I love Pinterest. I mean I really L.O.V.E. it! I could happily spend hours getting lost from one gorgeous pinned image linked to an amazing blog or site, to find another and another {and another…} {merrily pinning more inspiration along the way} in a seemingly endless maze of creative, inspiring and wonderful people doing and making equally creative, inspiring and wonderful things…

Pinterest is an amazing tool, but I’ve been reading some negative stuff about it lately {about copyrights & idea “stealing” e.g. here & here} and it’s been making me think {abit too much!} and feel somewhat conflicted. So, to clear my head, I thought I’d jot down exactly why it is I like it so much, what my boards mean to me and how I intend to react…

I sometimes have self~esteem issues, I’m not sure there’s many people who don’t at some point. Not as much as I used to, but it’s there in a corner of my mind, always…playing over silly things I’ve said or done, wondering if I’m good enough, doing enough, being enough…trying to be all things to all people and making myself miserable in the process. I’ve been on quite some journey, to try to understand who I am, and to like and accept myself {who hasn’t?!} as much as possible. I have good days, and I have bad days…
One of the reasons I love Pinterest so much is that it’s given me a very real and visual insight into…well, ME. It’s what I like, what inspires me, and what I relate to laid out right there in front of me…

My Style
I’ve always felt uncomfortable with how I dress; never sure what my ‘style’ was and feeling like I needed to fit in with others, and then feeling unhappy because I didn’t feel ‘right’ in what I’d put together. I look at my ‘My Style’ board now and it makes me happy ~ THERE I am & THAT’s my style. In amongst all those pictures, there’s a thread that links them and that’s my style because that’s what I like. For me, not to fit in or for anyone else…we all know how much better we feel when we’re feeling comfortable and confident in how we look, and realising ‘my style’  has certainly been a small part of helping me feel happier and more confident in myself.

One Day Crochet, MMwM Ideas & Crafty Stuff
I’ve always been creative. It runs in the blood on my mother’s side ~ I did Art & Photography A-Levels and a short course in Interior Design {then bottled out of going further (a huge regret)} and then had fleeting interests in bits & pieces, or favours for friends as work and life took over…I did alot of making again when the Bear was expected ~ a labour of love you might say ~ but once she arrived, time was not on my side to be getting creative. Then, as she’s got older and I started to have a little more me time, along came Pinterest & POW! It helped stir my creative juices again ~ seeing the amazing things people make {things I’d never have otherwise seen} and in turn, finding the wonderful bloggers who post about their creative lives and their {sometimes not dissimilar} ups & downs within them.  My craft & crochet boards make me feel so chirrupy chirpy & inspired when I look at them. They help motivate me to keep learning and trying new things and to keep developing my own style of work. As I first started pinning to them, I realised that I so NEED to be creative. I need to make the time and to work on projects that reflect me, who I am and what I love. It’s my outlet. I love being a creative person, it’s always in me and yet it’s historically been the part of who I am I’ve stifled when the going was rough. BiiiiiiG breakthrough moment…

Homey Stuff & Garden Stuff
And finally our house. If you’ve been here before, it’s no secret that I wasn’t in love with our house at first for various reasons. I knew I wanted to somehow put our stamp on it but my previous attempts at decorating never turned out how I visualised them ~ I couldn’t seem to pull a room together despite having lovely pieces I’ve collected over the years. Once again, Pinterest came to my aide and I found that, when I looked at all my images together, I got a much clearer idea of the mood, style and features I liked and how I could incorporate them to work for us. We’re not done yet, but I’m starting to enjoy our house more…it has an essence of us as a family, and it’s a far happier and more comfortable place to be…

I stand in the rather lovely, lively & colourful ‘arty crafty blogging creative peoples’ bubble {phew! it’s a big bubble!}, within which there is an unwritten code of respect and love ~ linking back and forth ~ it’s part of the whole thing we love ~ finding new inspirations, lovely sites and ideas, and sharing them, crediting those from whence they came along the way. In general, while we might want to try out an idea, a cake, a make, a recipe or to learn how to do these things; 99% of us have no intention of “stealing” these ideas or meaningfully causing upset when we have pinned beautiful images, and certainly not of using them directly for our own gain. Most of us are creative enough to want to put our own spin and style into an idea…To an extent, I think we all do what we instinctively feel is right within our own definitions, mainly being to respect the creativity, talent and downright hardwork of others. For newcomers though, I can see how it could be all too easy to see an idea & get carried away with an ‘I could do that’ attitude and to just copy or even emulate another. That’s fine if it’s for personal use, but it gets dirty when people start to think ‘I can do that and make money from it’. I do believe in this case it is important to educate oneself as to what can and can’t be done within the actual legal definitions of copyright, and in either case, to be true to oneself in the spirit of what you do. That way you can be sure that what you create is original to you and has a little bit of your heart in every piece.

I agree there may be some kinks to iron out in terms of Pinterest’s development & growth; I agree that ‘pinners’ should not copy entire details such as recipes or how-to’s in descriptions {I think this is down to awareness rather than a deliberate attempt to take credit}; I agree we should try to maintain original credits and links wherever we can; I definitely think those 1% that do directly “steal” images and copy work and profit from it should be taken down. And hard.

I have pledged to ‘Link with Love’ {check out the link in my side bar to the right if you want to find out more} & provide credit wherever applicable throughout my blog. I pledge to pin what I personally find from original sources wherever possible and, at the very least, to do my best to find the originator of an image I want to repin. I will also pledge to promote that it is better and kinder to ensure you have an original link or credit wherever you can. I feel at this stage, and in the manner in which I use Pinterest, this is enough for me, and I won’t berate myself for the odd repin that doesn’t have the perfect trail.

So wherever possible…

(La Whimsy has also written another very appropriate post with additional points for considerations which I like alot here, and here’s one from my3boybarians)

Thanks for joining me ♥