The Big Pink Pig

A cooking, baking, sewing, and creating blog about life with my little pink piggies.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

I tried it, take 2! Sticky Paint

This idea is genius and delicious!  What is there not to like about sweetened condensed milk???  This paint is made in a muffin tin with the sweet stuff and food coloring!  I had to slap my own hand from trying to eat the paint--what am I back in kindergarten???



They had so much fun painting!  When it dries, it has a wet look to it.  I originally saw this idea on Pinterest and the pinner said that this was mess-free....uh not so much.  At least not when you do it with toddlers.  Come to think of it, what is mess free when toddlers are involved?  There was actually a good deal of mess but since the paint is think it pretty much stuck to that drop cloth.  I would be careful doling it in a carpeted area.  ( Our carpet is on its way out the door, so I didn't care. :) )

Sorry for the dizzy picture but picture manager didn't allow me to alter this for some reason, but I did want to show how cool it was that they mixed colors in the extra muffin wells.


Overall it was a great idea and I am glad that I tried this pin.  Super cheap, since a can of the milk costs about $1.99 and the kids love the feel (and taste-I let them try it prior to coloring it) of it!

Monday, February 20, 2012

UPDATE: I said I would try it and I did!

** My original post did not include my inspiration picture from The Happy Housewife.  It is included now below.
Ok so in the new year I vowed that some of my pinning would not be done in vain....I wanted my thousands (and I mean thousands) of pins to mean something.  :)  I vowed that I would do at least one pin a week!  Last week I did two--but today we'll just get into the first!

I found these DIY tile coasters on Pinterest some time ago and have been wanting to try them.  Last week, my MOPS group met to have a crafty little play date and our crafty chairlady decided to do these coasters!  It was perfect--one pin down!

The original coasters are came from The Happy Housewife, a blog that I love to check for cool DIY ideas!  You should check her blog out--very good stuff!



I made mine with:

  • Porcelain Tiles (Home Depot--about 0.40 each)
  • Mod Podge
  • Scrapbooking Paper
  • Polyurethane Spray for finishing  

  1. First cut your scrapbooking paper to fit the size of your tile (TIP:  If the scrapbooking paper is of thicker quality then cut it slightly smaller than your square.  The Mod Podge is great, but it won't mold the paper or be sticky enough to stick the paper down completely and then you will have corners that pop up!)
  2. Apply Mod Podge to both the backside of the paper, as well as the tile and fix the paper to the tile.
  3. Let dry for a few minutes and then apply 2-3 coats of Mod Podge on top of the whole coaster.
  4. Let the coaster dry for at least 20 minutes.
  5. Once the coaster has dried and there isn't that tacky feeling, go to a well ventilated room (outside is best) and spray a coat of the Polyurethane spray on top.  Let it dry and then you are done!
My friend Chrissy made monogrammed DIY coasters for her friends and family and they turned out GREAT!  Very cute gifts, especially for teachers!


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Spinach Salad with Low Fat Horseradish Ranch


I have never been one to whip up salads for meals, but for the birthday party this past weekend, I figured that I should provide a healthy side dish for my guests.  :)  The girls helped me with this one!  Making the dressing may sound silly when you can just buy some at the store, but keeping foods whole is better for you.  I figure that if it can sit on a shelf, unrefrigerated for any number of days, it must have some kind of preservatives in it.  And if it can sit on that shelf for that long, how long can it sit in your stomach?

  They even ate the leftovers the next day with dinner--well everything but the tomatoes!

Spinach Salad
bag of baby spinach
2 hard boiled eggs diced
cherry tomatoes
garlic croutons
half of a white onion, sliced
bacon chopped  ( looking back I will use turkey bacon)
1/2 package of baby bella mushrooms

Horseradish Ranch Dressing
3 TBS Low fat milk
1 TBS Horseradish
Half a packet of ranch seasoning
1/2 cup of low fat or fat free sour cream

Whisk with a small whisk or fork, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.  Add more sour cream if it is too thin or more milk if it is too thick.

Enjoy!
Mix it up and

Monday, February 13, 2012

Caroline's Birthday: Fairy Wands!



In going with the Abby Cadabby theme, fairy wands were a must for party favors!  We made these pretty cheaply and they took about and hour to make 9.  They even turned out to be a hit with the boys!

They take just a few supplies:


  • a roll of tulle (get the kind in the bridal department at Michael's or Joann's-it's already 6 or 7 inches in width)
  • string
  • dowels (Home Depot will cut the 3 foot dowels for you into 12 inch wands--only $0.80 a dowel and you get 3 wands from 1 dowel!)
  • various notions, I used the $1 bin ric rac and ribbon
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • glitter and mod podge for decorating the dowel (optional)
I started by decoupaging the dowels, although this is totally optional.  They would look cute without this step.

Once the dowels are dry, cut the tulle into 7 four inch strips.  Fold the strips accordion style and tie string the in the middle and fluff your layers out.  ( Remember those tissue paper flowers we used to make in elementary school??  Same technique!)

Take your hot glue gun and glue random strips of ribbon, ric rac, or anything else that you want to hang from the wand.  I thought about taking some of their broken play necklaces and using those but we unfortunately were attached to them.... ( Really???)  Glue the notions to the tip top of the dowel.

Once the notions are secure, hot glue the tulle puff to the top!  Ok now that I am typing out the instructions, they sounds like a lot of work--but trust me they are totally worth it!  The kids played with the all evening!

