Teachers Pay Teachers

I apologize for not posting on Saturday.  It has been an insane week here in Ohio!

I am finishing up graduate school and currently playing a speech-language pathologist role everyday!  I'm always on Pinterest looking up new therapy ideas.  Well recently, I'm been introduced to Teachers Pay Teachers, which many of the pins for therapy ideas are found on.  This week I won't be examining a pin, since I haven't had time.  But, I wanted to share with my bloggers, friends, and fellow speech path girls about this site.  I started creating materials to sell on here and have been loving it.  That paired with work has been taking up my time.  Check it out!  There are some amazing products out there on it.  Check out my items and enjoy browsing!

Bobcat Speechie Teachers Pay Teachers

More pinspecting next week!
Megan

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Hi all!

I decided to post a pin that I know is worthy of being pinned.  Every Christmas, my mom makes a delicious coffee cake.  It is probably one of my favorite parts of Christmas.  Below is the recipe as well as step by step photos for making the cake.

Pin link

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake Recipe:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch or peanut butter cups
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Before starting: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1.  Cream butter and sugar.

2.  Add eggs and blend throughly.

3.  Sift flour, baking powder, and baking soda in separate bowl.

4.  Gradually add the sifted flour, baking powder and baking soda into butter, sugar, and egg mixture.

It should look like the picture below once all the dry mixture has been added to the eggs, sugar, and butter mixture.

Random side note:  My puggle pup looked so precious while I making this that I had to take a snap shot. Love ya Benny... you are now a famous Puggle!

5.  Next, add 1 cup of sour cream and blend.

6.  Stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and mix well.

7.  Next, you will start mixing the topping.  In a separate, large bowl, combine 1 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup butterscotch chips and 3/4 cup of brown sugar.

8.  Then, add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the bowl and mix well.

After mixed, it should look like the mixture below.

9.  You will need one of the following types of pans: angel food cake pan (used here), bundt pan, or springform pan.  Generously spray whatever pan you choose with Pam or some other non-stick spray.  After you spray your pan, sprinkle 1/3 of your topping mixture evenly into the pan.

10.  Then, add 1/3 of your blended mixture to the pan.  It won't look perfect, but you can spread it around with a spoon if you would like to even it out.

11.  After adding 1/3 of the blended mixture, add another 1/3 of the topping over top the blended mixture.  Continue alternating topping and blended mixture until you have added all of both mixtures.

12.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.  Let cool, but remove from pan while slightly warm.  Below is the finished result.  DELICIOUS!

I think it goes without saying that I approve of this pin... I mean it is my mother's recipe! ;)

I hope you all try this recipe out sometime... feel free to tell me what you think!

Happy pinspector Saturday, thanks for reading!

Megan

Brown Sugar Mix for Straight Hair

I apologize for my lack of pinspecting lately.  Believe it or not, I've tried projects and have already taken pictures, but haven't had time to blog them.  I started my internship as a working speech-language pathologist at an elementary school 5 days a week and have been working part time at a restaurant 4 nights a week.  It's been kinda hectic.

Anyways, I decided to start posting every Saturday.  That way, my followers and friends know ahead of time when to expect a new blog post.  So check in on Saturdays to see what I tried that week!

My good friend Alli asked me to pinspect this week's idea.  This pin claims to make your hair air dry completely straight and beautiful.  Alli and I both thought this wouldn't work, but hey, I gave it a go!

Pin link

Below are the steps and results of this "easy" pin.

You will need the following supplies: 1 cup water, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, a spray bottle, and possibly a funnel.

This is how my hair looks after letting it air dry and having it up and down for a day or two.  I apologize for the mess of my hair in this picture.  Usually, it air dries relatively wavy.

The pin states to spray the mixture onto damp hair.

Next, I started measuring out the brown sugar into a bowl.

Then, I added the one cup of water.

After mixing the two together, I got out a funnel.  I then dumped the mixture into my spray bottle.

The pin didn't say how much of this mixture to spray into your hair.  Do they expect you to put in the WHOLE bottle?  Half?  Just enough to mist onto your hair?  I honestly could not tell you.  I continued to try to find a pin with an actual link to this "recipe" and couldn't find one.  I sprayed about 1/4 to 1/2 of the mixture onto my hair and let air dry.  It seemed like my hair took 3x as long to air dry as usual with this mixture on.  After a few hours of drying, my hair ended up like this...

