As I work on packing my family of seven to move back to the States from Indonesia, and as I make decisions about what to bring, what to sell, and what to throw away, I often think of a quote by William Morris:

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

The thing is, while most people would love to live up to this sentiment, they find it far too difficult to implement. I believe that this is because there is a third category: the sentimental.  Most of us have boxes (or whole garages!) filled with things we find neither useful nor beautiful, and yet we hold onto them.  They carry some special place in our hearts and in our memories. Letters from old friends, hard-won trophies from high school, that ugly dish your favorite aunt gave you for your wedding. We don’t want the stuff, but we don’t want to let go of the memory.

A pregnancy test I had been holding onto since 2002!

The problem is, life has a way of creating more memories and accumulating more stuff. Never has been there such a push for people to simplify, to organize, and to purge. People crave having less stuff but they just don’t know how to make it happen.  How do you get rid of your child’s favorite outfit?  Who cares if he hasn’t fit into it for the last six years…it is his favorite! As someone who has moved a lot of times (13 times in the past 12 years to be exact), I have learned a few things about moving the memories.

My husband’s childhood Bible that we photographed back in 2008 before moving to Indonesia

Here are a few simple suggestions:

1. Internalize the quote above.  If it is not useful or beautiful (and I am talking about useful right now, not in 20 years when your kids have kids!), then it goes. It is the only way to make sure that you truly simplify and stop lugging around stuff you will never use.

My Malaysian wallet, including my expat card, Coffee Bean Card, airline baggage stubs, and more. I’ve been keeping this wallet for the past six years because I have some weird fascination with the stuff we put in  our wallets and I feel like I can “go back” to a point in time.

2. Before you start chucking things into the trash, though, preserve the memory.  As photographers and scrapbookers we have the wonderful option of saving the memory without saving the stuff. If you have an item that you know you will never use again or that you would never decorate your home with, you need to part with it.  But before you do, take a picture of it. Create a layout about it.  Hold onto the memory without holding on to the actual object. Scans and photos take up very little space and yet they are just as powerful. I scan my kid’s artwork, take pictures of favorite stuffed animals they no longer play with, and take pictures of silly things that were a big part of our life.

My sweet son’s “Beep Beep.”  We paid $5 for it in Malaysia and he used it every day for about four years. It was tempting, but I resisted bringing it to Indonesia with us!

3. For each person, there are a few exceptions. For me, as I finish packing yet another house, there are a few tangible things I am not quite ready to part with. I saved each of my children’s coming home outfits. I’ve saved a few favorite books, even if the covers are torn off. I’ve rescued a little monkey stuffed animal that my kids didn’t want because it was the first thing I ever bought for a child of mine. There are a few things.  But the rest, well, they needed to go. You need to decide what are the few things that you will give yourself permission to hold onto.

My bronze medal from the Odyssey of the Mind Word Finals, 1995

4. Let go of the guilt.  Just because you get rid of something, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hold any value. In fact, the opposite might be true.  It might hold tremendous emotional value.  But if something is just sitting in a box, never to see the light of day, wouldn’t it be better off being preserved in a photo and perhaps on a scrapbook page then collecting dust in the garage? Is it really worth paying money for a storage unit, building bigger houses, adding shelves to every nook and cranny just so we can save the memories? Getting rid of a gift from your grandmother doesn’t make you a bad person. It makes you a wise person who would rather own your stuff than have your stuff own you.

A piece of fabric from a pair of pajama pants that I wore almost exclusively through my first two pregnancies. They literally fell apart!

As I have gone through my house this time, I have been even more ruthless in the purging. One afternoon, I opened a small photo box labeled, “memories” and I went through each item, asking myself if it was really necessary to keep it.  A few things I kept, but most things were set on the bathroom counter (it’s where I was at the moment) and I took pictures.  Lots of pictures.  And then—here was the hard and yet oh-so-good-part—I threw most of the stuff away. My garbage was overflowing and yet I feel a stronger connection with those memories now than I did then. I can’t wait to scrap some of the memories!

A can of Drano that we used to accurately predict the gender of our first four kids!

The next time you get ready to move or just to purge and simplify, take a good look at your things.  Ask yourself if they are useful or beautiful.  If they are in storage, ask yourself why they are in storage? Ask yourself if it is something that a photo would preserve as well as the item itself.  And then feel the exhilaration of watching the pile of “stuff” dwindle as you reclaim your living space. It feels good, I promise!

