For the unskilled few, Pinterest can be like navigating a maze full of impossible projects that you wish you could do. I am one of those unskilled few. I can take a salmon patty and turn it into a burger that secretes more oil than an oil tanker.

I decided to tackle several Pinterest projects in the hope of discerning several tips that can help you avoid a Pinterest failure.

Peanut Butter Fudge

Few things top rich and addicting fudge. Who would have thought that a recipe containing maybe three steps could be botched? Somewhere within those three steps, I made a mistake and instead of getting fudge I got a crumbly, sugary flat square sheet. At least it tasted good.

When making fudge you need to keep the idea of thickness in the back of your head. If you want to add thickness to your fudge you could either increase the amount you are making or you could use a smaller pan. I did not think of either when making my fudge so that explains the sheet of paper I got. According to eyes more akin to successful cooking than mine, if I had boiled the fudge for longer than I had, it might have been thicker. I was only a few seconds from the desired time in the recipe, even if that would not help the problem when making fudge you need to watch out for how long you are boiling it. Spend too long, you might get what I did, do not spend enough time and your fudge will not set. I have seen both scenarios.

Oreo Truffle Brownie

At first this project seemed like a great idea. A brownie covered in an Oreo truffle layer. What could go wrong? Not reading all of the directions ahead of time, not knowing what a truffle was and not having all the right equipment; that is what could go wrong. It did not seem all that hard when I skimmed the directions but as it turns out, it was all that hard.

You start with making a brownie, which is the easiest part. For me, this was the only part that came out any good. It turns out for the next part you will want to get a food processor. Do not have one? Well, you better get out your trusty Ziploc bag and rolling pin, you are going to need them. Using only these two items I had to turn a package of Double Stuffed Oreos into a fine powder. Needless to say, I did not get the finest powder out of my Oreos, before turning them into a truffle.

If you are thinking about making this, the single most important thing you need to know before hand, is what dipping chocolate is. If you thoroughly read the directions beforehand, you will not have much trouble with this. I did not read the directions all that thoroughly, so instead of getting chocolate chips I got a chocolate spread thinking: “You can dip things in that.” As it turns out, the chocolate was another layer, not meant to dip things into. So instead I improvised and spread the chocolate on top of whole dish.

Origami Octopus

You can probably guess that I am not good at origami. The goal for this project was to get an octopus-looking creature from a single sheet of paper. There are seven steps to this craft. Unless you count making a square base followed by a frog base, then it is nine if you count each as its own step.

I have done origami before. Granted they were all simple elementary school projects. Still, I deceived myself into believing yet again that this project was going to be easy. To simply begin you have to know how to make a square and frog base and that is before you get to step number one. My first tip to you, if you want to make this, is to know at least these two techniques before starting. I did not and look where that got me. Some of the directions I guessed at and continued trying to make the thing. There is however a point at which I had to give up, because everything with the octopus went wrong.

Origami Camel

I spent over an hour trying to make the origami camel. Many would look at what I made and say I did not try at all. They would be wrong; my final product was the fourth or fifth attempt at making it. I would say that what I made was closer to a table than a camel.

I do not have a whole lot of tips for this project, I could not complete it. I am not that good at origami or folding in general. The biggest thing with this project was that it was not step by step. Each image was several steps and you just have to guess at what is going on with no writing or directions. If you were to ask me, I would say you would have to be an expert at origami. It does not really seem to be meant to be recreated; it seems more like a post to show what the camel looked like at various times in the project than a step-by-step guide.

If you are good at cooking, origami or just want to try these projects out then let my guide serve as a way to avoid failure. They are not inherently Pinterest failures, they all work in some regards such as flavor, being easy to follow or being designed for those with some pre-existing skill. I was just unable to get them to work. Hopefully you can learn from my failures.