An Open Letter to Pinners from One Artist

Dear Fabulous People of the Internet,

Isn’t it a magical world in which we live? We have this amazing tool that lets us find, share, and save some of the most interesting, beautiful, and funny things on the web. Oh, yes I’m talking about Pinterest.

Pinterest is a wondrous place where we all lose track of time. So many tempting sweets, funny images, luscious foods, time and cost-saving tips, inspiring quotes, and OH. . .that crafty haven of beautiful, simple, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that-ideas.

You know what else it is full of? Products that both struggling artists like myself and big companies are trying to promote, get seen, and sell.

When I make an item of jewelry I put my heart and soul, my time, and my precious, hoarded beads into it. And where does it end up? On your “I Can Make That” Pinterest Board. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? That’s my own original idea and design. Don’t get me wrong, I totally appreciate that you admire what I made, that you want to save it, that you might even want to make something like it. However, please don’t be so blatant about it.

I’ll admit that I personally have other designers’ pieces saved as inspiration on Pinterest. There are a lot of great ideas and interesting use of materials out there. I don't plan on copying those ideas, just using them to spur me forward in my own designs. I also look at pinning their creations as a way to share these unique designs with other people around the world and help the artists advertise the fruits of their labor. When our work ends up on a "Jewelry to Make" board, it cheapens our art and makes us feel like less of an artist. Obviously you can probably make it, or something of a replica of it. But, by placing our art on your “Crafty” board you’ve told the world that our work isn’t worth buying, you can just make it yourself. All I’m asking is that you consider re-naming your Pinterest board “Jewelry Inspirations” or “Designs I Admire” or something along those lines. Think about using your “DIY” board instead as the perfect place to save actual tutorials you’ve found, not an item someone is selling.

Please help us share and promote our hard work, support small businesses, and keep the ideas of what you also want to try. But, be aware that many of us see where you’ve placed those pins of our art. Be tactful about where you rank it. That’s all I’m asking.

Feel free to head over to Etsy, take a look around my CraftyHope shop, and Pin away!

Thank you,
Another Pinterest Fan and Artist

BTW and a Rant

I discovered that my craft desk has been in just about the same state for several weeks now. Want proof? Check out my BTW post from two weeks ago (click link) and how it looked this morning.

Yes. . I said lookED because I finally finished up that necklace lickity-split and started on something completely different.

Yup, it was Hammer Time! (I crack me up.) I love the crusty rusty-ness of this old bottlecap (found in a parking lot) and sealed it in with some Renaissance Wax after I banged the back all down.

Isn't it cool!?

I'm not exactly sure what the next step will be, but I'm hoping it's not on my desk as long as the last project! Check out more productive craft desks in the Bead Table Wednesday Flickr Group.

Bead Table Wednesday

Now for a rant. I listed this bracelet today.

Cafe au Lait Button Bracelet

Pretty right? It's one of the many from my button bracelet making extravaganza. After listing it, I pinned it onto my "jewelry" Pintrest board where I typically pin jewelry that is for sale (mine and others'.) Within a few hours I was notified that the image had been re-pinned. GREAT! Wait. . . it was re-pinned onto boards with titles like "DIY", "Stuff I Want to Make", and "Craft Ideas." This means that those people who like my design have no intention of buying the bracelet, they want to make it themselves.

The re-pinning of it seems to be a double edged sword. On one hand, people are seeing and liking my design, my product is getting out there, people are possibly clicking into my shop! On the other, there's no buying going on. Hmmm.

Now, I realize this is a super simple design. I even have a super similar tutorial pinned on my "Jewelry Tutorials" board. But, there's something about pinning someone's product onto a DIY board that just irks me. I even went back through my "Just Do It. . .Yourself" board to make sure that I haven't made the same mistake. I'll admit that I did find one or two from my early Pintrest days. EEK! (I quickly moved them to other boards.) But I'm trying to decide just HOW MUCH this irks me.

I tweeted/facebooked about this and received several suggestions that I watermark my Etsy images. I've been concerned that a watermark would distract from my designs. As well, I'm not sure if this is really that big of a problem or if I'm just being pissy today. What do you think? (not about me being pissy. . .) How would you handle this? And yes, I have considered commenting on those re-pins but I thought that might extend beyond pissy into the $itch range. Should I just DO a tutorial on making these bracelets, start watermarking, or take it as a compliment and just get over it already?

