UFP #1-Quilt Top

I love to quilt. I love picking out the pattern, figuring out the fabrics, cutting it, and putting it together to see what I came up with. The problem is time. With the little people it always seems there is something else to do. I find the best time for me to get any quilting done is when I go to a two day mini retreat at the local quilt store. This is a fun time to do nothing but sewing. Plus, when I get stuck there are lots of people there to help. I do admit, I have major sewing machine envy when I go to these retreats, but I'm getting over that.

The last retreat I went to I started a Twister quilt. This quilt is super cute, looks way hard, and is actually pretty easy. This website shows a tutorial on how to make a Twister quilt http://www.joscountryjunction.com/?p=1148 I can't remember the brand for the tool or I would link to that page. Essentially you make a quilt, cut it apart, and then make a new quilt. I went home from the retreat with the cut up quilt ready to be resewn. I got the strips made but didn't get them put back together for a long while. This quilt top became my first UFP (Unfinished Project).

This is what I started with

Basically it was strips that needed to be sewn together. I had a couple already put together, but about 6 left to go.

This is what I ended with It is pretty hard to see all of it because it is big, but I love this quilt. I think the colors are amazing and it is just so few. I'm so glad I took someone's suggestion and put the pinwheels in a row, I think that really makes the pattern pop.

So, the quilt top is complete. That moves the quilt from an UFP to a MFP (Mostly Finished Project). Now comes the part I do not like. I have to quilt it. I get so nervous when I have to do this part. When I took my first quilting class and we were being shown how to finish our quilts I nearly cried while I was quilting it because I was getting so anxious. Then the quilt I was working on had to stay in my car for a couple of weeks because I didn't even want to look at it. I did finish quilting it with a much easier pattern, but it is still an UFP because I don't like hand sewing the binding. I love making quilt tops, not so much the rest of the process.

I have everything I need to finish this up sitting on my table at home. I hope to get it quilting this week/weekend and the binding on next week so I can have this be completely finished. It is going to be tough, but I'll make myself do it. Now, if I can just keep this cold that sent me to bed at 8:30 last night away, I might actually have a chance at getting things done.

Crap I Wouldn't Have to Make

While reading one of my favorite blogs "Real Mom Kitchen" (www.realmomkitchen.com) I saw that she is having a give away for a gift certificate to Olive Garden. Now really, who doesn't love Olive Garden? Plus, if I won I totally wouldn't have to make dinner.

So, one way to get an added entry is to blog about the contest. And that is what I am doing.

If you have a few minutes, head on over to Real Mom's blog. It has some really good looking recipes. I know I've made stuff from her blog but now I can't think of what it was. But whatever it was, I'm sure it was good :)

Latte Mix

You know there is something really nice about waking up and starting your day at 5:45. You have such a chance to get things done and have the rest of the day to just relax.

WHATEVER! It is freaking 6 am and I would much rather be in bed. As for getting things done, that might happen...in an alternate universe. My problem is that I have two little people who want to help with whatever I'm doing and I can't run errands because when everyone is dressed and fed it is still on 7:30 and places aren't open yet. Really annoying.

Mornings like this call for one thing. And since it is frowned upon to mix up some pineapple upside down cake and leave the kids with a snack in front of the Wiggles, I'll have to settle for some coffee.

This year I decided that I'm really going to try to save money by not buying fancy (or even regular) coffee on campus. I'm going to make it in my office instead. So far this has been going really well. Then I decided I didn't want to spend as much on latte mix that I have been so I should probably just make my own. So, I did. If I can find the receipts I'll do a price breakdown, but if I can't we'll just say it is less expensive. I really am pretty sure it is.

So, here is what you need:
Side note: Is it really necessary for the Wiggles to go a cover of the Banana Boat song? Apparently it is. And my kids like it because Wags the Dog has a starring role.

