Pins, Roundups, and Graphics (Oh My..)

Keeping up with best practices for social media feels like a Sisyphean task. I only deal with Facebook and Pinterest professionally and I still can't keep up. Of course, that's only partially my fault because the 'best' is ever-changing.


These pins are all 600 x 1260, which was 'best' as recently as a few months ago.

     

* Creative Breakfast Ideas * LEGO Batman Party * Olympics Party Ideas * Pizza-Themed Party Ideas *

Now, the 'best' pins are 600 x 900. So that's what I'm making.

    

 * 200+ Beach Crafts for Kids * 900+ Construction Paper Crafts for Kids * 100+ Sports Crafts for Kids *

    

 * 6000+ Preschool Crafts * 100+ Clay Pot Crafts for Kids * 1800+ Edible Crafts *

I haven't noticed any difference between pins with text in a circle, like the ones above, versus stretching across the length of the pin, like the ones below. Until someone tells me otherwise, I'll keep mixing things up.

     

* 12 Projects Using Coloring Pages * 1000+ Kids Crafts for May * 1000+ Kids Crafts for June *

And, of course, the vertical format that is so important on Pinterest is terrible for Facebook. Here are the Facebook graphics I made for the May and June crafts. They're both 315 x 600, which as far as I know, is still 'best.'

   

I can't imagine trying to keep up with all the other platforms as well. Pinterest and Facebook are more than enough to keep me on my toes! As always, I made all of the graphics using PicMonkey. They make dealing with the ever-changes sizes SO much easier. 

Wood Badge

Steve started working on Wood Badge in September 2016. These photos are from the beading ceremony in December 2017 that marking him earning Wood Badge.  

Wood Badge (affiliate link)

Great job, Steve! We're so proud of you and the hard work you put into making this happen. 

Paper Heart Magnet

I made a paper heart refrigerator magnet using the same technique as the monarch butterfly craft. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Affiliate links below. 

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Paper Heart Magnet

Materials: 

• colorful construction paper (or copy paper)
• ruler (that's my FAVORITE centering ruler)
• paper trimmer
• strong craft glue
• micro-tip scissors
• magnet tape

Steps:

For one heart, you will need twelve strips of paper (two each of six different sizes). Save yourself some work and cut two at a time. You can use whatever colors you want, but for simplicity's sake, I'll list what I used. Cut two each:  

• 7" x 1" blue
• 6" x 1" light blue
• 5" x 1" green
• 4" x 1" light green
• 3" x 1" yellow
• 2" x 1" orange

Separate the strips into two identical piles. Set one pile aside. Put a thin line of glue on one end of the 7" blue strip. Put the 6" light blue strip on top. Add a thin line of glue on the same end of the 6" light blue strip and put the 5" green strip on top. Continue until all the pieces are glued together at one end.

Put a strip of glue on the same place you've been gluing. Bend the 2" orange strip over and hold it in place. Repeat the process of adding glue and folding over each strip, one at a time.

When this half of the heart is done, set it aside and repeat the steps with the remaining paper strips to make an identical half. 

Glue one half to a piece of black paper by spreading glue on the edges of each color. Glue the second half in place right next to it, adding a bit of glue to connect the two halves to each other. 

When the glue is dry, carefully cut around the heart. 

Turn the heart upside down and attach two strips of magnet tape to the back. 

 The magnet looks great on the fridge! Pair it with some alphabet magnets to display a message.

By the way, this was quite possibly the most difficult thing I've ever tried to photograph (worse than the glass-etched votive even!). You can see my reflection in the photo, but that was the least of my troubles. I took several dozen photos at different times of day, at angles, with and without fill light, using posterboards to move the light, you name it, and I could not capture the dimension of the heart on the reflective background of the fridge without something looking really weird. This is the best I could do and I had to process it pretty heavily to get what you're seeing (yea, PicMonkey!). Hats off to all the great photographers out there. You really make it look easy and it is NOT easy!

Redwoods Campout

Back in February, Trevor and Steve went on a Redwoods campout with the Boy Scouts. (I stayed home and had friends over for a 13-hour scrapbook day. Woo hoo!) 

Redwoods Adventure (affiliate link)

The eight photos I chose tell a lot of the story, but this layout is a good example of why journaling is so important. There I mention that Trevor was in charge of the food shopping for his patrol for the first time ever. As you can imagine, teenage boys take their food pretty seriously, so Trevor had to be really careful to get all the items the patrol would need for 5 meals AND stay within the budget. He did a great job and everyone returned home happy and full. 

Monarch Butterfly Craft

After learning that 12 states have named the honey bee as their official state insect, I was curious to see what insect was the second-most named. I thought it might be the ladybug, which is the official state insect of seven states. Upon further research, I learned that the monarch butterfly is also the state insect of seven states! Here's my whimsical version of this beloved insect.

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Monarch Butterfly Craft

Materials: 

• construction paper (or copy paper) - black, orange, light orange
• ruler
• paper trimmer
• glue

Steps:

For each butterfly wing, you will need six strips of paper. Save yourself some work and cut two at a time of each of these:  

• 7" x 1" orange
• 6" x 1" light orange
• 5" x 1" black
• 4" x 1" orange
• 3" x 1" light orange
• 2" x 1" black

Separate the strips into two identical piles, one for each wing. Put a thin line of glue on one end of the 7" strip. Put the 6" strip on top. Add a thin line of glue on the same end of the 6" strip and put the 5" strip on top. Continue until all the pieces are glued together at one end. 

Put a strip of glue on the same place you've been gluing. Bend the 2" strip over and hold it in place. Repeat the process of adding glue and folding over each strip, one at a time, until you have a completed wing. Set it aside and repeat all steps to make a second wing. 

Cut a 5" x 1" strip of black construction paper and roll it into a tube. Glue it in place. Cut two very thin strips of black. 

Glue the black strips inside the black tube. Curl the ends to make antennae. (Fun fact: I had to look up that word to confirm that the plural of antenna is antennae. I thought it might be antenni, like alumna-alumni, but it turns out that a group of female graduates is alumnae... just like antennae. Alumni is a group of male graduates, though the word is also used for a mixed gender group. Etymology is fun!) 

Now glue the wings underneath the body. The monarch is done!

From another angle:

Obviously, you could change up the colors and make any kind of butterfly you want. You could also make the monarch more realistic by drawing in its black spots and making three distinct body parts. Whatever you'd like!