Herhsey!

This summer, the Hershey Company is encouraging families to create their own S’mores memories with the Say S’mores campaign. Starting June 16, families are invited to capture and share their favorite S’mores moments on the Hershey’s brand Facebook page for a chance to win S’mores-themed prizes. The grand-prize is a Canon Rebel Camera, slate marble outdoor firebowl, $250 SnapFish gift card, roasting skewers set and all of the ingredients needed to make S’mores, including Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars. Families who visit the Hershey’s brand Facebook page on or after June 15 can download the Say S’mores application to participate in monthly photo contests and receive a $1 coupon good toward the purchase of any two Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar 6-packs.

Disclosure:  This post is part of my participation in the Hersheys Say S’mores Promotion. All opinions expressed are mine.

While at Disney with children under a certain age or grownups like me who totally dig character greetings – the autographs are everything.  While most of the books Disney puts out are amazing, their autograph books just did not do it for me and my small children.  Some are way too small, some are a little boring and none that I could find have individual pages for each character.  So I made our own autograph books that are meant to become scrapbooks when you return home.   Someone is every line asked where I had bought these books and where they could get them so I thought I would show you how to make them yourself!

Kids LOVE having a page to show to each character and it got them extra time with most characters, who loved looking at their very own page.  Sophia actually got more than a minute with Aladdin and Jasmine!

Chip ’n’ Dale, the Stepsisters, the Mad Hatter, Marie and so many others made a big deal over these books.  Before the trip, the kids (2 and 3) flipped through their books every day getting ready to meet them.  It helped them identify all the awesome characters they met and lessened any fear at some of the larger ones like Goofy or Tigger or the Beast!  The books are sturdy and totally sharpie proof so you can bring your biggest sharpies for the Plutos of the world and their big hands!

I used Microsoft PowerPoint for this but you could use any program that allows you to format your fonts and insert pictures. It is really simple!

First, decide which characters you would like to have a special page in your book.  You can use Disney guidebooks or Intercot has a simple list of which characters are where.  My favorite place to check out character greeting information is at the Disney Parks Character Blog, written by a gal named Kim who is expecting a baby!  She gives as much information about where to find each character andhow likely you are to find them.  You can easily search for any character.  I listed basically all the characters I thought we had the chance to meet at Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom.  I am now adding Hollywood Studios pages for our upcoming trip.  Altogether I created 55 character pages with Princesses sharing a page with their prince and Duos like Chip ‘n’ Dale or Lilo & Stich also sharing a page.  The kids met almost 60 characters so it was a big success!

Open a new document in portrait mode and set your margins to 8 1/2″ by 9″ .  I am making an 8″x8″ scrapbook.  If you wanted a different size you could adjust but this size is really perfect for backpacks and the 8×8 size is great for a child’s memory book.  You want enough room at the top to bind your book and leaving the width at 8 1/2 will save your page edges and a little money on having the paper cut.

Create your cover page and begin to add just the character names to each page thereafter.  You want at least a full inch left at the top of the page.  Make sure to add any special event your are celebrating to the front page.  Lots of people and characters at the parks do extra nice things for birthday boys and girls!  I added “Celebrating Miles’ 2nd Birthday” to his cover and he showed everyone.  He loved it!

Once you have added all the characters you want, it’s time to get a little creative.  I searched google for the right fonts for each character to make the pages look unique.  All of the fonts I used are free.  Here are a couple examples.  Mickey is Mickey font, Chip ‘n’ Dale is Gill Sans Ultra Bold, Mulan is Mulan font andWinnie the Pooh is the Pooh font.  I was able to find many exact fonts andsome that were close.  For the princesses, I found fonts that were similar to the actual Disney fonts and looked right on the pages when one was not exact.

Once you have your character names in fonts andcolors that you like, it is time to find pictures.  I searched the Internet for images and because this is for personal use, that is perfectly fine.  For many of these characters you could also just use stickers but I really liked being able to size the images and have them saved in the document.  Some are of better quality than others, but hey…finding a good quality jpeg of Brer Bear is not an easy task.  Don’t worry about this…remember, it’s for your kids and you will be decorating the pages anyway.

