Thursday, December 1, 2011

Pinterest is blowing up my blog!

Here are a few of my feelings (phrases stolen from others of course) about Pinterest....



It's pretty interesting to me how quickly a website can become a major obsession for so many. Twitter, Facebook, and now Pinterest (it's getting to that point I promise) to name a few. For people like me who like to make things, cook things, and generally be creative Pinterest is the definition of overwhelming.

One thing I can say that I have done and seem to continue to do is use ideas for the girls. If I was still teaching I'm pretty sure Pinterest would make my head explode. But when you're just talking about two toddlers it's incredibly manageable. Two year olds simply can and cannot do a specific set of things. The field is narrowed dramatically therefore leaving me with a reasonable number of options.

If you recall I said weeks ago that Fridays would be the day I illustrated how something I pinned came to life. And I think I stuck to that for one, maybe two, Fridays. Today we will play catch up. Nothing like Christmas to bring out the get it done spirit!

SIDE NOTE - What I also love about Pinterest is that when you do complete something it doesn't have to be exact, perfect, or really anywhere near what the other person did. It's about inspiration.

Did you know you can order online from Hobby Lobby? I didn't...until I went searching for places online to order felt off of a bolt instead of in small sheets. I hate going to Joann's. It's not close and with two kids I just can't be bothered. Felt is SUPER cheap. When I pinned this I knew I would do it simply for that reason. The actual doing part of this was somewhat of a happy accident. I had grand plans of cutting out ornaments the night before. But that didn't happen. So I sat on the floor in the den and cut out the tree. We hung the tree in the playroom and went back to the den. I traced the ornaments on the template and then realized that was a pain. I then began asking each little chickie what color and shape she wanted. I would quickly cut it out, hand it to her, and send her on the treck (because my house is so big) to the playroom to "hang" it on the tree. That gave me barely enough time to make the next ornament for whichever little one was still standing there. It was a bit chaotic and quick, but they LOVED it. We got to doing letters for their names and it was like I was Santa himself with each ornament. Due to the nature of the activity I only got a picture of the end result...

The pin...


The pin in action (sorry for the horrible picture quality)...

After that worked out so well I decided to keep it up! This activity involves two pins!!! I know. I'm such an over achiever. I'm telling you though. I wouldn't be doing this stuff if it wasn't easy.

I've been thinking a lot about teaching the spirit of Christmas and how difficult that can be with a two year old. To her Christmas is presents. To any toddler it really is just that. They understand the immense excitement and joy of getting gifts. They don't understand that it's a special day about Jesus and that giving is as amazing as receiving. My goal is to at least start with the giving part at this age. I want her to feel as fulfilled by giving as she does by receiving.

That being said, we made gifts today! I saw this pin...

...and while it would be perfect for Father's day it works for any day I think. Unfortunately I was running very low on finger paints. It's a good thing there are a million pins about making your own. I used this one...


There were major tweaks to this one, but it turned out perfectly in the end. The girls picked their hand color and then painted for AN HOUR. Longest continuous activity in my house to date. And, two pins in one. Bam!!!










Carson doesn't usually love finger painting or getting messy. I guess the actual two year old (happy birthday sweet girl!) is coming out in her. She went to town!!!

We actually ended up putting them in frames and wrapping them. The girls liked wrapping just as much as painting. Lila literally fell all over herself to give Seth his gift. She was so proud and so excited. I just love when things I try to do work out so well!

But...you can't win 'em all.
I found this little treat and immediately thought it was risky but so cute...

Lila LOVES puzzles and things similar to this. She also loves M&Ms (Seth's doing). Match made in heaven right? Ok, maybe not ideal for more than once in a blue moon. It uses quite a lot of M&Ms. But, I also wanted to see how she would do with some self control practice. I printed the template, got the M&Ms, and while Evie was napping we gave it a go. The ones you see below are as far as she got. This was not due to the expected desire to eat them all. I hate to say I have imparted a bit of perfectionism on her. It has taken me a while to even sometimes get over it when things don't go as I think they should. She would lay an M&M on the paper and they would wiggle and slide some when she would put the next one down. So she'd grab them and start over. She got frustrated and just started playing with them and organizing them on the blanket. I tried to talk her through it. Then she got so caught up in playing with them in a different way that I just let it go. Maybe she was thinking outside of the box anyway!

As if you haven't already gotten bored with this blog post, I have more!!! I tried to make a wreath. It turned out ok (hear that perfectionism seeping out). I used two pins again which seems more exciting than the actual wreath being made.


And here's how mine ended up...

It's kind of skinny and kind not round. But, it's done and will do :-) 

Ok, I'm tapping out. Sorry for the deluge of nonsense. But I can't promise there isn't more coming...

3 comments:

  1. You amaze me too! I'm so impressed! Everything turned out SO great! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. these projects are so great! i am happy to say i finally GET pinterest! i hope i can have this kind of success and execute some of the fun things i have found… and maybe i will blog about them too!!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...