I'm A Pinterest Failure
I have a confession to make: Pinterest leaves me kind of cold. I know. I’m a mommy blogging failure. Before last night I didn’t even know where one even bought mason jars, much less know how to turn them into a thousand darling little crafty type things. I fail at Pinterest.
I’m not that much of an early adopter, though; it took me months after I first about Twitter to sign up for it, and now I’m a complete Twitter fiend, so I keep diligently visiting Pinterest at the end of each day hoping that it will eventually click for me. But it hasn’t.
I mean, I get it. We all love to look at beautiful things. But instead of being inspired, the images of beautiful houses and lovely hair and perfect makeup and expensive shoes just makes me feel, well, like the (nearly) middle-aged woman that I am in a house with a kid that hasn’t been mopped in a really long time (um, not the kid; she’s been mopped, for sure).
Admittedly, I am a crafting black hole. The anti-craft, if you will. Many, many of my online friends do NOT suffer from this affliction in any way, however, and totally think it’s a good idea to take an old board and mount a hook and mason jar on it as a way to hang towels and organize toothbrushes. You know what I see when I look at that? I think, “Holy crap, how do you get that jar out of there to wash out that inevitable muck that gathers at the bottom of improperly rinsed toothbrushes?”
I know, I’m fun at parties, too.
Seriously, I look at string art and think, DUST. I see pizza crust made out of cauliflower and I think, GROSS. I see Hello Kitty nail art and I think ARE YOU F**KING KIDDING ME WITH THIS.
Seriously. OH MY GOD. Pinterest is like a massive collection of the shiny and perfect that is another tool to make me feel insufficient.
Luckily, I’m not alone. Sites such as the wickedly funny Pinterest, You Are Drunk are emerging, making me feel less alone in my general “Huh?” about Pinterest. Meanwhile, I’m willing to concede that it’s entirely possible that I’m simply doing Pinterest wrong. Got a board I should follow? Know something I’m clearly missing? Feel free to share in the comments. I really, really want to get it. Lead me out of the dark place of being anti-Pinterest, I beg you.
Here you go. No string art, cauliflower pizza, or Hello Kitty nails.
http://pinterest.com/lalagirl/so-much-yes/
I love Pinterest, but I look at food stuff, mostly. I have a board called “Shit I’ll never do” where I pin interesting crafts. I like the IDEA of crafts. If I win the lotto, I’ll hire a crafty lady to do crafts FOR me. I’ll be glad I pinned all that stuff then!!!
I did a sort of “wait, whhhhaaaaa?” when I saw the Hello Kitty nails last night. I mean, really? That bow would NEVER stay on. Plus. I’m 37. Yes. 37. Hello Kitty is for 5 year olds. Maybe 8 year olds. When they’re cute.
For me it’s like a virtual curio cabniet of collectibles without the expense and crap sitting around my house. LOL. You have to create boards with things YOU like and ignore the “how to make a wreath from a leaky water hose” pin. I enjoy quotes, books, hair styles, vintage clothing, etc. I’ve gotten a few organziation tips that I’ve actually incorporated into my life from Pinterest. I detest the thin/skinny pins that tells me nothing tastes better than being skinny feels (want to slap those bitches) who have obviously never eaten a chocolate covered Krispy Kreme doughnut!
Maye this will help explain it.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/12pinterest_the_visual_pinboard_for_people_who_like_cupcakes_and_jake_gyllenhaal_.html
Love Pinterest. Did you see my board for paint chip art?! LOL You should do a post on when does “free” crafting turn into stealing? http://pinterest.com/coloradomoms/wth-is-up-with-all-the-paint-chips/
I’m sure Home Depot is going to have a run on paint chips after all the crafts I saw on there!
I was using Pinterest instead of Instapaper to save recipes and things that I wanted to save a link. But having a varied age group of followers has made me question the followers thing. My 18 year old cousin likes eye make-up and wedding dresses. Another friend likes antique hot rods, none of which I give a damn about. Thinking of going back to Instapaper but I do like Pinterest’s visual format.
RANT: I don’t give a shit about neatly folding fitted sheets. Mine are somewhat folded and clean on the shelf. No one CARES! /end rant
I think you would pull the cup up out of that ring to clean it (pretty sure it’s just sitting in there)
Loved this post! Confession: I also love pinterest. I don’t have kids, so that allows more time for some craftyness. (I’ve heard pinterest being described as “porn for women” which is hysterical).
I’ll say that yes, I love Pinterest – but I have to agree with you on the items you mentioned. None of those would be things I’d do/make and that new blog is HILARIOUS (and totally following it now too.)
I had very high aspirations as to doing a project a week from there, but (as always) time ran out, ingredients weren’t purchased or a million other things just got in the way. Plus? Now that I’m back on the weight watchers “bandwagon”, I probably shouldn’t be pinning all of the delicious looking desserts. Hmmm…
Thank you. Just thank you.
I use it as a way to keep up with hot dudes and there’s not a thing wrong with that. Right? Well, what if they’re wearing a crocheted SCARF!? OK. That would just be odd.
http://pinterest.com/theamytucker/dudes/
-I think you wrote this whole post just to work in “I am a crafting black hole. The anti-craft” AGAIN.