Finally, you are ready to print your book.  Start with just one page and print it out on heavy card stock.  You can buy packs at any office supply store.  My printer will print on this so I did it at home but you could also send your document to a local Kinko’s or Staples to have it printed.  Either way, print a test page and make sure the alignment is right.  You need room on the top for binding and want to make sure that your contents fall within the 8″ width of what will be your final pages.  Once you have okay-ed your layout, go ahead and print.  Because of the heavy paper and the amount of ink, I made sure to individually feed my pages into the rear feed of my printer.  I did not want any pages catching or smeared ink.

When you have your pages complete you are ready to take them to your local Staples or Kinkosto have them bound and protected.  You could do this at home with a 3 ring binder too and not cut your pages down until you return but this way comes out much neater and easier to carry.  You want to ask for your pages to be trimmed to 9″ andthen bound with spiral.  It only costs a couple of dollars to cut all the pages and about $10 to bind them.  I had the cover and back done in heavy plastic, clear on the front and black on the back.  It was amazing.  The kids looked at these books for more than a month before or trip and nothing ripped or was destroyed.  After the trip we had a little water under the front cover but inside the pages were perfect!

When you have your books you are ready for the parks!  Throw a bunch of big colorful sharpies in a plastic bag and go!  You will have a sturdy book with places for everyone to sign and enough room for special notes if you get in good with a character or two!

Get the cutest pictures possible and head home ready to make an awesome scrapbook with your kids that includes their autographs!

When you get home grab a piece of 8×8 scrapbook paper and take it with you to your local office store to have the paper cut down perfectly.   Find some cute scrapbooks and purchase as many pages as you need.  The kids picked theirs out at Michael’s.  I also purchased some big paper packs of bold colored solid sheets for the scrapbooks.

Then have fun assembling your scrapbooks!  The best thing about this is that you can combine the autograph pages with scrapbook pages for your non character memories.  Everything can be in one place and the kids can help decorate them.

Here are a couple shots of the inside pages.  We got some sticker packs from the craft store and are adding our own little handwritten memories as well.  My kids are very young (now 1, 2 and 4) but the older they are the more creative they can get themselves!  We love these books and spend lots of time flipping through them and adding decorations or memories as we think of them!

I hope you can find a way to get to Disney with your kids.  If you have the chance, it is a magical experience.  Kids of all ages (that means you too) will love it!  Creating these books was simple and helped to make wonderful memories last.  I hope you will let me know if you have any questions and please tell me if you make on of these yourself!  I would love to see your work!

Oh, by the way, we make simple pages whenever we will meet characters anywhere and they are always a big hit.  Busch Gardens, Six Flags…if there are characters…we want autographs!

I think they turned out super cute and the kids love them!  I am still trying to convince Miles to let us use some of his little animals in our forest but here’s how it looks with just the trees on a little sparkly snow.

This project is super easy.  I was hoping there would be a little more for my kids to do.  It would be perfect for ages6 and up.  Kids who are able to use real scissors and cut well with a grown-up’s supervision will be fine with this.  Sophia helped me cut but she, at 4, got frustrated with her circles.  She was able to help assemble the trees and place them on our snowy board. 

What You Will Need:

1.  Paper:  It can be wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, wallpaper or any paper large enough to hold your circles and easy enough to fold 8 times in half.  We used Ikea wrapping paper for our gold and glitter tree and scrapbook paper for the others.  I got an entire scrapbooker paper pack at Michaels for only $11 that was more than enough for this project and all my other holiday paper needs.

2.  Scissors

3.  Rod or Small Dowel:  I used kabob sticks as they were the thinnest I could find and a meat needle to make the holes.

4.  Glue

5.  Styrofoam or something to stick dowel in.

6.  Fake snow:  I got a bunch at Michael’s for $4.00 and have a bunch left over.

7.  Decorations:  To decorate plain paper or your forest you can use glitter, stickers or markers.  You can choose to decorate your forest any way you like!

