A to Z Challenge 2015: The Recap

I had THE. BEST. TIME. with this year's A to Z Challenge. THE BEST!

Could anyone tell?

I loved my theme of trying different Pinterest pins to see whether the projects turned out or not. With currently 47 million daily users, and each of those users averaging 2,700 pins, I didn't want for ideas. 

This is not to say that it was easy to come up with ideas relating to each letter, especially the obvious ones of Q, U, X, Y and Z. I thought I was going to have to stretch a bit to find a pin for those letters, but scroll through Pinterest long enough, and you WILL find something.

Ruby's contribution to the Challenge

Here are some things I learned while doing the Challenge this year:

1. Having a theme really did help me write my posts this year.

2. When I made up my mind to do this theme, it was "go big or go home."  I think it's pretty obvious that I did NOT go home.

My injury from F is for Festive Feet

3. Anybody can pin anything on Pinterest and say they made it/bought it/used it/cleaned with it/ate it/photographed it, and there is a chance they are lying. 

4. If the aforementioned pinner makes whatever they made/bought/used/cleaned/ate/photographed look amazingly easy/inexpensive/miraculous/delicious/lovely, then other pinners will blindly pin away.This causes big, fat lies to be carried on into perpetuity.

5. You know the old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is"? Remember that when you're on Pinterest (or anywhere else, for that matter - there's no such thing as a free lunch, y'all). 

Prime example of too good to be true.

6. When you find a pin you'd like to re-pin, follow that pin all the way to its source. Sometimes, the pin is a dead-end, with no instructions or recipe or anything else to go with a pretty picture. You might even get a message that says the pin may redirect you to a site with inappropriate content (I choose to believe Pinterest at this point and have never checked to see if it's true or not). Check to see that your pins are legit BEFORE you pin them, so your boards aren't cluttered with pretty, but useless, pins.

7. In spite of all the above, there are lots of awesome ideas on Pinterest.

8. I found out I was craftier than I thought I was.

I looove this glass pendant!

9. I also found out there are a few crafts I tried that I want to continue to do, even after the challenge. Watch your mailboxes for glass pendants, washer necklaces, arm-knit scarves, and shoe bunting.

10. I would never, never, ever have tried to make my own doughnuts if it weren't for this Challenge. 

Thank you, Pioneer Woman pin!

11. The one pin that proved to be the easiest and with the best results was K is for Kazoo. Every time I listen to that recording of "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star," it makes me happy all over.

12. Magic Oil is probably the single most useful pin I tried. It will change your life, people. Trust me.

13. I met several new-to-me bloggers along the journey that I would never have met otherwise.

14. Doing 30 Pinterest projects in one month can get expensive.

15. I will do just about anything on a dare, apparently.

I have had several kind, kind readers who have told me they enjoyed this A to Z Challenge theme so much, they would like to see me continue it as a monthly event. Challenge accepted! Game on!

Lastly, a big thank you to my family for putting up with all of the Pinterest projects and for being incredibly good sports along the way.

A big shout out to my Ten Things of Thankful co-hosts who not only participated in the A to Z Challenge (Ivy at Uncharted, Clark at The Wakefield Doctrine, Kristi at Thankful Me and Christine at In The Coop), but also kept up with weekly hosting duties of the TToT. We rocked it!

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