Five Pinterest Crafts I Hope to Do This Weekend

I'm so looking forward to the Thanksgiving Break. I know...I had a three day week last week, but when all you can do is sit on the couch while you hack up a lung...not the same. This is what I hope to accomplish/start.

Now don't rush out and buy up all the vintage Santa head mugs! I saw this cute idea in Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts. (The one with a felted snowman in a bell jar on the cover; I tried to find the issue on their website for you but, why would they sell that on their site? Here, get it on Zinio.) I may not do much more than start to gather the items. Depends on how gung-ho I am to get out to the vintage shops in the inevitable traffic.


On Friday, I plan to make cards. Two of the ideas I have are pictured here. The first example is the non-specific holiday card for my friends who do not necessarily celebrate Christmas. I am going to use a cool blue instead of the spring-y gold to make something generally winter-y. (Find this card at Magical Scrapworld.)

I'm also going to use Warm Wishes stamp set that I love to make this sled. The original idea came from Stampin by the Sea. I might have to wait to finish these until I go to my Friday night stamping party again. I can't remember if I have the embossing folder for the background or not. (You know you have too many crafting supplies when...)







On Saturday, I plan to shop small at the Bead Garden. I am thinking about making two necklaces, pictured here. Tassels are all the rage, and I know how to make them! (Finally, a reason for that useless skill!) The pink and green necklace would be a perfect gift for a certain aunt. I would link you to the origin, but it is a piece that was sold on etsy, by a seller that didn't make sure a permanent link went back to their store. The item is unavailable--that's all I know.

Finally, that same aunt would love this daisy necklace. I think it will also be pleasingly complicated--not too easy, but not too difficult either. You can find the instructions for this piece at Pandahall Tutorial.

What are your plans?

Sissy Sunday

Last fall, I showed you a wreath my sister made. Today, I was futzing around on Pinterest, and I saw that my sister had posted a new photo of her Halloween wreath. She made it last year. I love it. Her husband is so proud of this wreath; I find that charming. She posted another new wreath she made, and you can find it on her board "I Made It." It's all her Pinterest successes; to my knowledge, she's had no failures.

Don't get lost down the Pinterest wormhole now, you hear?

Non Gratis

Pinterest is awesome. I can't tell you how much better it is to have those little virtual bulletin boards than it is to have hundreds of bookmarked pages lamely labeled "recipes" or "craft ideas." Instead, when I need a recipe, I can go to my boards and see what my choices are. And once I've selected one, I can click on it, and voila, I arrive at the original page.

Except when I don't. Grrr. I hate it when people pin a whole blog when they mean to pin a post, or worse, they pin the picture location instead of the website. So, it doesn't always work out the way it's supposed to. And then you get people repinning these poorly created pins, and it's just impossible to find what you are looking for.

It gets worse. Someone I follow, a friend from the stitching bloggers community, had recently pinned a Bent Creek "freebie." I recognized it not as a freebie at all but rather as a paid chart. Yikes! That's not good. So I told her, and then commented to the person she had repinned. Then I went to see where that person had repinned from and found...it will shock you...tens of regular--for pay--charts that had been scanned in and shared as "freebies." Ack! I contacted one of the designers who is in the process of filling out copyright forms to reclaim her rights from the pinners.

Now I know that there are some people who are never going to get on board with the idea of copyright; I'm not going to worry about them. Well, I do worry for your soul, but this isn't about you. There are many of us who do comply. I bet a lot of us blithely pin things labeled a "freebie" without thinking twice about it. I do believe we're going to have to start.

1. If it doesn't have "free chart" ("grille gratis") written right on the graph, it may not be a free chart.
2. If the pin doesn't take you back to the designer's website or flickr or facebook page, it's probably not free.
3. If, when you click through, you end up on a Russian or Chinese website, copyright is being violated.
4. If you can see the edge of the scan, definitely violation.

Please check your pins. Please tell violators that they are violating. Let's do what we can to help our designing friends.