Yesterday, my husband noticed an ink spot on our new sofa. The next words out of his mouth were “It wasn’t me!” Ha. Five minutes later, he’d cleaned the spot by gently blotting it with a damp paper towel, a method he said he’d learned from the movie American Gangster.
I was dumbfounded because he never cleans anything, yet he remembers a scene from an action movie about spot cleaning carpets?
Okay, so he gleans his cleaning tips from a mob flick. I get some of mine from Pinterest.
I’m a Pinterest newbie, but when I log onto my account, I can usually tell who’s been busy pinning without checking the pinner’s name.
Japanese food and books-Larissa. Scottish Terriers and French Country-Pat. Sparkly nail polish, tea sets, and thatched cottages-Becke. Stilettos-Angela. Cats and anything orange-Carrie.
Like many Pinterest devotees, I’ve discovered the site is useful in many ways.
1. Pinterest has great cleaning tips. Who knew there were so many uses for a coffee filters and dryer sheets? I learned how to remove the cap from a Swiffer bottle and refill it with the cleaning solution of my choice. I run a seam ripper along the roll bar of my vacuum cleaner to clear the carpet fibers and hairs. I’ve been using Dawn dishwashing detergent to treat grease stains on clothes for years. But it’s much more effective if you mix it with hydrogen peroxide. Shazam! Stain gone! All tips from Pinterest.
2. Pinterest saves me from tearing out pictures from magazines and bookmarking stuff I see on-line. I can pin pics of interiors, fabric swatches and furnishings on my Habitat board that will help me re-do the upstairs bedrooms. The front garden is a mess. I’ve pinned some ideas I want to run by the landscaper under Gardening.
3. Pinterest is like owning a virtual closet. I love clothes, shoes and handbags. I’ve followed my favorite department stores and fashion designers. It’s my idea of Fantasy Land.
4. Pinterest helps me plan menus for dinner and gives me great ideas for entertaining. I made the crock pot cheesecake and the mushroom and onion grilled cheese, both recipes I found on Pinterest. And as soon as I get a new oven installed, I’m going to make that coconut lime cake. (Thanks, Marcia!) It’s also very convenient to have recipes with pictures and in one central location. Bon Appetit Magazine is on Pinterest!
5. Pinterest allows me to connect with others who share my interests. I never knew there were so many vintage typewriter geeks, lovers of Mid-Century modern furniture and fans of vintage posters.
6. Pinterest is a handy tool for story boards. I’ve got two boards for both of my books. New York, London, an abacus and a child’s pink stuffed dinosaur all play a part in my stories.
7. Pinterest IS social media. I’ve linked my blog posts to a board. If you’re a published author, create a board for your books. Pinners are prospective readers!
8. Pinterest is inspiring and creative. It doesn’t require a lot of effort. I think that’s why I like it so much. I don’t need to write a witty one-liner for each image I pin. The images speak for themselves.
Yes, Pinterest can be addicting. But everything in moderation, right?
My fellow blogger Marcia Richards wrote an informative post about Pinterest on her blog.
Sixteen Reasons Pinterest is Worth Your Time
And here’s two more blogs about Pinterest that might interest you.
Ten Tips for Authors Using Pinterest
Are you resisiting the Pinterest craze or are you already madly pinning? I’d be glad to send you an invite! Feel free to follow me.
My fellow WANA blogger author Traci Bell is hosting me on her blog today. Drop by and complete my sentence for a chance to win something sweet.
I totally agree. I’m obsessed with Pinterest. I also love that I can click and save anything that strikes my fancy and no more files of pages torn out of magazines!
Hi Jillian!
I saw your wedding theme pins and thought about how handy Pinterest would have been when I was planning my wedding. I’ve got file folders of magazine pages that I’ve torn out. I know I’ll never get around to organizing them. At least with Pinterest, it’s all in one place…and no jagged edges.
You are a great salesperson for Pinterest – a little TOO good, since you were the one who convinced me to sign up. I love it for all the reasons you mentioned, although I like the food pictures more than the recipes. (I’m not Martha Stewart or a gourmet chef – not by a long shot.)
Like you, I get a kick out of seeing what other people are pinning. I found out my sister is on Pinterest, too – her boards are empty, though. She just likes seeing what everyone else is posting!
For a collector like me, Pinterest is hog heaven. In the long run, I think it will save me some serious money, too. Rather than spending on magazines to cut up for ideas, I can save paper (and cash) by pinning the pictures I find online. Plus, I’m finding it just as much fun to LOOK at all this cute stuff as it is to own them. Maybe moreso, since I don’t have to feel guilty about splurging on more collectibles.
