My Problem with Pinterest

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last two years, you’ve probably at least heard of Pinterest, if not spent countless hours on the site aimlessly perusing.  I could spend days on there looking at clothes that I covet, rooms that I want to recreate, food that I crave, and crafts that I want to try. So what’s the problem?

Well #1 I see pictures of crafts that I think I want to try. And actually first let me clarify something. “Crafts” makes me think of the things that I have my Sunday school class make out of clothespins, pipe cleaners, elbow macaroni and popsicle sticks. These “crafts” that are on Pinterest are actually of a different variety. These are high designer craft mastery. For example a few months back I saw these cool wall hangings all over Pinterest. Well believe it or not, when I clicked on the picture, these wall hangings, that sell in similar versions at home stores for upwards of $50, were made out of old toilet paper rolls that were cut up, spray painted black and glued together to look like wrought iron. Well Holy Smokes! That’s awesome and right up my alley. I love cheap décor and creating things. Again, so what’s the problem? Well the people who made these must have had the patience of a saint and they most definitely did not have 3 energetic kids running around or pretty much didn’t do anything else but glue toilet paper rolls together for a week. And they make it sound like they tried once and BAM! they have a beautiful 4’ flower that stops everyone in their tracks the moment they see it. Well, unless they are some sort of toilet paper roll ninja, I have to argue that their pictures are not their first attempt at this. Despite the fact I don't actually need or want a toilet paper roll wall hanging, I collected toilet paper rolls, spray painted them black, cut them up into 1 inch pieces but alas I had a mess of gluey, black little pieces or cardboard and nothing that resembled a faux wrought iron wall hanging.  

#2 Along the same lines as #1, but if I follow your directions to a “t” and your picture looks like this

then why does mine look like this? 

Why do my apple balls still have a flat edge? Do you want to know why? Because no matter how many times I tried I could not get a full, round, ball-period. This is what an unphotoshopped mini apple caramel ball looks like. The truth is the caramel icecream topping drips, the peanuts don’t stick and THE BALLS ARE NOT ROUND!

#3 And this ties me back into #1 as well. I used to think I was crafty. I once made my Mom a holder for tampons from an oatmeal container. I have made scarves, ornaments, cards, scrapbooks and candle holders. But these things that used to pass muster in the world of creativity, do so no longer. The crafts that I can make belong at some country art folk festival up in the mountains of Western Maryland while the stuff on Pinterest could be seen in designer homes and art galleries in the most posh cities in the country.

#4 Thriftiness- I get excited when pins claim to have a thrifty solution for something or a thrifty way to make something. And I love the idea of soda can tabs on a hanger to add an extra place to hang another piece of clothing, but most of these pins are not actually "thrifty." Note: It is not actually thrifty to make these things unless you have a space in your home that resembles Hobby Lobby where you stockpile all your craft making supplies. That's right, I do not have an endless supply of blank canvases, every size of every letter of the alphabet in wood and cardboard, paper lanterns, 20 old men’s shirts, 50 wood pallets, 100 extra mason jars or 1,000,000 buttons.

#5 Ninjas. My last problem is that I could spend hours on Pinterest. But if I spend hours on Pinterest looking, that is hours I am spending not creating the things I see on Pinterest. So my observation is this: the people that have time to make bolts into bracelets, 

 

frumpy t-shirts into cute boutique-worthy dresses,

Canvas art with Elmer’s glue

wall décor from toilet paper rolls

and anything and everything you could imagine out of a wood pallet

are not the same people that spend hours on Pinterest looking at these things. Right now I am reading “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin. It is about her yearlong quest to find happiness by examining and making “improvements” in 12 different realms of her life. Well, she is annoyingly like the Pinterest ninjas. I would be happier too if I had 58 hours in a day to explore the history of happiness, write a book, lead a half dozen book clubs, host weekly dinner parties, catch up with every old friend I had since elementary school and all the while still feed and take care of my family. Similary, if I wanted people to think I was crafty and wanted them to repin my creations, I would need an equal amount of time to come up with the idea and then actually turn my old “Johnson’s and Johnson’s” soap bottles into holders for my cell phone while it charges. So clearly Gretchen Rubin and the Pinterest ninjas do not actually spend hours on Pinterest like the rest of us normal folk.

