Thursday, March 22, 2012

Pinterest Tutorial...YUP!!


My name is Sarah, I have a Pinterest addiction. So I thought I would pass along this wickedly addicting site to all of you. Cause I love you and it is fun! It is also a bit confusing to get started. But once you get the basics you are good to go! So I thought I would do a little tutorial for ya!
If ya don't know about Pinterest here is basically what it is all about. Imagine you have a wall full of bulletin boards and on each one is a different subject of interest..say recipes on one, art projects on another, maybe ideas for your house on another, or garden plans..you get the idea. Now imagine this all on one page online..where you "Pin" your "Interests" Pinterest. You take pictures from around the net and add them to you boards..they come along with their links (say a DIY project on a blog). So when you are ready to make that recipe or do that project..you have the pictures and the links right there! AND...as you wander around Pinterest..you can "repin" other peoples fun stuff to your board.
As an artist or crafter etc..you can also (now and again - not spammingly) add your own work so folks can see what you do too!!

Of course the first thing you have to do is head on over to Pinterest and request an invite.
Ok..here we go... to make the pics bigger please click on them:)


 I will use my Pinterest page and my Etsy shop for this tutorial.
1. Once you get an account and click on your name in the right hand corner it will bring up your boards. Here is mine..but yours will be blank..so lets get pinning and fill it up a bit!
2. So open another tab and log into your page..and click on my Pinterest link above and find my first board "About Me". Click on the board where my finger is and it will open up all the pics there.
3. For the sake of ease we will use my boards..and my Sweet William pic. scroll the cursor up to the right hand corner and you will see ~ repin ~ edit~~~comment(4. you can click on this to add a comment) pop up. Right now though please click on repin!
5. A box will pop open that shows Williams pic and on the right will have a Board Name and below that a description box..the first time yours will be blank.
6. In this same pop open box we will see "Create New Board" In that space you will type in the name of your first Board. You can name it whatever you would like..Cute, Cats, anything.
7. When you have several boards you will scroll down your list and click on the board you would like each pin to go in.. CLICK Pin It and
8. It goes back to your main page and voila...your first board!!


Ok lets be brave and go add a pin from the main part of Pinterest.
9. Click on the Pinterest at the top of the page! It will take you to all the pins other folks are adding.
10. Put your cursor over "Everyone"and a box will pop down with subjects to view! Click on any one you find interesting and then scroll down until you find something you want to add (don't worry you can add as many pins to your boards as you please).
11. Once you find something you like we will do the steps starting with #3 and repin this picture.
12. Create a new board if you need too.. ( see below #13-#15).

Then repeat the process. Repeat..repeat...repeat...Warning you may need an intervention at some point..or to eat..or pee..to make sure your family are not starving...just sayin'.


1. To see your boards as you create them...click on your name at the top right!
2. Up will pop your boards so you can see them in all their wonderful glory. It will also tell you about who is following you, how many boards you have etc. etc. Just a note here..you don't have to follow all of a person's boards..you may only be interested in their gardening one..you may not want to see their fashion ones..so go see them and click follow on individual boards or follow all! Head up here..there is mature content here..so take care which subjects you visit with young ones around. Although "People" is way fun..stars and all..it also has a great deal of nudity...so take care.



Ok so lets say you are on Etsy and you see something you love and you want to add it to you boards! Cause you love it. Again for the sake of the tutorial..I will use my Etsy shop as an example. I hope you love my work..but we will use my Kit Tink's bookmark as our pin.
1. Open a new tab and head on over to my shop ..click here!
2. Scroll down until you find the book mark with the pic of the fluffy Maine Coon cat. and click on the picture!
3. So here is the listing for the bookmark and the picture! Go to the top of the page and copy (Rclick)the link. Now go back to your Pinterst tab page.
4. In the right corner you will see Add..this will open up a box..
5. Click Add a pin (you can upload a pin from your computer also).
6. Paste the link you copied from my shop in the bar.
7. Click Find Image.. and another box will open..
8. This is just like the box you saw when you added a pin from Pinterest.

9., 10., 11. Remember to choose a board to put it in and add a description. Don't hit "PIN IT" until the picture has shown up!

12.  WHOOOT..you are off and running with your very own Pinterest Boards. Congratulations!!

So very thrilled to have you all join my addiction..I have chocolate and cupcakes too...if you have questions feel free to ask here or email me (top left of the blog:).
Happy Pinning all, Sarah

6 comments:

just me said...

Though I also love pinterest to help keep all of my favorites, inspirations, recipes, etc. in one place without having to store it all on my computer under bookmards. There are alot of articles being written right now about the dangers of copyright laws with pinterest. They are saying unless you get in writing from the artist, chef, hairstylist, photographer, etc. to pin their picture, recipe, photo, etc. they can sue your for copyright infringment. Selena of the Farm Chicks posted a good article today about it and have read others as well on some blogs. Hope they can get it figured out because it is fun!

Sarah Sullivan said...

Thank you..and I understand the issue. I guess I feel this way..as ana creator..you need to watermark your stuff..all of it photos and art, DIY, everything. As a user of Pinterest you need to make sure that you add pics with links to the artist etc..it is only polite. Stealing pictures and uploading from your computer is just plain wrong..don't do that! As for myself..I am quite thrilled to see folks pinning my work it touches me that folks like itand it is great for sales..and my work is watermarked. Google is no different..you can snag whatever where ever..you have to protect your work. Just my thoughts:)

Emmy Blue said...

I've been dragging my feet to join Pinterest for the reasons "just me" stated above. Last year I found one of my images floating around on it without any acknowledgment. Since I was not a member, I had no idea what to do. I've avoided it ever since. With that said, all of my friends just love Pinterest, so maybe I need to keep an open mind and give it a try. Do you find that it is a valuable tool for networking? Also, just out of curiosity, do you think people will be moving away from words (Twitter) and towards images (Pinterest)?

Thanks for the tutorial! I may try this one day!

Sarah Sullivan said...

Hi Emmy! Yup me too..but I bet if you were to look all over google you would find that you images were in lots of places..mine are so I watermark. I agree though..you have to take care to give credit or at least a link!

I do find that it is a great marketing tool and use is as one weekly! Ya know..I think the one thing I really don't like about Pinterest is the lack of back and forth you get on twitter or FB or here for that matter.
Thank ya for popping by hon:)

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I dare not sign up for Pinterest. I spend too much time blogging as it is -- can't afford to add another internet hobby, LOL!

Holly said...

Here's my feeling about the whole copy write infringement; if it's already on the internet, then it's fair game for me to reuse as an image on a wall that everyone can see. It's no different than if they saw it on the internet and decided to capture it somehow. I think you're right; if you're an artist you should water mark your works but if you're going to use the internet as a means to promote your work, it goes along with that, that somewhere you're images will show up.

The best thing we can do as Pinners, is to pin only an image that goes back to the original site, or at least reference where you got the image. Heck, I actually thank the person who originally pinned it when I'm going to re-pin something.

As a writer and a blogger, yes it would frustrate me if someone wrote my words and claimed them as their own...but if someone pins something from my blog, well, I am simply happy to have the exposure.

I'm off to do some pinning...and thanks Sarah for taking the time to help us understand how it all works. You're wonderful that way!