Here are a few layouts I have done in the past with scanned and/or photographed items. I think they look much better here than in a cardboard box!

What do you do with all the sentimental stuff you know you won’t use but don’t want to get rid of?  Does it scare you to think of throwing things out or giving them away?

My guess is that more than a few of you have a some new (inter)National Scrapbooking Day purchases unzipped and that you’re ready to scrap! I know I do! I like to scrap to music, so I asked the Daily Digi team to give me a list of their favourite songs to create a “Daily Digi Team Playlist”.

We have some current songs and some all-time favourite songs here. I hope you find something new-to-you that you like too!

The Daily Digi Team Playlist

• Big Jet Plane – Angus and Julia Stone
• In Your Arms – Kina Grannis
• Up Up Up – The Givers
• I Hurt Too – Katie Herzig
• Same Mistakes – Paper Aeroplanes
• Take It From Me – The Weepies
• The A-Team – - Ed Sheeran
• It’s Time – Imagine Dragons
• Somebody That I Used to Know – Gotye
• Boy With a Coin – Iron & Wine
• Holocene – Bon Iver
• The Circle Married the Line – Feist
• Too Cold – Current Swell
• July Flame – Laura Veirs
• This Is the Thing – Fink
• By Her Side – Sara Kamin
• Big Strong Girl – Deb Talan
• Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) – Kelly Clarkson
• Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5
• Radioactive – Imagine Dragons
• Wavin’ Flag – K’naan
• Rolling In The Deep – Adele
• Set The Fire to the Third Bar – Snow Patrol
• Dog Days Are Over – Florence and The Machine
• Marry You – Bruno Mars
• We Are Young – Fun.
• Tonight Tonight – Hot Chelle Rae
• I Like It Like That – Hot Chelle Rae
• Stereo Hearts – Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine
• My Brain is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg) – The Ramones
• I Ran So Far Away – Flock of Seagulls
• Friday I’m in Love – The Cure
• I Melt With You – Modern English
• Lips Like Sugar – Echo and the Bunnymen
• Anything from The Joshua Tree album by U2 (especially the “B” side)
• Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain) – INXS
• We Belong – Pat Benatar
• Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
• Africa – Toto
• Sharp Dressed Man – ZZ Top
• Hot in the City – Billy Idol
• Edge of Seventeen – Stevie Nicks
• Fortress Around Your Heart – Sting
• Don’t You Forget About Me – Simple Minds
• Lay Your Hands on Me – Thompson Twins
• New Song – Howard Jones
• Stay – Oingo Boingo
• Situation – Yaz
• Pale Shelter – Tears for Fears
• Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
• Forever Young – Rod Stewart
• Forever Young – Alphaville (original version)
• Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) – Green Day
• Snow (Hey Oh) – Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Viva La Vida – Coldplay
• More than a Feeling – Boston
• Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley
• Imagine – John Lennon
• Faithfully – Journey
• You’ll Be In My Heart – Phil Collins (from the Disney movie Tarzan)
• Give a Little Bit – Supertramp
• MMM Bop – Hanson
• Just the Way You Are – Bruno Mars
• We Are Young – Fun.
• This is Us – Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
• The Saga Begins – Weird Al Yankovic
• King of Spain – The Tallest Man on Earth
• Home – Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros
• Mother’s Sick – Horse Feathers
• 5 Years Time – Noah and the Whale
• The Stable Song – Gregory Alan Isakov
• Baby, Let Me Follow You Down – Bob Dylan
• The Cave – Mumford and Sons
• Sweet Lord in Heaven – Mike Doughty
• Mr. Pitiful – Matt Costa
• King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 – Neutral Milk Hotel
• Satellite – Guster
• First Day of My Life – Bright Eyes
• Weighty Ghost – Wintersleep
• Joy of Cooking – Old Man Luedecke
• One Foot – Fun.
• The General – Dispatch
• Helena Beat – Foster the People
• Shake it Out – Florence + the Machine
• True Affection – The Blow
• Lessons Learned – Matt & Kim
• Is There A Ghost – Band of Horses
• Gin and Juice – The Gourds
• Once In A Lifetime – Talking Heads
• New York City – moe.
• When My Time Comes – Dawes

What are you listening to these days? Leave us a comment! We love to find new music.

