Interest in Pinterest

I’ve had many friends jump on the bandwagon lately for Pinterest, but often with many questions. So I wanted to explain it here…

First of all, what is it? Pinterest is a virtual pinboard where you “pin” various ideas for later use.  See an online recipe you don’t want to forget? Pin it to your cooking board.  A picture of someone’s make up you’d like to imitate? Pin it to your board for “Appearance Inspiration”.  You name the boards, so you decide what categories/boards to set up.  Then as you come across stuff online, you can pin those to your board.  Then you can view your board at any time, click on that pin and you’re back to that web page.  To do that, once you’ve logged in, go to this page, and drag the “Pin it” button onto your browser.  Then, when you come across a page to remember, just hit “pin it” and it’ll prompt you put it on your Pinterest board.

For instance, one thing I’ve loved about Pinterest is all the ideas for things for kids.  So now I have a board with all those ideas.  Here it is: For The Kids.  There is an excellent bubble making recipe, and bubble wand that have now replaced my ever buying commercial bubbles again. 

Ok, so why would this be so addicting? Because we get to share our ideas with others in Pinterest! On that note, I recommend logging in (from the main Pinterest login page) through Facebook for 2 reasons: 1. You don’t have to remember a password, and 2. It shows you as soon as your other friends join.  Once you see they’ve joined, you can “follow” them.  Just like you see status updates in FB, you’ll see what your friends have pinned when you log in.  And let me tell you, my friends have some awesome ideas!!  You can also look at what the rest of the Pinterest community is pinning (not just your friends), and glean ideas from there as well.

I’ve had Pinterest for most of this year, and I cannot tell you how many “pins” I’ve implemented!  I found lots of inspiration for birthday parties, including Chance’s Lego birthday party last June.  I’ve learned how to clean my mattresses, how to deep clean almost everything in my house, how to grow a garden, have crafts with the kids, eat healthier, exercise better, etc, etc.  When I’m feeling uninspired for meal planning, I spend some time looking through my Yum board.  When I’m down and just need a pick-me-up, I look through my Makes Me Laugh board. 

Oh, and since I often get “how do you…” questions about photography, I’ve begun a photography board specifically with newbies to photography in mind.

So, should I ask in advance for forgiveness? Because this stuff can be addicting, for sure! But really, I probably just peruse the newest pins about 5-10 minutes a day.  And there’s no pressure to get on it at any time.  It is only time consuming if you want it to be. And honestly, like this says:

So don’t worry about stalking people on FB, and go learn something…and then do it!

And come find me when you do: http://pinterest.com/athier/