Posts Tagged ‘Pinterest’

Mobile Monday ~ What’s In Your Genealogy Toolbox?

Posted: August 27, 2012 in Mobile Monday, Monday, technology
Tags: , , , , ,
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funfair mechanic

funfair mechanic (Photo credit: casper.tromp)

Remember those Saturday’s when your uncle or other male counterpart was constantly” fixing” something? Maybe he was replacing a blade on his handy, dandy, “don’t fail me now” lawnmower that is rolling on it’s last wheel. He could have been changing the oil in his truck, fixing a leaky radiator hose or any other thing he thought needed fixing! He always had a toolbox handy that had his basic necessities inside, didn’t he? Now, I’m not knocking today’s generation of women who can fix things. I make that attempt myself, although I usually do it the easy way by consulting “Google” for my easy fix!

I love the DIY (Do It Yourself) web sites and love to do the crafty things like refinishing old furniture because I see that it can still be used. I recycle! Don’t throw away what you think may be junk, may turn out to be a nice furniture piece for your parlor! One day as I was scouring the DIY pins on Pinterest, I found a unique coffee table made out of old wooden wine bottle crates! But sanded down and stained, they actually gave the room a modern but rustic ambiance to the room itself. It’s definitely on my list of “To-Do’s”! You can view the step by step here: http://diy-vintage-chic.blogspot.com/2012/05/vintage-wine-crate-coffee-table.html I heart this website! Such great ideas, especially if you like that “Vintage Chic” look 🙂 You can also follow my Pinterest page on the left sidebar at the top there is a button! Just click it and see what kind of stuff I have pinned! Pretty cool if I say so myself!

Okay. I think I have rambled endlessly about DIY stuff and that’s not what you thought you’d see coming to a genealogy blog now is it? HA! I fooled you! But seriously, back to the topic of the genealogy toolbox!

I have in my own toolbox, several apps I use and thought I would share with you the two that I use for today’s post. More to come next Monday!!

KINDLE~ OMG! I absolutely love this app! I use it on my iPhone4, yeah I don’t have the 4S with Siri who talks to me, but hey, who needs her when I have all these other apps that I love? I don’t need you Siri-sorry! But since I am a lover of reading and books, but also the more frugal “cheap” type of girl, I look for free or low cost books first. I have several genealogy books stored in my “cloud shelf” that I can read anytime I like. The Kindle app is free just in case you didn’t know. In my Kindle app, I have genealogy books that I downloaded for free, many creative writing books, some marketing, books about faeries and the fey, thrillers, and romance! My latest great read I want to share with you- the book is titled, “Forbidden Romance” and is cleanly written by Clinton Getzinger. You can check out the book and my review here: http://www.amazon.com/Forbidden-Romance-Clinton-W-Getzinger/dp/1478248084/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346088256&sr=8-1&keywords=forbidden+romance+clinton+getzinger

Evernote~ Add new notes when you get great ideas or if you want to remind yourself to make that ancestral chart for your great grand aunt that you forgot to do yesterday~ OOPS! I use this app frequently. I have created notes on genealogy blog topics I would like to read about, genealogy correspondence logs, you name it and it goes in there. What is so cool about this app to me, is the fact that you can sync the app on your iPhone to your home computer! Ahhh! How great is that? That’s not all! You can add photos to your notes to give you that creative spark that you had at that particular time, on that day. You could have been walking your dog in the park and an idea just popped in your mind that you don’t want to take the chance that you may forget later. This is why I use this and guess what? IT’S FREE!

What genealogy apps do you use? Please comment below! I would love to find a new app that I haven’t seen or heard of!

Thanks for visiting and “Happy Monday” to you!!

Thrifty Thursday ~ Historypin

Posted: July 11, 2012 in Family
Tags: , , , , , , ,
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Pinterest

Pinterest (Photo credit: KEXINO)

Historypin! What is it? It’s like a Pinterest for history and genealogy buffs! Instead of pinning pictures from various web pages, you pin channels instead. The channels hold everything you pin within that channel category. The channels you create can be customized however you like. It differs from Pinterest in a way that absolutely surpasses anything Pinterest has done so far. There is a tab at the top of the page entitled, “Maps”; I was curious to see what it did when I went to it, thinking it’s just a map of users who happen to use the site right? No way! Yes, it is a map but it’s so much more than that, it displays images and pins on that map that are clickable where you can see what someone has pinned and from what location it was pinned. Vintage photos from all over the world can be seen, you can upload video and audio content and you can even search by keyword if you are looking for anything in particular.

Historypin also has collections and tours that can be viewed or you can make your own. The collections, tours and photos are by museums, National Archives, Universities, and people from just about anywhere in the U.S. and abroad. The part I love most about this web page is the fact that Historypin is all about connecting people by the millions, who have a history that they want to share. Be it stories passed down from generation to generation, old photos of family or places, or archival objects such as antique photo albums that probably sat up in a dilapidated box, in a dusty, dirty attic with rats scurrying around up there. Yuck! It’s time to pull all your forgotten memoirs from your past ancestors, out of the attic and share their history with other genealogy buffs and professionals. We consider stuff like this to be an actual gold mine of sorts. A true treasure to behold.

What I wouldn’t give to walk into an old, abandoned house that my ancestors may have owned at one point, go up in the attic and see if anything was left behind! What would you do if you find something that they owned before you were even thought of? To imagine them holding it in their hands or using the item. It could be furniture, a cedar chest full of treasures of their day, a cameo, a family Bible, a daily journal or even an old, yellowed newspaper.

In conclusion, Historypin has a channel that gives these items in your attic a home. Not only can it be used as an educational tool, but it can be shared, learned from, seen by hundreds of thousands of people and build a more thorough understanding of the history of your ancestors or even someone else’s! What are you waiting for? Go check out these channels and pin some of your history! If you love Pinterest, you’ll love Historypin even more!

Do you have a web site or blog? Historypin has an embed tool where you can add your channels to a map on your site! Cool yeah?

Link: http://www.historypin.com/

I almost forgot! There’s a mobile app too! Historypin works on your Android, iPhone, and Windows phone 7 🙂