I will say my hair dried straighter than it normally would, but I would never do this again.  My hair was a very weird texture.  You know when you put too much product into your hair and it dries hard or weird?  This is exactly what happened to mine.  It was kinda sticky and I smelled really unsexy.  After taking this picture, I went upstairs and re-washed my hair.

Below are my pinspection results:

Pin: * 

The pin link was not ideal.  It went to a blog/website with just the image used in the pin.  There was nothing about the recipe on the actual link.  I tried to find a link to this beauty tip and could not find it. 

Accuracy: ***

The actual pin gave measurements of ingredients to use, but didn't tell how much of the product to spray onto hair.

Ease: *****

This tip/pin is very easy to try.  If anyone else has positive results with it, let me know!

Quality: *

I was not happy with how my hair turned out.  Although it did make my hair straighter than usual, the texture wasn't worth the straightness.  I much rather straighten my hair and have it be soft and silky.  My hair did not look like the picture at all. 

Time: *****

It took about two minutes to create the mixture.  However, depending on your hair thickness, length, etc, it might take a while to air dry.  My hair usually takes about an hour to dry and with the mixture on, it took longer.

Price: *****

This is probably the cheapest project I've ever tried.  It virtually cost me $0! 

Overall, this was super easy and inexpensive to try, but really did work out.

Check back next Saturday for a new project to be pinspected.  If you have any suggestions/comments feel free to contact me.

Megan

Christmas Beer Cap Coasters

Hi friends!

About two months before Christmas, I found what seemed like the best project to give to my brother for the holidays.  He is quite the beer connoisseur, he even brews his own beer!  I'm impressed. :) Anyways, I found the coolest beer cap coasters that I thought he would absolutely love.  I asked my brother to start saving up his caps from beers and sure enough, he did. The day before Christmas (I know, I know, should have started earlier) I decided to make his gift.  It was a royal disaster.  I was totally bummed, as was he.  I wish I would have known these coasters would be such a pain in my butt ahead of time.  But, I decided to give it another shot yesterday and here are my results:

pin link (Thank you Lindsey Dixon whom this was originally pinned from)

link for directions (Props to Jessica Gaffney)
Props to my lovely mother for taking pictures during the project attempt!

First you need molds for the coasters.  I bought mine from a website called resin obsession.  Apparently, these are worth the small price you pay if you are deciding to make these coasters.  I bought two of the square base molds model #584.  Tip: They shipped quickly and worked well, I suggest spending the extra cash. ($3.99 per mold)

I bought two molds so I can make multiple at a time.  If you pace yourself and work ahead of time, it is not really necessary.  In fact, this time I attempted the project, I only used one.  I didn't want to take the chance to mess two up again and throw out wasted products.  Tip: I suggest putting newspaper underneath your molds or your working area.  Resin is quite tricky, sticky, and no fun on your counter tops!  Another warning, this stuff smells!  I suggest doing it in a low traffic area of your house, or just letting it dry in your basement or other area.  Also, dispose of any trash, napkins, cups, etc in a trash can far away from yourself (I threw my remains in the garage).

You will want a mold release spray (pictured below).  This makes the coasters easier to release when they are dry.  The first step is to spray your molds with the spray and let them dry. (See picture above)  It takes about 15-20 minutes to completely dry.  The mold release spray was fairly inexpensive (I think about $4)

You will be using casting resin (make sure to get clear) and a casting catalyst.  Together the two were kind of pricey.  The catalyst was about $6 and the casting resin was about $20.  I purchased all my supplies minus the molds from Michael's craft store.  Tip: Michael's often gives out coupons and I suggest using one for the resin, since it is pricey.  Another tip... this resin was IMPOSSIBLE to open.  Okay, maybe not impossible, but very difficult.  My mom and I had to use a screwdriver to try to pry it open.  After that attempt failed we got out the pliers.  You will definitely need some pliers to get this baby open.

You will want to mix the resin and catalyst with plastic silverware and cups you can easily get rid off.  This stuff is sticky and smells (definitely don't want to drink OJ from a cup that this stuff has been in).

The directions on the resin container are VERY vague in my opinion.  It describes how many drops of catalyst to put in the resin per ounce. I think this is where my first project didn't work out.  I'm not sure how the heck they expect you to measures out ounces of resin.  You will see when you pour it how tricky and sticky it is to work with.  I estimated that I was using about 3-4 ounces of resin per coaster.  The back suggested that for a single layer about 1/4" inch thick to use 8 drops of catalyst per ounce.  That would be between 24-32 drops of catalyst for this coaster. (I did 32... don't ask me why) Start mixing immediately after dropping in the catalyst.

