Have you ever been somewhere and thought of a Wonderful Idea? One that you wanted to attempt...but of course you were in the middle of a grocery store, at work, dinner with friends, on a nature hike, half asleep, waiting in the dentist office...or any number of other places that would prevent you from immediately starting on said Idea? If not then I congratulate you...for myself however, that is usually when I come up with my best ideas...that and when I am washing dishes! As a result I have a thousand scraps of paper Everywhere! I put them in my stash (usually with the type of craft it was for...though one time I found a bunch of beading ideas tucked into my book-making supplies!), in my purse, on my desk, trapped under a magnet on my fridge...I tend to put them somewhere "safe" after writing them down and then not move them to my crafting area a lot of the time. Sometimes the Idea is SO Wonderful that I remember it long after I scribbled it down...but a lot of times I write it down and then forget it...so this lack of organization becomes very counterproductive. And for me that is highly annoying.
How does a habitually disorganized woman become more organized? Well, not overnight that is for sure! And honestly...most of the time I am just not any where near a pen and paper...or a sketch book...when I need it...napkins, crayons, corners of newspapers, my phones calendar, Starbucks wrappers, markers...all these things are still needed to capture a rough sketch of my Idea. I just learned in fact how to use the "Voice Memo" function on my phone! Amazing...how did I live without this technology before?! Although, in all honesty...the voice memo isn't so great with things that need to be "visual" but for some things it is fantastic! So, I now have notes on that as well!
I know what all of those who are more organized are thinking...why don't I just bring a notebook and pen with me wherever I go? Such an elegant solution! And I can make my own journals so I could make it the exact size that I preferred out of paper that I adored. And yet...it is not one that has been successful for me. Of course, part of this is that when I pull a journal out a lot of times someone is like...oooh! I love that...can I have it...and I feel guilty saying "no" especially since I know it only took me about an hour to do the coptic stitch and I could easily create another one for myself at a later date. I also tend to forget that I have it or lose it. Or the pen breaks, or I will switch to a pencil to save my clothes/purse from ink stains, and the lead will bust and I will realize I should have brought a pencil sharpener as well. Once, in desperation, I used my nail file to sharpen a pencil...it was a rough day.
However, before you throw your hands up in despair over my uselessness. I agree...a single notebook is ideal--preferably one that has either graph paper or sketch paper inside rather than lined. And I also prefer the paper not to be white...I actually find it helps me think if the paper is a pale yellow shade...or a darker creamy shade of off-white. Bright white is too expectant~it waits with baited breath for you to mar it which just distracts me. I always feel like I can only put my BEST work on bright white paper...but with yellowy paper I can put my raw ideas and not worry about them being judged. Weird I know. But you have to do what feels best for you. So, how do I solve the other issues I mentioned about carrying said journal about. Simple...I don't carry it with me. It sits next to my bed on my nightstand, with both a pencil and a pen near it (in case my cat steals one of the writing utensils) that way I can write in it in the middle of the night if I wake up with an idea...and at the end of the day I can empty my pockets and purse, clean off my desk and dresser and transfer the ideas all to the notebook! I know it seems like extra work, but it is actually helpful to me. And this way I have a nice neat copy of my Wonderful Idea! And I can find it whenever I want! (Another plus!) And once I have transferred the idea I can toss the scrap in the trash! Thereby making things less cluttered overall. :]
Here is a picture of what one of my project journals looks like:
As you can see...the paper is yellowish...in this case it is very yellow-brown. And I have done this section with pencil. I like to date mine with when I start and when I finish...this particular project journal was just started in May 2013--and my first Wonderful Idea for it didn't happen until the 9th! Luckily that doesn't bother me at all. One of these journals will last me several months if I am having lots of ideas...and I have one journal that lasted me two years once! But since I mainly use it for ideas that come to me when I am not actively crafting that doesn't seem like such a big deal to me :]. Besides my goal isn't to have lots of ideas but rather to write down the ideas I do have! Not everyone can have billions of Wonderful Ideas...I can't imagine how hard that would be! When would you rest?!
You organize the idea any way that makes sense to you~after all...it is your idea...only you can organize it the best way for you! I like to have an image sketch (mice in this case) and then a list of information about my idea...in this case what materials I wish to use, some design ideas (I do think I will have to make one with a bow...too cute!), concerns (safety concerns me with these mice because I can't have my kitty getting hurt on a toy I made for him) and any alternate versions of the Idea that I might have at the time I am writing it down. For me one idea usually sparks another...and sometimes they have very little in common.
The best thing about this project journal is that when I feel antsy and I need a small project...or a project that is completely different than the one that is currently making me feel stuck...I can go to one of these books and look through them to chose a project. If I had a really great time creating a project from the book I put a "star" in a corner of the page and sometimes I will go back to the same project multiple times (like when I was obsessed with creating biscornu's). You don't need to do this of course, there are many other ways to keep your ideas organized. And I have seen some artists who don't even need things like this...it is all in their heads! (so jealous) And for years I lived with my piles of scraps without really having an issue. So, do whatever you feel most comfortable with!
Happy Creating
Seckmea
Even your project journal sketches are fun to look at!
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