This plugin gives the look of a magazine-style website with thumbnails and excerpts in a clean layout. Thumbnails are generated automatically, and there is a settings page to set an unholy amount of options. (Really, it’s out of control and I’m sorry.) The latest release also has a “featured post” add-on so you can specify any post you want or just the most recent one to be put in the featured post box. You can also add a css popup for the image that includes the post title and 
Are you using Thesis from DIYThemes.com? Easily place your Recent Visual Posts by simply inserting your desired Thesis hook on the settings page. No code changes needed.
This plugin uses a slightly modified version of the excellent Image Extractor plugin found at <a href="https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/image-extractor/" rel="ugc">wordpress.org/extend/plugins/image-extractor/</a>.
<h3>I need more help!</h3>
Make sure you check out the <a href="http://oktober5.com/visual-recent-posts-plugin/" rel="nofollow ugc">plugin homepage</a>. If you need my help, check out the <a href="http://oktober5.com/forums/" rel="nofollow ugc">plugin forums</a>

Visual Recent Posts

Displays your recent posts with auto-generated thumbnails and excerpts; also includes a featured post and popup box option.

iandbanks

Feature Me CTA Widget is a simple widget that allows you to turn any page or post on your website into a call to action (cta).It pulls the pages and posts from the WordPress database and allows a user to choose one to display an excerpt and featured image in a widget area. Use this widget to feature prominent articles, or promote actions on the website.
IT’S EASY TO USE. If your theme uses widgets, you can use Feature Me. Just select the post or page you want to feature in any widget area, customize some preferences and save. Done.
IT SAVES TIME. Forget about endless sticky posts. With Feature Me, you won’t waste your time swapping out sticky 
posts to display your posts and pages in a prominent location. When you use Feature Me, 
you there is no need to code a featured page on your website ever again.

Feature Me – CTA Widget

A simple widget that allows you to feature any page or post on your website.

Visual Recent Posts vs Feature Me – CTA Widget