My idea book

Mar3

This blog is my idea book. I have tried tearing out pages and organizing in folders. Just a mess and I have found when I tear out pages they get lost. So then I went to the “keep all good magazines and keep them intact” route which really stacks up, literally. How do you keep track of ideas that inspire from magazines and blogs?

I still love the idea of fab resource books. Even this amazing woman (pictured below in all her fab-ness) has them, she mentioned here, on the Skirted Roundtable..I imagine they are filled with elaborate drawings and beautifully scripted notes, not just tattered magazine pages and sketches on old birthday napkins! Maybe one day I will have the time to work on really great resource books!

Until then my version is much less sophisticated but very functional. It is my blog. If I post an image here of something fab, like this house I do NOT want to forget, then I have it here where I can find it..no more digging through my piles. Soooooo to those who might feel critical when you visit my blog or others and you think “all they post is photos of others’ work and never their own ideas” well maybe that is because the function of a blog for many is a place to not only diary your life and work but also a place to highlight ideas and things that inspire. Just a way of keeping track and we share with you in case you might be interested too… It is a great resource for readers and clients to be able to go to a “living with kids” or “paints” category and see several posts and images from myself as well as ideas from around the blogosphere.

Like these frames from Classically Amber..I could post and repost images of frames I have hung empty in my home and others but I would much rather show this..fresh and new to me..something I just discovered ,via a friend! I love how tight this arrangement is hung on the wall!

So now it is your turn, how do you keep track of your ideas and clippings, whether in real life on online???

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9 Comments

Comment by kelly — March 4, 2010 @ 6:24 am
I THANK you for posting ideas from others…it is inspiring and saves me having to search everywhere for the ideas. My storage system – beautiful storage file boxes – the nice decorative ones- that I keep on a shelf in my closet. They hold folders full of torn out magazine photos – sorted by style and room, but I also have every single issue of Coastal Living magazine since they first began. Too many ideas to file! I keep them inside a large piece of furniture. So I guess I have a “combo” storage system.
Comment by Katie — March 4, 2010 @ 7:29 am
I have been working on my own style file…complete with paint ideas, pictures (both drawn – badly I might add/not an artist – and pulled out of mags), swatches of fabric, and so on. With two babies, it is hard to find time to sit and pour over an actual book and put it together and look at it, and, Shoot! carry it anywhere! Haha! So right now, I have a binder with a little bit in it, and the rest is in a big vintage picnic basket beside my bed…I just pitch stuff in there as I find it….hopefully to be organized one day…. ;o) I love looking at people’s blogs who have the same eye for things like I like that post inspiring pictures…wherever they come from! There are about four blogs that I read that that is mostly what they post, and they are on my daily read list.
Comment by Ashley — March 4, 2010 @ 3:30 pm
When I was planning my wedding I tore photos from magazines and glue-sticked (or stapled, or taped) them into a full sized hardback notebook as I found them. But it wasn’t very organized, and they fell out alot from toting it around. But it really helped my family and bridal party see what the big picture was.
I haven’t started a book yet for my house-stuff. But when i see something i like in a magazine now, I actually snap a photo of it and put it on my computer with images I’ve found from online. The filing system isn’t very good. Right now I have “house” “clothing” and “gifts”. Very broad categories. haha. But I started snapping photos because sometimes I would find things in old library books (can’t tear those pages!) or my MIL’s older magazine stash. I always intend to get a better system going….but who knows!
Comment by ashlina — March 4, 2010 @ 4:34 pm
i love that art wall with just the frames…wow. great idea
Comment by ClassiclyAmber — March 4, 2010 @ 9:24 pm
Oooh, thank you so much for sharing my site! I saw the links coming in to my website and had to come right over to check it out. Your blog here is lovely and I’m definitely adding it to my favs so I can keep checking back in. Be blessed~! <3
Comment by Janice Ratliff — March 5, 2010 @ 12:37 am
I had twenty years worth of “favorite” looks an ideas on a large file basket but never seemed to go through them. Now I take a photo or scan if I see something on line or in a blog….I click on the photo and save to my favorite files!! Houses, baby gift, yards, cool floor plans….and now I have them were I can share with clients. Digital is the way to go! Better than in a file, I can see on my big computer screen!
Comment by Melissa — March 22, 2010 @ 3:50 pm
I use a huge photo album that I have filled with about 200 pages of sheet protectors! They work perfect to corral all the pages I have torn out of magazines in one place. I just discovered your blog & in fact the BHG article on YOUR home is in my idea book too!!!
Comment by Paula — March 22, 2010 @ 4:21 pm
I am so grateful to Hyacinth and Pioneer Woman for turning me onto your gorgeous and inspiring blog … LOVE the blog as idea/resource book and can’t wait to keep going deeper into your posts … thanks for doing what you do so well!
Comment by erin@{string} — March 22, 2010 @ 8:49 pm
my blog is MY idea book, too! and i LOVE yours! my mom sent it to me after finding it via the PW. keep up the good work!