And now back to your regularly scheduled blog:
1/2 cup instant coffee
2/3 cup sugar (no pictured...when I took the picture I knew I was missing something)
1/2 cup dry milk
1/4 cup powdered creamer
1/4 cup (about 1/2 small box) instant pudding

Mix everything together in a bowl and then put it in the blender and blend until it is a fine powder. Blending it will keep it from separating as you store it.

I made two flavors, French Vanilla and Butterscotch. I really like the butterscotch. But you can use whatever flavor or flavor combination of pudding you would like. You can also add cinnamon or nutmeg or whatever to add to the flavor.

I like how customizable this recipe is. In the future I would like to make some decaf (a few too many cups of this is not a good thing) and maybe some sugar free using Splenda and sugar free pudding. I'm not sure if you would still use 1/2 a box of pudding or the whole thing. It might involve some experimentation.

Also, a Cookie Butter jar from Trader Joe's is the perfect size for holding this mixture. But I don't suggest you go out and buy any cookie butter for the jar. Not that it isn't amazingly good, but because I need to go get some and I don't want them to be out :)

Ok, I'm going to see what else I can get done while the little people enjoy their cereal and the Wiggles.

I just realized I didn't tell you how much to use. It is about 2 tablespoons to 3/4 cup hot water.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I have been thinking about making this cake for a long time. OK, so it has been about a week. Now, at first I wanted to make chocolate raspberry cake which would be new, but then I decided I wanted to go with something tried and true, pineapple upside down cake it is.

I know what you are thinking, pineapple upside down cake it a lot of work. First you have to find a pan and then you have to make the brown sugar caramel and put the pineapple in the pan and put the little cherries in the pineapple and then make a cake. OR you have to go to the grocery store and buy one. That can be a total pain.

So, instead of making the traditional cake I decided to go with the next best thing (or perhaps even better...depends on the day). And just what is better than ooey, gooey cake? A cocktail, that's what!

Here are the ingredients:
If you haven't had UV Cake Vodka yet, stop reading this blog, get in your car and get yourself to the nearest liquor outlet. Seriously, it is that good.

This is a pretty easy drink to make, just add the pineapple juice to the vodka and you are on your way. Now, to make it a real glass of pineapple upside down cake you should add just a bit of grenadine. I didn't have any and I didn't want to buy any so I left it out. Really, it isn't necessary.
It is still really really good.

You can apparently make any kind of cake with the right mixer. Lemon cake, orange cake, root beer cake (ok, not a real cake but I think it would be good). We also tried a shot with cake vodka and Bailey's. It was very good.

The only warning I will give is that this stuff is dangerous. It tastes like frosting.

So, the next time you have a craving for cake, but don't want to bake-drink it!

Oh, and how was I planning on making chocolate raspberry cake? I was going to mix cake vodka with chocolate raspberry wine. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Best Project EVER!

Ok, this post is about my favorite project so far. Not only is it my favorite it is by far the easiest. Yes, even easier than the to-do list.

This project wasn't a solo endeavor, it was a family affair. So, what am I talking about you ask? A Blanket Fort of course!

It all started when I was playing a new game with the little people-Peek-A-Boo Hide and Seek. Basically, the kids would run around the corner and count (1, 2, 3, 4, 11) and I would "hide" under a blanket in the middle of the floor, then they would find me. Great fun! Then we started reading stories under the blanket. That was fun too, but it got very hot. So, I thought why not use the card table currently protecting the CDs from little hands as a base for a fort. Just then my husband said "Use the card table for a fort" (duh! I'm going to). And from this our fort was born. Lots of pictures will follow, but I also want to share a few things I learned.

1. Forts were bigger when I was smaller

2. We need a bigger card table

3. Forts are all fun until the next morning when your little person wants to play in the fort instead of going to daycare. "NO SCHOOL! PAHLAY"

4. It really isn't the expensive toys that make memories, it is the simple things.

Here are some pictures from Fort O.

Stir-Fry

Just so you don't think I only feed my family rice I thought I would share the stir-fry I made to go with it.

