let me teach you how to pinterest.

I was early to the Pinterest party.  I joined back in the day when you had to wait for an invite like it was some sort of exclusive club, and I've been hooked ever since.  It seems like everyday, I'm surprised by the suggested people to follow:  Facebook friends I'd never dream had a creative bone in their body.  But Pinterest isn't just about creating, and there's no one right way to use it.  That's part of its beauty.  Regardless, after seeing the same silly things over and over, I thought I'd share some insight into how I get the most out of my endless time on Pinterest.

1.  Use the search bar.  Sure, it's great to see all of the inspiring things that your friends have pinned and tack the good ones onto your own boards.  It's even helpful to look through the categorized pins.  I might, for instance, check out the holiday section if I'm looking for Christmas inspiration.  But I know that I'm really looking for DIY Christmas decor, so I type that into the search bar instead.  I end up with pages and pages of pins that I want, rather than an assortment of projects, cards, landscapes, and the lyrics to Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer when I'm really just in it for the projects.  This is also the method by which I ended up with boards about gift wrap and centerpieces.  There's tons of good stuff out there, but you don't find much of it unless you know what you're looking for.

2.  Caption your pins!  When I repin something, it is going onto my personal board, which has its own unique purpose.  Why on earth should it not have a caption created by me to help me remember my intention  when pinning it?  A few weeks ago, I pinned this beauty:

My sister is planning a wedding and hoping for a niece that she can dress up as a flower girl.  I pinned this as a reminder of a lovely outfit that I'd like my (nonexistent) daughter to wear at my sister's future wedding.  I captioned it Susan's flower girl.  Since then, the pin has been repinned about fifty times, presumably, each time by a woman planning her own wedding.  Because I have too much time on my hands, I checked those repins out.  Know what the caption is on almost all of these women's wedding boards?  SUSAN'S FLOWER GIRL.  Come on, people!  Type something into that little text box when you hit repin!  I know you're not all named Susan.


3.  It's not just about pretty pictures.  Think of Pinterest as your favorites menu on your internet browser, only organized and visual.  When you pin something, it's like bookmarking a webpage on your favorites list, only you can put it in an appropriate group, and remind yourself what the page is about with a picture.  The remarkable thing about Pinterest is that it links all of these pictures to the original external site.  One of the Pinterest projects that I have on my list for the near future is this:

I think I stumbled upon it in my friends feed.  I have a few of those terrible grates in my house, and knew I'd want to remember this as an idea of how to spruce them up.  By pinning this, I not only remind myself of a project, I save the website that originally published these photos.  Usually, this means a blog with additional photos and tutorials.  When I click on this picture within Pinterest, it will bring me here, and I'll have everything I need by way of instructions for this project.  What's better is that I have an entire board filled with projects, their pretty pictures, and tutorials and details for all of them.  Take advantage of that!


4.  You can pin things from anywhere, not just Pinterest.  On the top right-hand corner of the site, go to the about tab, and click on Pin It Button.  Just download that bad boy, and you're good to go.  It will put a permanent button on the header of your internet browser.  When you're searching the internet and come to a page you want to "bookmark," click the button.  It will bring up all of the photos on the page, and you'll be able to choose which photo you want to remember it by.  Then you can pick the appropriate board, caption, and you're all set.  I do this all the time for recipes, because, let's face it, Allrecipes beats Pinterest over the head when it comes to recipes.  When I planned my Thanksgiving menu, I spent my time on Allrecipes, but pinned all of my ideas so that I could revisit them later using the Pin It Button.  This way, I get the quality recipes and reviews that I need, but I organize them in a much more effective way than my browser's favorite list.  Works like a charm.

So there you have it.. the way I make Pinterest work for me.  I am a creator, and I use it to organize my ideas, my inspiration, and the directions I'll need along the way.  I've also heard that it can be used to aid in fashion choices, and I'm working on that, too.. 2013 is a growing year, you know.