(Also, if you don’t think you’re AT LEAST halfway to “Merging with the Infinite” at 43, then allow me a moment to take out a second mortgage in order to bet the UNDER!)
I love pinterest, but I’m realistic, I won’t do half the crap I’ve pinned. I consider it a form of daydreaming.
Oh my! You took my most resent feelings into a blog post. I too feel exactly all that you have described. I’m grateful I am not alone.
I haven’t joined Pinterest, but with what I’ve heard, I’ve wondered if I would like it. I think it would make me feel like inadequate too! I just don’t have the time or talent for crafting at this point.
i’m laughing and sending the Pinterest you are drunk on to some friends. i do like pinterest though; especially for the kid activities on these long winter days.
I love it now but it took a bit. For me, just seeing what those I am following doesn’t do much. It’s only when I look at the category I am interested in and see what the whole wide world is doing that I find it awesome. For me, the craft stuff is huge. Wes loves it for interiors and cute animals. I like that there is something for everyone out there.
You’re not alone! I was a Pinterest ADDICT, created all sorts of boards, visited the sites daily, but then after a couple of weeks it got really old – I keep seeing the same Pins over and over – lots of pretty things and crafts that I’ll never do.
That’s why we created Skinnyscoop, a site where women can share their recommendations, tips, articles, recipes – you’ll find user-curated lists on everything from Documentaries I Have Loved to Affordable Curvy Winter Must-Haves.
Give us a whirl: http://www.theskinnyscoop.com/
I have not a crafty bone in my body, and yet I find myself pinning cute crafty things that LOOK so easy. I mean why wouldn’t I decorate my walls with fabric covered styrofoam? Because I’d rather take a nap, that’s why.
However, it is a win for recipes, and I’ve actually found some good blogs. I think pinning blog posts is going to become more of a thing, actually – as long as they have pretty pictures to pin them with (i.e. not mine).
Plus, in January? I’m all about the eye candy.
There’s definitely a drinking the Koolaid aspect to Pintarest, but I’m finding it useful to organize research that’s heavy on visuals. For example, I’m working on fine-tuning my Facebook Page so it’s handy to collect illustrated posts on the subject. Also, as a travel blogger, it’s interesting to see what others are putting on their travel bucket list. I’ve only come on board in the past week or so, but I can see why all the bloggers are raving about it. You can find my boards at: http://pinterest.com/sandrafoyt/
I love Pinterest for ideas of things to do with my girls. I also love it for dinner ideas!
I REALLY love it after one of my blog posts (http://pinterest.com/pin/2814818486820693/) went viral on it and drove a TON of traffic to my blog!!
Loved your post, very well done! I hear your valid points…some of it is pure fluff! But fun to see what makes the world go ’round.
I’m new to Pinterest but I have 3 favorite boards titled: “Clever”, “Inspire” & “Recipes” I want to try. I get a little source of motivation from the Inspire board and & I can keep track of great recipes to try in the future on the recipe board.
http://pinterest.com/purpleovenmitt/
I’m in love with Pinterest, for me, I am not artsy or crafty or great with recipes or picking out clothes but I can follow directions so Pinterest totally helps me fake all of the above. And, the blogs posts I have pinned have brought in tons of traffic so I’m even more in love. I’m at http://pinterest.com/fourplusanangel/
I am SO glad you wrote this….I swear, I was depressed for two whole days after OD’ing on Pinterest over the holidays. I finally realized I could A.) Never make anything on there I saw, or B.) Never be able to afford it. I got over this feeling, and I still pin, but yes….Pinterest totally plays with my emotions. ha.
The jar with the toothpaste and the tooth brushes, lifts out of that metal circle and is put into the dishwasher – problem solved! I use Pinterest as a way to save ideas – just like Delicious or Diigo – a way of filing ideas and things I ‘d like to try maybe sometime in the future.
Check out the humor category! Even if you don’t like crafts, I’m guessing you like to laugh and there are some funny little things to make you smile, chortle or even spit your drink all over your computer screen…
Have you started Pinterest yet? It’s really fun. ANYTHING you can think of….ANYTHING you’ve ever done in your entire lifetime….you can make a pinboard for. You can get a better picture of who someone is by visually seeing their pins….what they are interested in. It’s totally not about Mason jars, because I’m not into that at all. Check out some art boards, words of wisdom, animals, or just type in anything that you are interested in and it will be there. Celtic stuff? um witches…movies, shows, oriental rugs, cities you want to go to, places you’ve been. I’ve totally caught the bug. It’s too much fun.
Well, I am sorry but I have to disagree with you on this.
Everybody needs some times to adapt with a new site and features.
So, I didn’t think that you are a pinterest failure
Why don’t you give more times to use the site and submit more pins to get more ideas about how the site really works?
I have been struggling with Pinterest for 3 weeks before I could finally be familiar with how it works, and believe me, now nothing can stop me from pin and repin *lol*
You might also like to check out Pinfaves.com , it’s a social voting site built for Pinterest users to submit their pin, vote and discuss the item. It’s really nice!