Next, pour just enough resin in the coaster to cover the surface area.

Then, start arranging your beer caps. 

After arranging your tabs, pour the remaining resin in the mold.  You want to fill the beer caps and attempt to make it covered evenly.  Tip: Pouring the resin on top can tend to move the caps a little out of place.  If you pour to the right or left of a cap it tends to shift the opposite way.  For example, when pouring to the right of a cap, the cap tends to be pushed to the left a tad.  If you are really picky about your spacing, you might want to be aware of this.

Below is the finished result about pouring the remains of the resin in.  As you can see, my spacing is not exact, but I kind of like it.  I think that is what makes DIY projects so great, they are always original.  You can see that I have some air bubbles in mine.  I honestly have no idea how you can avoid this.  If you try out this project and have ideas, let me know!

The molds take "a few hours" to dry according to the directions from pinterest.  I left mine dry overnight.  Here is the finished result below! The first time I attempted this project, they never fully dried.  They were sticky, gross, and falling apart. 

I decided for every recipe/project I try, I will pinspect it in the following areas: pin, accuracy, ease, quality, time, and price.  They will be rated from one start to five stars.  One being the lowest and five being the highest.  For pin, I will be looking at whether or not the actual pin link works and how easy it is to find the project or recipe within that link/website.  For example, sometimes, pins take you to a blog, but not the specific blog post with the project directions.  The accuracy will be determined by whether or not I feel the directions for the project/recipe were described in enough detail.  The ease of completing the project.  The quality of the finished project.  How long the project took to complete and lastly, how expensive the project was and whether or not it is worth your buck!

Pin: *****

The pin link took you directly to the website needed to complete the project.  It was straightforward and easy to find with just a click of the mouse.

Accuracy: ***

I thought the directions could have been better explained.  The author really didn't describe how much resin you use per coaster, which was confusing.  You have to have just the right amount of catalyst for resin.  She didn't really give any tips for troubleshooting unless you read through all the comments on her blog.

Ease: **

This project is pretty difficult.  It is hard to determine the right amount of catalyst to harden the coaster.  I have no idea how anyone could do this without getting air bubbles in the resin.  It was also difficult to keep the beer tabs placed exactly how you wanted.  The resin is difficult to work with and messy.

Quality:  ****

The coasters look awesome, but even when dry they smell kinda funky (I hear that goes away) and are a tad sticky.  My brother loves the look, but I guess we will find out how reliable and efficient they are when put to use.

Time:  *****

This project doesn't take much time (if you exclude drying time).  It maybe took me ten minutes to put the coaster together and have it ready to dry.

Price:  ****

This project is a little pricey, but you can make a lot of coasters with the materials you get.  If you are planning on only making a couple it might not be worth your buck.

Thanks! Hope you all enjoyed my first "real" post!  Feel free to comment, leave me tips or suggestions to improve, or let me know what you would like to see next!

Megan

Pinspector begins!

Hello cyberspace!

My name is Megan and I'm currently a graduate student studying speech-language pathology.  I've always been creative and loved participating in crafts and DIY projects.  So as you can imagine, last year, when I heard about a "new" website called pinterest, I was hooked!  This website consumed my life for a few weeks.  I mean, there is ANYTHING you can imagine on there.  I would look at recipes, DIY projects, create my fantasy wedding, look up activities to do with my speech-language kids... the list goes on and on. If you are any bit a pin-addict like myself, you hate when pinterest doesn't work out how you imagined.  For example, you find an AMAZING recipe or project and go to click on the link to actually complete the project/recipe and what happens?  The link doesn't work. FAIL.  Or how about this one, you buy all the supplies for a project and it just doesn't turn out.  That is such a bummer.  Well, that is exactly why I decided to create this blog.  I want to help fellow pin-addicts out there find the projects that work and weed out the ones that don't.  I have tried so many different projects and recipes so I thought, why not blog about my trials and errors?  I will try to "pinspect" a pin every week or two and give my thoughts on the effectiveness of the project/recipe/whatever.  I will post photos of the steps I took and provide an overall rating on the project.  If the project doesn't work out so well, I will try to give possible tips and tricks to fix the areas I found difficult!  I also will have "guest bloggers" or friends try out projects and give me their opinion.

I am looking forward to this journey with you all!

Megan