Finding Inspiration and Organizing Those Ideas

Do you find yourself coming across great creative ideas at the most inopportune moments? Do you have trouble knowing how to store those ideas for later reference? I know I come up with ideas when I least expect it. I end up taking notes on bank deposit slips, sticky notes, envelopes from that day's mail, etc. It can then be very annoying to store all of those unorganized pieces of paper. Being the organized person that I am, I had to come up with something better than slips of paper everywhere on my desk, in my purse, and on the counter. So, here are the three things I do to find inspiration and to store those great ideas.

Sketches

Sketches can be a great source of inspiration. You can find sketches in many places: magazines, websites, kit clubs, blogs, or you may even draw your own. How do you store them for easy reference and inspiration? I keep all of my sketches in a small three-ring binder. Whenever I find sketches that I like, I size them to a 2" x 2" square. I then put them in my Quickutz storage sheets in my binder. You can also use slide protectors or baseball card holders. I sort the sketches by the number of pictures on each layout. It is very easy for me to find a sketch if I need a little inspiration. Also, on the back of each sketch I write where the sketch came from so that I can be sure to give the person credit if I use their sketch.

Notebook

Ideas can come from many places. I come across great ideas while I am in the car, shopping, or away from the house. I created a scrap notebook for jotting these ideas down. It is a 5 ½" x 4" spiral notebook and is small enough to carry with me. I purchased it at the grocery store for $1.49 and then altered it. It is very easy to jot down ideas in this notebook as I come across them. I no longer have my notes scattered around the house on bank deposit slips, sticky notes, envelopes, etc. They are now organized in this small notebook. The categories I have in my notebook include:

• Challenges
• Card ideas
• Embellishment ideas
• Titles
• Journaling notes
• Sketches/ads
• Book of Me ideas

You may want to include other topics such as Poems/Quotes/Titles, Dates to Remember, Photo Log, Wish List, and Miscellaneous. Create your own notebook to carry with you. It really does help.

Magazine Notebook

I referenced this particular notebook in another Scrapjazz article titled "Taming Your Magazine Stash." This notebook comes in handy and provides a lot of inspiration also.

So, as you can see, I have three notebooks that I use to provide inspiration. You may choose to use one notebook or more than three. Find ideas that work for you, and I hope that you will share your great ideas on the message board.

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