avidcrazyquilter Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I find 100's of ideas of mini's I would like to try to make by hand on this forum, on the net, eBay, you name it. There are so many it is hard to keep up with them. I was wondering how everyone keeps track of all the ideas and pictures they find, how do you organize them so you can find them when you are ready to try it out? Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nechee Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I put everything I find on the internet in my favourites. I have a folder in there that is just for mini stuff. That way I can find it when I want it easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackiem Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I usually print out everything and put in a notebook. I started doing this with my quilting after finding something I wanted to get back to, and when I did get back to it, the site would be gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caseymini Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 For internet, I have the same as Kathie. For 30 years of ideas from other sources, I have files and scrapbooks. The scrapbooks aren't the fancy kind. They are some that I just fill by kind of room or needlework, rugs, curtains and other how-to ideas I have 6 really big ones almost full. They are filled with all kinds of rooms and architecture cut out of magazines. The files are for things like paintings etc. that I cut out of magazines and catalogs that I don't want to glue into the scrapbooks. I will use these eventually in mini scenes. I enjoy taking a scrapbook and just sitting down and looking at it for ideas. The nice thing about them is they are all to my taste, not like magazines that you have a few pages that hit your eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuntDee Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I have a folder in favorites labeled 'miniatures" and I save sites to that folder. for other things I have a large 3 ring binder with plastic sleeves in it. I cut out any hints I find in magazines and store in the sleeves. For hints from the groups I belong to I usually print out and store in that book. If I find a magazine picture I like of a room I cut it out and label it.."living room ideas for Garfield." or for a room box or something like that. I have many Dollhouse Miniature magazines on the shelf in my work room, but it is so time consummng to thumb thru them all whenever I am trying to remember where I saw a hint I am slowly going thru those and cutting out the hints and projects and putting in the binder. Rita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liggysasha Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I've been wondering the same thing lately! I've got so many websites, bits of paper etc. all over the place! My websites are pretty organized in My Favorites - Mini Stores, Mini Blogs, Mini Printies, Mini Tutorials, Mini Historial etc. So I can easily find the websites I like. I also change the title of the website when I bookmark it, to something that I will remember - rather than, for example, 'Fayzerplace', I've changed it to 'Roombox Gift Bags'. I need to do something with all the paper though. I like the idea of folders. I'm going to have to dig through our study now to find some!!! What about a notebook for writing ideas/brainstorming? Does anyone do this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenC Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I keep a folder in my favorites too, but I download the web page and/or save any pictures to my computer, plus copy and paste text into a word pad file if it's something I really, really want. Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Minis Dollhouses Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I make a folder in my computer called Dollhouse Ideas and I put everything in there. Links, pictures, color schemes, notes, the whole thing. Then I zip it in a zip file and whenever I want to find something, I unzip it and there it is. I sometimes make folders inside of that folder titled after whatever house I want the idea for and put the ideas in there. I can relate about 100s of ideas. It can get crazy sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caseymini Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Forgot to say, when I start a new project(house, building, roombox) I start with a "Planning pad". These are available just about everywhere. They are a quadruled 81/2" X 11" pad. With one of these in hand, I have combination notebook, and a place to draw up plans. Being quadrule, 4 squares to the inch, it make drawing up plans easy. Every square is 3" in 1/12 scale. Some of the pages from my projects are shown on my blog. There is no rhyme or reason to the planning pad. I draw up scale drawings of furniture, rooms and patterns inside. I make notes and lists of what I am going to do. Some get crossed out as I go and others get added. This way everything is in one place when I go to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixiedrea Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I'm just not organized enough to do any of these things. I just take the idea right then and there or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Med Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Being new to miniworld I don't have a stash of ideas that have mounted up over time but I am having difficulty getting organised. I have been housebound after an op (except when hubby drives me - insurance doesn't cover me for 2 weeks post op) so many of my purchases have been via the internet. I keep a folder of things I have ordered and today I went over it checking that I had everything that I have ordered and found: 1 order that I didn't recognise, no website address, no references except catalogue numbers. I dropped an e-mail to the seller who has confirmed