Tips for Organized Pinterest Boards

Like many bloggers, I really love Pinterest.    I once loved Pinterest a lot more than I do now (probably because I'm no longer planning a wedding, and I'm not planning a baby anytime soon), so a lot of what circulates through Pinterest is no longer relevant to me like it used to be or might be in the future. 

Never-the-less, it is a great place to dream and waste time, and also to promote your blog.  I've been using Pinterest to do so for quite a while, but nothing pains me more than how unorganized Pinterest boards can quickly become.

While I had some forced free time (recovering from the flu) I worked on making my Pinterest board names more cohesive by renaming, organizing them by category, deleting unnecessary boards, and keeping with a consistent formula for the titles. Here are some tips I thought I'd share for any of you looking to clean up your Pinterest account.

TIPS TO GET COHESIVE PINTEREST BOARDS

Board titles are important.

• Keep with a consistent theme when titling your boards.  Use space and lines to make your board titles feel clean, and keep them as simple as possible while conveying the appropriate category.

• I set a general theme of naming boards with an initial category, in this case "home."  In all my board titles, I used lowercase letters to keep the titles all at one height, and added a space between each letter in the initial category.  For example:  h o m e
• Between the initial category, I broke other boards into sub-categories.  I separated most of the categories with two forward slashes.  For example:  h o m e  //  kitchen + dining

• Remember, when naming your boards that Pinterest organized the drop down list alphabetically.  So when you are browsing home pins, and first you pin a kitchen, but now you're pinning a bathroom, if you do not preface the board name with "home" then the location of the board in the drop down list is drastically different.  This is why I prefaced my board names with categories.

Keep your favorites or the most important boards toward the top.

• This is especially important if you are primarily using Pinterest as a business or blog.  Keep the boards that relate most to your content (not necessarily boards with JUST your content) at the top.  So if you are a home decor and DIY blogger, then put those boards in the first two rows.  If you're a food blogger, put recipe boards at the top.  If you don't blog, but just want to organize your account, put the boards that best represent your interests at the top.

• Some bloggers and businesses may have a separate account for their business than for personal use.  I don't promote my own blog on Pinterest enough to feel the need to separate the accounts, so I wanted to make my account look more geared for my blog, but still keep my personal boards on there.  I opted to keep the personal boards at the bottom, and my more blog related boards at the top.

Board cover photos can help tell the story of your board, and good photography helps.

• When choosing board covers, choose colors that relay the type of board this is.  A good example I have from my boards is for d i y // projects and d i y // crafts.  One might not know how to differentiate between these boards, however my board covers makes it clear that crafts are about softgoods, and projects are larger scale.

• Choose good photographs for the cover photos of your board.  Usually a landscape photo works best since you'll crop a large portion of portrait oriented photos.

Take some time and go through your boards. 

• If you're like me, most likely you started your Pinterest with general boards like "home" and then made new boards with more specific categories like "kitchen."  And in the past, Pinterest didn't have the amazing option to MOVE multiple pins from one board to another.  Now that they do, go through and make sure all your pins are on the correct board.  It is easier than ever now.

After you've renamed your boards in a consistent and artistic format, reorder the boards on your account page, choose great looking and informative cover photos, and go through your boards to look for pins that have gone astray, then you'll have a wonderfully organized Pinterest account!  This can take a lot of time, so I suggest getting the flu and having all the time in the world to do it!

Okay, I don't recommend the flu on any of you, but maybe take advantage of a cold winter day to stop pinning about organizing and start actually doing it!  

How do you keep your Pinterest account organized?


P.S.  If you aren't already following me, you can find my Pinterest and other social media buttons to your right!

My Fav Free Photo Editing Software for Blogs

    Since I was in middle school, I've enjoyed playing with photo-editing programs and altering images to achieve the result I wanted.  I started out just editing pictures of my cats, family, and favorite singers on a bootlegged version of photoshop that I had for some reason, and I'm not even sure how I had it.  That was back before Photoshop even had "CS" in the version title.  Eventually, that computer died as well as my Prehistoric non-CS Photoshop copy - which is fine since I shouldn't have had it anyway.     From then on, I have used different programs to edit photos that have come and gone with the times.  (Anyone remember when Picnik was a thing?)  Finally, one evening a few years ago I did some research on the best free photo editing software.  I found two programs that were amazing, and that I don't plan to part with anytime soon.  These two programs have since opened the doors in my world to open source software, which is *cue angels' singing voices* "amazing."  

PHOTOSCAPE

The most basic program I use is Photoscape.  I consider this program blogger heaven, because it is so simple to use yet you can do a lot of things with it.  I primarily use it to adjust lighting and contrast, crop and resize, add text to my images, create photo collages, and to edit light blemishes.  I love that this fairly simple program has a clone tool in the mix, as well as other fun things to experiment with like filters, vignettes, and frames.  I continually learn more things I can do each time I play around with it.  This is no "photoshop" alternative, but is great for creating simple image fixes and adding text for blog images.

