Pinterest picks

I don't share my Pinterest picks very often these days, but sometimes I get inspired to post about a few of my recent favorites here. Apparently I've spent a lot of time looking at food and photography lately. Surprise, right? Enjoy.

 As part of my ongoing breakfast food kick, I really enjoy breakfast sandwiches. Usually I keep it simple with bacon and scrambled eggs, but this bacon and egg grilled cheese takes the concept to a new level.

And on a similar note, omelet scones. Just in case two already awesome foods couldn't get any more awesome.

I found this pasta vegetable recipe through one of Paige's Pinterest picks posts earlier this month. Does it get much better than pasta and fresh vegetables in a single pot?

Any time I see a sandwich or burger on a menu that comes on pretzel bread / a pretzel bun, I pretty much have to order it because pretzel breads are the best. Putting that concept with cinnamon rolls...there really are no words.

Because sepia photography is so underrated.

If you haven't watched this little video series by Alisa Burke yet, please set aside an hour this week and watch all of it. I really need to re-watch sections of it about every week.

It seems like there about a zillion amazing totally creative ideas for photos out there, most of which I've never made but really want to make. This initial art just made the list.

In case reading about food and making food isn't weird enough, you can read about photographing food. I don't even photograph a lot of food, and I find this sort of topic really fascinating.

What have you been pinning lately?

Feel free to share links in the comments!

Pinterest picks

I don't share my Pinterest picks very often these days, but sometimes I get inspired to post about a few of my recent favorites here. Enjoy.

 I just made these peanut butter coconut macaroons for the first time a couple weeks ago (sans the chocolate drizzle), and they are fabulous. I'm sure that I'll be making them again soon.

 Like many people, we get a ridiculous amount of junk mail around here. I love the concept of making reverse junk mail envelopes so that at least a few of them don't end up right in the trash. This would be a great project for DIY invitations or Christmas cards.

 I'm always on the lookout for green smoothie recipes that do not include banana. I have to give this orange smoothie recipe a try sometime.

This thinking of you card features paint chips, but you could customize this idea with any type of color blocking or coordinated patterned paper. There are so many possibilities here.

I've had pineapple upside down cake a number of times, but I can't say that I've ever had another kind of upside down cake. This is a great resource for modifying the upside down cake concept with the ingredients that you have on hand.

I already mentioned the ticket stub pillows once this month, but they are so awesome that I have to feature them again. I really love this concept and think that it would make such a sweet gift for a significant other.

When I'm not making green smoothies without bananas and searching for new coconut recipes, I'm eating avocados. Most of the time I don't do anything creative with them because they're so delicious on their own, but once in a while an avocado recipe will inspire me like this cream avocado lassi.

What have you been pinning lately?

Feel free to share links in the comments!

Pinterest picks

I haven't been sharing many of my Pinterest picks since I quit putting together Saturday Link Lists. I'm still pinning as much as ever, though. I'm sharing just a few of my recent favorites here today. Enjoy.

Why don't I have an ice cream maker? I cannot believe how many awesome ice cream recipes are out there, like this coconut coffee ice cream. Coffee and coconut are two of my favorite flavors in general and also for ice cream so together? Can't even handle it.

I pin a lot of greeting cards with buttons, sometimes for articles, sometimes because I want to try the ideas, and sometimes just because. I love the whole stitching on paper with buttons thing here. You could customize this idea with any color palette for any occasion.

Slow cooker chicken philly sandwiches. How have I not made this recipe yet? I make chicken in the slow cooker all the time and know that Jake would love it, too.

I'd love to make up a whole bunch of these button embellishments to use on greeting cards, tags, wall art, and whatever else inspired me.

Lindsay at Pinch of Yum has a great post about artificial lighting tips for food photography. Many of you already know how much I love my light box. However, it would be really helpful to have the flexibility to do larger set ups with artificial lighting, too. I haven't tracked down the supplies to make the DIY soft light that she references in the post, but it's on my to do list.

How adorable are these cupcake liner picture frames?

I've actually had a different silver tip nails pin saved for quite a while, but I had to find something that linked to a real post to share it here. (Does it drive anyone else nuts when you can't find a great picture that links to a source?) This is another idea that I can't believe that I haven't tried yet.

I pin a lot of Alisa's posts. Honestly I kind of picked these family blocks at random because it's so hard to choose just one of her posts to share here.

I don't know how it took me more than half a year of owning Lightroom to learn how to do sepia editing. I love sepia photos so much. You will be seeing more sepia editing from me from now on.

What have you been pinning lately?

Feel free to share links in the comments!

Saturday Link List

Welcome to this week's edition of my link list.  Enjoy!

