Pinterest Addiction

Everyone I know has been pinning, or talking about their wives pinning, or talking about how they DO NOT have TIME for pinning.

Last night on Facebook I posted that I have actually been inspired to make some quite a few changes around my house because of Pinterest. Someone said, “Give us some examples!”

First, I am going to tell you why I like Pinterest. I love learning new things, but to do a Google search to find what I am looking for many times just leads me to frustration. I either get some spammy site that someone has set up to make money, or a lame “How to” list that is basically like, “Go to Michaels, buy a kit, and make it”. I want DETAILS. I want someone to teach me something I don’t already know. I do not want to spend a lot of money! When Taylor told me about Pinterest, I was excited to find out what this site could do for me….turns out, A LOT!

Other people have already done a lot of the work finding the cool things.  So, instead of getting frustrated looking at a lot of useless links to half done directions or fake websites, I am getting right to GREAT PROJECTS with Lovely pictures and links directly (for the most part) to the projects.

I use Pinterest several ways….with my coffee, I catch up on what new pins the “pinner’s you I follow” have pinned. Those are the pins that show up when I first sit down…then, if something is interesting to me, I click to read up on it. If nothing strikes my fancy, and I still have coffee or toast, I switch to the everything category. If I want to remember how to do something, I will repin it. If I don’t have time to check out the pin, I will usually “like” it so that I can follow it up later.

If I want to repin something, and a person has just pinned the whole blog, I try to go back to that blogger’s original post. You can do this by clicking on just that posts title-and then linking to it. It will save people later from having to hunt for your idea! Also, if I follow a pin to a blog, and they got the idea from another blog, I like to go to the FIRST bloggers blog for the pin. While I am of the opinion that there is nothing new under the sun, I do think that the original poster (blogger, writer) should get the traffic to their blog. If the comments with the pin explain the pin satisfactorily to me, I leave them. If not, I change them…If it says something like, “My grandmother’s cake” I will add, “Original Pinner says…My grandmother’s cake” so that their is not confusion about whose grandmother made the cake!

I have been playing around with the BOARDS. I first only had a few. Then I realized, this is MY PLACE to PIN UP what I WANT! Like having that GIANT bulletin board (thanks Dad) in my room as a kid. I could put what I wanted on, in any order that I wanted. So, as I have been pinning, I have also changed some of my boards and added more.

One thing I have also begun to do….if I see something that I LOVE that someone has pinned from another friend, I will go to their friends board. Think about this….I already see what my friends pin, but I don’t see what their friends pin. When they pin something from someone that is neat, chances are, that person has some other pins I may want to look at….and so I do! I have started following about 10 different boards this way. That is how I have found a lot of neat DIY projects. I love that I don’t have to follow EVERY board that a person has….there are some boards that I am just not interested in, so when I check out someones boards, I have the option of following all, or just some of their boards.

So, after my coffee is drunk, and my toast is gone, I have to get with the day…and that is when I get busy. (ha ha ha) okay, I pretend to get busy. That is where the search bar on Pinterest comes in extremely handy. Right now Ron is very interested in container gardening. He has been coming up with all sorts of plans to build things. I was able to search “recycled gardens” and show him some of the very cool things that others have done. Today he built a box to hold his toilet paper seedling starters that he has planned.

Here is a list of what I have actually followed through and made/incorporated from Pinterest and some  links …for all of the links and the other things I LOVE, follow me on Pinterest, of course! (button on the right!)

I have made my own Laundry Detergent

added Legos to my soap dispenser for coolness

bought new shelves and each person their own laundry basket

repainted the bathroom vanity and the dark shutter medicine cabinet doors

learned how to make my own labels for organizing

Ron has made a box for toilet paper seedling starters

we have made bouncy balls

I have planned several meals from my “things I want Maddy to make” board….including the yummy mini baked corn dogs  Go   Try   Them! We kicked them up a notch by adding a can of creamed corn, some cheese and jalapenos to the mix and making spicy mini corn dogs! This is one of our new favorites!

I have a cute little place to iron by my sewing machine because I saw this and I was getting ready to give away a TV tray, and I made some cool fabric boxes that are also pinned!

So, tell me what you have been inspired to do? What are you dreaming of doing? Anyone I should follow?? Fill me in! I would love for you to follow my boards on Pinterest, and I would love to follow yours!