8.  Surface for Forest:  I had a board laying around (of course, I build furniture) but any flat surface will do.  You are just wrapping the snow around it.

How to Make The Trees

This is so simple.  I have shown a three, four and five tier tree.  I like the 4 and 5 tier the best.  Each tree takes about 10-15 minutes to fully assemble.

1.  Choose paper and trace circles.   Most paper packs come with only 2 sheets of each style so you will need to choose 2 coordinating papers to get four tiers (see my green tree).  For three tiers 2 sheets of 12×12 paper will work.  I used mixing bowls and Tupperware lids to make my circles.  Just hunt around your pantry.  You want anywhere from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 difference from circle to circle.

2.  Cut out circles

3.  Fold the circles:  This is where the BHG instructions were not good at all.  What you want to do is take your circle and fold it in half.  Open it.  Fold it in half again.  Open it.  Do this 8 times until you have a 16 piece pie.  From those creases, pleat your circle and it will stand on its own.

4.  Poke holes on the tip of each tier and stand up.  Poke your dowel through and arrange tiers.

5.  Stick your dowel into a piece of Styrofoam (or something else that will hold it) so it will stand up and finalize tiers.  If some are falling down, some scotch tape will hold it up if wrapped around your stick.

6.  Cut out two circles from scrap of other trees to make the tree topper and hide the stick.  Glue two circles together and press firmly around the stick for about 30 seconds, or until the glue is set.

7.  Wrap some snow around your board or other surface and place trees on top.

8.  If you want to add little cone trees as we did, simply cut out some cute paper and make into a cone.  Staple the edges together and cut off the excess at bottom so tree sits flat.

9.  Accessorize and enjoy!  I think some pretty ornaments or sparkly balls would look cute sitting in the snow.  Small animals would also be adorable.

Happy Holidays!  Let me know if you have any questions and of course – please shoot me pics if you do this project!  It would be great done with wrapping paper on an even larger scale where kids got to decorate each tier.  This would also make it more fun for the little ones!

You Will Need:

Screwdriver to Remove Existing Fixture
Wire Stripper (simple Inexpensive Tool from any hardware store will have both a wire stripper and cutter)
Wire Nuts (2-3)
Utility Knife
Ladder
New Light Fixture

Instructions

1. Turn Off Power to the Fixture at your Electrical Box:  Flip the little switch to off for your room. Check the switch to make sure lights are off.

2.  Remove Existing Light Fixture:  Use your screwdriver to take the ceiling plate off and be very careful not to let the light fixture fall and rip the wiring.  Once the plate is off either rest the fixture on your ladder or have a friend help to hold it while you disconnect the wires.  Simply turn the wire nut / connectors that are there and pull the wires out. 

My Existing Nemesis...Ummm...Light

3.  Examine the Existing Wiring:  Usually you will see 3 wires coming from the box.  One white, one black and one copper.  The copper wire is the ground wire and should be capped and wrapped around a screw in the lightbox.  Usually a plug in fixture will not have a ground wire so you will not need this wire.

White, Black and Metal Ground Wire

4.  Cut the Plug Off Your New Fixture and Measure Your Desired Length from the Ceiling.  For a dining room you want to be 30-36″ above the table.  In hallways a fixture should be close to the ceiling and in other rooms your height will depend on whether or not you are working above a table.  If you are not, you want to make sure that no one will hit their heads.  I would stay around 7 feet.  When you cut your wire leave a little extra.  This can be tucked up into the box after but you do not want to be left with too little wire to work with.  You can always take more off if you need to later.

5.  Split the Wire and Separate the White and Black Wires Inside:  Using a utility knife carefully split open the casing around the wire and pull down to separate the casing from the wires inside.  Pull out the white and black wires.

Split Casing and Separate Inside Wires

 6.  Strip the white and black wires at the top to prepare for connection:  Using your wire strippers find the select gauge for your wires and strip the casing from the top inch or so of wire.  The correct holes are the ones that just barely grip the wires so that when you pull the strippers cut into the wire and literally pull the casing off.

