The Debate

I know many of you who read this blog are fans of Pinterest.  I am.  If you don't know Pinterest or use it regularly, this post is not going to be interesting to you.  Sorry.  There is much debate right now about Pinterest and copyright violation.  At first, I'll admit, I thought, "That's ridiculous!  Pinterest is just good, clean, creative fun."  What's the big deal, right?  That was before I read this article.  And this one. 

Hmmmmm.  As a "creative blogger" it got me thinking.  Is Pinterest ethical?  Or do I at least use it ethically?  I LOVE the idea of sharing ideas.  I love finding inspiration from super creative people, and I think it's great to have a place where I can visually organize all the things that inspire me.  I truly believe many of us in the Pinterest community feel similarly.  I get thousands of great ideas and recipes {that I intend to make and use} from all over the internet via Pinterest.  From my perspective it's great.  When I put an idea out there on my blog, I'm happy when other people like it and are inspired to try it themselves.  I have seen my Typography Wall Art recreated a thousand times on the internet {almost all of them link back to my blog, which is very considerate}.  I love it when people "pin me".  I get more traffic to my blog from Pinterest than from any other source, which is great for me.  For many bloggers, traffic to their blog = money in their bank account.  That's the good part -- Pinterest working at its finest.

The bad part is that not everyone gives credit where credit is due -- sometimes unintentionally.  I never thought about the effects of repinning someone's pin.  If that original pin doesn't link back to the source of the idea, and that pin gets repinned a thousand times, the genius behind the idea gets lost in the jumble.  Many of their admirers don't know who they are admiring and the admired loses income.  Boo. Worse is when someone intentionally tries to pass an idea off as their own.  Some even steal images and text from the source.  BOO!

I'll admit, I'm a copycat.  I've always said that.  But I think I've also always made it very clear when I'm copying someone else's idea.  When I did my 31 Days of "Pin"spired Projects back in October I talked about what I liked in the original project and always linked to the original source.  I feel really good about that.  If someone has put something out on the internet that I think is really cool, it's OK for me to attempt to replicate it if I give credit to them, right?  Send a little traffic their way?  It's mutually beneficial.  I hope.

I get frustrated when I pin something great and find, when I go to make the project, that the pin leads to a dead end.  When I click on a pin I want it to take me directly to the source -- the directions for the project or the place where I can buy the product -- NOT to some random blog or Tumblr where the picture sits, looking all pretty, with no credit or additional link. Dead. End.  The only real solution to this problem is to always pin from the original source and link back to that source when you feature a project on your blog.  From now on when I see a pin that I love on Pinterest, instead of just repinning and going on my merry way, I will click over to the source of the image and pin it again from there.  I will also try to remember to credit the source in the comment of my pin.  It will take longer, sure, but I feel like creative people who take the time to share their ideas with the world deserve it.   

Hopefully this little bit of polite behavior can keep the ugly side of Pinterest {law suits, etc.} at bay.  Maybe that's enough, maybe not.  Anyway, I'm stepping off my soapbox now.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue in the comments.

More Scripture Post-Its {Printable}

I've made another sheet of printable Post-Its for your scriptures that I wanted to share with y'all today.  As I continue to study the Book of Mormon using the Book of Mormon Institute manual, I like to take my favorite quotes and "cute 'em up" to stick in my scriptures.  I bought myself an extra large Book of Mormon for about $5  so that I have PLENTY of room in the margins to make notes and stick in my pretty Post-Its.  It's just a silly little thing, but I've never enjoyed REALLY studying the scriptures quite so much.  I'll keep sharing the Post-It printables as I make them in the hopes that they will make scripture study more enjoyable for someone else as well.  Hope your weekend was fun, all!

Scripture Post-Its 3

Complete instructions for printing can be found here.

