#PinItForwardUK – My love affair with Pinterest.

In the very darkest days of my life, when there was no colour but blue anywhere in the world, no children but baby boys and no solace to be found anywhere outside my own home, I stumbled upon Pinterest. I must have been one of its earliest users and I sunk hours of bleak, grief stricken days into wandering through the images of beauty that people pinned to this new, rather quirky, infinitely flawed but beautifully homely webspace.

It was perfect for me; I can’t organise bookmarks, I’m never good at putting together scrapbooks or mood boards but my do I love inspiration. And in those days, with my arms woefully empty of my baby and nothing to do in the long evenings, it gave me somewhere to find peace and it appealed to the fragment of my soul that, by knitting a square a week, reading a book a week and frantically counting off cycle days and temperatures, was trying to impose order on a world that had all gone wrong. I pinned. I organised. I collected. I found beauty and I put it neatly on to virtual pinboards I knew I wouldn’t lose.

I owe a little bit of sanity to Pinterest. One of my first pins was a stupidly snapped picture of my duvet, a snarky reminder every morning of blue, the colour that should have been Freddie’s. I took it, I pinned it and there it still is, on the board called Blue.

There aren’t many pins on there, but I love that board. A little wistful nod to then and how far we’ve come since.

But happier times. Pinterest is fantastic for me on so many levels; from pinning inspiration for dragon models, to collecting ideas for my customers to use with Hama Beads and Fimo to the joyful delight of my Rainbow Crafts board, a nod to the thrill that Baby Bene has brought us.

My #PinItForwardUK board though, which is currently being wafted beneath the noses of new Pinterest members, is my Felt Sewing Board.

Felt Fabric is to my 2013 self what Hama Beads was to my 2003 self. I cannot get enough of it. So versatile, so beautiful and flexible. And there are so many clever people using it. I could spend all day collecting ideas (which I do while feeding Bene to sleep, the perfect pinning time), never mind actually sewing with it. I love it so much I opened a shop specially to sell it!

It has to be said, my crochet board runs a close second – and at least I am managing to do a little crochet at the moment, whereas the felt just keeps selling out before I can borrow it 😉

People use Pinterest in so many ways; to pin recipes (hmmmm…., I’m watching you 😉 ) to pinning men (no no no no no no no…) to pinning household job tricks (ahem… Pinterest equals pretty, people) to pinning boards full of nail art, hair and make up ideas (honestly, have you people not heard of crochet?) It has to be one of the most diverse tools I’ve ever come across: a mood board, inspirational, aspirational, organisational, promotional, social… a visual smorgasbord to bend and shape to your whim and will.

And my favourite line of all, which I am very proud of “Pinterest is Social Media where you don’t have to bother talking to people”. Perfect 😉

Part of the fun of #PinItForwardUK is that we get to introduce another blogger and I’m delighted to be introducing Josie from Oh You Pretty Things. Josie has a really different set of pinboards to me but some fantastic interests, so do pop over to her Pinterest Profile and have a look at what she loves.

Here’s to many more years pinning merrily 😉