Oh well. . .back to the craft desk for the time being. Thanks for letting me vent.

I have internet again. . .oh and a meal plan

I should probably already be starting dinner, but I've spent the whole day running about and haven't had much time to relish in the fact that our internet is up and running again. (ooohhh, blogs to read, ooooohhhh apple TV working, ooooohhhhh reading e-mail) Apparently our modem died early Saturday morning and we couldn't get a new one from our provider until this morning. It's amazing that I made it though the weekend. Thank goodness for smart phones. I was fortunate that I had already written and scheduled my sequin post! Speaking of that, thank you all for your super sweet comments on my all-over-the-place sequin designs. You really flattered me.

Since I do have dinner to cook, let me go ahead an get to the meat (or mostly lack thereof in my case) of this post, my Meal Plan for the week.

Breakfasts: Oatmeal/cereal/grits w/fruit, Juice, Cheese omelets w/toast & fruit, Yogurt w/granola & fruit, PB&J turnovers (recipe below)

Lunches: Leftovers, Juice, Peanut (or Almond) butter & jelly w/fruit, Tuna noodles, Cheese Quesidillas

Dinners: 

Crispy lemon tilapia w/ roasted green beans and red potatoes

Tempeh fajitas w/Mexican rice

Spaghetti squash w/ spaghetti sauce & salad

Veggie stir fry w/rice

Mexican Casserole

Grilled turkey tenderloins w/ cauliflower gratin & salad

There's more Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Here's the turnover recipe
Peanut Butter and Jelly Turnovers
- Makes 8 turnovers -
Ingredients:
One 16-ounce box frozen all-butter puff pastry, thawed overnight in the refrigerator
All-purpose flour, for rolling
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup jelly or jam of your choice
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Lay the puff pastry sheets out on a work surface and roll them out into 10-inch squares, using flour if the pastry sticks. Cut each sheet into four 5-inch squares. Use a pastry brush to brush beaten egg along all four edges of each square. Place 1 heaping tablespoon peanut butter and 1 heaping tablespoon jam in the center of each puff pastry and fold it in half diagonally, pressing the edges together to enclose the filling and working out any air. Use a fork to seal the edges completely by pressing the tines down to make a crimped pattern.
3. Arrange the pastry triangles on a baking sheet. Brush the surface of the turnovers with beaten egg. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.
4. Remove the turnovers from the oven and transfer them to a wire rack to cool slightly before consuming.


It's the first of October and I'm again participating in Fat Mum Slim's Photo-a-Day Challenge. Below is the list of prompts for the month. Please check out Fat Mum Slim's blog post that has more information about participating in the challenge.

Since it's the first of the month, I should also be reviewing my goals for the year. I'm going to delay that post just until tomorrow since I'm so pressed for time today. Check back in if you're interested in my progress.

Where I Have Been

How much time online a day do you have to log before you get diagnosed with an addiction/obsession?

Since I haven't been very productive in the craft room lately, I figure I should expose where I HAVE been spending my time and some of the many places you can find me. 

Physically, I've been in my chair in the living room trying to keep the room from tilting.

In cyberspace. . .I've been all over the internet.

Like many others, I've become addicted to Pintrest. 

If you haven't heard of it, you really should go check it out! Basically, all users have "boards" onto which they "pin" the interesting tidbits they find while surfing the internet waves. The pins are basically pictures. The boards vary by topic and I've yet to figure out it there's a limit on the number of boards you can have. Boards' topics can be anything: a particular color, food stuffs, a type of craft, inspiration, pretty much ANYTHING. Then, you follow people with interesting boards. . .they follow you. . .you share the cool bits and images all in one place. 

If you haven't joined up yet and are interested, let me know and I can send you an invitation!

If you are already on Pintrest; please follow me and let me know so I can follow you back!

In addition, I do spend quite a bit of time on Tumblr also. 

Tumblr, to me, is a lot like Pintrest. . .but there are WAY MORE options than just a photo board. It's basically a blog, basically. It's a bit more social and smaller snippets than a full blown blog. You can post photos, text, quotes, links, videos, music. . .whatever you want. Much of the time, whatever I repin on Pintrest, I tumble on Tumblr and vice versa; but not always. I use them both a little differently. However, Tumblr allows me to use my URL CraftyHope.com. So if you ever enter that, my Tumblr is what you will find. 

