Pinspired.

Hi, my name is Mandy and I am a Pinterestaholic. 

BUT!! The good thing about being a Pinterestoholic is that you aspire to be an even better version of yourself.  I’ve always thought bloggers (particularly mommy ones) make my life a little harder, particularly because it makes me compare myself to others in every department of life, but then along comes Pinterest and it made me feel less of “wow, I suck,” and more of “wow, I can do that!”

So after deciding that my family would be much better off if only I could sew, I marched off to the store and came home with a Singer machine.  It sat on my newly arranged “craft table” for at least two months, then after being called out by Nathan (on the fact that all I’d sewn was one measly blanket for the kids), I decided that I would become a sewing vixen.  So far, I am pretty proud of myself (and it’s only been a week since I learned what a bobbin was and how to thread a needle).

First came the dishtowel “rig-up” for the stove-



I felt so good about that one that I became hooked, and quickly jetted off to Hobby Lobby in search of more fabric to make something out of.  I remembered that our ironing board was quite a sad scene, so I made this-



As you can see, Connor just loves it.

At this point I was feeling really great about my Martha Stewartness, so I moved on to a new camera strap cover.  Natalie made one for me back when I first got my camera, but since I had a few scraps from the ironing board cover I figured why not? 

Forgive my pictures, I had to use my iPhone and it was midnight-



After patting myself on the back for such a successful day, I decided Caroline needed a new pair of pajama pants.  I shockingly don’t have a picture of them, though… since the final product is pretty funny.  They turned out just fine and she loves them dearly, bless her heart, but they look like rainbow clown pants due to the fact that I didn’t buy a great looking fabric in case I royally effed them up.  Just trust the fact that I made pants!  Yay me!

Moving on to non-sewable crafts, I have gotten the wreath-making bug as well.  It all started with the mesh wreath I fell in love with at the Southern Christmas Show, but as awesome as it was, I did not fall in love with it’s price tag.  I set out to recreate it myself, and after a little Pinterest research, I found a great tutorial and got started.  Here is my final product, and I absolutely LOVE it.  It hung above our fireplace until almost New Year’s Day-



Then I found and pinned some burlap wreaths.  How did I not know about these this fall?  Shameful.  Regardless, I figured they were not totally seasonal and changing out the bow could make them fit anytime, anywhere.  So I made one of those, too-



I put those glittery poinsettias on first and didn’t like them, so I ended up leaving the red bow.  Although Nathan found it “too much like a potato sack,” I loved it and so did my mom.  So much so that she asked me to make her two of them for her birthday, which was yesterday.  Aiming to please, I set back off to Hobby Lobby and bought many, many yards of green-hued burlap to match her house, along with coordinating ribbon, wooden letters, and flowers.  I wasn’t sure what would look best, and I figured it was best to have more than enough.

My first attempt at her wreaths went pretty wrong.  I thought about going a different route since the “bubble Burlap” wreaths had been pinned all over the place, so I thought that one may look better than my original version.  I worked furiously on the first wreath, and after four hours (and many pin-pricked fingers later), this was my result-



Not bad, but not in love.

So back I went to Hobby Lobby for more materials (each of those bubbles actually took lots of fabric, and since I’m frugal, I’m using it on my door now even though I kind of hate it.)  My second go-round was a TON better, and they look great on my mom’s front doors-



Lastly, I decided to do some real arts & craftsies and get into the Mod Podge generation.  If you can't already tell, I'm super in love with the two pictures that now grace the top of this blog.  They were on our Christmas card, and now they're also on canvas, on our mantel-

As you can see, I am eaten up with a Pinterest obsession, but don’t you think it’s at least productive?  If you don’t already follow me, you should!  :-)