Pinterest!

At this point, I'm a little addicted and I have so many creative friends that I am dying to follow that I feel I need to dedicate one quick blog to Pinterest. My Dear Sister (who is the greatest dreamer I know) introduced me to Pinterest at the last family party a couple of weeks back.  It is basically like looking through magazines and ripping out your favorite pictures and putting them in file folders to be used for a later project-- only digital.  And unlike buying all those magazines that end up in the recycle bin, it is FREE!

So, you know all those wonderfully creative websites and blogs that you think, "Oh my gosh!  I love that patio! When I redo my patio, I want it to look something like that!"  Generally, one proceeds to either:

• Think the idea is UNFORGETTABLE (but never remember it)
• Save the picture to a random folder on the desktop
• Bookmark the site & hope to find the right post again
• Print it out and put it in a file cabinet (GASP!)
• and  if/when you go back or are ready for it or need an idea, it is a jumbled mess.

Pinterest solves the problem; it saves the picture AND the link associated with the picture so that when you click the picture, it returns to the original website.  It is also displayed in kind of a cool collage format.

As if that isn't enough, Pinterest is a community and there is nothing private about it!  You can see what other people "pinned" and thought was cool.  You can repin it to your own wall, you can comment on it.  You can follow other creative people.  There are crafts and destinations and house projects and haircuts and quotes and recipes and patterns and thrifty ideas (and tatoos?!).

It is the most magnificent way to spend an afternoon.  It has already been life changing for me (okay, possibly a little bit of a melodramatic exaggeration).  I found a couple of pictures that I LOVED and redid my back door with a little paint, 3 flower boxes and $12 worth of fall flowers.  It looks so much better and it was cheap and I NEVER would have come up with it without Pinterest.

So... Here is how to join!

1. www.pinterest.com / it is cool to look at what other people pinned but it is even cooler to have your own account.
2. Request an invite; it takes about a day to receive it.  I've received no future annoying spamy emails from Pinterest*
3. It seems to need to be linked with Facebook or Twitter.  It doesn't put anything up on your FB page, it just links to help find your friends and it gives you the option to post something easily to your FB wall.  I know that is a big downer for the anti-FB.  You could start a FB account, make it totally private and NEVER use it?
4. I would start by "repinning" what other people have liked, that is the easiest.  You just make new catagories from your desktop and repin the pictures you like to your own categories.
5. Next you can pin from websites, you just "add a new pin" and link it to the http and categorize it, write a little description and you are set.
6. The mobile version is nice but much more limited; Still nice to glance at when I am waiting for soccer practice to end.

I can't wait to follow all of my creative friends!  My homeschooling friends will absolutely love this site.  It is a perfect way to plan projects.  I really thought that I didn't need another time sucker, but this is very different.  It is like glancing through the greatest magazine ever.  It is hard to put down the first couple of days but after that, I just check it when I have a little downtime.

The important part is that next time I need an idea for a handmade gift, or a party theme, or an activity for the kids, or a holiday craft b/c I am a joint PTA room mom, or I'm redoing the bathroom (FINALLY), I will have a whole inspiring folder to look through!

(side note:  For those people who like the initial screen that is pulled up when NOT logged into Pinterest, it is the "discussions tab" to the right of the "pinboards you follow tab".)

*Check your Pinterest Settings under Email Notifications if you are getting bombarded.