And what’s up with people repining this. Really?

And yes I know I sound like a hater, and I may be slighty jealous of ninja craftiness but really I might just be upset I didn’t think of this in college.

 

 

 

 

 

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Summer vacation? Seasonal hiatus? Whether you noticed or not I HAVE been MIA. And “in action” is precisely what I have been. Since my last post we enjoyed a long weekend in Cincinnati, sandwiched by two week long visits with family in Maryland. Then after a brief return to North Carolina, we trudged back up 95 for another week in MD. Then September brought with it the beginning of the school year and new extracurricular activities like U6 soccer, gymnastics and soccer camp.  Any remaining squares on the calendar? They’ve quickly filled up with hosting Crossfit workouts here at the house or on base, soccer games, church and lots of football. Finally, add in the time we have spent following our beloved Orioles making a run toward their first postseason appearance in 15 years and we are spent at the end of each and every day. Excuses aside, I have neglected to post here recently, but I am back for some accountability with the Buy Nothing New for a Year Challenge and, more importantly, to keep updating everyone with pictures and stories of the kids.

As far as the BNN Challenge there is not really much to report. We still have not bought anything new, although I have a growing list of things that I will buy come May 1 2013: a choke chain for the dog, a dog bowl for the dog because he keeps chewing through the Tupperware ones, a wedding present for Ozzie and Emily, my own micro plane so I can stop borrowing Liz’s, a new Pampered Chef strainer, an apple corer, a melon baller, a size 3 soccer ball so I can stop “borrowing” from the league, a new rug and a floor lamp for the reading corner, just to name a few. Unfortunately as you can see, my desire to have less and produce less waste by relying less on manufactured goods is sometimes inconsistent with my desire for simplicity.  For example, if I bought an apple corer I would spend less time coring apples because I would no longer be using a plain knife to do this job (I would actually cut down on waste too because I would presumably need a lot fewer band-aids). Also, life would be much simpler if I didn’t have to drive 30 minutes to borrow a micro plane or hideout after soccer practice until everyone leaves so I can “borrow” a soccer ball until next practice.

And yes, I’m back on wedding presents. After the debacle that was the wedding present for the couple married in Cincinnati ( I still can’t believe I made (and actually gave them) the coffee mugs and thankfully I had enough sense to include a gift card too) I will definitely be buying, and look forward to buying gifts from Ozzie and Emily’s wedding registry.

Speaking of presents, not only did I “cop out” and give a gift card for that wedding gift, I also gave gift cards for several other birthday’s, anniversaries and baptism’s that had past. I figured failing to give someone a gift in a timely manner was far worse than “failing” at the BNN Challenge. Part of this challenge was also to give gifts that were useful and although lacking in all forms of creativity at least a gift card is much more useful than some mugs or pincushion or frames that I handmade. Less thoughtful, more useful; I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Perhaps an amendment to my rules for this challenge is in order to allow gift cards.

It’s either that or I start working on Christmas gifts tomorrow!

Okay enough of the Challenge, gifts, money and such things, it’s time for some fun stuff. These pictures are from the first day of school, the first day of soccer, and the first day of gymnastics.

One of my favorite things about filling our schedule with school, gymnastics, soccer and church activities is watching Shannon follow Patrick around and try to do EVERYTHING that he does. As annoying as this must be for Patrick (she literally echoes what he says as he says it while he’s saying it- it’s like having two tv’s on in different rooms and one of them is on a 2 second delay) he deals with it so well. Patrick is playing in a U6 soccer league and Shannon follows his team around, decked out in her own shingaurds and cleats, completely unaware that she is not, in fact, on the team and even participates in team stretching and cheers.  But if she is to admire anyone I honestly can’t think of anyone better for her to look up to than Patrick.