Another great feature is the batch editor.  Many times I will resize and rename all of my photos before adding them to the blog, and batch editor is the quickest way to do that.  You can even designate a new folder for them, which is great to help me stay organized in my blogging efforts. My favorite tool to use in Photoscape is "Bloom" under the Home tab.  It allows me to increase the exposure in my photos, set it exactly at the levels I want and I have learned to be able to manipulate the soft light into the places I want as well.  

 
GIMP

Gimp is the next program I began using a few years ago, which also opened the doors to open source software for me.  It is very similar to Adobe Photoshop.  I wouldn't call them interchangeable, as Photoshop can delve deeper than Gimp can - and is also a little more user friendly. However, when you consider price as a factor, GIMP is a very agreeable alternative to photoshop.  Most of the main features can still be accomplished, and although it isn't as easy to navigate, it can still be done.

I don't use Gimp as often because it is much more complex to use, however when creating images for my blog design, I have used Gimp a great deal.  Any of the buttons, banners, or titles you see on my blog were created using a mixture of Gimp and Photoscape. 

RAW THERAPEE

Before, I was not using RAW images for any of my blog photos, but now I do sometimes (because hubby got me a Christmas/Birthday/Just-Because-I-Love-You super awesome gift)!  

So now that I am using my new camera and RAW files, I have just begun to use RawTherapee.  It is supposedly similar to Lightroom (which I have never used, so I cannot vouch for the similarities.)  There is another program called DarkTable which has much better reviews as being an alternative to Lightroom, however it is only available for Mac right now.

If you are a windows user, I'd say RawTherapee is the closest alternative you will find to Lightroom, based on the research I've done and reviews I've read.  I have used it a few times, however I would not say that I've really figured out the features yet.  Judging just from the looks of it, I do believe after I've read some tutorials and played around with the program that it will be very useful for editing my digital photos.

Like I said on this one I really haven't mastered any techniques, however I do find it to be a promising program.

What are your favorite photo editing programs?  Have you ever used any of these three?

Special Pictures Documenting Life in our First Apartment

In your first year of marriage, there are a lot of firsts.   Some memorable firsts are our first meal together after our wedding (which happened to be at a Burger King in a gas station, which I think is hilarious).  I remember the first few times I used "my husband" when talking about Tyler to someone who didn't know him, and how new it seemed when it rolled off the tongue.   Probably the most memorable thing that was "ours" in our first year, however, was our first apartment together.

 

To remember our first year of marriage, I made a yearbook compiled of pictures of us and things we'd done between May 18th of 2013 until May 18th of 2014.

A special project for just one page of that yearbook were these photos documenting us in our first apartment together.

I wanted to portray our apartment itself, but I also wanted to show how we decorated, what furniture we had, how we used those rooms, and us in those rooms.  We just set up the tripod and tried to get an angle of each space to define what it means to us.

Blogging was a big part of my free time during our first year of marriage, and I spent most of my time writing and editing pictures at our dining table.

 Tyler's favorite "spot" in the leather recliner, and the infamous blue couch with lumpy pillows in the background.  

I'd like to think in the future we'll remember good times on that lumpy, uncomfortable, style inhibiting blue couch: our many nights spent watching LOST, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, and The Walking Dead, watching the ducks sit and waddle on a frozen pond out the window in the winter, and the zooming hummingbird in the summer.

I will always remember cooking and cleaning in our cramped little kitchen with the red curtain to hide the trash can, washer, dryer, and makeshift pantry shelf.  Where we first used so many wedding gifts, learned more about each other's food preferences, and how to stack a million dishes in one cupboard so that all your wedding gifts fit and can be used.

In our bedroom, we'll remember the places we got ready for work.

A few of Tyler's decorations and sentimental pieces are a backdrop to every morning, as well as the wall quilt his family gave me upon our engagement.

On my dresser and the decor near it are many of my favorite things:  a clock for my birthday from my sweetest roommate in college, a picture of my favorite thing - a ladybug - from Tyler in a frame, several tins that I adore, my necklaces, and a wooden box from my grandma where I store my makeup.

Also in our bedroom is our precious wedding quilt, made by Tyler's mother.  The standing mirror is one I found at a yard sale, which is an interesting hobby of ours as well.

Finally, at my craft table is where it happens.  Or more like where the storage happens...because as my sweet husband fully knows, most of my crafts end up in the living room floor rather than on the craft table.   I couldn't be happy without creating something, so as full as my very full table is with the storage of many different supplies, it means my heart is full from all the fun things there are to create!

Moe and Picasso, our pet fish, also inhabited our office/craft room.  We enjoyed their cute wiggles in our first year!

I edited the photos so that they were all black and white and would look cohesive on the page in our photo yearbook.  

Although it is merely one page of our photobook this year, I know in years to come we will appreciate this glimpse into our past at our first apartment - even just seeing how our decor and belongings evolve as we evolve.  