Starry, Starry Night Bracelet pattern from fusionbeads.com

The title of this free pattern is a little misleading, as it is obviously not a pattern for the Van Gogh painting.  But it is still a lovely cuff pattern.  It would be great to see this done in a bright color palette.

First Class Shipping and Paypal from Edi

Edi wrote a blog post last year (yep, I have tons of saved links that I'm sharing with you) about using the "ship now" function on PayPal, which is wonderful for creating labels for purchasing that do not go directly through PayPal.  For example, Amazon Marketplace payments aren't made until your item ships, so it's great to create a label with "ship now."  I also use it for the occasional random package like a birthday or baby present for an out of town friend.

Nymphette Font from dafont.com

This is a perfect (FREE) tool for those who enjoy making cards, scrap books, announcements, flyers, etc. that can use some decorative details or borders.

20 Ways to Recycle Wire Clothes Hangers from suite101.com

I bookmarked this a while back when I was trying to figure out what to do with the numerous wire hangers that we have.  That was before we bought our current house and we inherited about 50 more.  Honestly I still haven't done much with them, but it's great if you can find creative uses for a few.

Hamentashen Recipe

I had to find a better picture than the one on the site so I got this one here.  I'm sure that most people reading this don't know that my dad's parents are Jewish.  His mom makes these every year.  The poppy seed kind is my favorite.  One of these days I will get inspired to make them myself.  There are more recipe variations on this site.

Did you use one of the resources, tutorials, or recipes from my link list?  Leave me a link in the comments or send me an e-mail (randomcreative28@gmail.com) with your photos and stories.  I would love to post them here!

Saturday Link List

Here's this week's edition of my Saturday Link List.  Enjoy!

This is a really inspiring post for anyone who sells on Etsy and struggles with fitting in all of their marketing/promotion tasks online every day.

Prioritizing Time by Nancy (nfallondesignstudio)

I would definitely use this in my classroom.  I may make something like this for a couple of our basement storage areas in our new house, too.

Make a bookshelf cover from Jessica (howaboutorange)

{Tutorial} DIY Luxury Solid Perfumes on ohmyhandmade

Submit Your Blog Post on handmadeology.com

Creamy Orange Citrus Breeze from kraftfoods.com

why I love my customers

Happy Easter!  I've been working on a custom order this week.  The woman loved my Beaded Bracelet - Double Linked - Chocolate and Cream and wanted coordinating earrings and pendant to go with it.  She had a pretty clear idea what she wanted.  Together we finalized the details.  The bracelet was made to order so she got a brand new version of it in a custom length.

The customer also wanted me to take a picture of the whole set together.

I love my customers because I never would have conceptualized the earrings and pendant on my own.  I have made lots of shell earrings, but I wouldn't have thought to use two shell beads and to use the beads that I used in the bracelet.  And I've never made a shell pendant before.  I love the final result, though!

The design for this bracelet is something that came about with a little idea that I had to rework several times to create this final result.  It drove me up the wall the first and the second time that I made it.  This third time went so much more smoothly.  Third time's the charm, right?  I felt like I finally got into the rhythm of this pattern and didn't have to spend much time going back and adding or redoing anything.

So...I might make a couple more sets of these in other colors.  I love having the earrings and pendant that coordinate now.  I love the idea of doing a set in turquoise.  I haven't thought much past that yet.  Any thoughts, let me know.

still in the wrong season

I never seem to list things in the appropriate season.  I just listed my spring piece last week, and now I'm listing a summer piece.  I don't think that these colors necessarily have to be limited to summer, though.  This is also another random links piece.  Since I won't have another ocean one up as soon as I thought (not an in stock one anyway), I thought I should list the other newest version that is available.  Here's my Beaded Bracelet - Silver Links - Summer.

I made this piece with my seed bead mix from my Square Stitch Cuff Bracelet - Embellished - Summer piece.  This is not a color combination that I wear a lot, but I have fun working with it and hope that others will find it an appealing edition to their accessory collection.

One of these afternoons that I'm home and make time for pictures before it gets dark, I'm going to take pictures of the newest stash of buttons that I got from my mom over the weekend.

first of several ocean themed pieces

I indulged in my blue/green weakness a couple weeks ago. I started one the pieces in the middle of all of the craziness with my cousin's wedding and it took me a lot longer than usual to finish and photograph. I made the other two pieces relatively quickly afterward. Here is one of the final, quicker pieces, which I just listed today.


I made one piece like this before. That one was Hawkeye themed. I'm very pleased with this one and will likely make more in the same design in the future. As always, color suggestions are welcomed! :)