I am thrilled to have Erin Austen Abbott Kirkpatrick of Amelia in Oxford, Mississippi, here today to explain to us all about Pinterest and “pinning” ..be warned, its amazing and addictive…I {Holly} will be making little comments through the post in { brackets } fyi..because i can’t stay out of the conversation…

TAKE IT AWAY ERIN AUSTEN ABBOTT KIRKPATRICK

{don’t you love her name, it sounds like a character from Southern gothic literature, no?!) and be sure and check her funky house here on Design*sponge and her city guide she wrote for DS about Oxford!}

{this is one of my favorite “pins” on Erin’s baby board}

Hi there, I’m Erin from Amelia, in Oxford, Mississippi.  Holly, thanks so much for having me today to talk about the wonderful world that is Pinterest. Before the Internet, I used to collect page after page of images that inspired me. Stacks of pulled out pictures that just simply got lost because I couldn’t keep up with organizing everything that I saw that I wanted to keep. Then along came the Internet and I learned the beauty of bookmarking. That was nice for awhile, then all these super inspiring bloggers started awesome blog rolls and the cycle began again… Bookmarked images, not sure where it was, nor what that random link in my file would take me to. Enter Pinterest. Finally! Linked images, before me, placed on a board that I named. I can see it. I can link it. I can organize it. I’m now all fixed up… I’ll walk you through how it works and how you can get started pinning right away. Pinterest requires an invite, but it only takes a few days until they accept you. That’s step number one. Once you’re in, it’s time to start pinning.

I started by setting up a few boards that I knew I had images for. Next, I got the “pin it” link for my menu bar. Every time you set up a board, you will see the directions to walk you through how to install the link. Once I had that, I started going back through a lot of my bookmark files, to get many of those images onto my Pinterest boards.

{I love that Erin has a board of storefront inspiration -Holly}

Now when I begin to read the blogs in my google reader everyday, I open up Pinterest, so I’m ready to pin as soon as I find a little inspiration. When you come across an image you like on a blog, a website, a store’s online catalog… Anything really, simply click on “pin it” from your menu bar and a new screen will pop up. All the images on the screen will appear and you will click on what you would like to pin. From there, you can scroll through to which board you’d like to put it in. Next, give it a description. It’s here that you can list where you found the image, for easier recall. Each image will have a link built in, but it’s a nice way to give credit to the blog or site right off the bat.

{One of Holly’s first and favorite pins…from the Doctor’s Daughter blog}

Another fun thing about Pinterest, is you can view everyone else’s boards, see what’s inspiring them and then repin images from them anytime. Simply click on repin on their pin, scroll through to the board you want it in and describe however you’d like. If you find a board you like from someone else, you can follow that board or all of their boards.

When you sign in, you will be directed to the front page of all the boards you follow, but if you click on discussions, you will be taken to the whole world of Pinterest. The most circulated images at the moment will be on that page. I’ve found some pretty cool images there, but generally I’m on to pin from folks I follow and pin from blogs I read. Pinterest has been great for other things too. My husband I want to remodel our bathroom. Now, rather than bookmark files of sinks I like or fixtures, ect… I just started a board titled bathrooms and now, anytime I see an image of a bathroom I really like, I pin it, then in the description I list what I like about it, “that sink” or “I like the way the mirrors hang”. We are finally ready to start remodeling and decisions are already made for us.

{Holly’s collage board that she is pinning collage wall inspiration too so she can share with clients}

It’s also been helpful for design jobs. I can make a board for a client and make it private. Anytime I see things for them, I can “pin it” and have it all there in front of me to see how it all looks together. Once the job is done, I can save it or delete the board. {I am so going to do this..great idea…and my clients are already showing ME their pins so i can get an idea of their style before we start a project..another tool for e-consults and online design!…Holly}

You must credit the proper site though. It’s only right. {this can be tricky..i *think* it automatically links but if i see an image where i know the original source i type it in the comment area as well..does that make sense?}

{for instance the above image is on my collage board..so would you say “image from purlbee.com via Holly Mathis’s collage board on pinterest”?  That seems silly..i think just cite back to the original source if possible???}

That’s Pinterest. It’s really fun once you get started. Don’t forget to follow Holly and me. We look forward to see what you’re pinning.

For more information be sure and read RULES TO PIN BY and the Pinterest blog~

{Thanks Erin, GREAT JOB EXPLAINING…let’s keep the discussion going in comments.. I am sure we forgot to mention some things  or perhaps it all sounds confusing especially with me piping in but we can continue the discussion..fire away..have yall used pinterest? heard of it?  what do you think?}