Little Hunt turns six next week, but they’ll be out of school on spring break. Soooo … we brought her birthday treats in this week instead! Poor girl, we were all set to bring them in on Wednesday … she was just a wee-bit excited {as in she couldn’t stop talking about it!}. Middle of the night though, she had a raging fever, ear pain and was up most of the night {as in she kept me up, throw in her other sister, both in my bed, left me sleeping on the sofa!}. Which meant she stayed home from school on Wednesday. It was the first time I’ve heard a child cry because they had to stay home from school!
Anyway … I took her to the doctor the next morning, and sure enough … nasty ear infection. After some meds, we decided to bring the treats in to her class at lunchtime.
And now for some deets on this little project! I had pinned a beautiful photo of chocolate cover peeps and thought they’d make the perfect birthday treat for Hunter. Easy-peasy, right?
Kinda not so much. Stay with me here, cuz I’ve got some Pinterest-gone-wrong thoughts to share with y’all!
I talked it over with Hunt {and sister-crew} and we decided to do some kind of “nest” and set the peeps inside. I knew I’d seen edible Easter grass in the past, so as long as I could find some we’d be set. The only unknown was what to put them in.
Bingo! while at Walmart for the supplies, I spotted these cute buckets {green & pink} … .97 cents! And then a friend of mine had some left over gumballs from one of her girls recent birthday parties … perfect!
Until I started dipping my peeps. Um, yeah. Not so perfect.
I used the melted chocolate candy wafer things … chocolate and white chocolate. And a variety of sprinkles. After I melted my chocolate and started dipping the peeps, it was just an ugly mess. After the chocolate bath, I dipped them into the sprinkles … and that was an ugly mess.
In my mind, I had a beautiful image of perfectly covered chocolate peeps. As the words “Pinterest fail” kept running through my head, I figured the photo I had pinned must’ve been done by a professional. Like a baker, or, I dunno know … a professional peep dipper? But make no doubt … it couldn’t been just a regular mom making treats in her kitchen. Oh … side note … I hadn’t clicked through to the original source before starting my project. When doing a Pinterest project, might I recommend you check out the original source before starting?
Back to my peep dipping.
After a bit, I scrapped the white chocolate {just not cute}. I stopped dipping the whole peep bottom {hee, peep bottom}, and just dipped the front. And I also stopped dipping the covered peep in the sprinkles, instead sprinkling the sprinkles on top of the covered peep. Whew.
Still with me?
Anyway … those changes made the project smoother, faster, and less ugly.
When I was done, I headed to the computer and thought I’d go ahead and take a look at the original source to see just who this professional was. Turns out she’s just a regular over-achieving mom who has a flair for the creative! Humpf.
Why am I sharing all of this you might be wondering? Well … I read this post the other day about “Pinterest peer pressure” and it made me laugh. There’s a lot of truth there!
I wanted to comment, but was too shy … are you too shy to comment sometimes? So … I wanted to comment and say … it’s all in moderation. I would love, love, love to do many of the projects I see on Pinterest. I’d love to throw grand parties for each birthday celebration we have. But I know my limits. Sometimes I have the time for it and I gain much pleasure from creating something lovely. Other times, I’m too busy, my heart’s not in it, I can’t wrap my head around anything other than getting dressed in the morning, and so I either don’t do something grand, or I settle for something right in between that won’t stress me out, or I settle for doing nothing … and feel good about it!
I love Pinterest! I’m a fan of all the beautiful photos and projects and food and clothes and kittens and Ryan Gosling… but I think we each need to recognize where our limits lie and work within those boundaries based on kids, jobs, time on our hands. And we should enjoy Pinterest for what it is … a beautiful collection of ideas, recipes, and photos. No guilt involved. Some of us just don’t have the time or resources to be Martha Stewart.
Anyway … a bit of a tangent there … but mostly to encourage you. As with everything in life … you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have … the facts of life, the facts of life. Anyone? Anyone? :)
Okay, sorry, I’m getting a bit loopy. Seriously … I just wanted to encourage you to take what you can from Pinterest, enjoy it, and realize it’s just a pinboard for EVERYTHING on the internet … all that pretty, sometimes magazine worthy, stuff!
OH! and I was just turned on to a new blog … love it! They take Pinterest projects and do them to see if they turn into a Pinstrosity!
Pinstrosity! Oh dear. There goes MY productivity for the next month. :O
I love the birthday treats though, they are so cute. :)
Those treats are darling. We would have never known about the fail had you not shared. I have tackled a few Pinterest projects. So far, so good. I’m sure there are some things on my boards that would be nigh impossible for me to create. I think that’s why I pin them. ;)
Happy Good Friday and an early Happy Birthday to your Hunter!
when i picked up me peeps i thought about dipping, but i never seem to have luck. when i saw our beautiful peeps, i thought… well, those look nice! but now i guess i’m just fine with my naked peeps!!! that pintrosity site cracks me up. and is a good warning!!!
i love hunter’s little bday treats… i hope she is feeling a-ok now!!! xoxo
too cute! Happy 6th Birthday to Hunter! Is she really not a “toddler” anymore? Zach says “Hi Hunta” :)
I love everything about this post. Your humor had me smiling and, yes, I, too, found myself singing the Facts of Life theme song. Oh how I love that show!! Hate that Hunt was sick but kinda, selfishly, happy because it let to an impromptu Skype convo and I got to see you and that not-so-little-anymore punkin of yours. Hope she’s feeling better!!
Darling darling darling! I’d not have known of any trouble if you did not share but nice to know we all can have problems with trying something others describe. Also, martha baby doesn’t do all that stuff…she has a staff…probably several staffs that at the very least research, prep and probably do most of the stuff she shows!
This made me laugh because I recently tried to do marshmallow pops dipped in caramel and then chocolate, only to have the hot caramel turn the marshmallows into a gooey, melting mess. I didn’t read the source either and just assumed it would be easy. I underestimated that hot caramel! Ah, well. Your birthday treats look fabulous! I might be able to do a chocolate covered Peep, but you can take amazing pictures that I’ll never be able to get. God is so good to give us each our own gifts to use and give Him glory! Plus, we all have to have a Pintrosity now and then to appreciate each other’s gifts. Thank you for the smile today. . .
Love the treat and love that we all must admit that some pinners just have a knack we don’t (or they are hiding their fails). :-)
I hope the birthday girl is all better now!!! I think your peepers are just over the top cute… And I like your behind the scenes story! Anything fancu I try to Bake looks like messy play dough so I can relate!!! :).
how funny, so true about Pinterest! And happy (belated) Bday to your little one!