Pinterest (n): a place to catalog the things you love

 

If you haven't already, meet Pinterest.

It's the latest and greatest in cyberworld at the moment.

There's even a Pinterst Blog with the latest and greatest boards and pins, events and trends.

What is Pinterest, boards and pinning you ask?

Pinterest (n): a place to catalog the things you love. <3

I like to think of it as your Dream Catalogue, categorizing the things you love by using the photos you come across while browsing the internet, blogs and websites.

It is a virutal pin board with ALL of your dreams/wants/to-do's/diy photos and inspirations saved and arranged exatly how you'd like and is accessible on any computer.

So you can now throw away those magazine clippings, internet prints, inspiration binders and scribbled wish lists, because Pinterest is your new best friend--woo hoo!

Best of yet, it is free to join.

But, you must receive an invite to join. You have two options for doing this:

1. You may request an invite through the Pinterest site itself, as I did. I requested one a few months ago when I first heard about the site. I forgot that I had even done so, finally checked my e-mail account this past week (and some 300 e-mails later) found my Pinterest  invite! Because I didn't check my e-mail for quite some, I'm not really sure how long it took for me to actually receive it. Some sites I have read say it takes quite some time to receive one, as Pinterest is having a hard time keeping up with all the new requests.

2. You may be invited by a person or friend who is already a user. AKA me. :) If there is anyone out there who is later than me to jump on this bandwagon, no worries. Let me know and I will gladly send you a Pinterest invite and you will be pinning in no time! Please e-mail me or comment to let me know if you'd like an invite sent your way! :)

To join the Pinterest community (once you receive your invite) you start off by creating an account with your Facebook or Twitter log-in and subsequently can log-in using your e-mail address from there after. Pinterest will automatically show which of your Facebook friends or Twitter followers already have a Pinterest account, so you can be linked with your friends and their pins right away! How cool?!
There are a few (but very easy) ways that you then start pinning your photos to your various boards. You are also able to re-pin friends and others pins to your own board(s).
This is when your imagination really starts running wild!

Here are just SOME of the awesome goodies that I have currently pinned on my boards! :)

Cake Batter Pancakes are pinned on my 'Good Eats' board--who doesn't love this idea?!

This photo is pinned to my 'For The Home' board...I love the white pops of color in this otherwise neutral room.

This beautiful bedroom is pinned on my 'Bedrooms' board--living with a boy and pup could turn a room like this into a mess very quickly, but a girl can deam. :)

This DIY inspiration is pinned to my 'Home DIY' board--a must have somewhere in my home.

Hanakapi'ai Falls (Kauai, Hawaii) is pinned to my 'Travel Dreams' board. Again, a girl can dream!

 

This fabulous lace skirt is pinned to my 'DIY' board with the tutorial and all.

Get the idea yet? You can create as many boards and pin as many photos to them as you'd like. My original 'For the Home' board has already expanded into 4 seperate boards; Bathrooms, Bedrooms, Home DIY and For the Home; I'm also pretty sure this will soon expand even more to Dining Rooms, Living Rooms, Kitchens, etc...probably sooner than later. :) Currently, my other boards include: DIY, Style, Wedding, Good Eats, Travel Dreams and Gifts. Though, I'm sure that list will grow and expand over time also once I start digging through my saved e-mail's and websites of ideas and inspirations.  

The other beautiful thing about Pinterst is that when you pin a photo, the link is stored with it. So, for every recipe or how-to photo you come across and pin, the link and directions/tutorial are also saved. With that being said, as long as you pin the image from the original source, your saved goodies are also credited...how percfect!

I chose to keep my Pinterest account seperate of 'Anngela's Pretty Little Things' so that I may have personal things on there as well, but you can still come find and follow me at --> Anngela Davis. I will soon be adding an 'Anngela's Pretty Little Things' board for all of my creations.

And once again, if you have not yet joined and you would like an invite, please let me know and I'll be glad to get you pinning!!

Pirate Treasure Chest Cake {Baking}

This past weekend we celebrated our close friend's sons 3rd birthday. A Pirate Pool Party had been planned! What an AWESOME theme for a 3 year olds summer birthday?! Along with the MANY decorations and goodies that his mother Autumn purchased for the party, she wanted to make a fun cake to go along with the theme. She recruited my help and after googling a few ideas and talking to some friends, we decided to make a pirate ship cake, a treasure chest cake and cupcakes. Mind you, neither her nor I are pro-bakers, let a lone cake decorators; she thought between my creativity and her willingness to make a fun cake for her son that we could get it accomplished. Her husband Tommy and Larry's mother also played a big role in making the cakes the night before the big day. 

Here is just SOME of the candy that we used for the cake and party!

 

We used this Treasure Chest Cake how-to tutorial for creating the treasure chest cake. The chest is what Autumn was most excited about for her son, TJ. We used a Wilton Pirate Ship cake pan for the ship.

Tommy was the one that did all of the baking while Autumn and I prepped the board that the cake would go on and got all the candy/decorations in order...we also had little man to watch after and entertain. :)

After baking and forcing the cake out of the pan--apparently the non-stick pan is a LIE--and cutting up the pieces according to the tutorial, this is what we came up with.

It looked a little wonky and not-so-much like a treasure chest, but we knew it was just the beginning stages and had faith!

After a little icing and decor, the chest was starting to come together! And TJ guessed exactly what it was--so that's all that mattered. :)

We finished the basic icing and decorating of the two cakes and cupcakes the night before and finished the final touches on Saturday morning before the party. Here are some photos of the final product! 

The treasure chest is on the top left, the pirate ship is on the bottom right and the cupcakes scattered all around. TJ really wanted green sails for the ship, which kind of made the ship look somewhat Christmassy--but he loved it! We added LOTS and LOTS of pirate toys, little ships, cannonballs, swords, fake jewels, coins, ring pops. and candy. ALL of the kids had a blast seeing all the goodies on the cake and picking out their favorites. TJ loved the candy necklaces.

Autumn and I posing for a photo with the cake. All of the adults had bandanas and pirate tattoos. :)

The idea for the cupcakes was that the gummie sharks and fish were swimming around the ship and treasure chest. We also alternated white cupcakes with pirate swords on them.

Apparently TJ turns shy when people to start to sing to him, because this is what he did during his 'Happy Birthday' song! How cute!!

He soon decided to blow out his candles and enjoy his cake!!

TJ LOVED his cake--if you can't tell from the evidence on his mouth. :)

TJ playing with all of the goodies on his cake--he tried to shove anything and everything he could into the little pirate ship. :)

It's safe to say it was a VERY successful birthday for the little man--and first successful cake decorating for all of us! I'm not sure we would go pro with it, but at least we know we can make a cake good enough for a 3 year old's taste! I'm so glad that the party was such a success--can't wait to see what the theme will be for his birthday next year!! <3