Thursday 10 July 2014

My Favourite Pinterest Adventures

I love Pinterest.  Well, I have a bit of a love-hate thing going on with Pinterest. I love all the ideas, and it’s my go-to place online, when I’m looking for something new to make, but I hate that it’s such a time suck.  Luckily I have a baby to take care of now, so I only get to go on Pinterest in two to three minute bursts now, but towards the end of my pregnancy, I would waste an entire afternoon.

I really only pin within three categories:

Food: In general, I’m a fan of food.  I’ve mentioned before that I love cooking and like trying new things.  I’m always looking for new recipes, because I get bored easily.  I use Pinterest more than my recipe books now.  I like that there is always a picture, which isn’t always the case with a book. 

Home/Organization:  My house is also always in reno-mode, so I’m always looking for ideas.  I live in a post-WWII one and a half storey homes.  Many cities and towns have neighbourhoods like mine – filled with one or two versions of the same house built around 1950.  I’m always looking for ways to make my house feel a little different than others that I walk into. I should also mention that my house is SMALL! Small is good – less cleaning, more cozy, less to take care of, but in this case, small also means no practical storage. Despite being here for over 5 years, my dream of having a well organized house, where everything has a home, has not yet been achieved. And so I “pin” for inspiration.  Sometimes my pins even become reality!

DIY/Crafting: I want to be one of those super-crafty creative people.  I’m really not. All I end up with is glue gun burns, paint on my clothes, and a big mess to clean up.  I dabble in scrapbooking, but that’s about where my craftyness ends – cutting and gluing.  All of those “Pinterest Fail”/“Nailed It!” pictures floating around the internet crack me up, because I could have taken any of them, I’m sure.

I already shared some of the baking successes I’ve have, so I thought I’d share a couple of Pinterest inspired house projects I’ve had completed or are currently working on. 

1) User Manual Binders


My Version:
This may not be the most exciting project, but it has helped keep one thing in my life in order – manuals.  Ugh. I hate them.  They used to be all over my house.  You never knew where you’d find them.  The snowblower manual was in the kitchen. The stove manual was in the living room. The TV manual was in the basement.  The washing machine manual was in the spare room.  There was no rhyme or reason to where a manual was.  The problem? They didn’t have a home.  Now they do! I had found a pin that suggested that I use binders and page protector sheets.  Each manual gets its own page protector and they all get put in the binder.  When I need a manual, I just look in my binder! Sometimes, when I’ve been REALLY organized, I’ve even put the receipt with the manual. 

 
2) My Super Simple Recipe Binder

Original Pin: There wasn't really ONE pin... I had found some ideas for storing recipes, and made this one my own.

My Version:
It’s great to have Pinterest, but you have to remember that the Internet is always changing. Just because something is there today, doesn’t mean it will be there tomorrow.  When I find a recipe I like, I always try to print it off. Of course, then it just gets bounced around from place to place until it eventually makes its way to the garbage or some random pile of papers.  One day, I sat down and made a Super Simple Recipe Binder, after looking at some examples on Pinterest.  Now, I have a place to put the recipes I’ve tried.  I can also keep note of changes I’ve made to the recipes, nutritional information, etc. I also made dividers to help organize my recipes - appetizers, soup, chicken, pasta, etc. Like the manual binder, it’s just a binder and page protectors.  Super cheap, super easy. It’s brilliant though, because if you’re a messy cook (like I am) the page protectors help keep your recipe clean as well as organized.  Also, if you print the recipe from a website, it will remind you where the recipe came from, in case you want to go back and look for more!!
Notice the Chocolate Cake recipe from a previous post?  Yummy!
3) My Happy Jar

Original Pin: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/600x/16/4e/f9/164ef96947bce17aed08b3a775428aa3.jpg (I guess this is just a picture, but it’s pretty self-explanatory)

My Version:
I love my Happy Jar.  I found this idea around Christmas time. I had had a baby two months before, the dark cold winter months were starting, and even though I was really happy, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with my new normal. First time mums have a lot to learn.  I felt like we were finally settling in to a routine, and wanted to make sure that I was focusing on the good things in life, so I wouldn’t slip into a really bad case of the winter blues. This idea was perfect, and again, SO EASY! It’s kind of like a year-long time capsule or a different version of a scrapbook. All you need is paper, a pen and some sort of jar/bucket/vase.  Just keep a jar on a shelf and throughout the year, throw in LOLs, memorable moments, C’s firsts, funny things, basically anything that would be a good thing look back on.  On New Years Day 2015, we’ll open up the jar, think back on 2014 with a smile and then start all over again.  To help make sure it was easy to add to, I cut up little pieces of colourful paper (so the jar looks colourful as it gets filled up) and put them in a box next to the jar and always keep a pen or two in the jar, so everything is right there, ready to go. The hardest part is not allowing myself to going into the jar to reread notes I’ve put in!

 
4) M&M Garden Stones -


My Version:
This is actually from a buzzfeed list (which I then pinned.)  As soon as I saw the picture of the M&M garden stones, I knew I needed to make them for a family member who loves all things M&M. They look super cute and were fun to make.  I bought outdoor craft paint and collected a few M&M shaped rocks at the beach.  Each rock was painted with coats of M&M coloured paint.  Then I made a stencil of the “M,” traced it on the rock with a pencil and painted it with white paint. My original plan was to spray it with some sort of shellac, but since I bought outdoor paint, I skipped that step.  They turned out great! Also, since they were a gift from my son, I got him to “sign” the back, but putting a handprint on one and little thumbprints on the others.  They were a bit messy, because he was 7 months old, but still little and cute. (Plus, that side will be facing the ground!)   
 


Those are my favourite projects, but I’ve got some other Pinterest-inspired projects on the go, so I’ll keep you updated!

Do you have a favourite Pinterest-Inspired Project you've made?

2 comments:

  1. I'm trying to be crafty, but mostly I'm completely not. I do quilt (badly) and bake (slightly less badly), but those are about the limits of my craftiness.

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    Replies
    1. I'm there with you! I'm actually just learning to sew, and am in the middle of my first quilt. I keep getting stumped and end up taking a break, but I see the end in sight. It's just a machine quilted one, but I'm pretty excited about it. My craftiness is certainly limited, but it's fun trying!

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