I am obsessed by a website called Pinterest.  Truly stupid name, I agree.  It put me off at first, too.

When I first had it described to me, I read that it was like a pinboard a designer would use to collect images in order to makeover a room.  That sounded deadly dull.  But one of the bloggers I follow would link once a week to “Kick-Ass Stuff I Pinned.”  Looking at it was compulsive.  She pinned uplifting sarcastic quotes she liked, weird photographs, strange creative impulses.  Because she was showing off what caught her eye, I got hooked.

I started off just pinning things that would help me organize my in-the-process-of-being-remodeled kitchen and soon-to-be-remodeled office.    That led me to crafts you can do with maps and repurposing projects for keys and tins, all obsessions of mine that I haven’t been able to justify.  However, if I end up making art from the weird things I collect, that’s a justification fit to order.

I started collecting projects for an imaginary Halloween party, then crafts to do with my daughter.  A writer I know made a page collecting things that inspire him, so I started collecting inspiring images, too.  I called it Flashes of Inspiration.  That gave me a place to keep the extreme closeup photographs of people’s eyes and crazy libraries of the world and the strange fashion in artificial eyelashes, along with inspirations for potential book covers and research for stories I’ve yet to write.

Several people had pages collecting tattoo images, so I made one of those.  And a page for my kitchen window herb garden.  And another for our annual New Year’s Day party.  And one for recipes I find on the internet.

My largest board, of course, is called Cemeteries & Graveyards.  I’ve collected all kinds of things for future Cemeteries of the Week, along with deeper information into the graveyards I’ve already studied.  The amount of material I’ve gathered here will keep me going for years.

The process of pinning things is really easy.  First you apply to Pinterest and they accept you.  That gives you a button on your toolbar that allows you to bookmark pages to your “boards.”  You can collect images on any topic you want.  The “pinboards” display the image with a link back to the original story or tutorial or art spread.

I’ve collected a fair amount of stuff from other “pinners” on the site.  If someone likes or repins one of my pins, I go to their boards and see what kind of things they like.  I’ve been pleased to discover that some total strangers have taste very similar to mine.

If I’ve made you curious, you can check out my pins here. Let me know if you join.  I want to see what catches your eye, too.