Are you a fan of Pinterest? For those of you unfamiliar with the site, Pinterest allows you to create virtual bulletin boards and, in doing so, to organize web content. For example, I have a whole board of online recipes ‘pinned’ to one of my Pinterest boards. When I need to access one, I simply go to my board.
Each time I arrive at Pinterest’s site, I spend a few minutes scrolling through the things that my friends have recently pinned to their boards. Usually, there are bunches of DIY crafts, inspirational quotes, pictures, beauty tips, decorating ideas, yummy desserts. They’re all very impressive. Like, Martha Stewart level impressive.
My author friend Katie Ganshert and I thought it might be fun to tackle a few of the things we were seeing on Pinterest. Mind you, we’re writers and moms. We’re not Martha Stewarts.
To make it spicy, we decided we’d both attempt the same project the same week and then post our results on social media. To make it even spicier, we decided we’d let our readers vote each week on who they thought did the challenge best. That did it. Our ‘Pinterest War’ was born. We’ve had 3 wars so far. The longest lasted 8 weeks, the shortest 4. Once we finish a war, we usually take several months off to recover from the humiliation.
There have been a few (a very few) challenges at which we’ve excelled. For instance, we did pretty well with ‘the messy bun’:
Our readers did well with it, too:
We took on a pumpkin-carving challenge last October, sure that we’d both be terrible. I carved my pumpkin and was astonished at how fabulously it turned out. I started patting myself on the back, positive that I had the challenge in the bag. Then Katie texted me, talking smack about how fabulously her pumpkin had turned out. I couldn’t believe it when I saw her excellent effort.
The voting on the pumpkin carving challenge was the closest vote in the history of our Pinterest Wars. We didn’t let our readers know which of us had carved which pumpkin when they voted. Strict impartiality and all that. But since you’re Inspired by Life… and Fiction readers I’ll reveal to you that I carved #2. Which pumpkin do you think won by a hair?
Most of our Pinterest challenges have revealed our ineptitude. I give you the cupcake-with-frosting-rose challenge:
Good sport Betsy St.Amant did cupcake #1. (As it happens, Betsy just released a contemporary romance titled All’s Fair in Love and Cupcakes!) I did the hot mess otherwise known as cupcake #2. And Katie did the blob known as cupcake #3.
Another fail? Our attempt at a family foot portrait. This one seemed deceptively easy at the outset. But there were animals involved. And who was supposed to take the photo if everyone in it had their feet toward the camera?
Please take a moment and notice that *I* managed, at least, to get my dog’s little paws into the shot. Katie’s dog refused to play along, thus he’s staring straight at the camera. Probably thinking, “It’s really embarrassing to have humans this strange.”
In mid-October, Katie and I will be firing up another Pinterest War! Like our author pages on facebook to follow along. To check out all of our past challenges (and laugh), head here.
What kind of challenges would you like to see Katie and I attempt this fall? What kind of artsy endeavors do you enjoy? And don’t forget to guess which pumpkin won the challenge! I’ll post the answer in the comments Friday evening. 😉
Becky Wade
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LOL Becky! All’s fair in love and war!
You two ladies cracked me right up but I do have to say I thought your rose cup cake was very professional.:)
Now I truly don’t have an artistic bone in my body when it comes to design. Much to my Mum’s chagrin, I always preferred to have my nose in a book but my eldest daughter fortunately inherited my Mum and my MIL’s(Mum In Law’s) artistic traits, so all was not lost. LOL.
Looking at your pumpkins, I think that Katie’s was a little more easily defined but you displayed character in your faces sooo… for what my opinion is worth, I will take a punt and say you won by a hair’s breadth…Pumpkin #2. (I wonder what Martha would say about my judging??)LOL
Oh and the feet! Considering you had to try and get the feet perfectly positioned even with your dog, I think an apt title for those pics would definitely be, “No Mean Feat!”
Such a fun post to share Becky..thanks for bringing a smile to my face!:)
‘No mean feet’ indeed! I’m glad you enjoyed our Pinterest pictures, Rosie. They make me laugh, too. In fact, that’s been the best part of the Pinterest challenges — the laughter.