Oh and there’s Laura because somewhere about halfway through my leave of absence, she turned ONE!

Romans 12:9- 13- 9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor; 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

Handmade Coffee Mug Set

My last blog post was about the wedding invitation ornament I made and this one is about another wedding gift I made but I’m pretty sure this will be the last one since my dreams of making an end grain cutting board didn’t pan out, I think I’m just going to get them….. a gift card.

It’s a cop out and not really in my set of rules or exceptions either but I just can’t show up to their wedding which they have spent so much time and money making perfect for all of their guests (they hired babysitters to stay with the kids in an adjacent “kid” room so the kids could have some fun too but still be able to run back and forth to the reception hall if they want) with a .50 cent ornament and handmade set of coffee mugs.

But before I bow out of the homemade gift arena, here is my tutorial on how to make your own monogrammed coffee mug set. These may not be the best wedding gift ever, but they would make awesome gifts for teachers, a housewarming, a birthday, retirement, or basically anything else not as fancy as ummm….. a wedding…. sigh.

You'll need a few thing- scotch tape helps to peel off the stencil from it's backing, a pin, scissors to cut out your stencils, paint that is made for glass or ceramics, a brush or sponge, vinyl stickers and mugs or dishes.

First I found a great deal for a set of used Pflatzgraff plates. I had to buy the whole set, so for $15 I got 12 dinner plates, 12 salad plates, 12 bowls, 3 platters, 20 coffee cups and their saucers all in white and another smaller set of the same Pfaltzgraff pattern in red. It was a great deal, but I didn’t need and wasn’t able to use a lot of the set so I donated what I couldn’t use. This is an example of one of those times during this challenge where it really would have been cheaper and easier to just run to the dollar store to grab a set of all white mugs. The good news is that I can still make 2 more sets of these mugs and I have several plates that I will use for baked goods gifts.

Then I had a friend with a vinyl cutting machine help me with the fonts and layout and she printed out the stencils for me.

Next I just placed the big “S” sticker and painted that with a pewter color. Before I peeled the stencil back off I let it sit for a minute or two to let the paint dry a little.

There was definitely a happy medium though. If the paint was too wet it smeared, if it was too dry it peeled off. Once the stencil sticker was off I was able to go back over and remove unwanted areas with a pin. I used the same pin to also fill in areas that were splotchy or that didn’t turn out.

Then I baked all 6 mugs on a baking sheet for 30 minutes on 400.

After letting them cool, it was time for the next round of stencils. This round was much trickier because of how teeny tiny the stencils were but I still think they turned out okay. I had to be very careful peeling the stencils off and I used the scotch tape and my tweezers a lot and had to rely on going back with the pin to make a lot of touch-ups.

I used different colors for each mug but if I had to do it over again I think I just would have used one brighter color like red or orange.

After the second round of stenciling was over I baked for another 30 minutes at 400. I pulled them out, let them cool again and now I just need to find a cute way to wrap them so they arrive safely in Cincinnati after being in the car for 17+ hours.

Well, I love them and would love a set myself. I just think they’re so cute.

Unfortunately that’s also the problem; they’re cute. More like something that you’d make at camp and bring home to your mom but what’s that saying again? It’s the thought that counts, right? And now you can see why I feel like I also need to give them a gift card.

People always mention how Patrick has such a deep voice
for a little kid. But every once in a while his voice will get really high,
like the other day when he snuck out of his room after nap
and told Tim and I that we had to "go check out Shannon because
her little piggy tails were sneaking up out of her covers
and she's just so cute." :) I just love them!

Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

- Hebrews 10:24-25

Wedding Invitation Ornament

The wedding I have been talking about is getting closer and closer and I still have very little idea what to give the couple for a gift. I just made one small part of the gift and will share that but I still need a few more ideas..... any one?


The small gift that I have is a wedding invitation ornament. I saw this for the first time about 2 years ago in a magazine in a dr's office and now it's splattered all over Pinterest. But here ya go in case you haven't seen it yet.