The supplies:This is a really easy meal, just chicken, frozen veggies, and stir-fry sauce. I really like the bottled stir-fry sauce. Yes, I could make my own but this one is good and easy, and fairly inexpensive. Next time I will use 2 bags of veggies. I thought I had 2, but I could only find one. Plus, this was a sugar snap stir-fry but there weren't many snap peas. I was a bit annoyed. the worst part of making the meal is dealing with raw chicken. YUCK! I hate raw meat, but I REALLY hate raw chicken.

But the end result was good:

Rice

Yep, that's right today's blog post is all about me making rice. Now, I know what you are thinking..."Boil water, add rice, wait, viola...rice!" And to that I say "I never promised an exciting post."

So, here is the deal. This blog post is not just about making rice, it is about me conquering rice. Getting the best of rice. Making rice my, well this is a family blog so we won't go there.

I have a problem making rice. I just can't seem to do it. I really can't make Minute Rice, but that is ok because it is more expensive than regular rice so I'm just not even going to bother. In the last 2-3 weeks I have tried to make rice as many times. First was the "Mexican" rice for the tacoladas...enchilada sauce+water+rice=nasty undercooked rice. Then I wanted rice with soup sauce so I did some research and found that cream of chicken soup+water+rice=nasty undercooked rice. That was it. It was on. This challenge was now personal. I was not going to let a little thing (literally, a little thing) like rice get the best of me. I was trying one more time. To better my odds I decided to go with plain rice. No fancy pants rice for me. Just plain old white rice to go with my stir fry.

Here are the supplies:

Now, the package said butter was optional, but I wasn't taking any chances, so in it went. The package also said 1 3/4-2 cups of water, so to be safe I went halfway between the two.

The result:

Fluffy, yummy, not crunchy at all rice!!

Yay! I won! Dinner was saved. Next time I'll even make enough rice.

Update

Yeah, that chicken filling as dip is great. Like I said I added more ranch to up the flavor. I also microwaved it, not so it was warm but more so it was soft and spreadable. VERY GOOD.

Chicken Puffs

Lately I've been posting about a lot more food than I thought I would. I guess that is probably because you have to eat every day so even if I'm not being super creative I can always come up with a blog post about dinner. Hopefully, this weekend I'll be working on (and maybe even completing) and unfinshed project, so I'll be able to share that with you. Once I finish that I can move on to my next Pinterest project.

And actually, this meal was based on a Pinterest recipe. The recipe I used as inspiration was http://jennasjourneyblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/chicken-roll-ups.html

Here were my ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken shredded (I know you are wondering why I would buy a one legged chicken since that is what is in the picture, but I did not buy a one legged chicken. This chicken had 2 legs, but I removed one before I remembered I wanted the whole chicken in the picture. Now, mind you I would buy a one legged chicken it it were cheaper than a 2 legged chicken and I didn't have plans for the second leg)

Ranch dressing mix (You might notice this is not in the original recipe. I did not notice this. The note on the picture I pinned mentioned ranch dressing mix so I assumed it was in the recipe. Well, it wasn't in the recipe but I had some so I used it)

Cheddar and pepper jack cheese ( i used pepper jack rather than plain monteray jack)

Jumbo cresent rolls (don't use the regular size ones, I don't think they would work very well)

The clementines are an optional side. The truth is I just didn't want to move the box before I took the picture. I will say that these are not the Cuties but some other brand, and I don't like them. they are harder to peel and have a lot of seeds in them. I have to figure something out with them becuase I don't want to give the little people oranges with seeds, but I also don't want to pick them all out. The one I had the other day had a lot of seeds. I should have another, maybe it was a fluke.

I made a double batch of these, but you could make a single one too.

Mix everything together. I only used 1 package of ranch mix, but I think I should have used 2. It should look something like this:

Yummy! Ok, it tastes much better than it looks.

Next you want to unroll your cresents and put a big blob of the filling on the large side. Roll up the cresent roll sealing the filling in. You will end up with little packets that looks a little something like this:

Bake them up and here you go!