Stripped Wire Tips

7.  Attach Wires:  Carefully thread the wires through the ceiling plate of your new light fixture and prepare to attach the wires.  Attach white to white and black to black by putting them together and inserting them into your wire nuts and turning the nut to essentially weave the two inside wires together.  Cap the ground wire if it is not already capped.

Attach White and Black Wires Using Wire Nuts (Orange in Photo)

9.  Make Sure the Light Works:  Turn on your power and check that it works!

We Have Light! The Plug is Now on a Switch!

 10.  Attach Ceiling Plate to Ceiling:  I used the same ceiling plate that was already there but whatever you chose to use lift the plate to the ceiling and do a quick measure to make sure the fixture is the height you want it.  Then using screws reattach the plate to the bar across your light box.  Depending on the type and weight of your new fixture you may need to change out the bar on the inside to make sure it supports your fixture.  In my case I was simply installing a hanging bulb so I have no weight issues.

11.  Finishing Touches: Add any bulbs or lampshades and enjoy your new lights!  I adore my new and very simple paper lantern – the Regolit from Ikea.  At only $5.00 I am in love with the style and price!  The light I used is the Ikea Hemma Cord Set for $3.99.  Um…that’s under $10.00!  So without further ado – here is my new hardwired simple dining room lantern.  The diffused light through these paper lanterns is gorgeous and so flattering and it’s on a dimmer so we can be as playful or romantic as we like!

Modern Simple Hardwired Lantern

12.  Enjoy!

This project actually took me longer to blog than to complete and I am so glad I learned how to do it myself!  I am now eyeing the fixtures in every room for simple fixes.  On a design note – if your budget permits I would mix really inexpensive finds like this with some swankier choices so your whole house does not look like it is from Ikea.  You can find some great fixtures at yard sales or even at big box stores that are meant for hard wiring and hang them yourselves.  There are tons of lighting options that come with a plug and for those this simple tutorial will have you switching them on and off in no time flat!

I would love to hear what you can two with a little time and inspiration!  Let me know in the comments if you have any questions and please – tell me what you think!  I will post my whole On The Cheap Dining Room Re-Do soon so stay tuned for more money saving tips and tricks!

The perfect Bloody Mary takes a little more work than some other cocktail concoctions but this is well worth it. You want to start about a week in advance, invite some friends over and then let the anticipation build!

Ingredients:

1 Handle Vodka (We use Absolut but you can use any mid priced Vodka)
2 pounds heirloom tomatoes

Instructions

Step 1: Prepare the Tomato Vodka - Start 5-7 days in advance. Quarter 2 pounds of heirloom tomatoes. Pour one handle of Vodka into a large thermos or other container with lid. Combine the tomatoes and vodka and stir. Put the lid on your container and place in a refrigerator. Stir the tomato vodka mixture daily. You may taste this on a daily basis – it’s yummy!

Step 2: Prepare the homemade Bloody Mary mix – You can do this on the day of or a day or so before. It will keep for a few days. Take 5 lbs of tomatoes and cut them in eighths and throw them in a roasting pan. Include in the roasting pan one whole yellow or Vidalia onion (sliced) and chopped cloves of garlic. Top tomato, onion aid garlic mixture generously with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Step 3: Broil the Tomatoes – Set broiler to high. Put roasting pan under the broiler on the middle rack for 30-35 minutes. Carefully pull oven rack out with glove and stir every 10 minutes

Step 4: Strain the Tomato Juice – Remove the roasting pan carefully and pour through a wire strainer to catch the liquid in a very large bowl. Be careful – the pan and the liquid will be very hot. Let the tomato mixture sit on the strainer for 20 minutes or so to get the most juice into your bowl. Then take the remaining mixture and transfer to a blender.

Step 5: Blend Tomato Mixture – Add a 1/2 cup of water to the blender and blend mixture. Then transfer back to the strainer. Let sit for 20 minutes. You may want to mash the mixture with a spoon to help the juicing process. Repeat at least once more. Throw away pulp once you’ve determined there is no more juice.