What a fun idea, Becky! You gals are so creative and such great sports. The pumpkins turned out great. I do good to get a pair of triangle eyes that are roughly the same size. 🙂 And the feet are cute, too. Your messy buns remind my of my daughter dressing up as Princess Leia last year. We had to scour youTube to find advice on how to make the buns on the side of her head, but they turned out looking pretty good in the end. It probably helps that she has hair past her waist. Fun stuff!
I remember seeing a photo of the Princess Leia buns you did with your daughter. They were wonderful!
I love Pinterest! My daughter got me started. I have several boards now. It’s fun to see what others are pinning, what’s important to them. I have a couple of reading boards and my favorite is my crochet board. On the pumpkin contest, I vote for #2.
That’s one of my favorite things about Pinterest, Gail. If you have a particular interest (like crocheting) you can easily access information and ideas about it. Great resource!
The pumpkins both turned out well, though I think the inspiration carving was a little smaller on their pumpkin, so I bet that made a difference.
The feet picture is cute – I have a feeling the original was done on a bed with the camera on the floor looking up, rather than on the back of the couch. That or they were playing a dangerous balancing game with that baby!!
As for the roses – I stumbled across a fantastic website a few years ago (I pinned it for posterity!) that taught me to make, not realistic but gorgeous and easy, roses. http://www.glorioustreats.com/2011/08/cupcake-basics-how-to-frost-cupcakes.html (It’s at the 1:05 mark on the video.)
I’m looking forward to your next challenge!
Goodness knows I can use all the help I can get in the frosting roses department! Thanks for the link!
I loved looking through the board and can’t wait to see the remainder of the “Pinterest Wars.” I really enjoy the Facebook posts that show the real attempts of the pins. They can be the most fun ever.
It is always good to stop being serious all the time and enjoy life. You and Katie are certainly doing that. Now, once all the “wars” are over, will you count up the number of tiaras and “crown” the over all “Queen of Pinterest”?
Great question, Dora! Yes. I do believe one of us should walk away with the virtual Pinterest Wars tiara. That would be only right! I’m currently enjoying the tiara, since I managed a 3 to 2 victory in our last war. It’ll take all my skill to try to retain the title… What’s was it Shakespeare said? ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown?’ ;))
It seems to me that I was a witness to the pumpkin war and I want to say #1 won. It’s actually hard to tell, though, since that was almost a year ago and my memory isn’t that great. They look almost identical, so I’m not sure how the voters chose a winner. 🙂
I can’t wait to see what you all come up with for the next challenge!
Thanks for following our Pinterest wars, Sarah!
I love your pinterest wars! Here are a couple of links to pins of ideas that might be fun fall pinterest war possibilities!http://www.pinterest.com/pin/202873158187700681/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/280138039292102556/
Brittany McEuen
GREAT suggestions, Brittany! Thank you. I especially like the pumpkin made of book pages. What could be more appropriate for two writers?
I love your challenges! I LOL at the foot one. I am impressed with both pumpkins.
I actually took a cupcake class from a mom of 9 children. (I have 7) It did improve my game. 🙂
Blessings,
Becky
I do believe Katie and I are in need of a cupcake class to improve our games, Becky. Especially Katie. (LOL!)
Katie’s dog cracks me up every time I look at that picture!
I love your Pinterest Wars! I liked your mugs that you made in the last one. I’m still thinking about trying that one!
Thanks, Melissa! The mugs were actually one of our best crafts because 1) They’re useful 2) The paint has stayed on great through many dish washings 3) The end result was relatively cute!
It was a very, very close vote. But those of you who guessed that pumpkin #2 (my pumpkin) won the voting were correct. I won by a hair!
I’m super late commenting today (been on the go) but had to say I LOVED this post!! 🙂 The family feet portraits made me laugh (especially with the cute dog staring at the camera—-wouldn’t you just love to know what goes through our pets’ minds?!). 😉
And I had figured pumpkin #2 was the winner – – and it WAS – – Congrats! 🙂
Hugs from Georgia, Patti Jo