This one is actually from the second batch I baked and they burned on the bottom. I don't know why, but they did. But they looked much better from the top, so that is what you get a picture of.

OH! And I skipped the step of putting butter and breadcrumbs on the top, seemed like too much work.

All in all I liked these. I don't think my family were very big fans. They were a little bland. I think more ranch and/or maybe a can of green chilis would have helped liven things up a bit.

I did end up with a fair amount of filling left in the end. I kept it and turned it into a dip. I added a bit more ranch to it for added flavor. I think it turned out ok. I brought the dip to work so we are eating it cold. But I do think it would be very good heated in a little crock pot and served with chips. If you add the green chilis I think it would be a fabulous dip.

I did enjoy the little puffs of goodness so I do have plans to try a few more things wrapped in cresent rolls. If you have suggestions, I'll take them. Note, my family loves hot dogs in cresent rolls, so no need to suggest those little classics.

Crap I Made This Weekend

Ok, so there aren't many pictures to this post, but that is because I was bound and determined to be so freaking productive this weekend even I wouldn't believe. So, there was no time for silly things like pictures. And I forgot to take them.

I thought Saturday morning would be a good time to get things done for the coming week. My plan was to cook the ground beef for the chili on Sunday, make soup for my lunches for the week, make a chicken and noodle casserole to freeze for later in the week, and make a ham and broccoli casserole for later as well. All in all I give myself a B for this effort.

Brown ground beef-done. Nothing exciting to report here. I browned ground beef, what more can I say.

Make the chicken and noodles-done. Man, I always forget that if I make the full bag of noodles it is going to be a BIG batch of chicken and noodles. But the good thing is I have a big pan and a smaller pan in the freezer. My tip of the day, when making chicken and noodles put the frozen peas in the bottom of the colander you will use to drain the noodles. Then when you pour the boiling water and hot noodles over the peas, they thaw. It works great. If you use fresh peas you are probably and overachiever.

Make the ham and broccoli-not done. I didn't have enough cream of chicken soup. And while I fully intend to try to make my own cream of whatever soup, that was not the day. So, I figured I would make it Sunday. Then on Sunday I thought, well I'll just make it Monday because it would get eaten on Tuesday and can you make something Sunday and eat it on Tuesday? Then last night I talked with my good friend on the phone for a long time and didn't get the casserole made. Tonight while I'm at wine club the husband and kids are having ham, broccoli, and cheesey shells for dinner. Works for them, works for me, we are all good.

Make the soup for lunch-pretty much done, finished on Sunday. Ok, the soup I was going to make was this recipe found of course via Pinterest http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/slow-cooker-beef-and-barley-soup/1280e771-8e0c-4ae9-94a3-445d2a045438/ Doesn't it look good?

So, here is what I did different. I only used 1 pound of meat because I wanted to cut some of the calories. I cut 1 lb of stew meat into small pieces. Then when I went to get the frozen veggies I decided just to get a bag of frozen peas, carrots, green beans, and corn. Then I didn't have to deal with peeling carrots.

Well, things didn't really turn out. First, I overcooked the barley. I kind of forgot that I had it on when we went to my in-laws for dinner and didn't remember until before bed. The soup wasn't really a soup anymore it was as stew. Ok, not a problem. I went to bed and set my alarm so I could get up in an hour or so to put the somewhat cooled soup in the refrigerator. The next day I needed to add the veggies so I just thawed the veggies and stirred them in.

This is what it looked like:

Not pretty, and actually kind of slimy because of the overcooked barley. But the good news is that it made a lot Each container has about 3 cups of stew in it. That is way too much for one serving, that is a good two servings.

The soup was ok, but really bland. It needed salt. Also, the veggies should have been cooked with the meat and whatnot. Next time I'll make it according to the recipe (well, I still won't brown the beef first, might as well be honest) and have some extra beef broth on hand. Some of my lack of salt could be because I used the reduced sodium beef broth.

The only other thing I made was the start of a prayer shawl for my church group. I have a big chunk of it done and will show you it when it is done.

