Lettergirl

Saving recipes.

What to make for dinner...hmmm...  Honestly, my day goes so much better when I know what we're having for dinner.  Later in the week I'll bring up old favorites, but for today here's how I organize ideas for something new.

 

I have two three ring binders nestled in with the cookbooks.  Are they pretty?  Not really.  Are they workhorses?  Oh yes.

The black binder is for everything savory and the red binder is for everything sweet.  Every time I find or am given a new recipe, I put it in the binder.  (Truth be told, I literally put it in the binder -- not in any order, just in a stack in the front.  A few times a year I go through the stack and file them.  At the same time, I throw away any recipes that I realize were just wishful thinking.)  Each binder has categories:  appetizers, breads/sandwiches, salads, soups, side dishes, main dishes, breakfast, drinks;  desserts, cookies, candy, kids. 

Each section looks like this:

 

 

 

a tab divider + a section for full pages + a plastic sleeve for the small bits (including ideas from magazines and recipe cards from friends)

I hope you have your dinner already planned for tonight!

Photos, part two.

Yesterday I described how I store my photos to enjoy them, organize them for scrapbooking and save them for special projects.  Now we're going to skip ahead to where I store the photos at the end of the year. 

I scrapbook a bit here and there during the year, using photos from my two albums.  At the start of next year, though, I'll be ready to reuse my two photo albums for 2009 pictures...what to do with the leftovers from 2008?  Yes, I could just have more photo albums and keep adding to them.  But my goal is to keep things simple.  Two albums at a time, that's it.

I might pull out a few pictures that I know I still want to include in the previous year's scrapbook. I might pull out a few for the special accordion folder I described yesterday.  I might save a few to pass on to friends.  The rest are (gasp!) thrown away or stored in two photo boxes, sorted by (wait for it) categories.  Did I ever mention my back-up career is library science?

The box idea really began years ago, thanks to my sister Lisa.   Her oldest is about six years older than my oldest, so he was just starting school when my daughter was born.  Lisa told me to save photos of my daughter in a special box because she would be needing them for school projects and wouldn't it be great to have them set aside already?  So I did just that...and then some. 

One weekend about five or six years ago, I stayed up late sorting all my old photos, everything.  I made some category cards and divided my photos into two boxes.  I can't count all the times I've gone to these boxes and found just what I was looking for.  I made an ABC album for my mother-in-law on Mother's Day a few years ago, found everything I needed in the boxes.  I make graduation albums for my nieces as they graduate from high school and have found old photos in under five minutes. 

It does take a weekend (or more) of focused work to get these boxes together, but it really is amazing how much time (and frustration) they save later on.

I've got a little more organizing for you later this week, and a project coming up for the weekend.  Happy Tuesday!

Organize your photos.

Another week of organizing tips!

As I've said before, I'm a girl with many hobbies.  I don't want to spend all my time on any single one of them.  I enjoy keeping scrapbooks -- for my kids and for me.  I try to keep my photos organized as I go along, so I can enjoy them before they're scrapped and so I can enjoy my scrapbooking time more (more scrapbooking, less confusion). 

Where and how often you get prints made is a whole other story.  So let's just assume you have a stack of prints in hand.  What next?

I keep two 2-up photo albums for storing my photos.  One is for everyday photos and one is for travel photos.  I throw a card in the first 4x6 slot as a title page.  Again, neatness is not the goal here!  (The flip side of that card says 2005/2006 everyday photos....)  As I get photos printed, I put them in the album.  I try to group things together -- all F'sbirthday photos together, all the Easter photos together.  If I think I'll be adding a few more photos to a subject later, I might leave a blank page or two.  (For example, I take photos a few times a year at my kids' schools -- a few of the room, a few of friends, a few of my child with his/her teacher.  They're taken at different times of the year, but I like to keep them together anyway.)  Most are just random photos, everyday life.  Sometimes I run out of room & have to add holiday photos to the back of the travel photo album!

There are two things I really like about this approach:  first, I don't feel compelled to put the photos into a scrapbook immediately.  They're already in a place that's accessible if we want to see them. Second, I like to scrapbook the real moments of our lives, not just events.  By having my photos in an album, I usually make connections I might have missed:  a photo of F in a sleeper at age 18 months reminded me of a photo of J in the very same sleeper at almost the very same age.  I might have missed it if I hadn't let the photos linger in the photo album for awhile.

A few photos don't make it into the regular photo albums.  I have another little accordion file where I store photos for special future projects:

I have tabs for many different potential future projects (emphasis on potential).  The house next door to us has been more or less vacant for the last six years.  It was purchased last spring and the new owners are working on an addition and some amazing landscaping.  So there I am with my camera taking "before" photos, so that when they finally finish the project, I can give them a before/after type gift.  I also have tabs for my kids' oldest friends.  (Lisa, spoiler alert:  stop reading here.)  Someday I will make a retrospective album of their relationships (awesome gift for confirmation or graduation).  I even have a tab for photos of my daughter sleeping -- you never know when that will come in handy!

