PinSPIRATION

For those of you that are madly in LURVE with Pintrest like I am, this post is for you (or if you just like some DIY and good food). Yes, Pintrest can be addicting and time consuming HOWEVER, the inspiration (or pinSPIRATION) it provides and the access to so many great ideas has actually seemed to make me MORE productive! Double bonus! With all this pinning and creating, I thought you all might be interested in some of the pinSPIRATION going on around here!

PinSPIRATION DIY:

Yarn covered ombre lamp shade, by Vintage Revivals.

 

Beautiful yarn covered letters, sold here on Etsy.

CREATION:

A cute little ombre yarn covered letter or what I like to call fruit striped letter. I am REALLY happy with how it turned out. It adds a little texture to her room and lots of color and pattern. Oh, and if you are wondering about the AMAZING print next to the Q, well that is a wonderful wood cut print, made by my good friend at Box64Studios, you can buy it here on Etsy (she is VERY talented and she has LOTS of great stuff at her shop).

I bought the letter a while ago because it was on clearance, I love the letter Q and I thought it would be a cute addition to my Q's bedroom. first I thought I was going to paint it but hadn't come up with anything special enough. So when I read this post on Vintage Revivals and saw this AWESOME lamp shade I thought about my little waiting letter. I had also seen a yarn wrapped letters floating around on pintrest (like these beauties available on Etsy) so it seemed like the PERFECT option. Once I went to Michael's checked out the yarn and found what I was looking for, my PinSPIRATIONs became a creation!

This project was easy and VERY inexpensive. I bought the letter at Hobby Lobby for $1.50 and the multi-colored ombre yarn at Michael's for $1.25. Total project cost $2.75. NOT SHABBY! The longest part of the process was untangling the yarn, I should have unwound and rewound the yarn before starting, lesson for next time. It also took a bit to figure out how to wrap the bottom portion of the Q, but once I worked through that it was smooth sailing. I probably spent a total of an 1 1/2 hours on this project and did it while watching some TV with a snoozing family upstairs. It was quite relaxing and enjoyable!

Bonus! PinSPIRATION Recipe:

I made this recipe this week. It was VERY good. A great spin on tex-mex but sans some of the traditional flavors (tomato and chili powder). So if you are like my family and REALLY like tex-mex, it is always good to forgo something like tomatoes and add something like beer (don't worry it cooks out) to mix up the flavs a bit so you don't get tired of the same old tastes. 

I did mix it up a bit and added ground sirloin, which was a great addition! We are carnivores in this house. We try veg only dishes but the Hubs is in the pantry an hour later, veggies just don't quite fill us up. 

Tortilla and Black Bean Pie
Adapted from Martha Stewart.com, found via Pintrest

Ingredients:

• 5 flour tortillas
• 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1/2 jalapeno chile, minced (remove seeds and ribs for less heat)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, drained and rinsed
• 12 ounces beer, or 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen corn
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups colby jack cheese, shredded
• 1 ripe avocado
• Sour Cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425  degrees. Use a large spring form pan or a round glass baking casserole dish such as Corning ware
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add ground beef, onion, jalapeno, garlic, and cumin; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until beef is browned.
3. Add beans and beer, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until liquid has almost evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in corn and scallions, and remove from heat. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
4. Fit a tortilla in bottom of  dish; layer with 1/4 of the beans and 1/2 cup of cheese. Repeat three times, using remaining  cheese on top layer. Bake until cheese melts, 15 -20 minutes. To serve, slice into wedges. Top each slice with sour cream and avocados.

YUMMY! This was a great all in one dish packed with protein! Both kids REALLY liked it too.

That's my Shiny ~

J

If you haven't checked it out yet, these awesome ladies are having a Pintrest Challenge where you can find LOTS of amazing pinSPIRATION to creation going on!