Using Pinterest For Scrapbooking (and Other) Inspiration

When I feel like I am in a scrapbooking slump or when I am looking for some motivation to create a new layout, one of my first moves is to check out an online scrapbook gallery. Browsing through so many creative layouts often provides me with some inspiration or ideas to create a layout of my own.

If I run across a layout that I truly love, I find myself wanting to bookmark it so that I can return to it again in the future. I have tried several different methods of bookmarking my favorite layouts. First, I tried just using my browser’s bookmarking capability. That quickly became overwhelming, even after I created individual folders to contain them in. Next, I tried Delicious. I stuck with this one for a year or more and did appreciate that I could add and search on keywords for my bookmarks, but it was still cumbersome since I would have to actually click on each bookmarked link to open it up in my browser to view and see which particular layout it was. Then last year, I stumbled across Tumblr and was excited that each of my bookmarked scrapbook layouts actually appeared as an image. And I could follow other people with similar interests. I was with Tumblr for a year and thought I was happy…until a friend introduced me to Pinterest.

Pinterest has become a new online addiction for me. It does everything (and more) than I had hoped for from Tumblr and Delicious. If you haven’t heard of Pinterest, it is basically all about visual bookmarking. According to their website:

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

I can create and organize my own folders (called boards) of bookmarked images (called pins) in any manner I like. I have boards for scrapbook layouts, craft ideas, homeschool ideas, recipes, home decorating ideas, dachshunds and many more.

I can also follow people who have similar interests. Or if I choose, I can follow just their individual boards that I am interested in. For instance, Pam Beasley might have two boards on her profile. One of scrapbook layouts and one of sports. I am not a fan of sports but I like her taste in scrapbooking, so I can choose to follow only her scrapbook layouts board instead of everything she pins. All activity from the boards I follow will show up on my main page, where I can easily repin anything I like to one of my own boards.

All pins are automatically linked to the original website/blog where the image was located. For instance, if I pin a recipe I find online, I can click on the pinned image to be brought back to the website/blog where the image was pinned from so that I can read the actual recipe. (Note: be sure your pins are from direct blog post rather than the main blog itself so that you are brought back to the original post rather than only the top level of the blog.)

Pinning a photo from any website is so simple. Pinterest has a little bookmark you can put right on your browser’s bookmarks bar and when you are on the website that has the image you want to pin, simple click the Pin It bookmark and you can select the image and which board you want to add it to. Done and done. In fact, it is SO simple that I think scrapbook freebie finders could use it. Instead of them having to save and recreate freebie previews and links on their blogs, they could simply pin the freebies they find into a folder in just seconds. I’ve even started a freebies folder of my own.

You can assign keywords to your pins so that others can easily find them when searching. I try to always make sure I add the keywords of #scrapbook #layout to the layouts I pin.

As of right now, you do need to request an invite from Pinterest in order to create a profile and start pinning. I am not sure how long they are in getting back to you, so I would recommend having someone you know invite you so that you can get started faster. If you want an invite, just leave me a comment and I will be happy to send you one.

The Daily Digi has a great step-by-step beginner’s post on Pinterest here if you are interested in learning more.

Do you use Pinterest?