The Greatest Pin-tentions

Hello,

My name is Raimie and I'm addicted to Pinterest.

And magazines.

And Blogs

Amen.

These addictions explain a lot about this post. The large piles of craft supplies. The long list of ideas Easter and Spring themed crafts.

I was very Pin-spired that weekend!

We kicked things off with a very fun and interesting project involving the making of a balancing bunny (by Family Fun Magazine). This one was Pip's favorite and the only one he really sat for... which is why I'm glad we did it first! I fear the trampoline was calling his name much louder than his inner creative spirit.

And if you are wondering as you scroll through all these pictures why they have strange tooth-y expressions in so many of them... Thank the dumb mom who tried to loosen them up by telling them to practice their bunny faces for the first few shots and then couldn't get them to stop thereafter!

One reason I love Pinterest is that I can get bumps of creativity that send me into an artistic updraft from which I tend to spin off, taking sudden and unpredictable turns in my own direction to make the project my own. It's great to get those nudges that send you over the edge!

And I'm speaking metaphorically people!

OK, getting ahead of myself here...

So, we did the balancing bunnies, then the Easter bubbles and then the Coffee House Chick.

The Easter bubbles were a spin-off of some embellished bubble bottles I saw at Pink and Green Mama. We used a finger puppet template for the wrap-around bunnies. I love how Jax gave his a wooden leg and a head cast! Easter be very dangerous for a bunny!

Kids are pretty great at making a project their own. In fact letting them add personal flare was much easier than convincing them to follow the directions at least approximately.

We don't seem to be short on flair around here...

Or googly eyes.

Long live Googly eyes!!!

The hatching chicks and bobble-birds can be found in Family Fun Magazine (April 2012).

And long live bobble-heads!

......

k, I'm done shouting.

 The boys were pretty much done crafting by this point and merely bopped in - like bobble-heads- now and then to glue on a feather or a googly eye--

Long Liv--

sorry.

The girls stayed much more dedicated. They helped with (1.) party chicks  (2.) rabbit lollies (3.) bunny cups  (4.) 'hats off to eggs' collection  (5.) clothes-pin chicks (6.) mix-y-match-y egg-heads and (7.) strawberry eggs

(3.) Made these up myself - just cut the straw the same height as the top of the lid, bend two pipe cleaner ears and insert into top of straw, fill cup with cotton balls to stabilize straw. glue on a cotton-ball tail and use marker to draw on a face. (4., 6. & 7.) Family Fun (April 2012).

Jax and I made these egg-creatures out of a couple of extra hard-boiled eggs and the kids ate them for breakfast Easter morning.

{Recipe in April Family Fun 2012)

My kids don't really like eggs but what kid can resist animal-shaped food!?

To top if off, literally, we cut out some bunny ears to wear.

(Family Fun April 2012)

Peep show

After the kids were all in bed I made these to put in their Easter baskets. The original idea was based on on a project by Katherine Marie but I went over the top just a bit. I used 3 different cookie cutters to trace around and then cut them out of sparkly yellow scrapbook paper and added little curiosities to make them more "me".

Yes, over-the-top is "me".

Which is why my daughter went out on Sunday morning with plastic eggs woven into her hair.

Yes, I am that mom.

No, really, this one I saw in real life first (gasp).

At Walmart (double gasp).

The day before Easter, with a store full of people emptying the shelves as if Armageddon were nipping at their heels instead of a family-friendly holiday...

(gasp, gasp, gasp)

I saw a little girl with this "do" and had to go take a closer look. Which must have been what a huge amount of people were doing because the poor 4 year old was hiding her be-decked head in her arms, crying. So I did what any mother would do, I smiled at the flustered grandfather who was with her, turned around without pestering her for a look and searched for it on Pinterest when I got home.

Lissie was plum pleased to wear her fancy hair.

It was "totally" Fancy Nancy!

Have you seen how Pinterest is great for hair-style ideas? People with that hair (the kind I don't have) can wear amazing hair-dos and people like me can make those people with that hair sit still for 45 minutes while I sculpt their hair into a possible, somewhat, sorta replica... maybe.

So that ends my crafting bit.