Tacoladas

This is the first post in a series with very few pictures. I know, not very exciting. The truth is sometimes I start working on something and either forget to take pictures before, during, or after, or I don't realize that it could be a good blog entry at the time. At the time, I'm just thinking "dinner". So, I apologize for all the words. But, as always if you don't like it, don't read it. I do however promise not to use too many big words, so it should be a quick read. Great, now I totally want to use big words. Luckily, I don't know too many big words and I'm too lazy to reach up and get my thesaurus.

Tacos are a staple meal at our house. We eat them once or twice a month. Everyone likes them, even the little people. Heck, they had a farm themed taco party for their birthday. A natural combination if you ask me.

Well, the other night was taco night and I had 3 pounds of hamburger to work with. Normally, I only use 2, but decided to cook it all up because we needed some for chili that week too. Then I decided I would just make it all into taco meat and we could have leftovers. The following is my attempt at repurposing a previously cooked meal, or making leftovers for dinner.

I didn't want to just make tacos again so I decided I would make tacoladas, or taco enchiladas.

Here is what I had on hand (this is the only picture, so enjoy):In the containers are taco meat, and about 1/2 a can of black beans. The second bag of cheese that you can't really see is just plain cheddar.

(A note about taco meat. We mix together ground beef, taco seasoning, and corn, yes corn. It is great. If you have never done that you should try it.)

I made the rice using part enchilada sauce and the rest water. I think I used about a cup of enchilada sauce. The rice tasted pretty good, but it didn't cook all the way. I don't know if it is because there wasn't enough liquid in the sauce or just because I can't make rice. It could really be either one.

I drained the beans and then mashed them up before mixing with the beef. I don't really like beans so mashing them up lets me eat them and not be bothered by them, because I don't really know they are there. Ok, I know it (because I made it) but I don't notice it. Then I mixed in the rice. Oh, and actually, I thought there could have been more beans. I just didn't want to open another can because we needed those for chili and I didn't want to go to the store...again.

I then filled tortillas with the mixture and put them in a sprayed glass casserole dish. I made 6 very full tacoladas. I could have made 2 more but I ran out of room in my pan and didn't feel like washing a bigger pan. So, I took the extra filling an put it on top. Put some more sauce on it and then topped with cheese.

I baked them up and Voila! tacoladas.

These were very good. Something different from your usual taco or enchilada. The only problem was that the rice wasn't cooked. That was kind of gross. But that can be fixed. It was a fun way to kind of pillage the pantry to use things up. I am going to try to repurpose leftovers more often.

To Do List

Ok, since I got many requests for instructions on how to make the framed to do list shown in my last blog entry I thought I would give a quick tutorial. Ok, fine, busted, there weren't many requests my sister asked how to do it-but she asked on Facebook so I bet there were many that read her request.

Anyway, this is another very easy and impressive project.

Here are the supplies:

All you need is a 12x12 frame and some 12x12 scrapbook paper. I also have a frame stand that I put my to do list frame on but you could add magnets to the back and put it on the refrigerator, or hang it on a wall, or just lay it on your desk, whatever works for you. You will also need a dry erase marker.

All you do is open the frame and put the scrapbook paper in it, then put the back back on the frame. I put several sheets of paper in mine, including a calendar sheet, so you could change the look whenever you want.

You can also customize the frame anyway you want. But if you are in a hurry or feeling lazy, a plain frame works great too.

When you use a dry erase marker to write on the glass it wipes right off. Did you know this? It is a good thing to know if you ever want to leave notes on mirrors or windows.

Here are a couple notes about the supplies.

Frame-If you buy the frame at Hobby Lobby they aren't with the regular frames. They are back by the framing section with the wall frames. That is why mine doesn't have a stand on the back. You could probably have a stand added, but that would cost extra.

Paper-You want things that you are going to be able to see writing over. Don't use really dark paper or something that is very busy.

