Do it yourself. . . or, with some help from Pinterest

in A&E Front Page Features by Natasha Reeves — August 9, 2012 at 1:48 pm | no comments

By: Natasha Reeves

While crafting was usually reserved for kindergarteners and senior citizens, social media sites such as Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram and Etsy have brought the crafting craze to college campuses.

Do-it-yourself home decorations have helped students save their pennies and add a unique, thrifty twist to their living spaces.

Madison Skelton, a biology major at NAU not only likes to craft for the economics ease, she enjoys learning skills through creating products herself.

“I love to do pottery, I scrapbook, design and sew my own clothes,” Skelton said.

Stores including Hobby Lobby, Joann Fabric and Craft Store and Michaels have made crafting inexpensive and convenient.

“By buying materials I usually have leftovers and can do more projects,” Jeanine Rashbaum, a microbiology major who recently finished her first painting, said.

“The economy does make it difficult because I can’t buy the things I want to craft, but it also motivates me because if I’m going to spend money I would rather have something I’m proud of,” Rashbaum said.

“I love to use Pinterest and Etsy.com for ideas,” Skelton said.

Pinterest is a social media site used to share picture-heavy interest points. It has cumulated as many as 13 million users in the span of ten months. Women make up 68.2 percent of Pinterest users and the largest age demographic for the site are people between the ages of 25 to 34.

According to a survey completed by BlogHer.com, women trust information from Pinterest more than Facebook or Twitter. Even though many people are getting do-it-yourself ideas from other blogs, it is Pinterest that brings all of the activities to one communal site.

Amarah Ashcroft, a senior business major and Katelyn Black, a recent NAU graduate, created some of the more popular crafts on Pinterest such as a wine bottle corkboard.

“The corkboard is eco-friendly,” Ashcroft said. “Most people would throw away the wine cork. We also used an old frame for the base of the board.”

Black also does glass art with recycled glass.