How to Use Pinterest 101 - Beginner Tutorial

Pear made by The Wool Acorn

Currently, Pinterest is by invitation only.  It's free and it's pretty cool.  If you would like an invitation, please send me an email and I'll get it right out (TheWoolAcorn@gmail.com).  All I need is your email address or you can post it in the Comments below if that's easier!  You will need to have an account with either Facebook or Twitter to sign up.  Pinterest lets you "Pin" images you like and organize them into "Boards".  Think of it as tacking your favorite pictures onto a bulletin board, or multiple bulletin boards.  Pins are the images, Boards are the collections of images.  The pictures you choose can come from the internet (like blogs, shops, etc), or you can peruse Pinterest all day to find pictures you want to save.  You might want to make a Board of Iguanas in hats, Pants with holes or Kitchens you can't afford.  They are saved to your account, not your computer, so you can access them on multiple devices.  So, go ahead - create your account and read on...  Let's start with pictures you find on Pinterest.  If you go to the home page, and you already have an account, it will take you to "Pinboards you follow".  Instead of that, click on the "Everything" tab, just under the Search box.  That will take you to recent Pins of all kinds that random people have added to the site.  That lets you browse all willy-nilly at anything!  If you want to narrow it down a bit, choose one of the categories on the left.  Then scroll down until you see something that strikes your fancy.  If you hover over an image, you will get a few choices, if you click on the picture, it will open it in a larger size.  The hover offers you these:  Repin, Comment or Like.  If you want to save the picture to a Board (or collection), you can choose the Repin option.  Pinterest has already created a few typical names for Boards which you can easily change later.  So let's say you see a picture of a chair that you might perish without - you can add that to your "For the Home" board.  Just click on the Repin and it will be saved to that Board - that's it! >>> OK, do it again!  The next thing you know, you've got 30 chairs on your Board.  Chairs you love!  But what if you find a chair that you're a little unsure about?  I mean, you like it and all... you're just not ready to commit.  You and the chair have some issues, you're just not there.  No problem.... you can Like the chair.  This is far less serious.  You can still go back and find it in your Likes, spend a little time together and THEN decide if it's Board-worthy.  This is a great option if you're feeling like a floozy.  I have hundreds of Likes. ...Oh, hush!  If you Repin a picture, it becomes one of your Pins.  You can go back and browse through your Pins, your Boards or Your Likes.  As you're browsing you might want to see what else is on the Board that Pin came from and if it appeals to you.  If that person has a style you like, you can Follow them. Their newest Pins will then appear on the main page of Pinterest when you go to Pinterest.com.  Remember, if you want to see what other new-to-you people are adding (not people you're following) you can click on "Everything" at the top of the page.  If you want to do the Pinning from another site, you need to add the Pinmarklet to your browser which can be a little tricky. I'll cover that later!

That's a start!  Let me know if you need an invitation to join!