Mini Figure from Simple Desktops

When I shared simpledesktops.com as my pick of the week on episode 29 of The Digi Show, I admitted that I’m quite fanatical about having a clean computer desktop. When I’m practicing what I preach, my computer desktop is clean and inspiring. However, I do fall off the wagon at times and it seems that by the end of the month I can end up with a lot of “stuff” on my desktop and it looks like this:

I immediately feel jumbled and unable to concentrate on what I’m doing when I’m greeted with a screen filled with icons, folders, and random images. I really prefer Leo Babauta’s (the zen habits guy) approach to a clutter-free desktop. I file everything into folders on my system that don’t show up on my desktop. Everything is easily accessible from my start menu button or by opening a folder and I don’t have all the distractions to deal with. I feel so much happier when my screen looks like this!

Elitism from Simple Desktops

I like to change my wallpaper every month or so to keep it fresh and fun. Here are some of my other favorite desktop wallpapers from simple desktops. (All images are linked)

Memories

Steve (look inside the apple)

Cupcake

Kermit

Day by Day

Meditation Trees

Abbey

How to be loved

Esquece e vai sorrir

Mike

1920

Spectrum

Splittie

Today’s a great day to evaluate what your computer desktop space looks like. Is it overwhelming and cluttered? Or simple and serene? I challenge you to do some spring cleaning and tidy it up a bit. You’ll feel more productive and inspired if you start your computer experience off with a clean slate!

A few weeks ago, one of the students at the school where my husband teaches, asked me if I could ask my kids some questions for her child development class.  I said, “Sure!”

So the next morning, I got out my video camera and started asking questions to my three-year-old, Katie. It was hilarious!

It was so fun to hear how her little mind works.  I loved seeing her creativity and her perspective of the world.  It gave me a bigger peak into who she is as a person. And once again, I realized how funny she is and how precious this time in her life is.

Here are the questions I was supposed to ask:

• Why does it get dark outside?
• Why does the sun shine?
• Why is there snow?
• Why is the grass green?
• What are TV’s for?
• Why do trees have leaves?
• Why do stars twinkle?
• Why does the sun move in the sky?
• Where do boats go when it is nighttime?
• Why is the sky blue?
• What is the wind?
• What causes thunder?
• What makes it rain?

After doing the video (actually, after doing two—Katie wanted “more questions!”, I realized I wanted more too! I have always meant to scrap a “kid interview” layout and I even took photos specifically for that at one point, but I haven’t ever gotten around to it.  The nice thing about the video is that it saves the memories now! They only take a few minutes and can be done as often as I like. Even if I don’t ever get to scrapping them, I have them preserved.

In addition, by doing the interviews on camera, so much more of the story is preserved.  I can see her facial expressions, her tone of voice, her little quirks that make her who she is. I can hear her full answers, full of silly additions and irrelevant information.

A few days later, I grabbed her again with a new list of questions. I asked more about the things she liked and what she thinks of certain things in her life.  Once again, her little personality started to shine!  These little videos are the PERFECT representation of who she is at this stage.

What a precious memory!

Here is a list of some of the questions I asked:

• What is your happiest memory?
• Why do you like being a kid?
• If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?
• What do you like to do for fun?
• What was the nicest thing you have done for someone?
• How old is your mom?
• How old is your dad?
• What is your favorite thing to do with mom?
• How strong is your dad?
• Who is your best friend?
• What do you want to be when you grow up?
• Do you think you will get married?
• Do you think you will have children? If so, how many?
• What do you like about yourself?
• What is your  favorite food?
• What is something your mom always says to you?
• What makes your mom happy?
• What is your mom really good at?
• How do you know your mom loves you?
• Who is your best friend?
• What is your favorite thing to play with?
• What is your favorite food?
• Are you scared of anything?

Obviously, your imagination (and the age of your child) is the limit with the kinds of questions you can ask.  But don’t wait.  Tomorrow, your kids will be a day older and their perspective on the world will have changed.  Capture the memory now!

If you need some more ideas for questions, try HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.

