She's (not) crafty

I jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon several weeks ago.  Well, I tried to.

What actually happened was that I created an account, looked around for 5 minutes, then decided to figure it all out later.  Then I didn't go back for 3 weeks.  Next, I heard there was an iphone app so I got that, thinking that was all that was missing since I spend very little non-work time in front of an actual computer.  So I used the app maybe 3-4 times, thinking it was pretty well done and seeing some cute stuff.  And now I haven't touched it in another 3 weeks.

So what's my problem, I started wondering.  It feels like every female I know is loving Pinterest these days and talking about it all the time.  They're wasting time there the way they used to on Facebook.  They're getting ideas and actually following through with them.

So why not me?

And then I remembered....

I am the least crafty person you have ever encountered.

And I'm relatively confident in that assertion.

I remember elementary school art class when it hit me how terrible I was at artsy things.  I tried simply copying what someone else had done and it still looked awful.  I was 10 years old and felt good about my art project if I managed to color mostly inside the lines.  I figured I would stick to academics where things were more cut and dry. 

And since Pinterest is mostly about cute artsy/crafty things (I include fashion and home decor in that category too), it only makes sense that it would not really appeal to me.  I mean, the re-pinning, copying other people's ideas part, sure.  But the actually doing any of it or creating anything of my own?  Um, no.

Sometimes I feel like less of a woman for my lack of craftiness.  My friends are always talking about things they made or cooked or fixed up for their homes.  And then I think about other things that I am good at.  Calculus still comes in handy, right?  Right??  Because I rocked some high school math.  Take that, all you people with cute outfits and well-decorated homes.


Now, despite everything I've said in this post so far, I do occasionally test the waters again just to see if I've been suddenly gifted in the creative arena.  Usually this results in more utter failure, such as the time I bought a scrapbooking kit about 8 years ago. It sits in a box on a closet shelf to this day.

But a couple of weeks ago, with some help from Erika, I decided to try a new project.  I had bought a set of pictures frames that I wanted to put up in our living room but one of them was 11 x 14 and it just didn't seem right to put a photo in it.  Erika helped me think through how to lay out the different sized frames, what kinds of pictures to use, and gave me her crafty-minded thoughts on what I could do with the big frame.  Do you see how quickly this became not-really-my-project?

Well, while I give Erika full credit for the idea, I actually managed to pull it off all by myself!  And to tell you the truth, I am pretty proud of how it turned out. I had to go to a craft store and everything.  I picked out fabric.  I bought paint.  I bought paintbrushes (because you know I don't already own any crafty-related things).  I set to work.

And this is what I came up with:

 Then I set about a new method for hanging 6 separate frames as easily as possible.  Another suggestion from Erika, coupled with a quick Google search, led me to this idea:

Yep, that's newspaper.  On my wall.  We laid out the frames how we wanted them and then I traced them and marked the spot for the nail for each one right on the paper.  Then I taped the newspaper to the wall, and all we had to do to hang pictures was nail through the marks, tear down the paper, and voila!  This was a marvelous idea and worked amazingly well. 

Today, much like on vacation, my camera has decided not to cooperate with me.  So the After picture is from my phone.  And in case you're wondering if my lack of craftiness includes picture-taking, yes.  It does.  I could not for the life of me figure out how to get the glare from the windows out of these pictures.  But you can get an idea of what it looks like at least.  Here is the proof that with a good bit of help I am capable of doing something semi-crafty.  Thank you very much. And by the way, thanks to Amanda and Diana for the pictures they took!  I only took one of those that made it onto the wall.  Thank goodness for creative-minded friends.

Now go have fun pinning all your awesome creations.  I'm going to go practice coloring alongside my toddler.


~MG