General-Do not pay full price for any of these supplies. Wait for the paper go to on sale at Hobby Lobby and either wait for the frame or use your 40% off coupon. I know this has been said before, but it is crazy to pay full price at Hobby Lobby...unless it is a genuine 9-1-1 worthy crafting emergency.

So here it is, a cute and customizable to do list.

This picture didn't turn out real great, but if you check the Desk Set blog entry you can see one in action.

Guest Post-Paperclip Bookmarks

Emily sometimes has posts that fall into the category of: “Crap my kids make.” Today’s post falls into the category of “Crap Emily’s friends make.” What qualifies me to make this post you ask? Well, I’m a friend of Emily’s and I make crap—need I say more?

Emily’s posts and crap (oops—I meant crafts!) inspire me to look at things and think: “Why buy that? I can totally make that.” Recently I even saved a Kleenex box and aluminum can because I had a vision for desk supplies (but that is for a later post and yes I probably need an intervention!)

Inspired by Emily one Saturday morning I found myself accompanying her to a mecca of sorts for us—a crap (I mean craft) fair—where there is a crap load of ideas of things you can make instead of buy. We made our way around as I tried to take photos of things we wanted but of course had no plans to buy. Soon we came upon a stand where a nice lady was selling fun little bookmarks. Since lady was standing there and not moving I knew I couldn’t sneak a photo so I ended up investing in one bookmark to utilize as a prototype for the project.

I would need a few supplies to make these and it was not hard to convince Emily (hello—she is the author of a blog entitled: “52 Weeks of Crap I Make”) to go to the 2nd mecca of the day—yep, you guessed it. The Lobby of Hobbies (where you should NEVER pay full price for anything and nobody is happy—but that’s for another blog post too!) There I picked up the necessary supplies-- a Fiskers punch, a glue gun and a few packs of large paperclips. You will also need several small pieces of decorative paper but if you are a scrapbooker like myself you have mountains of small pieces of paper to use!
Here are the supplies:

Use your Fiskars punch (I bought this one: http://www2.fiskars.com/Products/Crafting/Punches/Squeeze-Punches/Seal-of-Approval-Squeeze-Punch-Large) to punch out multiple shapes. I then used my Creative Memories cutter system to cut out smaller circles that could fit inside the punches I had just made (you could use any cutting system or perhaps you are more talented than myself and could free-hand cut the circles. If I did that it would like a kindergartener had cut them!) I then used glue sticks to glue the smaller circles onto the shapes I had punched out. The prototype I purchased used two punches from a solid color of paper per paperclip with a smaller circle from a designed piece of paper only glued on the punch that will be the front of your bookmark. You can get creative and mix it up any way you want. I also used some white paper and stickers from my stash (did I mention I am a scrapbooker? Scrapbookers have stashes!) to make some of them more personalized.

For the punching and creating of circles, I recommend you do it in an assembly line/mass production of sorts to make it most efficient for yourself—get all that cutting/punching work out of the way 1st and then get to the gluing!

Once you have created your punches the way you want them, pull out your trusty glue gun and glue them front to back to the top of your paperclip. I found it easiest to line the top of each side of the clip with glue and then match up the punches front to back to attach to the top.
I gave these as gifts at my book group holiday and they were a hit! They are also a great addition to an office/desk set you make for anyone (see Emily’s earlier post.) I really like that you can personalize them and no two of them are alike!

And here is the finished product:

So fun! And special thanks to Emily for allowing me to guest post about the CRAP she inspired me to make!

Double Sided Tape

So, there are no pictures to go with this entry, just a story. But it is a fairly embarrassing story, so I thought I should probably share it in case others had ever found themselves in my place.

As I mentioned in my last blog post I used double sided tape to make the desk set for my sister. I didn't use fancy scrapbook double sided tape, I just used plain old Scotch brand double sided tape.