Step 6: Complete Tomato Juice – This process should yield 2-3 quarts of tomato juice. Taste the juice and add a few squirts of lime and lemon juice. Depending on how many people I am serving, I will sometimes pour one half of my mixture in to another pitcher as reserve and take the 50% remaining and add to it half a bottle of straight Bloody Mary mix to increase volume. Chill juice in fridge. It should last in the fridge for more than a week if for whatever reason you have made too much.

Step 7: Making the Best Bloody Mary Glass – Pull out two plates. On one of the plates, pour less than half a shot of vodka. On the second plate, pour several tablespoons (depending on the number of guests) of celery salt. Take a glass cup and dip the rim in the vodka. and screw the glass in to the celery salt plate (similar to the way you would apply margarita salt). Make sure the rim is coated with celery salt.

Step 8: Prepare and Serve the Bloody Mary- Add ice to the glass and pour in tomato juice and tomato vodka (your call on how much). Next add a teaspoon of horseradish, a dash of celery salt, Worcestershire, black pepper, Tabasco (I like the habanero version) and garnish with a small celery stalk. Some folks prefer lime or raw okra over celery.  All are fine choices.

I know there are a lot of Bloody Mary lovers out there as well as a lot of experienced recipe / food bloggers so please give me any suggestions and / or feedback.  This is the first time I have ever tried to post a food tutorial and I found it harder than a furniture one!  I think you will love the drink so plan yourself a little party and impress the pants off your friends with this incredible drink!  Who would not be impressed with tomato infused vodka?  Of course – come back here and tell me what you think!

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I thought there must be a way, without being a photoshop genius, to give my pictures this awesome vintage look.  It took a lot of digging but I found a great little FREE program to download and a few very easy steps to make any photo hip in any way you want!

Start by downloading Photoscape.  It’s a free photo editor that lets you do tons of things to your pictures!  I have just started playing with it but it is easy and fun!  I will be spending a ton of time with this little gem!

First, select your run of the mill photo.  I love this picture of Sophia on the beach and thought it would look great with a vintage twist!

Next, upload your photo into the Photoscape editor.

Below the photo you will see a bunch of buttons that allow you to change anything about the photo.

For this picture I took the following steps:

Filter – Film Effect – Cross Process High.  Cross Processing in the real world of photography is the procedure of deliberately processing photographic film in a chemical solution intended for a different type of film (from Wikipedia).

Filter – Film Effect – Portra High.  Portra is an effect that is meant to simulate the high quality Kodak film that is used for weddings and portraits to give great skin tones and a very fine grain.  I just liked how it looked!

Bright, Color – Colorize.  For this picture I chose a color value 20, saturation of 255 and saturation level of 41%.  The higher the level, the stronger the color.  This is where you will give your pictures a different tone of green or orange or whatever suits your fancy!

Filter – Vignetting.  Click on Vignetting and choose your shadow like edges.  There are a bunch to choose from and they are fun to play around with!

Backlight.  (+/- 100%)  This is what I chose.  It gives a really cool light to the photo.  Play around with this too.  You can see the changes as you make them so it is super easy to change your mind.

Finally, the real Hipstamtic cool factor comes from the frame.  This was what I could never find but in Photoscape there are a few that mimic that cool old look. I chose Cali 12 for this photo, which has a rough edge around the entire photo. 

I ended up with the fabulous and very hip photo of Sophia at the beach!

I went ahead and hipped up a photo of Miles and Violet as well because it is just so much fun! Here is the original adorable picture of my two cuddle bugs!

I chose a Portra Low setting here with colorization of 25/128/50% for the more orange tones and I love it! I also chose the slightly more rugged Cali 5 frame.

Now don’t you have a couple pics that could use a little more hip?  Have fun and please share your experience in the comments so that we can all create some very cool photos!

Like this post? Don’t want to miss a Mommy Words Moment? Then subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest from this Mom’s mouth! You can also use the social buttons below to add this post to your favorite sites or send it to your friends. Please spread the MOMMY WORDS!