pondering pinterest

my favorite sunday morning activity is to sit in bed with a cup of tea and my laptop and peruse pinterest. i love the way it leads me off in new directions. one minute, i'm pinning web design tips and the next, drooling over garter stitch blankets and thinking, "i could do that." the brilliant newish feature that shows you another board something is pinned to after you pin it yourself has led me to discover all kinds of goodness i'd never have found otherwise.

the more i use it, the more i think that pinterest isn't just a way of wasting time procrastinating whiling the the hours.  i have boards that are related to work and community projects as well as the frivolous things (like cutie patootie). when designing our new website last week (it's still a work in the progress, but the visuals are there), we went to my color board to find the right colors. and it helped us to refine it down to the ones that were best for our design.

i'm planning an event next weekend and i've got three boards devoted to it. it's been a great way to let the others who are involved in on what i am thinking about with regard to activities and decorations. it has both saved time in explaining and given a visual to some of the more, shall we say...fun-challenged...members of the group. pictures really are worth a thousand words.

pinterest has helped me spot trends in my own thinking. looking through my own boards, i recently realized there are a lot of circles, so i gathered them on one board, to see if there's something there to pursue. i don't know yet, but can see that it has something to do with stitching.

you also learn from those things you find that you've pinned multiple times. they must really be something you like. and sometimes you get déja pin while you're pinning, thinking, "i've pinned this before." but you can't find it.

it's an invaluable tool when you're remodeling. husband just asked the other evening to have a look at the kitchen board, as he's beginning to think about the construction of the kitchen island. he's asked me to look for and pin specific ideas with regard to the placement of sink and stovetop in kitchen islands, to help him solve the issue for ours. so even tho' husband doesn't pin himself, he recognizes it's a great tool.

i've begun to see some interesting uses of pinterest as a business tool. as a photography portfolio, by an agency who represents the photographers. for a contest by a company that makes cake decorating supplies (and which i sadly cannot find again to link it). i think it's only the beginning of that type of use. i don't find anthropologie's pinning of all of their products themselves to be that clever a use, but it's a use nonetheless. i'm sure others will be much more clever.

if you're not already using it, get over there and sign up. you'll never need web browser bookmarks again.