Now you have awesome fairy wands, wizard wands, whatever you want to call them!  They are great for dress up or a good game of chase.  :)




Yes they are in their jammies.  Yes that is a lollipop hanging from her mouth........No, they didn't have lollipops for breakfast that day, but they got one when they finished--hey sometimes it's not worth the fight.  



Sunday, February 12, 2012

Furniture Re-do

I had this coffee table that my mom gave me when they got some new family room furniture.  I liked it because it was pretty sturdy but our family room/play room was pretty dark so I had to paint it brown.....
pretty depressing huh??

Ok that is better :)  Stick a cutie on it and it's fine right??  Well almost..... I took Laura with me to Home Depot and let her pick out a paint sample.  It was super cheap and we got a little more than the traditional size all for around $4!  Now it's...............
PINK!!  It matches the pink play kitchen, pink motorcycle, and pink bunny chair in the room!  I mean we could have gone traditional but this is just so much more fun! :)  Cheap, easy, and took about one afternoon to prime and paint!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Caroline's 2nd Birthday: The Making of a Shin Dig!

My youngest daughter turned two yesterday so we are having a party for her on Saturday.  I was racking my brain about what to do for party favors.  I remembered how much fun the girls had making play dough last week so I figured we'd whip some of that up!  We needed it to be special....what could we add..........GLITTER!  My husband has a bad relationship with glitter.  He says it gets stuck in his beard-that is why I made it when he wasn't home hehe :)

Many of your ingredients you will find in your own kitchen cabinets....


  • 2 cups Flour
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 tsp cream of tartar
  • 2 TBSP veggie oil

 These are the extra supplies that I picked up:

  • white glitter for glistening dough
  • silver glitter for sparkly dough
  • Wilton Brand concentrated food coloring
You make the dough pretty much the same way that you made the dough from last week with a few tweaks.
1.  Dump all ingredients in a pot and stir until smooth.
2.  BEFORE heating divide mixture into as many bowls as you would like colors (I used three)
3.  Heating one of the batches over medium, add food coloring until it is the shade of your choice. Mix.
4.  Add lots of glitter!  I went through two containers of glitter!  
5.  Stir and once its a dough ball, let it sit cool either on the counter or in the fridge before storing it.
6.  Rinse out your pot and repeat with other colors.


I also picked up these cute little Glad Ware containers to keep the dough in when I stuff their goodie bags!  

 There you have it!  A cheap and easy party favor that all kids love!  Who doesn't love glitter play dough!?!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Cold weather activities....

When the weather is cold and we can't play outside, we look to the shoe store for entertainment.  My girls would spend hours in the shoe department at Nordstrom Rack!  Haha hey at least its a free activity that makes them happy!


Monday, February 6, 2012

Oh yeah we tried it!


I am an avid fan of Joy the Baker's blog.  I've baked her cakes for birthdays and the crowd goes wild.  :)  Oh and her mocha coffee cake is to DIE for!!  Anyways, she did not disappoint with this pretzel dog recipe.  Soft pretzels are delicious and so are hot dogs.....although I used Trader Joe's Organic Turkey Dogs for this one-needless to say, they came out amazing!  I Thank you Joy.  My husband really thanks you Joy.  BUT Laura thanks you the most!  Imagine smiling like that over a hot dog!

Recipe:  c/o Joy The Baker

Friday, February 3, 2012

Quick and cheap craft memo board!

My co-conspirator/creative partner in crime and I decided to do this after searching for dollar store type crafts.  Oh I should preface that first line....I am the co-head of creative for my MOPS group in Vienna.  We come up with crafts to complete within the meeting that are under 2 bucks a mom!  This one was pretty close!


We used:
  • chalkboard paint
  • all purpose craft paint pen
  • extra scrapbooking supplies
  • Tin serving tray from the Dollar Tree

Instructions are self explanatory but this board is great for kids to write on while riding in the car or you can use it for a memo board.  the other AWESOME thing about it is its magnetic!  You know those cute little magnet letters we all had as a kid on our fridge??  Well you and your little one can play with words and letters or drill them for spelling tests on this little board!  Quick-Cheap- and easy enough to do with older kids!


Thursday, February 2, 2012

It's been wayyyy too long.........so why not play dough!

I'm back.  Well hopefully, if I can get my act together!  I have been posting so many fun activities that we do to Facebook or Pinterest.  I felt like their proper home was The Big Pink Pig, therefore....I'm back.  :)

Today was blue play dough.  We are experimenting with favor ideas for Caroline's birthday that is coming up.  We have decided this year to go on the smaller side of things, so there won't be as many people, BUT we still want to show people a good time.  What usually constitutes a good time around here is a mess :)  "Your welcome" to party guests in advance!

Recipe:

1 cup flour
1 cup water
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup salt
lots of food coloring!

1.  Dump it all in the pot over medium heat and stir until it forms chunks (ideally a ball, but it will burn fast at the bottom so stir, stir, stir!)

2.  Let it cool for about 15 minutes in the fridge and then PLAY!

The girls LOVE cooking so it is really an ideal activity for them to do.  Plus, they love "making meals for me" haha so there is a shot of them making tonight's dinner with the dough!

Have fun and please visit soon!  I promise to post more!



Caroline likes to sit in her dinner apparently :)