Simple things that make me happy

I suppose I am the kind of person that enjoys, if not needs, positive reinforcement and compliments throughout my life.

This is perhaps a big difference between what makes me satisfied and motivated to do well in my current job as compared to my last job. I am lucky to say that I am constantly challenged, stretched, and then congratulated and recognized for my hard work and dedication to various project...after project...after project. Previously I had felt that my work went unrecognized, was constantly scrutinized, and thought to be at the lowest par expected. Honestly this probably wasn't true, but I think I was lacking that positive reinforcement in my daily work there. (Man, I learned so much from that whole job experience—both good and bad.)

This all brings me back to Pinterest. Yes, you heard me right—Pinterest.

I occasionally logon throughout my days, and I can't tell you have much it means to see these little images in my sidebar time and time again.

Those circled items are items I have personally designed. I love that Pinterest provides a fun, easy way to share those projects with others—and I truly enjoy the positive feedback it provides to me as a designer.  I don't know the many pinners who have shared my work, but I've loved the somewhat anonymous feedback they provide, as well as those who have contacted me directly with questions and requests.

Most of my work isn't stuff that would be enjoyed by a large audience (How many people want to repin my "Choose a REALTOR" ads?), but I've loved creating the items I've posted on Pinterest so far. These are things I created just for me and I've loved sharing and seeing that others enjoy these things as well.

And I'm super excited for the April General Conference and will definitely be doing more word art from the messages.

My top two repinned projects (that I can track) are my Taylor Swift lyric heart and my Forget Me Not depiction from Pres. Uchtdorf's address in the October 2011 LDS General conference. UPDATE: Okay, looking at the page I mention below, it seems that my Quick to Kneel piece and my Scriptures piece are pretty popular as well.

I don't know exactly how to track what items of mine are shared via Pinterest (because obviously they aren't all coming directly from repins on my original images), but I thought this page was cool. This Pinterest page shows all images pinned from my blog. These are mostly repeats but it's more than 90 individual pins (not counting repins). I know it's small and simple, but it makes me smile.