Pinterest Picks: Party Inspiration for Ana + Emma

Last week, reader Ana wrote to ask for a bit of inspirational help for her daughter's upcoming 3rd birthday party. So I decided to put Pinterest to good use and made a little board of ideas for her to use when creating a memorable day for her daughter. Here's the challenge in her own words:

"My daughter is about to turn 3 in July and I have never had a proper party for her. I want this to be intimate and extremely DIY. I've been working like crazy lately but I am willing to put an extra effort to make her a dreamy party. She loves paper, color, cake, hats and is very much in love with kids magazines. The colors I'm using are creamy whites, pale pinks and golds. Could you help me with this?"

Since paper is such a readily available crafting supply with so many possibilities, I would personally choose to create the majority of my decorations using some form of paper craft. Some nice ideas would be: DIY Tissue Paper Pom Poms, DIY Crepe Paper Garlands, DIY Paper Pinwheels, DIY Cupcake Wrapper Garland, or even my tutorial for Coffee Filter Pom Poms. The DIY Floral Headband Party Favors would be a fun craft to do with the party attendees. Just pre-cut all the fabric flowers, set out a tray of buttons and sequins (maybe even some glitter), small bottles of fabric glue, and let the fun begin.

I hope this gives you some good ideas to work with Ana! I know you will create a wonderful day for your daughter! xo Ez

1. DIY Party Decor Inspiration - Lorajean's Magazine | Pinned by Lorajean 2. Clever Cupcake Holders from Real Simple, photographed by Ngoc Minh Ngo | Pinned by Ms Pink 3. Easy Ice Cream Cake - Real Simple, photographed by Marcus Nilsson | Pinned by Royanna 4. Tissue Paper Pom Pom Kit from Pom Tree | Pinned by Me 5. DIY Straw Embellishments by Lisa Storms, seen on Tip Junkie | Pinned by Lorajean 6. DIY Floral Headband Party Favors - Ruffles and Stuff | Pinned by me 7. DIY Fabric Party Hat - Momtastic | pinned by Janet

Pinterest Picks: A Wedding Board for My Sister

This past Thursday my little sister phoned and giddily told me that she will be getting married this December! Eeeee! Of course we also started talking about her vision for the wedding/reception decor (a casual but romantic DIY and budget-friendly affair) and that quickly prompted me to me start an inspiration board on Pinterest for her big day. I haven't showed it to her yet (I will be later on today), so I hope I'm not too far off track (eep). Regardless, I thought I'd share some of my picks with you. They are a bit Wintry of course, but pretty just the same (at least I think so). You can see all my picks for my sister on my board here and all my past week's Pinterest Picks here. xo Ez

1. Gorgeous Photo by Ana Santos, pinned by me | 2. Cake Flags by Nikole from Forty-Sixth at Grace, via Michelle | 3. Favor Packaging on Style Me Pretty, via Michelle | 4. Wedding Invitations by Unruly Things, pinned by me | 5. , Wedding Decor photographed by Tinywater Photography, seen on Green Wedding Shoes, via Erin.

Pinterest Picks: 05. 30. 11

Hi sweets! My Pinterest Picks this week were inspired by the tiny little blog design tweak I gave Creature Comforts over the weekend (nothing major—just more reflective of my currently favored color palette). I also have some nice posts lined up for you guys this week, including a wee gift guide for father's day and a simple but fun d.i.y. tutorial that I think you will love!

If you would like to see my previous Pinterest Picks, you can find them here. See you tomorrow! xo Ez

1. Vacation jewelry from Desire to Inspire | pinned by me
2. Coco Loveseat from Redefine Home | also pinned by me
3. Awesome Faux Letterpress Effect Photoshop Tutorial by Pugly Pixel | via Michaela
4. Gorgeous wedding bouquet photographed by Brent Van Auken, seen on The Bride's Cafe | via Jennifer

Using Pinterest to Help You Understand Your Readers/Shoppers

So by now you all know that I'm a huge Pinterest fan...right?! Well today I thought I'd share a quick little blogger or shop owner tip with you, on how you can use Pinterest to gain a better understanding of your readers/customers and what they like. The best part is that you don't even need to have a Pinterest account to put this to use!

Here's how it works: Every time an image from your blog or a product from your shop is pinned, Pinterest adds that item to a feed of all user-pinned items from your blog/shop (this does not work for individual etsy shops unfortunately). So by using this URL and substituting your URL in place of mine you can keep track of what posts/products are sparking your reader's/shopper's interest. Isn't that the sort of thing we always wonder about?! Of course this isn't perfect science (as all your readers/shoppers are not Pinterest users), but it's been a helpful little tool for me to use over the past couple months, and I hope it will come in handy for you too.

Also, it just occurred to me that this tool could be used to check in on the sort of content that is ranking well with others in your shop/blog community. For example, here's a snapshot of some recent pins from Martha Stewart. Just think of all the interesting...or should I say Pinteresting things you can discover! xo Ez

Pinterest Picks: 05. 24. 11

Hi guys! I hope your Monday has been going beautifully so far. Today I seem to be having a thing for neutrals with a pop of yellow. Maybe that's because I am missing the sun so much this dreary rainy May. I thought the April showers were supposed to bring May flowers (pouty face)!

Also, I wanted to let you know that I'm just wrapping up my Stationery Show post and will have it all ready to go for you tomorrow. There will be loads of links and picks to look at, so I hope you'll have your mouse finger primed and ready to click away.

If you would like to see my previous Pinterest Picks, you can find them here. See you tomorrow! xo Ez

1. The Beekeeper's Bible seen on Design*Sponge | via Anna
2. Gift Wrap Inspiration seen on Hege Greenall-Scholtz | via Erin
3. Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting by Honey & Jam | via Hannah
4. Streetstyle: Malene Knudsen on Stockholm StreetStyle | via Caitlin