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I was thinking about starting some type of inspiration binder. So often, I have a thought, or I see something that inspires me and when I sit down to create....I'm a blank page! I've tried Pinterest, but let's face it....I'm just much better at flipping through paper in front of me! lol
Do any of you have an inspiration binder, or make mood boards? If so, how do you keep, or organize it? Pics are welcome!
Yes, I call it my recipe book. I put ideas, things I want to try, things I have tried and all the measurements, sayings I like and hand drawings of cards and boxes and layout sketches. I misplaced it one time and almost lost my mind till I found it again. One hint makes tabs and organize it. I want to redo mine as it is a bit hard to find things.
I do what I call a technique card. I use a 1/4 sheet of cheap card stock and put a sample or sketch with directions listed of ideas I want to try. I do this when i see ideas in magazines, on line that are difficult to pin, and love to work along with videos. If I just pin it, I lose it when needed. I use a long file box. I confess it needs to be more organized and that will be a patio project this summer. But even so, I can find an idea to use in a few minutes.
I do best with my ideas and index of stamps, stencils, and dies on cards in file boxes-one to a card. BUT then, I am old enough to have grown up with the card catalog system at the library. I use technology also, but for efficiency, this works for me. Picture of my stamp file.
Technique cards arent fit for company.
I do what I call a technique card. I use a 1/4 sheet of cheap card stock and put a sample or sketch with directions listed of ideas I want to try. I do this when i see ideas in magazines, on line that are difficult to pin, and love to work along with videos. If I just pin it, I lose it when needed. I use a long file box. I confess it needs to be more organized and that will be a patio project this summer. But even so, I can find an idea to use in a few minutes.
I do best with my ideas and index of stamps, stencils, and dies on cards in file boxes-one to a card. BUT then, I am old enough to have grown up with the card catalog system at the library. I use technology also, but for efficiency, this works for me. Picture of my stamp file.
Technique cards arent fit for company.
I see dividers. How do you have it divided now?
I just bought a Martha Stewart Arc Notebook. I'm hoping this will keep me more organized. I'm an avid YouTube watcher before bed...this is when ideas come to me more often, so I wanted something portable I can put on my nightstand, so I can be ready to sketch something out. lol
I bought 5 dividers, so far I only have sketches and color combos in it. I'm trying to figure out how to best sort the rest of the notebook. like birthday ideas, holidays??
I find for techniques. Dividers such as backgrounds, die cuts, colors, fancy folds are good divides. Also holidays, birthday or special needs i.e masculine ideas, or events. For instance I have little need for baby or children cards so if an idea I like was on such a card, I would file it under a category that fit the technique not the subject. Hope that helps a bit. You need to know how you personally think. Take the easiest way. I find if a divider gets too thick, I can always narrow it to more separate dividers, but to start, have general categories.
I use the same general system for everything: stamps, sentiments, embossing folders, dies. Only paper , ribbon and some bling is filed by color.
I have a 3 subject notebook with card sketches, techniques, and flowers, and once I filled that up I started on a 3ring binder filled with notebook paper. If I find/make a sketch I like I either print it off and tape it in, or draw it in- and because I'm a slightly unorganized person there's no categories in the binder, just pretty much all mixed in. So that way I can be looking for a certain sketch and get distracted by another, and then I usually make the second one instead of going on and finding the one I was looking for in the first place- happens way too often...lol!
I have a few of those little 4 X 6 photo albums (the cheapo ones from the $ store or "W") that I keep with some 1/4 sheets of copy paper. I can sketch out something on the 1/4 sheet and put it in like a photo.
I've always got my iPhone with me, and I have many paper arts "Lists" in my [over 1000] "Notes" app. One list, "Cardspressions" is where I jot down sentiment ideas for cards, like this one for a friend's birthday:
"Happy 29th birthday from your 110 lb. friend," or this one for someone who's encountered a setback:
Optimist (n) someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster.It's a cha-cha. Toby Breault.
I have other lists for card class ideas, fav cards I like to make, etc.
I also take a LOT of pictures with same iPhone, and I eventually (once a year more or less - I have 1300+ on there now, and a cousin has over 3000) transfer them into a paper arts folder on my computer and a backup flashdrive with pictures relating to paper arts, card images, organizing ideas, color combinations. It's like my own "Gallery" for ideas when I want to run my eyes over ideas for inspiration. The lists are for my mental ideas and the pictures are for my visual ideas.
I keep a 5x7 notebook (now have 2), where I jot down techniques, tips, products and simple "how-to's" when I am watching videos, or demo's, or pick up ideas from all of you.
It is random, but it works for me to quickly go through and find what I need. If I buy the product, or have used the technique, tip..I put a red pen check mark next to it.
I also have Pinterest boards for various items and I also have an "Inspiration" (8.5x11)
box that I cut out things, print items, jot down quotes, sayings, tear things from magazines and toss in there. Lots of inspiration..little time!!!
__________________ Have a creative day, every day.
I'm trying to figure out what to do with cards and 8.5x11 instructions for classes I take at LSS's. I also have instructions for mixed media projects, though the projects themselves usually don't stay with the instructions: mini books, in a mm journal, etc.)
I'm more box/bin than binder, so maybe I should fold the paper in half, find a box and make dividers.
Though a binder with dividers and clear envelopes for cards could work. One ongoing class can generate 5-6 different types of cards in one short session, though, and that's a bunch of cards in one envelope to dig through, or lots of envelopes for one class. I think I'd fill a binder too quickly and out of sight out of mind.
I also need to come up with a way to save screenshots and ideas *without* another learning curve! lol I have too many curves as it is. (Hello Silhouette!)
I used to keep all my ideas on 4x6 index cards. I cut out pictures and ideas from magazines and glued them on the cards and then filed them by theme, as that's the way I work. I have a theme for all the cards I make in each month, and while they may all use the same stamp or kind of stamps, I made them all different, so the technique, while important, was not how I chose my inspiration. Now that we are in the digital age, I have since saved ideas by the same themes in files on my computer. I have whittled down my hard copies to two boxes made from A-2 envelope boxes cut and taped together to make them fit the storage drawer when stacked. (I used to have 7!) I am from the hard copy age and really like having the piece of paper in front of me, but with small laptops and iPads, it is almost the same. Besides, if I want to enlarge the picture to life size to get more accurate measurements, I can. I am taking up much less precious storage space now and feel fully into the technological age.
I have a 3" three ring binder that I setup with tab dividers. I use mine for card sketches, OSW templates, copics and scrapbook sketches. Everything else, I put in Evernote.
I think I'm happy with this so far. I've tried the electronic way...but I have to face it....I'm a paper and pen girl. I'll pin 3000 things but end up watching cat videos when I sit down to create if I get on the computer. Here's what I came up with.
Inspiration binder, mood boards