If you want to see some older posts from The Daily Digi about interviews, check them out HERE and HERE and HERE

Sometimes I feel like I am going to the same web sites over and over. Each day, I’m at my email, Facebook, Pinterest, the local news/weather site, and the Daily Digi (of course!). Most days I’m at a scrapbooking forum or two and I read many blogs through Google Reader.

When I want someplace new to go, I head on over to StumbleUpon to find fresh information and inspiration. Basically, StumbleUpon helps you find new sites based on your interests. It sets up a small task bar at the top of your browser where you can click through site after site and indicate whether you like them or not.

Here are just a few of the neat sites that I came across:

Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Tips on How to Write a Great Story

The Daily Green

10 Of The Strangest Unclaimed Airline Baggage Items Ever Found

Bucket List: 225 Things to Do Before You Die

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

10 movie poster clichés (with plenty of examples)

10 Weird and Mysterious Places on Earth

Disney Princesses in Accurate Period Costume

Visit Norway

The Astounding Design Of Eixample, Barcelona

The Most Epic Ad Ever Made: A Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Street

There is so much interesting stuff out there just waiting to be found!

We love doing new and fun things as a family.  Our memories are filled with silly activities and things that not many other people want to try (Family Makeovers, anyone?).  I think these unexpected moments make up some of our most precious memories. I am always on the lookout for new things to do, and silhouettes were always at the top of my list!

Ever since we moved to Indonesia, we have driven by a field right near the school where my husband works.  I knew from the moment I saw it that it would be great for silhouettes.  The sun sets right behind it, there are no buildings in the way, and it is up on a hill, rising above all other distractions.  And even though we have driven by hundreds of times over the last four years, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that we finally made a point to go out and try taking some family silhouettes.

If I were smart, I would have looked up exactly how to do this (articles like this one here on The Daily Digi and this one from Digital Photography School).  Thankfully, I know enough about cameras and exposure that I just metered for the sky (I shoot in manual), and figured I’d fix what needed fixing afterward in Lightroom.

We had a blast!  In fact, we had so much we went back about a week later. The sky was a totally different color and so we got totally different results! In addition, as the sun continued to set the sky continued to alter its hues and the result was a wide variety of photos.

A few tips and tricks:

1. Be sure to read some good articles on silhouettes, especially if you aren’t really sure about what camera settings to use.

2. Look out for distractions. In that first picture with my whole family, it would have looked a lot better if we had moved away from the big bush behind my husband.

3. Try some fun poses. My kids loved the fact that they didn’t have to smile or even look at the camera.  Because there weren’t any rules, they felt free to be silly.

4. Look for fun props you could use as part of the silhouette.  I whipped up that family banner in about ten minutes.  There are lots of other things that could be used: bicycles, large numbers, stuffed animals, and more.

5. Make sure that people don’t overlap. In the family photo where I am kissing my husband, my three year old got too close to my oldest.  The photo would have been much stronger if there was a definite outline to each person.

6. Ask a friend to come with you to take pictures.  Alternatively, you could use a self-timer or my favorite (and tool of choice), use a remote timer.  You can also invite friends to be in the photos.

7. Have fun and enjoy the memories!

We’ve done St. Patrick’s Day posts before. But there are always new and fun ideas floating around, so I thought I would share some today. The big, green day is less than a week away, so it’s time to get planning!

Before I share some ideas, I uploaded these bonus goodies for The Digi Game members last night:

You might remember how I love collecting Little Gift ideas, here are a few St. Patrick’s Day ideas:

via Kris Pattee on Pinterest original image from Caramel Potatoes

supplies: Serendipity by SuzyQ Scraps, fonts: Birthday Bash by Miss Tiina and Chubby Times by Fontologie

The recipes pictured above are:

Dianne’s Colcannon

Irish Chicken and Dumplings

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

Irish Soda Bread

supplies: Serendipity by SuzyQ Scraps, fonts: Birthday Bash by Miss Tiina and Chubby Times by Fontologie

Festive Food:

Green Salsa

Lime Pineapple Delight

Pot O’ Gold Potato Soup

More St. Patrick’s Day Recipes

via Jacque Larsen on Pinterest original image from Thoughtfully Simple

Hopefully, you found some fun ideas to spread the “Luck ‘O the Irish” to your family and friends!

And that is why I like to pass my camera off to my kids.  They see me take pictures all the time and naturally, they want to be a part of it. I used to be afraid to let them use my camera, but over time, I have seen the value in it.