I recently joined up on Google+.

I haven't really completely figured it out yet, but I know it's still growing and as it does I'll learn more. If you want an invite, again just let me know. If you're already on there, drop me a line so I can add you to one of my circles!! If you get it more than me. . .please educate me!

The BULK of my time gets spent on blogs.

I use Google Reader to manage the long list of blogs I read. Many of my favorite blogs can be found on the sidebars of my own blog. (Of course, if you're reading this in a feedreader like Google Reader, you'll need to actually click over to my actual blog to see those blogrolls.) You'll find a list of other jewelry and bead related blogs on the left sidebar as well as a list of friends' blogs on the right sidebar. If you find that YOUR blog isn't on either of these lists, please don't hesitate to let me know! Please note that these are not the ONLY blogs I read. . .there are many, many more!

Lastly, my other time-consumers are the usual suspects. . .Facebook and Twitter. I've been using these two for YEARS and can never catch up, ever. You can find me in both places as CraftyHope. Of course, I do have a Facebook page as well. Simply search for CraftyHopeJewelry and you'll see me! 

I do have links to finding me in all these places (except Google+) on the right sidebar. So, you won't have to go back and find this post again, just refer there!

Now, for some eye-candy!

Twirling Fairy Earrings

Find me! Friend me! Follow me!
I don't mind a stalker or two ;)
Back to it!

My Internet Problem (WWWW)

After getting the post done last night, I realized that I've got a serious internet addiction. I couldn't think of anything else to do online, so I was "bored." I haven't been bored since, like the third grade. I eventually decided to play on the Wii for a bit. But it got me thinking . . .

I seem to be stuck in an online rut lately - only visiting the same few sites over and over. Oh, sure I pop over to other sites when there’s a link from one of these 'favorites'. And, of course my feed reader is a loophole in this idea. But, I see little reason to frequent other sites much of the time. Sure I use other sites as I work, but as far as the ones that really draw my interest, the ones I have open even at work, the ones I keep open at home - there are these few. When I’ve covered as much as I can in each of those, then what do I do? I stare, blankly, at the computer waiting for something to be updated.

What are these sites that garner so much of my attention?I thought I'd share.

1. *My feed reader of choice - Google Reader: This is the site that gets the bulk of my concentration. Sure, I simply skim through some of the blog posts. But, I subscribe to at least 238 blogs. If you check out the sidebar on the right, you can see a sampling of just a few of the ones I follow. I do try to go through them from time to time and weed out the ones that don’t interest me as much as they initially did, but then I just find more and more each week to follow. It's a never-ending cycle.

2. *Yahoo Mail: this is where my main e-mail address exists. I LOVE to get mail (snail OR electronic) and I wait for it, constantly. I keep this tab open all the time, just so an e-mail won't arrive unnoticed. It's sad, I know.

3. *Some version or other of Twitter: This is my main addiction right now. I started out by trying not to follow too many people, realizing that I wouldn't be able to keep up with so many. But, there are so many interesting individuals and so many groups that spark my interest that it's hard to resist not clicking that 'follow' button sometimes. And, if I didn't follow so many people, I might just end up out of the loop.

4. *Pandora: This is usually just for work. It's how I get my music to block out all the other distractions in the office. I love that I can create a variety of stations that play ONLY what I like and want to hear. SO much better than the radio.

5. *Blogger: Well, I need it to write these posts of course.

6. *Facebook: For a while I was not the typical Facebook user. I would just pop in, check on what others were doing and forget about it. However, lately, it's been like a drug. I HAVE to know what's going on, take that stupid quiz, comment on a friend's status, whatever. What do you mean there are no new updates???? I can't believe I've gotten to this point.

7. *Flickr: Now, this isn't one I use a bunch, but definitely one of the top ten. I haven't updated my pictures in a while, but I love the search function. I find so much inspiration in what other crafters are doing (my feed reader does this as well) and can easily find sources of inspiration in their pictures. As such, you'll find that most of my Flickr pictures are of my crafts too.

8. Etsy: This is another source for inspiration for me. Hopefully, it will also be my source to sell my jewelry at some point. If you haven't checked out or heard about Etsy, you totally should. It's an online store for all things handmade and supplies. I love it. Go now, see it, buy it, love it like I do. It also some really cool search options. This color choice one is my favorite, it's fun to play with!!

