Pinterest Fail - The Mother's Day Card Exploits

So, I'm sure if you are on Pinterest you have seen the pins claiming you can go to office supply stores and have photos printed on "engineer prints" for under $5. You may have also seen the darling pins where some cute mama traces her child's arms and then sends someone a hug.

Well, I decided to get tricky and combine them. I thought, "Why not take photos of the kids with their arms outstretched and send the Grandmother's life-size hugs?"

Now, I'm a girl who does her research. I had heard rumors that the office supplies stores weren't super excited about this photo/engineer print idea. I called ahead to make sure it was going to work out. The lady, Ruth, was super nice! She was hesitant at first but as soon as I explained what I was doing, she said, "Of course! Bring them in."

Since Sarah is my partner in crime, we thought we should do them of her kids as well. So we lined them all up in front of her garage door and snapped some quick photos. The photos weren't anything special. I knew they were going to be black and white and lower quality so I wasn't overly concerned about anything but the smiles and poses. I formatted them, grabbed my son and headed out to run our errands.

Then I lost my wallet.



I discovered this after I had dropped a whole bunch of mail in a mailbox. So yeah. I figured out that I mailed my wallet! I spent the next hour and half waiting for the postal worker to come open it up. I will tell the rest of that story another day.

Needless to say, the photos didn't get printed. Not to be deterred, I returned the next evening with my wallet.

Well, Ruth wasn't working. Some older fella with a German accent was working. We'll call him Fred. Fred was not having any of my craftiness. He insisted that it was a photo, so I had to pay $19.99 instead of the $2.75 my friend Ruth quoted me. I explained that I didn't want color or quality or fancy paper. "No, it is a photo. You have to pay for a photo." I explained again that Ruth and I had discussed the project and she said we could do it. He insisted that I had to talk to the manager to get it straightened out. Eventually they relented and printed my photos. But only after the manager said, "I just won't have a job in the morning." Really? Lose your job? I've been a retail manager. Don't try your guilt trips with me.

Anyway, an hour later I walked out with my prints. While I was waiting my family went and ate Whataburger without me. Bummer.

Here's the best part. You've just read about my whole experience and I'm not going to show the final product. Why you ask? Because various mothers on the receiving end of this gift read our blog. They should get to see it first. I'll share them later along with the wallet/mailbox story. No plot satisfaction in this post!

However . . . I did want to share a couple of lessons I learned today..

First, people on Pinterest lie. Not on purpose. There are just so many crafty people out there that sometimes information isn't super accurate. In my case, it was the relative ease of which one may procure an engineering print. It wasn't easy. At all. Maybe the Office Depot in Omaha will print photos on Engineer Prints. However, the Staples in Phoenix might not. If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

This brings me to our next lesson. Do your research. Call ahead. Write down names and facts. This is what saved my hiney. Even better, if someone tells you they will do something for you, make sure you work with them. Hang out with Ruth. Not Fred.

Third, sometimes being crafty is overrated. While this project turned out darling, it was a lot of work and headache. Are the moms going to love it? Of course they are, but they also would have loved a little handmade card from my kids. That and a fantastic gift from their children. Like a choreographed dance number. Granted, it should not have been this hard. But it was. And I spent waaaaaay more time on it than needed.

Fourth, don't mail your wallet. I know, this is self-explanatory, but I just thought I'd reiterate.