Friday, May 11, 2012

Pinterest Challenge Update: Two Projects Done!


This week I really got in the mood to work on some crafty projects and then it just sort of took over. I've been missing this part of my creative life, and so I've really enjoyed trying to get it back again, using Trish's Pinterest Challenge as an excuse.



The first project we did was the Calendar Journal. I first saw this when Kailana of The Written World posted about it here. You can also find out about it here on the original post. The idea is to take index cards and date them for each day of the year, then use old postcards to divide them into months. Then each day you write something you did that day, labeling it by the year. So after many years, your index cards will be full of stuff you did on that particular day for all those years. Make sense?

Anyway, I thought it would be a good project to do with the girls, and they agreed! But I must say, we took the idea and totally changed it up. Here's what we ended up doing:

We decided we wanted more permanent sturdy containers for the cards, so we went to Hobby Lobby and ended up with these tin boxes with handles, which we then painted and sticker-ed up. Then, we got stacks of both white and colored index cards (which we didn't cut in half as suggested in the original instructions) and divvied them up between us. Then, instead of using postcards, we decided to create our own month dividers. My 13 year old daughter created them using google images and photoshop. I just picked a handful of pictures from our files and got them printed. Then we laminated them. Also, instead of using a date stamp for all the index cards, we just sat and hand wrote the dates on them all while we watched TV one night!

The supplies: white tin box, stickers and stacks of cards.
Cost: Tin boxes: $6.50
Stickers: $3.00
Cards: $3.00
Printing of photo dividers: $2.00

Here's Toto painting her box.

This is how the cards fit into the box... perfect!

Toto's finished box.

Toto creating her monthly dividers on Photoshop.

Here she is writing the dates on the crads.

JJ finally joined us and is putting stickers on hers. She didn't paint it.

Here's my finished box, vintage style.


JJ and Toto show off their boxes.
JJ's finished box.

Here's what our divider cards look like... Toto has the monthly themed ones,
I just have random fun pictures. JJ has yet to make hers.

Here's what it looks like with the dividers and a couple of example cards.

We had a great time doing this together, and I hope we can all keep up with writing our one thing down each day, for years to come!
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The second thing I did from my Pinterest board was make this for dinner one night. It's called Black Bean Lasagna, and the family enjoyed it, but they did say, "It tastes very healthy." So you can take that however you'd like! (Here's the original link to the recipe.)

The casserole in progress... bean mixture, canned tomatoes, grated cheese, lasagna noodles and salsa.

What it looked like all put together before cooking....

.... and after cooking.
I currently have projects three and four in progress, so I'll save those to report on when they are done! But one of them has to do with quilting! Wahoo! I can't wait to show you!

How's your crafty projects coming along?


14 comments:

  1. I love both of these, especially the calendar journal box.

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  2. How fun that you made the calendars with your daughters! I love your boxes. We do not have a Hobby Lobby here and I still haven't found a box that I love... I made changes to mine, too, but I did use postcards because I have a lot of them. :)

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    1. Kailana: I love these boxes too, because the whole point is to do this over many years, so it needs to be sturdy, and portable. So I think these things will work perfectly!

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  3. I'm happy you're getting back into crafty things. I've heard of these calendar boxes and I'm seriously considering one my self. it's a great easy way to journal. Something I really suck at.

    I was hoping your black bean lasagna didn't have noodles in it. That would work better for my diet. ;)

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    1. Jenny: You should totally do it! And I'm not sure how to do lasagna without the noodles! You could get some whole wheat ones....

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  4. I love how your boxes turned out. I liked the idea, but didn't like the look of the original, but I love yours. I'm considering borrowing your idea! Great job.

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  5. Wow Suey!! I'm really impressed by both of these. I also started the journaling project (which reminds me I'm a few days behind and need to go get caught up) but I haven't found a box yet. I'll need to pop by Hobby Lob to see what I can find. LOVE the idea to photoshop the monthly dividers.

    Can't wait to see what else you've got up your sleeve! ;)

    (and your girls are might cute Suey)

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    1. Trish: At Hobby Lobby we saw several things that we liked, but ended up with these mostly because they had a lid. And yes, I do have cute girls!How'd they get so big though? :)

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  6. Oh dear, I'm laughing out loud at the "tastes healthy" comment. I think that lasagna looks tasty and I'll definitely pin it too for future kitchen adventures!

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  7. LOVED this post!! Tell Toto I am wearing the same Fictional Character shirt today (So is my hubs!!) What a super idea to do these journal boxes. I am thinking of trying this and maybe tweaking it for the classroom for next year. Thanks for the tutorial...it really helped it feel like a project I could/should/would do...

    The food looks scrumptious - I LOVE healthy things with black beans.

    Happy Accomplishments!

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  8. I wish I felt like I had the time to participate in this challenge -- it's such a good one! Maybe I'll have my own month of pinning and doing someday... That lasagna sounds really tasty, if healthy, haha :-) Might have to give it a try!

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  9. The calendar box is such an awesome idea! I kept a diary faithfully for more than 10 years, but eventually dropped off and haven't been able to get back into it. This is a great alternative to that!

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