Five Awesome and Easy (oh, and Cheap) Pinterest Challenges

image source: http://younghouselove.com

You know that phrase that you see on runners’ shirts, headbands and bumper stickers — “In my dreams, I’m a Kenyan?”

Well, in my dreams, I’m Martha Stewart. I love all things craft, and I admit to having a pretty disturbing amount of paints, glues, stickers, ribbons and glitter in a big bin. The trouble is, I’m not great at coming up with my own ideas, and while I’m good at following instructions, I’m not really all that art-inclined.

Pinterest has changed all of that, and now that some fabulous bloggers are doing a regular Pinterest Challenge, I’m even more motivated to get some projects done. So this weekend, I tackled five — count ‘em FIVE — Pinterest projects.

*note: a lot of these are iPhone photos because I didn’t want to get my good camera out with grimy hands!

Project #1: Frame Wall

I have house ennui and since there’s no way we’re getting out of here anytime soon, I have committed to doing things to improve our place as it is. My first target was our living room, which is where we spend most of our time. I’d had a few scattered pictures in frames on all of the walls, but they were terrible photos (I blew up low-resolution pictures by accident), all black and white and only held memories from our honeymoon.

I’ve long been lusting after Young House Love’s wall of frames (found here) so this weekend, I repurposed all of the frames we had, supplemented with a few new ones, added some shelves and got the first half of the project complete. The frames are now hung (thanks, honey!) and I just need to add some of the new photos that I’ve printed from our various trips.

early stages

current state

You can find lots of other inspiration on my “Frames” board on Pinterest.

Project #2: Kitchen Organization

Our spices and flours are out of control. I’m a stickler for organization, especially in my kitchen, so I decided to tackle some of the disaster by sorting my food, putting it in mason jars and other containers, and putting them in more usable places. (Longtime readers may note that I’ve actually done this before!)

So I took inspiration from lots of pins on my “Organize” board and got to work. The best part? I only used stuff that I already owned, so while I’d love to upgrade to metal tins and more glass jars, this was FREE. Winning.

spice drawer

flour jars

bean jars

Project #3: Animal Kitsch

During our honeymoon in France, I bought two ceramic white cats for souvenirs, and they found a home on our dining room bookcase. Sadly, I broke one last year, and the poor little left-behind kitty has been lonesome. I love the look of Jonathan Adler’s menagerie but in my house, expensive breakable items get broken. So when I saw some 3D wooden puzzles on clearance at Michael’s I scooped them up. I tried putting the first one, a kangaroo, together by myself but had to call in my architect husband. An hour later, this guy (uh, the kangaroo — not Lucas) is ready for the hot pink spray paint I bought to give him a punch of color, and I have an elephant and a deer ready to join him.

Project #4: Crayon Canvas

This one was a BLAST! I’d pinned a ton of different examples of the melted crayon art, but decided to try the rainbow version first (although I also love this flower version). It was super easy, although peeling the crayons got a bit tedious and I wish I’d gotten the real Crayolas instead of cheaping out on $1 boxes of crayons.

Project #5: 3D Art

This one is a compilation of inspiration (oooh, that would be a cool song title). I pinned this post on making butterfly wall art, this one on flower wall art, this one on framed 3D hearts and this one on 3D rainbow butterflies on canvas.

I mashed all of the ideas up and painted a canvas with some acrylic paint in rainbow-y gradients, then glued on some flower confetti I found on clearance at Michael’s (they’re supposed to be for weddings and are Martha Stewart brand).

With those last two, I’m planning on getting some frames (no glass, just the open stock stuff) and mounting the canvas so you can see how dimensional the art is. Not sure yet where they’ll hang (maybe along my new frame wall?) but I’m pretty excited about them.

OK, your turn. What projects would you love to tackle? Or, are you using Pinterest? Do you consider yourself crafty?

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