What a treat to be featured at Pinstrosity today!
 
Pinstrosity is an addicting website displaying Pins that don’t turn out exactly as planned. The engaging site is the brainchild of Emilee and Marquette. I hope you’ll stop by, say hello, and check out their posts.
 
For those wanting to know, I made the magazine at MagCloud. You can download a template, create 20 or more pages (increase in increments of 4), upload your pdf file to their site, and place your order. They also have the option of creating a downloadable version of your magazine for e-readers. Plus they allow you to generate sales of your magazines.
 
The cost of the project was around $4.00 (not including shipping). A larger version I made for our family vacation to Disneyland cost around $6.00. The magazine is a fun alternative to photo books which tend to run upwards of $20.
 

 
• Have you had a Pin Win or Fail?
• Will you create your own magazine?

Tags: Birthday, fail, gift, magazine, memories, pin, pinstrosity, pinterest, win

The girls and I wanted to do something special for hubby’s birthday, so when I saw these adorable Angry Bird cake pops, I knew we had to (attempt to) make them. Tom is a huge Angry Birds fan.
 

 
A few days before his birthday, we went to JoAnne’s Fabric & Crafts to buy lollipop sticks and meltable candies. We also found candy eyes, reasonably priced, and overpriced beaks which we nixed. At the check-out, the friendly cashier recommended a cake-pop tray. Sounded ultra-easy to use, so we bought it too.
 
Birthday eve we began baking. We whipped the chocolate cake mix, poured it into the mold, and popped it into the oven. Ten minutes later, we inserted the lollipop sticks, and returned the pops to the oven to finish baking.
 
Baked and cooled, it was time to pop the pops out of the mold.
 
Mistake – the cake balls slid down the lollipop sticks. Speared birds wasn’t the effect we wanted.
 
We baked another batch of birds, and began melting the colorful candies to coat the cooled ones. We stuck eyes on while the candy-coating was gooey, then sat the birds in the freezer to harden. We frosted orange beaks on upon removing the birds from the freezer.
 
There was enough cake batter left over to bake a single-layer round, and we frosted it green to represent a grassy hill. We were ready to surprise Tom, and surprised he was!
 

 
I’m not a baker by any means, but it sure was fun attempting these.
 
• What themed cake would you make?
• Do you have any cake ball tips?
• Play much Angry Birds?

Tags: 50, angry birds, baking, Birthday, cake, cake balls, fun, games, hubby, recipe

“Hey, baby, I did something crazy.”
 
“What did you do?”
 
“I was gambling at the Hideout, and said if I won, I’d spend the winnings on Nat’s birthday.”
 
Oh crap! My mind is reeling now!
 
“How much did you win?”
 
“One hundred dollars.” 
 
Oh… my… gawd!
 
As if that wasn’t crazy enough, wait’ll you hear how my husband spent the money. Mr. Winner drove straight to K-Mart. (K-mart?)
 
At said K-Mart he purchased:
• 2 Play-Doh sets ~(cool);
• 1 Friendship Bracelet kit ~(right on!); and
• 1 Radio-Controlled Monster Truck (wtf?).
 
Fast forward to the Birthday girl’s big day. Her reaction to the monster truck was priceless!
 

 
The rest of her presents were perfectly girlie enough.
 
Eight hours later, monster truck’s battery was fully charged, and the girls wanted to give it a try. Nat and her little sister did have fun! They raced it to see who was faster. I discovered how to spin it 180˚. The “lame present” wasn’t so lame after all.
 
Eating some crow, I pieced together video clips of the family enjoying the truck. I paused during editing to a) make some chili, and b) socialize with hubby and a friend during Sunday night’s football game. Afterward I began to edit in the same room where football was blaring and hubby & friend were shooting pool.
 
First my music was too loud. (Only competing with the football game, my dear.) Then my toes were stepped on, not once but twice. (Wow, how utterly rude!)
 
So I stormed off and completed the video while miffed. I shouldn’t edit when I’m angry.
 

 
• Who do you think enjoyed the truck most?
• Is hubby really evil, or did I just edit it that way?
• Monster Trucks ~ yea or nay?

Tags: Birthday, dad, daughter, evil, fun, monster, priceless, princess, truck, Video