Inspired by Pinterest in 2011

I started out using Tumblr at the beginning of 2011, but soon had to see what all the excitement was about with Pinterest. To me, Pinterest seems to have more crafts/creative ideas than I found on Tumblr, and I like being able to organize my pins into boards. I made the switch and have been addicted to browsing ever since. As I look back at my creativity in 2011, I owe much to Pinterest, including:

Learning to Crochet
I found so many lovely pins of crochet projects, I actually bought yarn and a hook and taught myself a few basic stitches. I'm proud to say I made two scarves sized just right for the boys, plus several scarves for their stuffed pals (good way to practice), and I'm nearly done with a scarf for myself.

Framed Word Art Gift
I printed the free Christmas scripture word art from A Simply Klassic Home and framed it as a gift for my older son's principal.

Good Eats
For Thanksgiving, I made this turkey(ish) veggies and dip platter, based on this Turkey Veggie Platter from Eating with Food Allergies.

Admittedly our turkey, made with a loaf of round pumpernickel to hold a spinach dip, is less artistically formed, but the boys had fun making it, and I received compliments for being so clever.

A few days before Christmas, the boys and I made up two yummy pretzel/chocolate treats I saw on Pinterest -- Holiday Pretzel Treats from Family Fun (also called Rudolph Noses on some pins, using only red MandMs) and Pretzel Hugs from Cookies and Cups. The boys loved helping and naming all the reindeer noses, and our family loved eating them -- I even got a few requests for the "recipes."

Christmas Elf Mischief

Since it was our third year with Sprinkles the Elf, we already had moved past the "sitting on the shelf" ideas to a few silly tricks and such, but thanks to Pinterest, Sprinkles had increasingly clever hiding places and mischief to make. Poor little elf, he had more inspiration than he had days or energy to execute! (Sprinkles hanging out in the freezer in the photo above was inspired by Beatrice.Killam's photo on Flickr.) 

30 Days of Gratitude Mini Book

Having pinned a few mini books from Lisa Ottosson, when I saw her Gratitude List Mini Book, I was inspired to make my own and keep a record throughout November. It was a perfect way to focus on a month of giving thanks.

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Thank you, Pinterest, for providing so much inspiration in 2011! If only I could drag myself away from the never-ending stream of creativity and MAKE more of what I pin. Here's to plenty of creativity and inspiration in 2012!

Loving Valentine's Day Crafts

We crafted up a small storm of Valentine's Day projects this weekend -- class cards, teacher gifts, small tags for little surprises, and even some lunchbox love.

Thanks to a scanner and Photoshop, my kindergartener only had to write the message once. I set the scanned writing into a heart in Photoshop, added some digital papers (from a free Christmas pack from Creativity by Crystal) and borders, and printed. Robby and I had a "race" to see who could cut out the most hearts. Then we worked assembly-style with me making the holes and sliding in the pencils and him adding tape to the backside. A nice team effort.

Next up -- these cute waterbottles came as a pack from Target. I made a quick tag in Photoshop (thank you Jessica Sprague for the scallop shape) and Robby wrote them out for his teachers.

For Joey's preschool teachers, I made up wrappers for Hershey bars. I made some extras and signed them from both boys so we can give them out to friends, cousins, and my grandmother.

I used that scallop tag in a few sizes for some extra notes to use around the house tomorrow, including as little flags on straws for their breakfast beverages.

For tomorrow's lunches, I cut out their sandwiches with a heart-shaped cookie cutter, added a napkin love note and a few Valentine sprinkles with their cut up strawberries. I like to think of them enjoying the little extra special touches tomorrow when they open their lunchboxes.

We also started and finished Robby's 100 days project, but since it uses a theme from a particular upcoming "green" holiday, we'll save that for another post.

Wishing you much sweetness for Valentine's Day!