I’ve had a pinterest account for many years, but it’s not until this year that I’ve finally got the hang of it and now there’s no going back. My answer to most questions these days is “go on pinterest” to which the answer is often “I don’t know how to use Pinterest.”

So, I thought I’d share with you how I use pinterest. This is for you friends and mum…

Beginners Pinterest

1. Create an account

You can either sign in with Facebook or use your email address. It doesn’t really matter but for ease I would use Facebook – it saves having to remember yet another password! You will be asked to come up with a user name, and it is likely your name will have gone, but it’s not really important as it will only be used in the URL for your page (for example, mine is www.pinterest.com/mumsdays). You can make the display name in your profile whatever you want. Here is my profile.

2. “Follow” some cool people 

When you are setting up your profile Pinterest will make you follow some people, don’t worry too much about who for now, their recommendations are bound to be good! Once you’re in you can then find people you know or admire. Nearly everyone who has a blog will have a pinterest account so you could start by looking for them. Search for their name in the top left box, for example Oh Joy!, and select “Pinners”. It’s normally obvious who you’re after and then just click the big “Follow” button! (It will say Unfollow if you are already following them)

3. Create a board

Recently my mate said she needed some ideas for decorating her Birthday Party. I said “just look on Pinterest,” obviously, but she didn’t know how. To demonstrate, I’ve created a board, Inspiration for Cath’s Birthday, and got busy on Saturday night pinning some ideas there for her. This is what you do to create a board…

Click the + sign in the top right hand corner

OR

If you are on your profile, click the big sign which says “create a board”.

THEN

Fill in the details – give it a name, description and choose a category. Don’t worry too much you can change it! Cath’s started out as “Table Centres” before it became “Inspiration”.

4. Explore and Get Inspiration

There are 3 ways (there are probably more but this will do to get you started) to explore and find pins for your board…

i. Click on the Red Pinterest button at the top of the page – this will show you all the latest pins from the people you follow and you will find things you didn’t know you were looking for!

ii. Click the “lines” – Up by the search box there is a button with horizontal lines. This will give you a bunch of categories to click from kids to cooking, and basically show you what is trending (i.e. the pins people are pinning the most for a given category)…

iii. Search – If you know what you are looking for, like I did for Cath’s Birthday board, type it into the search box and see what turns up! You will have three options for display: Pins; Boards; or Pinners. I tend to tick “Pins” but also look at “Boards” too.

NOTE: When you are searching for things, think about the spelling. For example, we spell it “table centres” but american’s would spell it “table centers” – try both in case you’re missing out some great ideas from over the pond!

You may find your search needs to broaden – I started just looking for table centres, but this turns up a lot of wedding images. So, then I moved to party decorations, to get a general “mood”. A mood board! We can then use this to come to the final idea, which is likely to be a combination of ideas and moods. For example, I love the idea of using a roll of wrapping paper as a table runner (or this DIY confetti one – I just can’t resist!) and also the tin can with flowers in is adorable!

From Oh Joy!

From the Informal Florist

5. Pin some Pictures!

When you see an image you like hover your curser/mouse over it and 3 options will pop up…Pin it, send it (you can send this image to someone else you know on pinterest) or heart it (for all the things you like but don’t have a board for).

When you click “pin it” a box will appear allowing you to chose a board and edit the description.

Click Pin it and that’s it, you’re a fully fledged Pinner!

If you have a look through some of my boards, you’ll see I use it for all sorts of things. It’s my go to place for organising my thoughts and foraging for ideas. From parenting tips to ideas for our little garden to toddler meals. It’s safe to say I think it’s ace!

Are you new to Pinterest? Let me know how you get on! Are you a seasoned Pinner? What have I missed?! Comments very welcome below xxx