I Knew I Was Raising 'Em Right

Source: purpleslinky.com via Amy on Pinterest

"Laboratory tests over the last few years have proven that babies who start drinking soda during that early formative period have a much higher chance of gaining acceptance and 'fitting in' during those awkward pre-teen and teen years.  So, do yourself a favor.  Do your child a favor.  Start them on a strict regimen of sodas and other sugary carbonated beverages right now, for a lifetime of guaranteed happiness."

Yep, I always knew it.  Visit Purple Slinky for several other ads about how NOT to raise your children.  Good times.

Planner

I just this week realized that I never got a new planner for 2012.  No wonder we missed that doctor's appointment two weeks ago.  I NEED a planner.  I AM a planner.  I like to write things down.  I don't work well "on the fly" -- too easy to forget things.  And with three kids going three different directions and my calling at church, there is quite a lot to forget.  Which I do, almost instantly.  {Brent's going to have so much fun with me when I'm old!}

So this week I needed to find a planner, but not just any planner.  For years now I have used Amy Knapp's Family Organizer, which is fantastic.  It has monthly overviews and weekly pages, with perforated edge sections for grocery lists and meal plans that you can tear out and take to the store with you.  It is practically perfect in every way.  Except that it doesn't exist any more.  I mean, it's there on Amazon as if it exists, with that cute new cover, but 6 copies in all the world?!  For $50 to $100 each?!  No thanks.

If I couldn't have that planner, I had some very specific, however impractical, requirements.  It needed to have a page for each month -- I like to see the whole month at a glance -- and it needed to have pages for each week, with space to write in each day's commitments.  Easy, lots of planners have that.  But I also wanted it to have blank journaling pages for each month so I could record the important happenings or things I'd like to remember as they happen.  And have some fun and/or inspirational quotes -- my favorite things.  And some colorful images.  And a cute {but not generic cute} cover.  I had to want to take it everywhere with me and look at it often.  That's not too much to expect from a planner, right?  Wrong.

I decided to make my own.  Using Blurb.com {the place where I've printed my blog books in the past} I was able to create the planner of my dreams -- at least I hope it turns out to be.  I created eleven pretty quote pages using Gimp -- one for each month {minus the one I found on Pinterest and purchased because I loved it so much and had already spent waaaayyy too long in front of my computer working on this project}.

sources:  camper image, ribbon image, typewriter image
{If anyone knows the original source for the Be Yourself image, please let me know.  It is stunning and the artist deserves full credit, but I followed the Pinterest trail until it ran cold with no luck.}
  {UPDATE:  I have finally tracked down the source of that beautiful Be Yourself image.  It is available from Emily McDowell Illustration on etsy.  I have since purchased a print of the image, but it is NOT my work so I have removed it from my site.  Emily has lots of beautiful prints available.  Check out her site!!}

Many of these images were inspired by things I had seen on Pinterest, but I put my own spin on them for my own custom planner.  {*so excited*}  These images appear opposite the monthly calendar pages in the book.  I matched the background color and fonts on each calendar to match it's quote and left the week by week pages white.  Here's what I designed for the cover {maybe my favorite part!}:

source:  vintage book cover image

So, that's what I've been up to these past couple of days.  Feel free to borrow any of the images that I created for your own personal use by clicking on the image to enlarge it to full-size, then right-clicking and saving to your computer.  Have a great day!

Smitten

Most of my family was gone for most of the weekend.  It was kind of nice and peaceful.  {Shhh!  Don't tell them I said that.}  After D went to bed Friday night, I took some "me time" and looked for inspiration on the internet, and I tell you, my favorite blogs did not disappoint!  If you don't read The Nester, you really should.  Really.  I adore her.  {No, I don't know her.  No, I'm NOT a creepy stalker.}  She featured a chalk artist on her blog this weekend with whom I instantly fell in love.  I want to paint my whole house in black chalkboard paint and have her come work her magic.  Just look at this:

Are you kidding me?!  Stunningly beautiful, right?  I couldn't pin it fast enough, thinking that some day I may be brave and motivated enough to attempt a replica on my chalk wall in my kitchen.  But I couldn't stop thinking about it, so Saturday I set to work.  It's only chalk, right? If it looked hideous {which I figured it most likely would} I could erase it before the fam got home to see it.  No harm done.  Surprisingly, it turned out alright.  For a first attempt.  On a textured wall.  Whatever.  Here's my rendition:

You can see I didn't dare stray very far from the original, but I did change the wording to suit my home.  Clearly it has its flaws, but I am so smitten with the very idea of it.  And it is a vast improvement over this bit of artistic chaos:

The kids can still draw below the light switch . . . where it doesn't show from the living room.  I'm not a total control freak.  Anymore.

Book of Mormon Reading Schedule {Free Printables!}

Since it's Sunday I thought I'd share something a little more spiritual with you here.  As many of you know, I am the Young Women president in our ward.  I work with the girls in our congregation between the ages of 12 and 18 and I love it!  My girls are probably some of the best in the whole world!  When I sat down earlier this year and thought about goals for our organization for 2012, one of the strongest impressions I had was that we needed to read the Book of Mormon "together" this year.  {I say "together" because we can't literally sit down in the same room and read the whole book together.  That would be really difficult.}  I came up with a reading schedule, beginning February 1st and ending December 31st.  If the girls follow along and read about a page and a half a day on their own, they will have read the entire Book of Mormon by the end of the year.  We are encouraging the girls to draw from the current week's reading assignment for spiritual thoughts in our Sunday opening exercises and to bring up any questions they may have to their leaders.  My hope is that by doing this together we will not only grow individually from one another's testimonies, but grow in our unity as a group.  At this point, I think we have about half of our girls on board.  {I've not given up hope for getting the rest of them to join in!}

So, because everything is more fun when it's cute, I've made schedules for the girls.  Here was the first one {which I should have shared a month ago, but didn't.  Sorry!}:

And the current one for March {which I decided to do black and white so I could just copy it onto colored paper in the church library and save some printer ink}:

It's not too late to join us and get caught up . . . or just jump in on today's date and follow along from there!  I'll post each new schedule every month, if you're interested.  Have a great week everyone!

It's Fine . . .

I don't really like being sick. For many reasons, really, but mostly because an illness, however minor, always seems to be followed by an extended period {lasting from a few days to a few weeks} of "the dumps".  You know when you feel better-ish, but completely drained and unmotivated?  Which is unfortunate because after I've taken a couple days off from the housework and the blog to nurse myself to health, I really need to get up and moving again.  There is indeed much to be done, but all I can bring myself to do is watch every super old episode of My So-Called Life on Hulu Plus and eat ice cream in my jammies.  {Remember that show?  Oh, how I loved it back in the day.  I tried to share it with my daughter, but 5 minutes in she said, "This show is so old!" in that disgusted teen-ager voice girls her age can do so well. But that is neither here nor there.} 

It doesn't really help my "dumpy" situation that our hot water heater had to be replaced a couple weeks ago and we were dropped by our endocrinologist for missing an appointment last week.  And we got some crummy news on the job-front today.  Again.  But I'm not going to dwell on that.  It's fine.  That's my new mantra.  If it can't be changed, "It's fine . . .".  It has to be, right?  What else can I do?  I'm just gonna' dive into the mountain of laundry in the garage and try to gain some physical {and spiritual and emotional} momentum.

Tonight was a good night.  Brent and Ri are at a Scout camp-out and Sis is gone all weekend on a school trip, so D and I got to spend a little one-on-one time.  We had pizza and rootbeer for dinner and were joined by our good friends Ben & Jerry for dessert.  {And I may have watched an episode of My So-Called Life while he played on the computer.  Whatever.}  Anyway, if you know a good pediatric endocrinologist in Chandler leave me a note in the comments.  Thanks friends!