Pinterest seems to get a flack thrown at it. It’s seen as a place for tween girls to plan their dream weddings. A place for bored housewives to find tutorials that dramatically fail. A place that just links to a bunch of other websites and provides nothing new. I’m not going to say that those arguments are without merit, but I am going to say that Pinterest is a lot more than that.
So, here are five reasons that I absolutely love Pinterest, and why you should too!
1) The Food.
I cannot say enough about the food you can find on Pinterest. If you want to make it, I can almost guarantee that someone on Pinterest already has done so, and reviewed it to boot! I’ve had a few failures, yes, but those are far outshined by the dozens of meals and dishes and desserts that were absolutely delicious. From guacamole bacon sandwiches to cheesy pastas to every chocolate-y thing you can dream of, many go-to dishes were found on this wonderful site.
2) The Tutorials.
One thing Pinterest is notorious for is its “fails.” How many times have you been wandering through the internet and come across something along the lines of this:
Yes. Some tutorials you find on Pinterest don’t work. That happens. That’s going to be true anywhere. A lot of that is probably user error (surprise, surprise, icing a piping hot cupcake isn’t going to turn out well), not the fault of the site itself. And so many of the ideas really do work.
I learned how to crochet, how to paint denim shorts, how to make a maxi dress. I learned skills and made projects that I use practically every day (I’m an avid crafter, if you can’t tell). And so much of that came from Pinterest searches. You just have to slough through the ones that don’t work quite right, and you find the thousands upon thousands that turn out flawlessly. It’s worth it. Promise.
Here is a pair of denim shorts I’ve made.
3) The DIY Inspiration.
Because one point just wasn’t enough for me to talk about how much I love the crafting and DIY on Pinterest. Not only are there explicit tutorials telling you step-by-step how to make something, but you can find so much inspiration on this site. Pictures of gorgeous clothes, fabulous decorations, adorable projects. All of those have the ability to spark something in you, motivate you to figure out how the heck they made that. And then you can go out and make it on your own, customize it just the way you like it.
As an example (and to give my mom a teaser of her Christmas present), here is a picture of an afghan (a crocheted blanket) I found on Pinterest:
And here is the afghan I was inspired to make:
Yes, the afghan is also in denim.
4) The Fan Art.
Related in that it’s creating something, but not related at all in any other aspect whatsoever… people who love TV and movies and books way too much! (AKA wonderful people.)
If you know me, then you’ll know that I can’t draw so much as a decent stick figure to save my life. Lucky for me, then, there are tons of people on Pinterest who both know how to draw amazingly well, and happen to like the same TV/movies/books that I do. It’s truly amazing how talented and creative people are.
5) The Outside Links.
Now this one is a lot more general. Pinterest doesn’t exactly create anything new. And I know that seems like a downside of the site, but it’s actually one of my favorite things. Pinterest is a handy way to keep everything you find on the internet organized. Unlike Tumblr where everything goes into one big list and you have to use tags to keep everything apart, Pinterest does that for you. You can have a board for your favorite shows, for healthy food, for desserts, for crafting projects. You can pin from the site itself, or from any random website that catches your eye. Then everything is nice and neat and easy to find. I love it.
So in summation: If you don’t have a Pinterest account, get one. If you do have a Pinterest account, go follow Her Campus Kenyon (@hckenyon). You won’t regret it.
Image sources: Pintrest.com, Cookingclassy.com, Divready.com, Ravelry.com, Anotherwellkeptsecret.tumblr.com, Paige Ballard