I promise, this is my last (I hope) angst-filled Pinterest post. 
Like most of my great ideas, 52 Weeks of Pinspiration was conceived in the middle of the night with the help of a glass (or three) of wine. It all started innocently enough. One night between Christmas and New Year’s I stayed up into the wee hours browsing through Pinterest. As I sat there in the dark, hunched over my laptop at the kitchen table, I scrolled through page after page of fun craft projects, cute hairstyles, and delicious looking food. I’d get so excited with each pin thinking, “I could make this! I could do that! Wouldn’t that be fun!” and it went on and on and on. I seriously fell down the rabbit hole and got totally sucked in. That night I even posted on Facebook, “So many pins, so little time.”
Those of you who love Pinterest as much as I do, you know exactly what I mean.
It was also during this time period that I had started thinking about my New Year’s Resolution. So sitting there in the kitchen, with the music of my One Little Word playing in the background of my mind, it hit me – what if I started a series about Pinterest on my blog! What better way to be inspired, try new things, and have fun than to try out some of the cool stuff on Pinterest. Plus, by creating a series on my blog, it would help me stay motivated! And accountable! It was a match made in heaven!
I was so excited and was having so much fun…that is until these kinds of articles started bubbling up.
http://greekgeek.hubpages.com/hub/Is-Pinterest-a-Haven-for-Copyright-Violations
http://www.livinglocurto.com/2012/02/letter-bloggers-pinterest/
http://www.livinglocurto.com/2012/02/pinterest-changing-blog/
http://ddkportraits.com/2012/02/why-i-tearfully-deleted-my-pinterest-inspiration-boards/
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been whining to my family about how bummed I am that all this copyright violation business has kinda sucked the joy out of my 52 Weeks of Pinspiration project. Like I’ve said before, my husband makes his living from his intellectual property, so no one understands more than I do why it’s important to respect copyrights and ownership. But I’ll be honest…all of this worrying about Pinterest and copyright bullshit has just worn me out. Literally, I have lost many a night’s sleep wondering if I was doing something awesome or if I was just being some two-bit, copy-cat Pinterest whore. (Geez Kel, dramatic much???) The truth is, all I have ever wanted is to enjoy my life and feel inspired.
Last week I was bellyaching, yet again, to my mom about it. Then finally, after several minutes of listening to me snivel about how disappointed I was at the thought of ending my blog series and not having fun projects to do, my mom asked me this simple question, “Why do you need Pinterest to do fun projects when it’s something you’ve always done anyway?”
Dear Mom…I love you.
I’ve thought about my mom’s question a lot and she’s totally right. Even before starting 52 Weeks of Pinspiration, my blog was full of recipes, scrapbook projects, and goofy crafts. This is what I do and this is who I am.
Even so, I was totally ready (even had the blog post half written) to discontinue my series until I remembered what I wrote in my original OLW blog post:
…I am done worrying about what people will think and I am D.O.N.E. listening to the voice of doubt and fear. From now on, I am going to listen to my heart and sing its song of hope and joy.
I have come to realize that all my anxiety about Pinterest has been based in doubt and fear – fear of doing something wrong, fear of being a copy-cat, doubting myself and my own intentions. But I have decided to take my own advice (and a leap of Faith) and ignore those voices. If Pinterest goes down in flames (a la Napster) then so be it. But I’m not going to let fear prevent me from enjoying my life and sharing it with you.
In closing, I would just like to send out a huge “Thank You” to all my friends and family who have supported and encouraged me these past couple of weeks.
Love, Kelly
Given all the blogs, etc. that have ‘pin it’ on their sites I think you are okay. And, I would love to see how that first ‘lawsuit’ is going to go. Your process was good and it it helps you in the larger sense then it was definitely worth it. I would imagine, from the stuff I see on your blog, that your Mom is right … you probably have 52 weeks worth of your own ideas, re-works and craftiness inside of you.
I deleted a bunch of boards, hesitated and put back a couple of boards of my own photos and thought about whether or not I wanted to commit the time to Pinterest. So I deleted my account. I know everyone is nuts about it and it is kind of cool when people re-pin your stuff but I figured I would just put that time somewhere else.
Okay and I think it is totally cool that your husband’s intellectual property is his living. I think I am serious geek. So cool.
haha! thanks cynthia! 🙂 and thanks for the vote of confidence. 🙂
I am so proud of you!!!! I look forward to more and more ideas!!! Love you!!!
Good girl sis! We all know who the “author” of fear is, and I’m happy to see that you gave him a well deserved “butt-kicking” by continuing on with the things you love to do. I’m proud of you for all you do, for who you are, and for being MY delightful daughter.