I was all set to go and tape something. I tore off a piece of tape and started working on taking the paper backing off. It would not come off. Not at all. Not even a little bit. Ok, let's just start over. I took off another piece. Still nothing worked. I couldn't get a finger nail under it, I couldn't peel it off by folding, swearing at it didn't help, it just wouldn't come off. I was so frustrated and ready to call my crafting buddy (who also scrapbooks) to find out the trick for this stupid tape. Only, by that point, stupid wasn't the adjective I was using. I decided to give it one more shot before admitting my complete inability to use tape to a friend. So, while pulling off another piece of tape I figured out my problem. Yeah, that tape doesn't have a paper backing. The first bit is just covered on one side for packaging purposes. I didn't need to peel anything off, I just needed to pull more tape off the roll. Once I did this there were no problems getting the tape to stick on both sides.

Moral of the story-sometimes things aren't as difficult as I make them out to be. And when in doubt, just pull off more tape.

Desk Set

Hello and welcome back from the holidays.

I have to say for me this was a very Pinterest Christmas. Gifts inspired by Pinterest were made by me, a good friend, and my sister. And let me tell you they all turned out great! The next few installments were going to be called to be "Crap I made as Christmas Gifts So I Couldn't Blog About Them Until Now So The Surprise Wasn't Ruined" followed by the name of the project. Except that became a lot to type, so I'm just going with the name of the project. Feel free to add the part about Christmas before if you would like.

The first project I want to share is a desk set I made for my sister. I absolutely love these sets and will totally make more as gifts. The set I made included a Post-It holder, pen, and a set of notebooks.

The Supplies:What you need for the project really depends on what you want to make. For the Post-It holder I used a 5x7 acrylic frame, but the 4x6 work well too. And portrait or landscape will work. I found double sided tape worked well for some parts but I used a glue gun for others.

Ultimately you will need whatever you are embellishing, adhesive, a piece of scrapbook paper (you could use scraps if you have them) and whatever embellishments you want.

At this point you should probably know this isn't going to be much of a tutorial. Most of the projects are pretty easy to figure out. Heck, if I can do them, I'm sure you can.

Post-It Holder: This part is probably the easiest. Cut your paper to fit in the frame and frame it like you would a picture. I did add a small piece of double sided tape to the back to hold the frame together. Then figure out where you want your notes and stick them on. You might need to use some hot glue to keep them from falling off. Add embellishments and you are done!

Pen-I used the Sharpie brand pens for this project because the caps don't have clips that get in the way of anything. Cut a strip of paper as long as the part of the pen you want to cover and wide enough to go around the pen probably twice. Carefully put a piece of double sided tape along the pen being careful to keep it straight. Then carefully line up the paper and start wrapping it around the pen by carefully rolling the pen. When the paper starts to overlap add another strip of tape and then another at the end to hold the edge. Did I mention that you should be careful when you do this? You want to be careful to keep everything straight so your paper lines up nice. I added a flower embellishment but you wouldn't have to.

As for the notebooks, these are seriously great and very impressive. All you do is take whatever size notebook you want (make sure it has the binding that flips over the top of the page and not just a glue binding). The ones I used were the ones that look like mini legal pads. You can get them in many colors, but I liked white. Then all you do is cut a strip of scrapbook paper the length of the notebook and wide enough to wrap around the binding. I used double sided tape to stick the paper to the notebook but a glue stick would also work. Again, I added embellishments.

So, here is how the set turned out:

Just in case you don't think these sets would work in real life, here is one I got as a gift (did I mention it was a very Pinterest Christmas?)

This set also included a To Do List (there will be a post about these very soon) and a travel mug. Now, it is my understanding that the travel mug wasn't supposed to be included but inspiration struck the creator during a trip to K-Mart. The giant paperclip is also very cool. Perhaps the creator will do a guest blog explaining these (hint, hint, hint). Oh! And this note holder is a 4x6 rather than a 5x7. I think I like the 4x6 better, but when I was buying the frame I couldn't remember the size I needed.

As you can see this is a very versatile project that could be customized in a lot of different ways. So, if you know someone graduating (school colors/logo theme) or starting a new job, or that is just hard to shop for, think about a desk set. After all, they are much harder to kill than that plant you are considering.