Summer Pinterest Projects

Pinterest is an amazing tool! For the most part, I am really good about not getting sucked into it. I don't spend hours each day perusing and getting lost in the Pinterest world—because I know I could get totally wrapped up in trying to do more things, better things, and cuter things. I try to use it practically—and summer seems to be just about the only time I can get house projects done. Here's how I've been using Pinterest this summer…

Around the House
I painted our hallway this summer, and I admit I had a little pang as I painted over crayon marks from 12 years ago. Sigh. But—painting gave me a nice clean slate for redoing our picture gallery there. I took down all the old frames and painted them all black and also bought some new ones. Pinterest gave me ideas for creating a photo display wall and reminded me of how my mother taught me to hang pictures: using newspaper as a template.

Here's the wall thus far:

 Admittedly, it's still in progress. I have to order several pictures to fill some frames, but the hard part is done! I pinned this idea to put your wedding song lyrics on canvas awhile back and am working on doing something like this for the wall. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this, but so far I have this added onto the above collage wall:

 That's a copy of the first page in the songbook that our wedding song was in. I crinkled and yellowed it, thinking I would decoupage it on the canvas, but now I'm not sure. I'm still thinking about this one. I might need to add some twine and a snapshot or something. Or I may end up going with the original idea that I pinned, although that's not quite my style.


Reading
I have found that the easiest way to add books to my reading list is to first pin them to my I Cannot Live Without Books board and then transfer them monthly to my Never-Ending TBR List on my SmallWorld Reads blog. This summer I've added:

• Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis: Lauren F. Winner
• The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
• Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli
• In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White
• Ecology of a Cracker Childhood (The World As Home) by Janisse Ray
• Snow: Orhan Pamuk
• The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes
• Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People That Make Our Clothes by Kelsey Timmerman
• Me Before You: A Novel: Jojo Moyes
• The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls  by Anton Disclafani
• A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams
• The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls
• The Keeper of Secrets by Julie Thomas
• Ghost Moth by Michele Forbes
• Songs of Willow Frost: A Novel: Jamie Ford
• 41 False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers

{And that's why my TBR list is never-ending!}


Schoolish
I refuse to being school as early as the public schools do around here (our city began July 22!), but I do like to start gathering ideas and organizing a bit. My newest board this summer is devoted to Art Lessons.  After visiting so many art museums in Paris this spring, my 12-year-old is absolutely passionate about learning more art techniques. I've done a lot of pinning and reviewing and have even written up 4 weeks' worth of lessons. My favorite sites so far are That Artist Woman and Julianna Kunstler's Art Lessons. But I'm only just beginning to plan!



Food
I use Pinterest soooo much for recipes. Between my daughter and me, we have hundreds of ideas marked:

Mango Pineapple Salsa. So yummy.

Main Eats 
• My favorites there this summer: Buffalo Chicken Salad and Toasted Ginger Sesame Salmon

Sweet Eats
• Grammy's White Sheet Cake is ridiculous. I could eat the entire thing myself.

• Grilled Starburst: Major flop. Sounds like a great idea, but we tried this out on a camping trip and the crispy outside and liquid inside just didn't happen. It was just a warm, gooey Starburst.

Extra Eats
• Zucchini fries? Yessssss. And this Mango Pineapple Salsa is a must with anything pork. Or anything.

Eats (my daughter's board)
• Beer and bacon mac and cheese: FLOP.
• Crunchy black bean tacos: YUM.

Crafty
My teenager has been the craftiest in the house this summer. One day she and her friend had a Pinterest day and finished three or four projects that they had pinned. She found both of these ideas on SimplyFind.It's Cute and Crafty board:

My Most Pinned Posts
It's fun to see what SmallWorld posts are most pinned. A quick scan shows that my top two are:

Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing {for Students}

SmallWorld's Wordsmithery [free creative writing lessons]


Come and see how other bloggers at iHomeschool Network are using Pinterest this summer! You can link up your own flips and flops there, too. And if you don't already, be sure and follow me on Pinterest for food, homeschooling, great books, travel, and decorating stuff, too!