Here are six reasons I let my kids have a chance behind the lens:

1. It shows them that I believe in them.  One of the best things I have read in this past year is a book called, Too Small to Ignore.  In the book, the author (CEO of Compassion International), talks about letting kids do things that seem above them.  Letting them do things you aren’t 100% sure they can do.  Letting them do things they aren’t 100% sure they can do.  This builds confidence in both directions and the child feels loved and trusted with something so important.  Letting my children hold my camera fills them with pride!

2. It lets them be a part of something I love.  Anyone with young children knows that kids love to “help” mom in whatever she is doing.  I firmly believe that we as mothers need to strive to say, “Yes!” to them as often as possible when they are young, especially if we expect them to say “Yes!” to us when they are older. I let my kids cook with me, clean with me, and yes, even take pictures with me.  Participating in things that others love is a big part of being a family.  I love taking pictures and so I want my kids to be a part of it.

3. It helps them start to appreciate the beauty around them. Photography and scrapbooking have done more for my spirit of thankfulness and gratitude than anything else in my life.  Once I started to take pictures and record memories, I was suddenly more aware of everything around me.  The birds were more beautiful.  The flowers were awe-inspiring.  The morning sunset became breath-taking.  The little dimples in my son’s chin made me gasp for breath.  I started to realize that beauty is everywhere, if only we would open our eyes and our souls.  And once I did that, my life has never been the same.  I want that for my kids.  I don’t want them to have to wait until they are adults to start noticing the beauty of creation.  And if photography can help open their eyes now, while they are still young, then I say, “Yes!”

4. It gives them practice in thinking before acting.  All people—but especially children—need some lessons in learning to think before they act. Photography is one way to practice that.  Sure, you can take a camera and click away without any thought, but I have noticed that after a while, my kids see something with their eyes that they want to reproduce on the camera. They slow down, become intentional, think, and then act. What a valuable skill!

5. I get to be in pictures once in a while.  Let’s face it.  Many of us are stay at home mothers and therefore in this season of our life, our days are spent at home with little people.  We spend many hours cooking, cleaning, reading, kissing boo-boos, cuddling, and do everything it takes to run a home.  I don’t want to let this season of my life pass by without any photos to record it.  I love passing the camera to one of the kids and letting them capture this part of who I am.

6. I get to see the world through their eyes. It is so fun to download photos to my computer and see what one of my kids has captured.  I love to see the things that they thought photo-worthy.  The subjects, the angles, and the perspective of the images gives me a tiny peak into their heart.  It says so much to me about who they are when I see what they find interesting or beautiful.

Now, before you get any wrong ideas, my kids do not have access to my camera whenever they please!  I do have rules and guidelines that they abide by. I try to ensure the following:

1. They must always ask.  If they have not gotten permission, they know they are not allowed to touch the camera.

2. They need to be taking pictures only when I am with them.  This way, I can keep an eye on them and make sure they aren’t doing something that could be dangerous to their bodies or to my camera!

3. They have to wear the neck strap at all times (I tie a knot in the back for the little ones so that it won’t be too long.)

4. They can’t use my good lens. If we are at home and they ask, I will put on my kit lens that I never use.  If we are out, I may say no if the only lens I have is my good (and heavy!) one.

5. I put the camera in auto for them (I shoot in manual).  They are too young to know anything about camera settings. Av mode would work too, as long as the lighting wasn’t going to change dramatically.

6. I teach them  how to focus and take the picture.

So what do you think?  Does the thought of passing off your camera to your kids scare you?  Excite you?  My advice to you is to take a deep breath and give it a try.  You never know what you will find!

All of these photos were taken by my children (except the header image, which was taken by my daughter’s eight-year-old  friend).  None of them have been cropped but all have been slightly edited by me (I keep my camera in full-neutral mode so added color and contrast has to be done in post-processing.)

computer doodle by Kate Hadfield (Scrapping 9 to 5)

Whenever I borrow my husband’s laptop, I can barely read the text on his screen. I’m not that old (really!) but with all the time I spend looking at a computer screen, I don’t like to strain my eyes to read the text. I usually change the factory settings on my computer for text size to make everything a little easier to see. I also use my favorite trick of enlarging a screen that has tiny text on it. I simply hold down the CTRL button on my keyboard while using the scroll wheel on my mouse to enlarge or shrink down page sizes as needed.