9. Amazon: If I'm looking for something to buy, this is usually the first place I look. If they don't have it, they'll suggest who might. It's just easier.

10. *Google: Come on? Who doesn't use Google at least once a day? You're on the internet now, so I know you do.
So that's it - there's the list of my drugs of choice. I don't deal well without them. Oh, and the astericks (*) those indicate the ones I use on my iPhone too. I either have an app or some other form of easy access for those. The ones without, I can figure it out. In any case, I have a problem.

What’s worse is I still get bored. I belong to countless forums, communities, message boards, etc. for crafting as well as have tons of interests in other subjects. But, I hardly ever delve into these sites because I’m often so far behind. When I do catch up, like I did last night, I just can't fathom being online any longer and on a DIFFERENT SITE? No way! Oh please, I need help!

That being said, let's check out some of the other crazy, useless things I've found online with "Wild, Wild Web Wednesday."

• WOW! Who knew Facebook could be useful? I thought it was simply for wasting some time and putting off the productive activities. Well, there are apparently AT LEAST 100 apps that are useful for productivity and learning.
  
• Alright, here's a complete and useless time waster. It's a really cool optical illusion.
  
• If you're looking for an interesting new recipe. Check out these spaghetti hot dogs (weird!!!)
  
• If you like sitcoms the way I do, go see these sitcoms in miniature Flickr set.
  
• Twitter IRL
  Watch Real Life Twitter and more funny videos on CollegeHumor
  
  

Hopefully, I haven't added to your internet addiction as well. If so, well, join the club. Come on in, take a seat, and fire up that computer. We're heeeeeeeerrrrreeeee for you!!!

Blogging Self-Pity

Geez, I must be pretty boring or a really bad host. After looking over my analytics program, I realize that I'm getting fewer and fewer visitors. The ones who actually visit are only staying for less than a minute.

I've got to find some way to get some more attention here. Flashing my boobs always worked for me in college. Yet, I'm not drunk enough to try THAT this morning. I'm also not really sure what to do to improve this standing either. Suggestions? - Wait, who am I kidding? If you guys aren't leaving comments, answering polls, or reading this BS for more than a minute, why would I expect you to give me some suggestions. . .

I'll continue to post here for my own selfish, misguided reasons, and I'll pretend that I'm getting more attention than you.

Aaaaaand, since I'm being selfish - I shall post a picture of my cat for me to enjoy!

After a long day of highlighting, Asia collapses in a spot of sunshine in the floor while still clutching the bright yellow tube.

Doubts and Second-Guessing (FGF)

Since getting back into the mode of things, I've been a little more internet-wary. Posting on the blog has seemed less important, checking or logging into Facebook has not felt as pressing, reading the gazillion (906) blog posts in my feed reader isn't a priority. Granted, I've done all of these things but with a certain air of uncertainty - a feeling of less doom if I don't get to it. My twitter-addiction is still present, but that is less time consuming than the other tasks I mentioned.
I don't know if it is the change in the seasons, all the other things coming at me right now, or if the relaxing mode of my little vacation has not let go and I am SO less anxious than I am usually. I can't seem to put my finger on the words to express this feeling. I'm questioning my motives for even participating in these. I know that social networks usually tend to make me feel more connected, but right now those connections feel less important. Perhaps, it's just that I spent some time away from LOML and with our Anniversary looming (on Sunday) I feel the need to spend some quality time with him, rather than with the cold, emotionless interweb. Maybe I just need a good "Feel Good Friday," maybe you do too.

• Pistol pointing grammy. I love stories like this where the little man (or woman) prevails in the name of justice and all that is good. It's such a ray of hope. I like it even more when they don’t have a gun and use an umbrella or something, but this way works also. This is an older article, but it really does lift my spirits a bit.
  
• Here are some quick and easy instructions on how to meditate. Meditation is also a sort of pick-me-up, if one can ever find the time to just sit and do so. Just having that kind of time in itself might be cleansing.
  
• Rainbows are one of those things that always make me feel better, Check out this awesome rainbow. Click on the link to get the full experience.
• Another thing that makes me feel good - Chocolate. How about a 5 minute chocolate cake. I'm not kidding. Nummmmmm.

I do feel a little better now. I hope you do too.
Happy Friday all, enjoy your weekend - may it be full of chocolate, and rainbows, and some time to yourself or with that special someone.