Thursday, March 26, 2009

Creativity sparks - ideas to inspire: ideas book

One of the key things that helps with my inspiration is my ideas book/folder/file. Just a bunch of sheet protectors in a file that I put little snippets in that I find as I go about my daily living. Then when I'm trying to come up with a new idea, I sit on the floor in my studio on my little birdie rug and flick through the pages.

The kinds of things I put in my file vary tremendously. It can be photograph showing an interesting way to use props in a photo......it can be a font I like.....it can be a saying or quotation.....it can be a picture....it can be a story...it can be song lyrics or a nursery rhyme.....it can be a sticker.....it can be anything.

Just something that catches my eye and makes me stop and look at it twice. If it is in a magazine, I'll rip it out, or online- I'll print it or else I'll write it down or photograph it.

Currently it looks like I need to organize the file a little. That's because it is seriously bulging and won't close and is tricky to flick through! I just need to put everything in either two files or one larger one...but that doesn't seem to happen. I think the disorganization of it all adds to the charm and inspiration.

Do you have a stash of goodies you look at for inspiration? Tell us about it.....

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Ruth. I do the same thing, but instead of a folder I just tack them ALL OVER a wall of my studio. Looks like a big mess, but every single thing means something.

Ruth said...

I like that idea! Surrounded by inspiration!

Easterya said...

I do the same too, I've got books of pictures/sketches and I like to revisit them every now and then...

Beth Hikes said...

YES! It's grown so large I had to buy a bug plastic tub for all my folders. I love going through the idea bin :)

Tangled Stitch said...

I have a sketch book but usually don't use it. Seems something usually pops into my head around the end of my latest project. But I do have a sketch book.

Ruth said...

Sketch books seem to depress me as I'm so bad at drawing and sketching!

We should all swop idea stashes some time!

Beaded Zen said...

I have inspiration binders. One for jewelry ideas and another just for ideas on anything...like if I like the layout, color scheme, wording, etc.

I need to go thru and update them but I have three file boxes full of binders. I need a week to tackle that =)