I’m sure y’all are about a thousand steps ahead of me on this one – but, just in case you’re not, did you hear that Pinterest is now open to the public?! Anyone and everyone can now join! You can even login through your Twitter or Facebook account, making it super easy to lose hours and hours start pinning on the very addictive website that is Pinterest! Not familiar with the website or have no clue what all the “pinning” is about? Let me give you a quick rundown of what Pinterest is good for/how to use it/and how to (try) not to get too crazy with it! In full disclosure, I’ve been on Pinterest for a while, but only recently realized how much I love it! I am by no means an expert and most definitely have a lot to learn about it – so if you have anything to share or teach us please do so in the comments!!
What is Pinterest? Think of Pinterest like a beautiful pin board that you’d use for inspiration, but so much more. You can start 2 ways – following your friends pin boards (logging in through Facebook makes it super easy to find your FB friend’s boards and start following them) or getting inspiration from Everything! Start looking through images for something that catches your eye and click on it. Clicking on it again should take you to a website or blog with more info. Example – maybe you see an image of a super cute manilla envelope that says “Do Not Open Until Mom and Dad Are on a Date.” When you click on it you get sent to a blog that has the brilliant idea to set aside fun games for your kids to play while you are on date night! The blog even has 2 printable Game Boards that look like so much fun and are sure to have your kids begging for you to go on date night again soon! This is just one example of a brilliant idea I would never have heard of without Pinterest.
How do I Pin things? Once I clicked through to the above mentioned blog and realized how much I loved the idea, I went back to Pinterest, hovered my mouse over the image and clicked “Repin” to save the picture and the link to one of my boards. If this is your first “Pin” create a board that makes sense to you and put it there. This pin went in my ‘Family ‘board, but you might put it in a ‘Projects’ board or ‘Kids’ board. It’s totally up to you how your boards work to inspire you. Now you have the idea stored to your Pinterest for when you have extra time to print and create the games. You’ve also successfully shared it with anyone who follows you!
What should I Pin? This is completely up to you! But I suggest Pinning things that inspire you – anything from fashion ideas to arts and crafts for the kiddos to recipes and meal planning ideas! I like to scour Pinterest for recipes and fun things to do with Miles. About a month ago I saw this delicious idea for crispy edamame. Since Miles loves edamame I pinned it to my Kitchen board and saved the recipe for later. Then, a few days later when I finally had the time, I looked up my pin, found the recipe and made us a super yummy/healthy snack! Some things I get to right away and some I’m saving for a rainy day – but the ideas are endless.
What should I not Pin? This one is tricky – you really can pin anything! However, this isn’t really the place for pictures of your kids or pictures of your dinner (Instagram is GREAT for that though!) unless you are trying to share something crafty that you’ve done or have a recipe or meal planning ideas. Another thing to keep in mind is giving credit where credit is due – be careful when using any images on Pinterest or from Pinterest and be sure you credit the source of the image whenever using them! Also, when you can, be sure to link the pictures back to the original source!
What can I find on Pinterest? The question should be – what CAN’T I find on Pinterest? I’ve used the Pinterest search engine for countless things and have yet to ask a question that Pinterest doesn’t have an answer to. I searched “boil an egg” and got tons of how-to-boil-the-perfect-egg links. (Yes, I should know how to do this by now – but I’m still slightly kitchen-challenged) Search for Halloween Costumes and you will start to get inspired for the upcoming holiday! But more than that you are sure to find how-to tutorials for making your own costumes, where to buy adorable costumes and see so many cute kids dressed up that your head might just explode. One good way to narrow down your pin options is with the Categories list next to the Everything button. Under it there are 33 different categories, including – Kids, DIY & Crafts and Education — just to name a few!
What if I still have questions that you didn’t answer? Try the Help page on the Pinterest website – they have lots of good info there.
How do I control myself and not spend hours and hours to Pinterest? This one I do not have an answer to. But if you know how, please share!
So, if you are not already on Pinterest — click on over, look around and see how long it takes you to get addicted. And if you are on – add your Pinterest link in the comments below so that I can follow you – I’m always looking for more inspiration!
****Pinterest did not ask DMB to review their site – I’m just in love and addicted and wanted to share the Pinterest love!****