Finding people with similar interests there sounds like a no-brainer, but it did kind of surprise me at first. Like you, I can often identify the person pinning a picture just by the type of pin. (Jean Black Cherry and I have such similar tastes it’s a little scary!) I thought “Black Cherry” was her Cherries name (Jenny Crusie fan club – I’m Glitter Lovin’ Cherry there), but no, it’s her real name. And Cherry is a name in my family tree, so we could even be distantly related! Geeky, but fun.
Thanks for introducing me to the pleasures of Pinterest, even if it is addictive. It gives me something to do when I’m on the phone – I’m a multi-tasker!
Becke…
You win the tiara. You’re the Pinterest Queen. I know when you’ve been on a long phone call by the number of images you’ve pinned. The visuals are great too, especially for the recipes.
Yes, my daughter calls every night on her way home from work (I know, I know) and likes fill me in on her day. So I can easily listen and play at the same time. And when I see a funny quote, I read it to her – she knows I’m playing while we’re on the phone!
Is Jessica on Pinterest? I should follow her pins.
Just barely – she has an account, but she’s only pinned a few things so far.
I do love pinterest. It’s all about the visual. I’ve found some great recipes for the restaurant, made my own wrinkle remover and developed a complete wardrobe for myself….=) Gotta love it!
Hi Carrie…
When I see your ensemble clothing pins it reminds me of packing for a trip. Thanks for the grilled cheese mushroom onion pin. It was delicioso!
I’m going to have to check your cleaning pins, although I’d rather focus on writing books so I can afford a maid (ha).
Pinning is easier than ripping articles out and shoving them in a folder. I have 6 binders with recipes from magazines that I neatly organized and labeled as a big project one year. And once i discovered allrecipes.com, I stopped looking in the binders. Now to train myself to check my Pinterest site for all the recipes I’ve been pinning.
Pinterest is perfect for the magpie & squirrel nesters in us all, isn’t it?
How was that crockpot cheesecake? I saw that pin, too, but we don’t finish desserts in this house, so I don’t bake anymore.
And I’ve never been mentioned on a blog before. Thanks for the notoriety! *blush*.
Hi Larissa!
I have binders full of recipes I’ve yanked from magazines or printed off. I put them in plastic covers so I can pop them out of the binder and stick them to my knife rack on the wall when I’m using them. I use allrecipes.com, the Food Network recipe site and Williams-Sonoma. But I like seeing the recipe images on Pinterest.
Crock pot cheese cake turned out great. Smooth and creamy. I added a teaspoon of vanilla and some orange zest for flavor.
Magpie and squirrel….Okay, you’ve got me on that one. Is that a midwest or southern thing?
I loooooooveeeeee Pinterest. In addition to being a writer (with an oversized imagination!), I am also an artist and I enjoy fashion, baking, sewing, knitting, organizing etc. So, naturally, Pinterest is where I hang out a lot.
Thank you for mentioning me in your post (or maybe there is another Angela who’s obsessed with stilettos, haha). I hope we will be able to continue our Pinterest enjoyment despite the alarming news of some copyrights issues. Some of my friends delete their boards, and I understand their motives, but I’m still reluctant to do that
((
Angela…I KNOW those stiletto pins are yours! I saw quite a few gluten-free baking recipes and thought of you.
A friend of mine pinned some fabric source images so now I’m thinking about dragging out my sewing machine and making cushions. I love the images of repurposed items, too.
Carrie and I were talking about the copyright issues last night. I’m going to wait and see what happens.
I feel the same – I want to see how this copyright issue unfolds before I make any hasty decisions. I put a lot of work in those boards and it would be a shame to get rid of them and then find out there was no need. Let me know if you find otherwise. Oh, I forgot to add that I’m so happy that you and Traci are doing the guest post together – she is fabulous. I will stop by her blog later for sure
The gluten free recipes on Pinterest are great!
I didn’t know you could do most of these things! Recipes? Fashion Designers? What? I’ve been missing out! I’m setting aside some time tonight to get over there and check out all this fun. The most I’ve done is make a storyboard and look for cute pics for the garden. I suck. Well, I do now, but I’m going to master this Pinterest thing. Thanks for the great ideas!
Hey Tameri!
I check out other people’s follow lists. I was surprised to find Michael Kors.
He pins food and clothes! Annie Haven is another person I follow. She has beautiful garden pics.