Tomorrow:  what to do with all those leftover photos.  Thank you so much for your sweet comments and encouragement everyone.  Kristan, I will keep my fingers crossed for you!

There's more.

Yes, there are still more ways I organize my creative ideas.

When we go up to our airstream trailer for the first time each spring, I bring along a grocery bag full of old magazines.  I've gone through several years of Family Fun, Bon Appetit, and American Patchwork & Quilting, and I'm now working my way through 16 years of Martha Stewart Living and a few odd copies of Home Companion, Quilting Arts, Threads, and Somerset Studio. 

Of course for me, part of the fun was making the folders (more categories!).  I always start out by going through the folders and tossing anything I don't want anymore.  I can usually go through a few magazines while sitting outside watching the kids playing.  Relaxing is just a little bit not my thing, so purging my stash of magazines while hanging out in the great outdoors is a good compromise for me.

Back at home, I am always energized to try a few of the things I discovered over the weekend.  And during the year, I always know right where to go to find games for the kids' birthday parties, books to reserve at the library, and restaurants to try.

Next week I'll share my organizing tips for photos & scrapbook memorabilia.  Have a great weekend!

More ways to organize your organizing.

I always seem to have more ideas than I have time for.  Enter The Idea Journal.  I write down whatever ideas I have -- from patches for my jeans to quilts for the cabin.  It's very satisfying to get my creative thoughts down on paper.  I seldom travel without my idea journal, a small case of watercolor pencils and a paintbrush. 

Neatness is definitely not important here.  Here are some of my scribbles for a quilt I made for our airstream trailer:

And here's the (almost) finished quilt:

Step Two.

Before we go further with the list, there is another list I need to get off my chest.  All the things I do, the choices I make, are informed by a few basic principles:

I love making stuff.

I believe that just because I love making stuff does not entitle me to make whatever stuff I want.

I wish everyone who wanted to make stuff could make stuff.

(I'm pretty sure I've used the word "earnest" to describe myself.  It fits here, no?)

So, back to Monday....  First I made a list of all the things I want to do.  I noted the items I was already doing.  (I wrote "DO!" next to them, as in "Hooray for me!"  A * would work nicely for normal people.)  Then I made another list -- of categories I could divide my first list into.  Most of the items on my original list fit into the following groups:

• traditions
• family
• marriage
• home
• correspondence
• personal

You might use some of these, you might have others.  I suggest keeping the categories to six or less, so you can keep better track of them.  (Plus, you may end up having some sub-categories, which could get a little overwhelming if you're not focused on the big picture.)

I was glad I'd written my original list in the front of a notebook, because I was able to use the subsequent pages for my categories.  I wrote a category at the top of each page, and then under it:  Do and Do More.  For example:

Again, I lived with the list for awhile before making any changes.  We all make choices, and those choices can be narrowed by our circumstances -- my need to live creatively fits inside a life with two kids, a very old house, and a 16-year-old small business.  Some days I only have time to dwell, not do.  So I let the list sit for awhile.  I eventually added Do Later for the things that weren't as important to me, or were more difficult to fit into my current life.  (Mailing baked goods once a month to surprise friends is an awesome idea...but not one that's going to happen anytime soon.  I'm okay with that!)

Go back to your list.  Divine some categories.  Give yourself a * for what you're already doing.  Then go for a walk, see if the peonies are blooming yet, make dinner and forget about the list until tomorrow.  (Yes, there's more!)

Make a List.

I'm hoping to share quite a few ideas in this blog for everyday creative living.  (And by creativity, I don't really mean making stuff.)  If you're reading this, you're a past customer, a friend, family...you already know that I try to nurture creativity in my little world:  I keep scrapbooks, I exercise, I send holiday cards, I use the library -- all are conscious choices I've made.  When I focus, I can do more/enjoy more/relax more (though I'm better at doing than I am at relaxing).  Here's how I got started:

Step One
Years ago I started a list of "Things I'd Like to Do."  I kept it in a notebook so I could add to it over time.  My initial thought was just to get all the ideas floating in my head down on paper so I wouldn't forget them.  My list looked something like this:

• decorate the house seasonally with pillows, wall hanging, hand towels, flag, etc.
• send an annual Thanksgiving card
• keep scrapbooks for the kids
• sew for myself
• get regular haircuts
• help at church
• have a collection of stories we read only at Christmas
• have a welcoming guest room
• send thank you notes

Forest was a baby, Juliet was a toddler, I was trying to keep my business going, we had just moved into this house, and apparently just remembering to get my haircut was something I had to write down.

I included things I was already doing as well as things I've been wanting to do for awhile.  I lived with the list for a couple of years before I did anything more.  I reviewed it a few times a year and added to it occasionally (get into a housekeeping routine, read chapter books aloud, stop talking about money).

Now...go start your list.  Write five things or five pages.  Be exhaustive.  Pat yourself on the back.  Remember what you dreamed as a kid.  (I did actually dream of having a welcoming guest room.)  Tomorrow I'll help you turn that list of miscellaneous ideas into a plan of action!

P.S.  Congrats to Kristan, who wins a book from me!