To pin or not to pin… I’m still up in the air. I gained a few followers on Pinterest after E’s bedroom was featured on Young House Love – and I feel a little guilty about it because I’m such a boring pinner. I like the concept, but I get overwhelmed by too many images. I think I like to look, but not linger. And I’m still a rip-the-page-out-of-a-magazine kind of girl. Which is funny, since I don’t get many magazines anymore.
What’s more strange to me is seeing images of my own showing up on Pinterest. When I started blogging I felt like I was opening the shades on one of my front windows about halfway. Pinterest makes me feel like I’ve thrown open the sashes, lassoed the neighbor’s house with a clothesline, and hung out the laundry to wave freely in the air along the sidewalk. Oh, and invited the world to my front yard to hang out and examine the towels and sheets and leave a comment card if they like.
I do enjoy having a starting point for tackling projects of my own – and inspiration is everywhere, not just on the computer screen. I like YHL’s Sherry’s idea of challenging their readers to stop pinning and start doing. If you want to participate – or just see some neat projects inspired by those endless pins than check out the links here.
What are your thoughts on Pinterest? Do you pin?
D and I were having this discussion yesterday – he’s put in a request for invitation because he wants to use it as place to save ideas for renovating the house. We’re debating whether to share an account or each request one.
Right now I’m just copying and pasting links into an email to myself or bookmarking pages, but it certainly looks like pinterest is the easy way to do it.
I would love to own a huge pinning wall like we have at the office (just not in tan) to stand back and look at all the pictures we’ve found so far.
I’m with you on the collection of images – I really think it helps to get it all in one place, and pinterest is much easier than separately bookmarking webpages. Printing the images out and pinning them up works too – you just don’t have the instant link built in that you have on pinterest.
That’s another reason I like olioboard – all the images in a moodboard are linked to the item (if you take the time to set it up – it’s actually quite easy).
I’m a pinning fool. I spend my evening staring at my ipad…you know, instead of the television…so I feel better about myself. I find that I’m more of a copy-er when it comes to creativity. I love creative writing…liturgy, sermons, drama, etc., but find “visualizing the creative” – say a room layout or an alternative to the builders grade baseboards – tedious and frustrating. Pinterest gives me a way to flip through hundreds of examples and say “oooooh pretty” as a first response, without getting overwhelmed. Then at the end of the day, I can look at the whole board at once, and see what they all have in common, what draws me to say “oh pretty,” what I’ve pinned the most of…and make some decision from there. I don’t know… I like it. And an interesting side note: there are a few churches that are using Pinterest as a marketing tool. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
How is it used by churches?
Self promotion…much like the etsy seller that post his/her own material, in hopes that it’ll be pinned by someone else. Bible verses, podcasts/video, statements of faith, etc. A couple of the larger non-denominational churches are giving it a go, and seeing if it works. It feels a bit self-grandizing to me…but I also have a different understanding of church than some of my non-denominational and/or more conservative brothers and sisters, so I might be making it into something it’s not.