Pinteresting!

I am so obsessed with Pinterest!  It's genius!  Now I don't have to maintain favorites/bookmarks in each browser I use, email archive folders with project and party ideas, and cut-outs from magazines and newspapers!  All my favorites are in one place, organized by category, and available from any computer!  Awesome!

It's also a great resource to get ideas from the interwebs - recipes, party decor, holiday decorating, fashion...the possibilities are endless!  Once you set up your profile, you're ready to set up your boards and start pinning!

Each board is like a bulletin board you'd hang up to store ideas or notes - only virtually :)  You can name your boards to fit whatever category of items you'll store there, like party ideas or favorite quotations.  Here are some of mine:

To pin items to your boards, you have 3 options:

• The main Pinterest page has a newsfeed of things being pinned by other users, which you can repin them to one of your boards.  
• For this option, you can choose to 'like' the item, rather than repinning it.  I use this option to mark things I think are funny or cool, but may not ever refer to again.
• Download the 'Pinmarklet' in your browser - this gadget allows you to pin any photo from any website (with some exceptions), so if you're on your favorite blog and want to bookmark a project, a list of 25 things to do with a Mason jar, or just an awesome photograph, click the Pinmarklet to pin to one of your boards
• The iPhone app allows you to upload pictures you've taken with your phone directly to a board - haven't used this feature yet, but how convenient is that?

When pinning, you can modify the caption to leave a note for yourself or describe why you're pinning it.  Once you've pinned things, you can visit each board to see your collection.  Here's my 'Party Ideas' board:

To access one of your ideas, just click the picture to see a larger version, like this 'Pea in the Pod' baby shower food spread table:

...and if the original pinner did it right (there are some dumbasses on there who don't know how to cite sources), you should be able to click through to reveal the original source of the picture.  Usually you reach a blog or photography website, which usually leads to more pinning :)

There is so much awesome information out there!  This is a great resource to get new ideas, instead of relying on the same ole blogs to provide consistently good content.  I won't name any names :)

Here are some projects I've pinned:

• Fabric paint+pillow form+scrap fabric = personalized throw pillows for any room!  I love how versatile this project is - you could use initials, state abbreviations, symbols, or just free form a design...

Originally from BurlapEtc.'s Etsy shop - but why pay $60 for 2 pillows when you can bring home some forms from Ikea and DIY?

• How many times have you seen an old rake in an antique/junk shop?  All the time.  How smart is it to use it to hang necklaces?

Originally from Twig Home - new to my blogroll

• Love this organic-looking flower display!  The flowers are in a vase, but the vase is wrapped with asparagus - how cute?  This would be great as a centerpiece at wedding or garden party...

Originally from Home Stories A2Z - how cute is it that her blog is named after her 2 sons (Asher and Zephan)

• DIY advent calendar - instead of opening candy every day, why not make it something festive?  You get to put a new ornament on the tree every evening - of course you need to leave room for 25 ornaments when you first put up the tree...will power, people...

Originally from Bower Power - the only beef I have is that she included this in a '12 Days of Christmas' series, which took place during the 12 days leading up to Christmas.  Wrong.

• Tiered trays/stands are so expensive!  Bonnie found an awesome DIY version of a 3-tiered party tray, made out of Dollar Store vintage metal pie pans and hardware pieces, but this version doesn't require cutting metal with a saw!  All you need is a set of burner covers, some stair post toppers from the hardware store, and a drill.  Easy peasy!  You can personalize them by picking the paint color for the tray and picking the wood pieces.  The color and design combos could go on and on...and add some moody scrapbook paper to complete this project:

Originally from Decor-ganize Crafts

Those are just a few of my favorite things so far! :)

Pinterest is also good for a laugh:

Check it out - you'll love it!  If you set up a profile, follow me and I'll follow you back :)