Students use Pinterest as a creative outlet

It’s as simple as using Popsicle sticks to make a house followed by using paper lunch bags to create puppets.

The childhood act of crafting has taken on a new form for college students on Pinterest, the popular pin-board style social photo sharing website.

Pinterest allows users to create a variety of virtual pin-boards based on personal interests that can be saved for later viewing.

For Marshall junior Kimberly Tarkiewicz, she uses Pinterest to pin out of the box crafting ideas.

“They are ideas that I would never think to use a certain object for with many different uses,” Tarkiewicz said. “I really enjoy using Pinterest over any crafting magazine because there are always new ideas and I can save the ideas easily.”

Tarkiewicz, who has been crafting since she was 6 years old, said crafting something on her own is cheaper than going out and buying the completed product in store.

“My friend and I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a two pack of canvas for $7.99, had a 40 percent off coupon and then split it by two people making it only cost us $2.40 a piece,” she said. “Our canvas project in total was probably around $3 including scrapbook paper and other supplies. In a store you would pay close to $15 for a quote canvas.”

Brant graduate student Vicki Good has been into crafting for more than 30 years.

“I have always liked to be creative,” Good said. “It is a good way to make items I need and to make extra money.”

While Good doesn’t necessarily think it’s cheaper to make crafts on her own, she does think the personal effort that goes into it is the most rewarding.

“It isn’t a matter of money but the satisfaction of knowing that you created it,” she said. “It is like a person that buys or receives a hand-crafted quilt; it is the personal effort put into it that is treasured.”

Good’s list of favorite completed crafts range from decorated straw hats to “Sweetcheeks” dolls, which she said are similar to Cabbage Patch dolls and custom horseback riding outfits with lots of crystals and leather.

Now that she owns a garment printer, Good plans to share her passion and creativity for crafting by offering services to students on campus.

“I can produce one shirt or hundreds in full color on light or dark and on a variety of products — shirts, sweats, bags to name a few,” she said.

South Lyon junior Brittany Snively said she became more interested in creative crafting over the past year.

“After moving up to college, I wanted to come up with creative ways to decorate my dorm/apartment, and I found some great ideas online that I couldn’t help trying out,” she said. “I ended up with some great results, and I always felt really accomplished after I made something that looked how I wanted it to.”

Snively said crafting is much more rewarding than buying anything in a store.

“Putting the project together, making it yours, adding whatever you want to it as you go, or taking away from the original design you may be following is what makes crafting so special,” Snively said.“You throw a piece of yourself into what you create and it’s bound to show in one way or another.”