I’ve started to notice some backlash against my beloved Pinterest lately. There is no doubt that the site if filled with tons of creative inspiration but lots of people have begun to question how many people are spending their free time completing projects they’ve pinned on Pinterest and how many are frittering that time away by sitting in front of their laptops pinning and pinning some more. I’m a very active pinner (you can follow me here) and I’d like to speak up as the voice of someone who does act on the inspiration she gets from Pinterest! I’m not saying I’ve done something with all of the 800+ images I’ve got saved, but I have made use of dozens of the ideas I’ve pinned to my boards.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Home-made Naan by Budget Bytes — I came across this recipe a few weeks ago and I’ve made it twice in the last two weeks. I’ve made yeast breads a few times before — and loved eating them — but I’m still pretty intimidated by them. This recipe was fast and didn’t require much skill. Also, if you read my bento posts you may have noticed that my kids kind of love naan! I’m hoping that at some point I’ll be able to add this bread to their lunch boxes, but so far they’ve eaten all this bread before I had a chance to give it to them.
Brassy Apple’s Star Wars Valentines — I loved this idea to use a glow stick as a light saber so these were Wyatt’s valentines last week. The Brassy Apple offers a free download, but I ended up making my own version because Wyatt wanted a different light saber handle and I wanted to fit more valentines on a page. These were super cool and Wyatt’s classmates loved them.
Made by Joel’s Paperclip Dinosaurs — This project is one of those simple, brilliant ones that I never would have thought of on my own. Print images from the web, cut them out and then tape bent paper clips to the back so they’ll stand up. If you’re feeling fancy, draw a background on a piece of paper. It’s awesome because you can apply the basic concept to just about any theme. We ended up printing out dinosaur pictures like Joel did in his original blog post, but you could make a farm scene, a safari, robot war, paper dolls — anything!
Ice with Toys Frozen Into it from Counting Coconuts — We did this one last summer. I spent a week or so adding layers of water (sometimes colored with food coloring) and plastic toys to a large Tupperware container, then I pulled it out and let the kids excavate the toys. They used squirt guns, hammers (wearing safety glasses), the garden hose and also just left it sitting in the sun for awhile to get everything out.
Warby Parker Glasses — This is my most recent Pinterest discovery. Warby Parker sells vintage-inspired glasses for $95 per pair lenses included. You select up to five pairs of frames you’re interested in trying, then they mail them to your house and you can try them out for up to five days. When you decide on a pair you like, you send the glasses back, upload your prescription and they mail a complete pair of glasses back to you. The best part is that they donate a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair you purchase! I got my sample box yesterday and I’m trying to decide which ones I like best right now. Augie has settled on three pairs for himself.
How are you using Pinterest? Do you pin and pin and pin some more? Or do you take the ideas and run with them? I’d love it if you shared your favorite pins in the comments. Also, if you need a Pinterest invite, leave your email and I’ll send you an invite!
