For a number of years now I have kept tear sheets from magazines in a few three ring binders that are my inspiration books.
I enjoy a good magazine like everyone else, but one day I realized I was taking more time and effort turning pages than getting to the morsel in the middle that I was really wanting to turn back to.
You know that feeling that I'm talking about? I've seen people in the shop do it a million times. You sheaf through a new book or magazine to give it the ooooh! test. If it doesn't pass, you don't buy.
What I have made for myself is page after page of Ooooooooooh! The criteria for my notebooks is to have no single page that does anything less. Nothing mediocre. Just the sweet center.
My pretty pictures give me a lift like few other things can. I have so many pages now in a few notebooks that I can "forget" a little bit of what I have, and still get new pleasure from my browse session. Sort of like seeing a favorite movie over again. Without commercials!
I have loose categories that I add to all the time. One is garden style interiors, and another is outdoor patio and garden ideas.
Yet another is filled with designers that have similar styles that I love. This photo is slipped into the clear sleeve of the front of my notebook and tells me that Sue Balmforth of Bountiful, Rachel Ashwell, and Cath Kidston pages are all inside. I have visited Sue and Rachel's shops, but I have yet to get to Cath's shop.
I also love good advertising, and have a number of tear sheets from RL ads which are always spectacular. I was hoping that his HUGE coffee table book would have more of THIS! But instead there are a lot of pictures of just RALPH, and the book is pretty fashion focused. Boo hoo!
Now that my kids are grown, I think my inspiration books would be the first thing I would scoop up in a fire! HA!
If ever I need an idea to kickstart a project, I pick up one of my notebooks. This photo comes from my all white collection. As does the following one.
I have many articles from shops I still want to visit. And articles about shopkeeping are part of my inspiration too.
And a lot is just pretty, pretty, pretty.
It's been a while since I had a good session! I think I'll have to get going now!
Thanks so much for stopping by my little corner of the world! Ciao! for now!
Jacqueline
I'm joining Show and Tell Friday at Cindy's Romantic Home,Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursdays,
A Few of my Favorite Things for Favorite Things Friday,
and Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday!
I love your books. I have one too, it is called my wish book. It is filled with lots of pretty things too.
ReplyDeleteI too have pulled out pages from magazines that inspire me or to just dream but I have yet to put them all in a book....great idea.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea! I do the same thing with recipes that I save, and have all organized by category. Now I think I will have to borrow your idea! I picked up a stack of old Romantic Homes magazines at a yard sale last summer, and I can't bear parting with them, even though I hate the thought of them taking up room in the house! So now I know what to do with them! :)
ReplyDeletei can't tell you how much i love your blog...it's a real inspiration to me. i have assembled notebooks much like yours. mine are called "the wow factor".
ReplyDeleteI love your idea!!!! I've done the same...tear out pages; but then they all wind up somewhere in a box. I'm going to start some "Inspiration Books" just like yours! Thanks so much, Yvonne :)
ReplyDeleteOh you are so organized! I have binders.. and piles of ripped out pages, every blue moon I sort through the mess!
ReplyDeleteHey you can't send your heat here anymore! 95 today... eeeek! You said you were born in the summer and you like the heat, I was born in the winter and not so much (although it was L.A. and there really are no seasons there)!
Bella
Love this! Your inspiration books look fabulous. I just love your blog it is so full of great looks and ideas! I am honored you have my link on your blog. Not many people have put it on their site. It may be because it is not working very well. I may have fixed it. I seem to at least get a feed. I am not sure why it doesn't go straight to my website, but thank you for having it and maybe now it will work.
ReplyDeleteSherry
Oh, everything looks so inviting!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog...
Thank you for sharing~
Leticia
Ha! Guess what I am doing this weekend? I am so stealing this idea! It is great, and will save me space...and clutter!
ReplyDeleteLike you I too have pulled out pages from mags and also printed out beautiful articles and photos from the webs.. and I do the same for recipes.. and don't we feel great going tru all the pulled outs that we keep.. at the corner with ice tea next! :-)
ReplyDeletehave a great weekend!
Beautiful inspiration books!
ReplyDeleteI love RL ads. I also wish his book had been more "home".
Have a wonderful weekend!
I have the same collection of inspiration books! When winter is about to set in I usually pull them out to help guide my next project!
ReplyDeleteI have been keeping inspiration binders for years now. I agree that it's the best way to save what you love without having stacks and stacks of magazines, although I have that too.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Susan and Bentley
xxoo
Such beautiful things! Your posts are always so wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by my blog today...I updated the post to name the dishes. I had no idea!! Have a great day!
Machelle
You have all your inspiration done up so pretty! You must be more organized then me.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your weekend,
Carolyn
What a fantastic idea, you're so organized! Your blog is lovely BTW:)
ReplyDeleteI thought I was the only nutso who collected these! Now I have something dignified to call them, thanks to you! :O)
ReplyDeleteI looove your idea, I have a few pages I've kept mainly of gardens I've fallen in love with, but I've been inspired by so many gorgeous homes, I should do the same thing too! Thanks for sharing! Debbie @ Cottage Hann~Me~Downs
ReplyDeleteI keep my favorites in the same way. Started long ago when the magazines were overtaking the house.
ReplyDeleteNow when I have a project or a show to do and feel uninspired I just get out my books and within minutes I am ready to go. xo Joan thepottingshed-anythinggoeshere.blogspto.com/
Lovely !!! I've done something quite similar and have multiple inspiration notebooks that are actually quite elaborate, more like scrapbooks. Filled with eye candy and nothing else. Check out my blog archives from 11/5/08 to see how I've put mine together. Let me know what you think of mine.
ReplyDeleteI also have an inspiration filled binder which I look at frequently. I have had this book for years and it is fun to see how my style has changed and what rooms I still love many years later.
ReplyDeleteHugs, Sherry
I'm not nearly organized enough for that! lol Most of my inspirations are online, and I have folders and folders of bookmarks. I love your books though. So easy to just flip through whenever you like!
ReplyDeleteOh My! Such wonderful organization! I've been taking pages from magazines for so long, it would be a monumental task for me to do this, but what a wonderful idea, and how beautiful your notebooks look. I also love the way you style your photographs. laurie
ReplyDeleteAren't the Ralph Lauren advertisements just some of the best and most inspirational??!! I have some in my ideabooks too...
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do periodically edit the books, some clippings are going back to 2000. It's nice to rediscover how styles have changed...
Great idea to share at BNOTP for MM! (I'm #130) Nice to meet you...
Lynda
nyclq-focalpoint.blogspot.com
I do the same thing! I have oodles of mags and then I rip out the good stuff and file to the right binder. I file by window treatments (because I make them), gardens (because i love them) kitchens, baths, and basic interiors.
ReplyDeleteI have saved so many magazines and pages from magazines I may soon have to move! Just kidding but it's so nice to always have a dream file to be inspired by. You are the link behind me on "Between Naps on the Porch"
ReplyDeleteNancy