My craft fix was successful And we only lost a few boys along the way.

DISCLAIMER: No bunnies were actually harmed in the making of this post.

***

Here is my mother whirling about the kitchen in a 'preparing-to-feed-my-family' frenzy.

Does it look familiar?

It should, it's a lot like this one that was taken at their old house.

I love it!

Here is some of our food. Again, thanks to a few magazines and pinterest.

I could take another 120 minutes of your time to tell you (in detail) about the alterations and adjustments we made to each recipe and whether or not we liked what we did and what we would do next time but it's almost story-time here at our house and Skippy Jon Jones trumps food reviews. Sorry.

Suffice it to say that it was scrumptious! 

And not diet-friendly.

While mom was whirling I was primping.

Not myself, silly, I was primping the tables!

It's always grand having a party at my moms because I can pull fun props and centerpieces from things she already owns and use them in different ways. The canisters and dishes are antique, the eggs farm-fresh (they come colored already) and the basket and small yellow plates are Longaberger.

The bunny folded-napkins made me smile as I propped them on tea-cups next to animal inspired easter eggs.and flowered egg-cups.

I am no florist but I really liked this arrangement  and mine was a tribute to that style.

Again, going back to my pin-board there was a picture in my mind of this 'child-only' table. Built on that notion and adding the favor boxes, cupcakes and egg cups from Hobby Lobby it was a fun finish to my creative buzz.

I know, I know, none of this has explored the true meaning of Easter.

But I'm not gonna write about that today.

I'll just say that the day found me being very,very thankful.

My plate is pretty full.

***

We did Easter baskets this year. We don't always do them and I like to say that when it comes  to having a traditions ours is "Do something different every year."

This year it felt like a tribute to a very dear friend who used to always put together and hide Easter baskets and eggs in her yard for my sibs, younger cousins and a few close friends to search for. Over time the Easter egg-hunts at Gertrud's have faded away in o a childhood memory instead of a yearly occasion. It's sad to me, I didn't take notice of the tradition's passing until I realized how long it had been since I had been to an Easter egg-hunt. Maybe because all those little people who used to scamper through her yard are mostly all grown up now and many have moved away.

But here are a few young people out carrying the egg-laden torch for our friend Gertrud.

Hiding baskets, laughing as they imagine the little people finding them and then leading them along with tiny clues when they were stumped.

And as I watched my children and my youngest brother fawn all over their dollar-store treasures I think I hear a distant echo. The sound of of a whole gaggle of children bouncing on anxious toes until Gertrud made the sign to start the egg-hunt. I heard giggles of glee as someone's basket was discovered, hoots of excitement and gasps of wonderment as the lout was poured out onto laps with grass-stained knees. And there it was, the crinkle of the first chocolate bunny being opened, a chomp and a sigh of complete satisfaction.

And in that moment I discovered exactly where I stand with Pinterest, blogs and even the magazines where I glean inspiration daily...

I love getting ideas.

I love organizing ideas.

I love thinking about ideas. 

Pinterest, blogs and magazines are wonderful things.

They help me create an artsy wonderland in my mind where I joyfully visit for the odd daydream...

But I don't want to live there.

I want to live here.

Where everything has so much dimension and so few cords.

Where the sun shines and traditions breathe.

I want to open my eyes and see that my reality is just as wonderful and inspiring as the dreams I have in my creative happy place.

I want my "Pins" to be converted to purpose and then to projects and then to postmarks and precious memories. I want to be sure my crafting is a pastime not an obsession.

I want my collection of idea binders to be more like an occasional colorful piece of candy for my mothering mind and less like soul-food, more like a workbook than a shrine of "if only's"

I want to be content with what I can and have to do instead of focused on what I want to do but can't. I don't want to create a virtual retreat where I can hide from my life.

I want to use these things as tools as they are meant to be.

I want to use them to help me live the wonderful life I already have. 

I want to do more doing, more savoring, more moving, more reaching. I don't want to miss a minute because I'm too busy planning, pondering, pinning

I want to screw (not pin) my courage to the sticking place and turn my I wants into I wills and I dids.

Pinterest I love you and I need you.

But you are not my life.

Love,

R