A few months ago I jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon. Like everyone else, I'm hooked, but what a way to surround myself with beautiful things! Many of you are probably already using Pinterest, but for those that aren't, and wonder what it's all about, it is basically an online catalogue of things you like. You bookmark, or "pin" things onto your designated pinboards, and then it is accessible from anywhere.
No more worries about that project link you bookmarked on your browser, with no way to retrieve it (and at that critical moment when you're away from home, trying to show your crafting buddies just what you're talking about). You "follow" other pinners and get a picture feed of what's most popular in any given category (fashion, DIY, sewing, decorating, photography, humor, etc.) and when you find something new and amazing, you "pin" it with the pin marklet button that you download onto your toolbar. I'll be honest... it's definitely habit forming (as if anyone needed more reasons to waste time on the internet). But if you like crafty and DIY projects, it is a mine of creative deliciousness.
Need proof? Here's my "Baking Lovelies" pinboard (doesn't it just make you want to jump up and preheat the oven?)
And this is my "printables" board where I keep track of all the awesome graphics people share for free personal use.
A girl's gotta have dreams, right? So I've pinned myself a virtual luxury home under "my someday home".
A cool feature of Pinterest is that if you want to follow only selected boards of a pinner, you can follow only those boards you're interested in, and skip the rest. Also, you can invite friends on Pinterest to collaborate with you on specific boards. Now, if you're a curious sort, and wonder how many people are following your specific boards (not just your total number of followers, but how many people are following your board "Best crafting "mistakes" in the universe"), you can tell by clicking on the board and checking on the top right. Below is an example.
"Sensational Centerpieces" is a pinboard I started a couple weeks ago when I was brainstorming for the centerpiece for the luncheon honoring women battling breast cancer which I posted about earlier this week. As you can see on the left, Marissa and I are the contributors, and on the right, 42 people started following this particular pinboard.
So you found something you want to remember on a website? Pin it. Decide on the picture you want to pin to remember what the web page is. Make sure you aren't just on the general web or blog home page, but on the specific page for that post.
Now, here is a little optional tip that speeds things up a bit- highlight the text of the title, or some explanation that is already listed next to the picture (see below).
Click the "Pin It" button on your toolbar...
...and whatever you highlighted will show up in the description box. You can of course skip the highlighting step and just type in whatever description you want, but this makes it go a little faster. You choose your pinboard and click the red "Pin It" box and you're done!
Do you have a Pinterest account? What do you like most about it? What drives you crazy?
(Want to follow me on Pinterest? Click the red button on my sidebar. Don't have an account and would like an invite? Email me at rochelle@homesweethomebodies.net)
Don't have an account, but starting to want one now. Thanks.
ReplyDeletePinterest is like crack ... LOL I lose a lot of time and gain a lot of things on my to-do list when I spend time there. I'm off to check out your boards and most likely become a follower. :)
ReplyDeleteI loved Pinterest for a while, but I've been using the internet less lately and that was one of the things to get left behind. But I still like going back to it, especially when I'm tired but still want to feel like I've done something vaguely creative that day.
ReplyDeleteI really wish there was a way to export my boards, though. As far as i can tell they aren't making money from the site directly, and I'm getting very worried that they're going to go bankrupt overnight and I'll lose all my pins. On the other hand, they get tons of users, so they should be able to sell the site and at least I'll get some warning then