From pins to projects: Pinterest in real life

Alissa Christensen says she's learned to sew, quilt and crochet by finding tutorials through Pinterest (left). The Las Vegas, Nevada, stay-at-home mom has used the site to find all kinds of things to create for her baby son, like this blanket (right). She says it was the first thing she ever sewed.

After learning to crochet via a tutorial she found through Pinterest, Christensen made these hats for her baby and all the other young boys in her extended family.

Christensen creates plenty of Pinterest-inspired items for her son -- but occasionally does a little something for herself. This gorgeous pink ruffle cake, prompted by a technique she learned via Pinterest, was for her 24th birthday.

Kelly Ishmael is working on a project she calls "52 weeks of Pinspiration," during which she'll create a different Pinterest-inspired project each week and blog about it. Week five, it was these delicious peanut butter cupcakes.

Like Ishmael, Julie Brackeva-Phillips likes to choose a project via Pinterest, recreate it, and then blog about it. "I usually browse Pinterest during the week when I need a break, have an idea or I am hosting a dinner/party. I usually pick a project or two, make it during the weekend and then I blog about it later," she said.

"Pinterest helped me make my first piece of jewelry," says Mikinzie Stuart. She created this necklace in January thanks to a tutorial she found through the site and has already worn it to work.

Kara Kriegshauser used Pinterest to gather inspiration for her home office renovation. She completed the redecorating project this month. "I'm a habitual list maker, so having a site where I can keep ideas is convenient and inspiring," she said of the site.

Jessica Wolkoff modified a project she found via Pinterest to create this stunning centerpiece of a succulent planted in a book. The original directions called for fake plants, but she experimented and found a way to use real ones!

This Pinterest-inspired project looked simple, but Katie Rudder said it ended up taking forever. Still, "I'm so proud of it and people have pinned it from my step by step website now," she said.

And Pinterest-prompted projects aren't just for the girls! Tim Reynolds built this industrial-looking lamp after gathering a bunch of similar lamps on a pinboard. "After gathering several other pipe lamp images on my board, I couldn't stand not trying my hand at building one myself. So, I made a trip to Home Depot and bought the parts I wanted and put it all together," he said. Reynolds had only been on Pinterest for about a week at the time. "I've never been much of a person who cut things out of magazines...so, as a person who embraces tech, Pinterest was a great fit," he said.

Jessica Archer created these rocket packs for her sons after finding inspiration on Pinterest. She says her boys "both think Detroit's Renaissance Center is huge space ship, so I figured this project would be the perfect time to 'blast off' to the top of it." The rockets are made of spray-painted soda bottles!

Colleen Pence had a bit of a tough time recreating this Nutella-banana popsicle recipe. "The pretty picture of Nutella popsicles on Pinterest made it seem so easy," she said. But the recipe turned out to be a little messier than expected, although still delicious. "Sometimes, even when they're messy, Pinterest tips and recipes are so very, very right," she added.

Beth McShane uses Pinterest not only to catalog her crafting ideas, but also as part of her job in the event planning business. "I love sending clients into my event boards to gauge their taste and get on the same page as far as the overall feel they want their event to have," she said. These stars were a rainy day Christmas craft she did with her daughters and a friend.

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Baby blanket

Crocheted hats

Ruffle cake

Peanut butter cupcakes

Pumpkin cream cheese bread

Pearl cluster necklace

Home office makeover

Book planter

Rhinestone monogram

Industrial lamp

Rocket packs

Nutella-banana popsicles

Paper stars

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Editor's note: CNN partnered with Mashable to see how other Pinterest members are using the site to create real-life projects. Click through the photo gallery above to see the things Pinterest users have created (right) and the "pins" that inspired them (left).

(CNN) -- "There is a nasty bug going around," wrote Kelly Ishmael on her blog back in January. "A lot of my friends have been bitten by it and it is highly contagious."

Indeed, it is contagious -- particularly among women. Some might call it addictive, even. Nevertheless, no, this article doesn't belong in the health section. Because the bug that's infected Ishmael, her friends and thousands of women around the world is called Pinterest. And there's no known cure.

Pinterest, for the uninitiated, is a highly visual website that lets users collect -- or "pin" -- items from around the Web. The main thing that separates it from older social bookmarking sites, such as del.icio.us, is its emphasis on images. And it's that visual interest that makes Pinterest -- created by three men, by the way -- so popular among women, whether they're planning a wedding or looking for a craft to try with their girlfriends.

Pinterest grew 400% from September to December last year, and the site's users are about 58% women. Why the appeal? Pinterest user and social media consultant Colleen Pence thinks she knows the answer:

Why all the interest in Pinterest?

"Everything on Pinterest looks so appealing, so gorgeous, so effortless," she wrote on CNN iReport. "And somehow merely viewing these amazing things makes us feel that we can elevate ourselves and -- heck -- our lives to that level of sophistication, creativity and beauty if only we could make/wear/cook/say/invent those things too."

Pinboards, then, serve as inspiration for those who create them. But do those beautiful boards result in any real-life change or creativity? Pence is skeptical, and even Pinterest addict Ishmael admits that she usually spends more time pinning than doing.

"The problem with Pinterest, though, is that I spend a lot of time pinning, pinning, pinning and not enough time trying, trying, trying," she wrote on her blog. So she decided to challenge herself with a venture she's calling 52 Weeks of Pinspiration, during which she'll try out a different Pinterest-inspired project each week and blog about her experience and results.