How have you captured and presented memories of some of your firsts?

How to Make Beautiful Custom Maps

Do you love maps? There are many reasons we might choose to have a map of certain places.   It might be where we live, a place we visited and loved, or a map to use for a project.  You might want to print a picture of the place on the map where you or a friend got married, where you studied abroad, or your favorite vacation spot.  There are lots of reasons maps are cool, not to mention all the nifty map crafts that are popular right now.   I wanted to show you my favorite website to go to when I want to make a map of something.  It is called maps.stamen.com, and it is a really versatile FREE website where you can choose anywhere on earth to make a map.  It even will create an image that you can save that is up to 2000 pixels. This website is also perfect if you are designing your own wedding invitations and want to include a map.  (I just kick myself every time for not knowing about this website when I was still making my invitations!)

Okie dokie, are you ready to get started making your own map?! Go to maps.stamen.com and it will bring you to this page.

Use the search box in the upper left corner to type in the location of which you would like to make a map.  You can change the type of map by clicking the two previews on the right side, or choose from even more map styles by scrolling down.

I chose Oklahoma City, because that's where I live.

It was originally set on terrain, but I decided to switch to toner.  Toner would be the PERFECT way to make maps for wedding invitations.  Literally, it would be just perfect.

You can also zoom in and out using the yellow buttons under the search box.  I decided to get a little closer.

To get rid of the previews for other maps, click the yellow button in the bottom left right beside the current map style you have chosen to get rid of them.  This also opens up the ability for you to make an image of a specific location or embed the map onto a webpage.

I want to create an image, so in the upper right corner I clicked <image>.  

Doing so brings you to this page, where you can set the size and proportions of the picture.  You can also change map styles here.  The yellow box shows you the constraints of your map, and you can drag the map around until you get exactly what you want inside the yellow box.

Once you adjust all your settings, you can click "Make" in the upper right corner.  It will begin to process your map image, which sometimes takes a little while.  When it is done, you can click the map in the top of the queue on the right.  

After you click your map, it will bring you to this page where you can right click and save it.  

Here's how my map of Oklahoma City turned out!  

This map is another one I made of Oklahoma City in the terrain style.

One of my favorite settings to make maps with is the watercolor style.  They are just simply beautiful.  I made a map of the neighborhood I lived in while studying abroad.  I just love the colors, it is so pretty!

 I can't even name all the wonderful possibilities you can do with Stamen Maps, but I have lots of ideas that I'd eventually like to use it for.  

Do you like to use maps in your decorations?  Or are you wedding planning and needing a beautiful way to send a map in your invitations?  I hope this little gem is helpful to anyone else who loves travel, maps, and beautiful images!

I would like to note that I am not being compensated in any way, nor have I been contacted by Stamen maps.  I just really love their website and want to share!

DIY Photography Background & Photobook Review

I've known for a while now that I needed to make some photo backdrops for photographing things for the blog and for my etsy shop.  I've known.  I really have.

But knowing and doing are separate things, and I never got around to making them.  I've been considering the concrete of our front porch acceptable, until recently maintenance scraped the entire concrete up, and it is no longer uniform in color, and has lines all over the place.  Not pretty, and takes away from the objects I'm photographing.

Finally, I did it.  I used the wall paper I'd bought a year ago for this very purpose to make a photo background.  I decided to use the light colored cream paper and the vintage floral paper this time.

First, I glued to pieces of foam board together to make the backdrop more sturdy.  I was reusing some old foam board, so I just wanted to be sure it didn't bend.

Here are my pieces glued together.

I wanted my backdrop to be double sided.  One side I used a vintage floral wallpaper.

This side is just plain cream wallpaper.

Glue your wall paper (or other paper) to the boards and let them dry.

And now I'm going to demonstrate my photo backdrop as well as show you my free photo books that I received!  One book was free because I filled out a survey about our wedding for the Knot, another was from a coupon that was in one of the ink cartridge packages I bought when I was printing our wedding invitations.  

 The left book is a 20 page hardcover from Shutterfly, and the right book is a softcover from Snapfish.

And since I've got them right next to each other (and yes, I realize the softcover is lesser value), I just want to say that Shutterfly's quality is awesome.  

No, unfortunately they aren't compensating me to say that!  (I wish!)

My apologies for the glare on these.  I took the photos at night with a direct light in the house over them...there was no avoiding glares.

Apparently there was also no avoiding fuzzy pictures.  I miss my not iPhone camera!

We ordered our Save the Dates from Shutterfly, and I am just super impressed by how well their images and products look.  And...I'm not really impressed with Snapfish.  But thanks for the free book anyway, Snapfish!  I still like it!  

These pages of the honeymoon are from the Snapfhish book...

Do you have other suggestions for good blog photo backgrounds?  I often use our wooden table, and some slabs of wood for photographing, but its harder to get those outside in the natural light.  I would love to hear where you find your best photos coming from!