Saturday, March 26, 2016

The Ultimate Beading Idea Organizer

Staying organized is often a big challenge for any artist, and beaders are no different. Chances are you’ve got at least one – if not twelve – idea notebooks scattered around your home and workspace, perhaps a bulletin board covered with sketches, packets of project materials lined up for future use and collecting dust, or any number of scrambled brainstorming techniques taking up space but not being much use. It’s just what we do.

This weekend I discovered a fabulous new way to organize my life and my ideas in one place, with everything from work, blogging, and beading laid out every week. I got the idea from one of my favorite vloggers, who demonstrates a quick way to make your own custom weekly planner in her Agenda Hacks and Tips video. The stationery geek in me went a little nuts when I watched it, and I started making my own variation right away.

My Ultimate Bead Idea Planner


In my agenda, I’ve created a weekly layout that leaves plenty of room for idea sketches and allows me to make to-do lists that I can carry on from day-to-day. I never know what I’ll have the time or creative energy to accomplish in a day, so a flexible beading schedule is very important. I’ve got a spot for my day-job and appointment schedule, and everything else is dedicated to creativity. I can list my goals for the week, plus must-do lists for 2-3 day stretches. There’s also space for random idea lists, notes, and brainstorming. I’ve only done a few weeks’ worth of layouts at a time, so if I ever want to cut out and paste images from magazines and such, there’ll be space to include them.

Scrap Paper Brainstorming
Goodbye Scrap Paper!


Until now I’ve been using an ordinary pocket agenda to keep track of my timetable, but I was always frustrated that I didn’t really have the space to plan blogs or sketch out jewelry ideas when they suddenly arise. My workspace has also been constantly covered with bits of scrap paper with ideas and half-scratched out to-do lists that eventually get tossed even if I don’t finish them. I’m super excited to start carrying this book around so that I can keep my ideas rolling anytime and anywhere. The best part is that it will take a long, long time to fill up this book; I’ll be able to go back and re-think any unfinished ideas instead of losing them to the scrap paper graveyard.

What's your favorite way to keep track of ideas and projects?

Mortira

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1 comment:

  1. What a great idea! This type of journal/organizer so appeals to my sensibilities of staying organized! Thanks for sharing. This is at the top of my list...literally...for this week!

    ReplyDelete

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