Here are some great resource links with instructions on how to adjust sizes:

• Microsoft tips to magnify your computer screen
• Apple accessibility options
• Maclife – enlarge text in your web browser
• Enlarge text from the Aging Initiative
• Zoom in on an iPhone and on an iPad

Did you know you can also change the size of viewable text in Photoshop programs? I was so happy to find these resources:

• Scrapper’s Guide to size matters in PSE
• Scrapper’s Guide to size matters in Photoshop

If you are having a hard time reading something on your computer screen or even an electronic device like a Kindle, be sure to check out the settings and make the needed adjustments. Your eyes will thank you!

P.S. We are getting ready to do a Digi Show podcast featuring “picks” from our listeners. We’d love to know about your favorite websites, products, apps, etc. that would be helpful to our Digi Show audience. You can submit them using the form in this link. Thanks!

There has been a lot of attention this past week on copyright issues and Pinterest. I’ve seen a wide range of opinions and posts on the subject. I think one of the most informative articles was from a fellow female techie, Greek Geek.

We’ve seen copyright issues explode since the dawn of the internet. While I agree that copyrighted material does need to be protected, I don’t want to see laws and enforcements such as SOPA to be passed either. It’s a fine line.

I believe that most of the pinning and not linking to the original source on Pinterest is innocent. It is easy to make mistakes when pinning. Just yesterday, Katie and I discovered the the pinlet I installed on my iPhone (follwing the directions in the Pinterest app) does not link to the original source. As far as I can tell, it has been happening since the last Pinterest app update. I have been carefully pinning from my iPhone for months, not knowing that the source wasn’t being linked. I’m unsure if this is just a problem with me and my phone or something others are having as well (and maybe not even know it).

I feel that most of the copyright issues found on Pinterest can be fixed with education. I decided to share some how-to tips for pinning that I’ve discovered during my time as a pinner. I believe, if each of us does our own part to watch our own pins, we can contribute to the overall health and vitality of the Pinterest ecosystem.

Not all site owners want their images pinned. How do you know if sites are okay with images being pinned? Pinterst now has some code in their help section that site owners can add if they don’t want to be pinned. If a pinner tries to pin on a site with the code, they will see a message about the site owner not wanting images to be pinned. Until people start installing the code though, the only way to know for sure is to ask. I’m going to use my own rule of thumb that if a site has a “pin it” button to make it easy to pin, they they are okay with things being pinned. As for The Daily Digi, we are okay with things being pinned, especially when pinned correctly!

There is a “proper” way to pin. Navigating to the exact page URL or source that includes the image and pinning from there, is the right way. Let me share an example:

Let’s pretend that this past Friday, I wanted to pin the main image on the homepage, here at The Daily Digi. On Friday, if you came to TheDailyDigi.com, Here’s what you saw:

Notice the URL in the address bar:

If I were to pin the main image from that Retail Therapy post, with the URL as it is now, (thedailydigi.com) then anytime anyone clicks my pinned image, it will direct them to thedailydigi.com and whatever is on the homepage at that time is what they will see. They will not know how to find the original post the image was pinned from.

The proper thing to do, would be to click on the title of that post:

When you click that post title, it will put a direct URL to that specific post in the address bar:

Now, if you pin the image from there, when people click on the image you pinned, they will be directed back to the original post.

Feel free to practice with the image from today’s post

Before you repin, check to be sure the pin links to the original source. As much as possible, pin and repin directly from the owner. Sometimes, people will grab an image from Pinterest, put it on their site and link back to the source. Just go to the original source and pin from their. Try to give credit where credit is due.

If an image has a copyright symbol and/or “All Rights Reserved” it probably shouldn’t be pinned. This is often seen on Flickr. I know that many people upload to our Flickr group to share their layouts with others. I know that there are designers that require team members to upload layouts to our Flickr group with their product. I also know that most of those people would delighted if I pin their layouts.

If in doubt, ask. If you are in doubt about site, person, or images being Pinterest friendly, ask.

If you would like something to add to your own blog or site to let people know that you are a Pinterest friendly site and you are okay with pinning, I made this image to share:

The numbers in this post and the alpha in the feature image can be found in Vicki Stegall’s store.