Gather materials: wedding/rehearsal dinner/day after wedding brunch invitation/save the date etc, scissors, pencil and glass ornament.

First you'll want to decide which invitations you want to use. Some are pretty enough just to use the invitation. For this particular wedding the invitation was plain white. While simple is classy and pretty it doesn't add much to these ornaments so I also chose the brunch invitation for some color. Also here's another idea- As soon as I opened their invitation I knew it was too thick to make these ornaments so I just scanned the invitation into my computer and printed it out on some medium thick paper.

And yet another thought....if your life and kids are anything like mine you may end up with to-do lists, doodles and pictures of pirates holding pistols on the backs (or front) of the invitations. Don't worry, I just glued some regular computer paper to the back to cover and just didn't use the parts of the fronts that were drawn on.

Once you have your invitations together, cut them into strips. I decided to cut the colorful part of the brunch invitation and then use "meaningful" lines of the wedding invitation. For example, I cut out the bride and groom's names, the date, year, place and the line that said "at the marriage of her daughter." I left out lines like "reception immediately following" and "black tie optional." I ended up with 13 strips.


Now you curl the strips of paper, one at a time around a pencil. After you are done curling the paper you just push it inside of the clear glass ornament and now you have a beautiful ornament.

I like to curl the paper one at a time and push them in as I finish curling them because that is when the curl is the tightest and pushes in easiest.

If you wait until all are curled before you start pushing in you may need to recurl or bend your pieces a little more. But that's it, put the cap back on and you have a gorgeous gift that will remind the couple of their wedding every year they pull it out.

Psalm 139:13-18- 13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;that I know very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. 17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 I try to count them--they are more than the sand; I come to the end--I am still with you.

Fourth of July Fun

I started this blog with the intent of posting every other day.  As it seems most blogs do, mine started off strong but as the weeks passed my posts have become more and more infrequent, but alas today is a new day and here is my second post in as many days. You think I can manage 3 in a row?

When I started the blog I also intended to share all the gifts that I give throughout the year to show that really not a lot of money is required to give a great and thoughtful gift. What I didn’t mean to happen is that I just don’t give gifts at all, like what has happened with my father in law. I’ve missed his Birthday and Father’s Day and still don’t have any great ideas for him. Thankfully my husband and I don’t really “do” anniversary’s or mother’s and father’s day or that would be 2 more gifts I’d be in the hole.  

ALL BOY!!! This is the birthday boy

Luckily when I was in a thrift store a few weeks back, I stumbled upon a great gift for our neighbor’s little boy’s 1^st Birthday party. Now this may not seem like the best gift for a 1 year old, but for this family and for this little boy who is more like 1 going on 3 a remote control JEEP seemed just fine. Seriously, yesterday he was driving a giant Power Wheel’s, pushing the pedal and everything- not your typical 1 year old! So for several dollars I got this great gift, still in a box.

I forgot to take a picture of the JEEP before hand, but
here's a picture of the older kids "helping" Oliver
open his present- he doesn't seem to mind!

 You don’t always find stuff still in the packaging but some thrift stores seem to have more of that stuff than others. The other day I found a flea market in Jacksonville with hundreds of Hot Wheels cars and Star Wars figures still in boxes. I think we may be headed back to pick up Christmas and birthday gifts for all the little boys we know.

And for the fun part, we made our own wrapping paper using brown paper bags and some paint. Since our little buddy was born on the fourth of July, we decided to make some red, white and blue fireworks. We diluted some acrylic paint (craft paint would work great too) with water, then dropped a bit at a time in different areas.

Then we took a straw and blew the paint outward from the center to get fireworks (this would look so pretty on black paper using bright colors).

I tried to get the kids to do the same. They thought it was neat the first time, but then decided they would just rather use the brush or finger paint, and that was fine too!

This was the best way to spend the fourth!!!

Hehe, I love the last 3 pics!

 

Psalm 63:3-8
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name. 5 My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips 6 when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.