its on its way and I think I now know what it is (guessing though) I was checking this site only last night and nearly ordered the stuff again. I also found that I have ordered the same things twice from different sites so I'll be doubled up on some electrical supplies. I'm not too worried about this as I can reuse. What I am worried about is my memory and organisational ability. Aw well it comes to us all in time I guess - dotty old bird. Jo X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinee Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I use a binder with looseleaf paper and 3-holed pockets. When I get a new "big" idea that is going to be a project I"m starting in the near future, I make a tab for it and put my notes in that tab and pictures, printies, printed pictures, etc., in the folder. Then any other "someday" ideas go into a tab called "future projects". In each tab on the looseleaf paper I jot down notes, ideas, color schemes, solutions to solve construction problems, materials to get, etc. I like the looseleaf paper/folder system so I can take only the page or two I need to the store if I'm buying supplies, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynette Smith Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I have one of those old fashioned composition notebooks which have the pages stitched, so that it doesn't fall apart where I jot ideas and sketch little visuals when necessary. I have other notebooks on other subjects in spiral bound notebooks and they get messy looking, so I went for the stitched variety and have been very happy with it. The computer has pictures I've scanned from books, and I have file folders of ideas torn out of magazine, stored in a small file cabinet next to the computer. The online material is saved under favorites, except for a few favorites which I've saved to the computer. My dollhouse books are all together, with separate sections for needlework, interior decoration, architecture, and historic fashion. I use these reference books constantly! It they weren't in their individual categories I'd never be able to find the one I'm after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I'm lazy. I just c/p, save images, all in a computer folder! There are some strange things in there, but it all means something to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 After losing more sites than I care to count to spammers, etc, I also print out the projecgts I wish to save. I have 7 or 8 2" - 3" 3-ring binders I have filled with the projects I've printed off or clipped from dh miniature magazines over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corwin Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 My mind, but these are better ideas, mind you if i kept all my ideas, i would not be able to finish them all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pin1056 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 i have thousands of saved pics in folders on the computer...they were organised :lol: one day i will sort them i save websites to my ever growing favourites and rename them so i know what interested me in the first place, but theres so many its a chore to find what i want also notebooks galore....i thought i had a good system but its not working as i still cant find anything Maybe i need a day or two or three to sort the mess...hmmmmmmmmmm how exciting to find things i'd forgotten about :groucho: and it will pass the time till my spring fling flies in from Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfie Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I use a notebook to keep track of what I want to do either now or in the future. I keep notes on colors, and use it to furnish a room without actually doing it - just in my mind. I write everything down. I'm obsessed or posessed, I don't know which......have pencil will travel..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butlerestates Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I also have folders on my computer of pictures I have downloaded, bookmarked links to sites, real folders with pages printed out of instructions on how to do things. A bulletin board covered in paint swatches and the house names written on them. A scrapbook of pictures of my completed work not to mention the online galleries. You name it I got it!! :groucho: Oh and one more I almost forgot a dollhouse planner that is the size of one of those little bank calenders and it has little files for every aspect of your house that you may need to shop for it is handy but I usually forget I have it and I just throw things loose in my purse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pin1056 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Oh and one more I almost forgot a dollhouse planner that is the size of one of those little bank calenders and it has little files for every aspect of your house that you may need to shop for it is handy but I usually forget I have it and I just throw things loose in my purse :lol: this sounds fabulous!!! i NEED to get one :groucho:...then i can forget to take it too any pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avidcrazyquilter Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Wow, some good ideas. I have a favorites folders for mini's but there are so many it's still hard to find them. Guess I need to go through and sort them into smaller categories somehow. I don't know why I didn't think of the notebook idea, I have one for quilting. I think I kind of slowed down on printing things out cause printer ink is so high. I also copy some things into Word, some into email, and then save gobs of pictures. I know I need to go through and sort them all but it would take me days and gets tedious so have only done a little. I also write lots of notes but most of them get written on something that gets lost. It's hard to believe I used to be organized. No easy way out of it, I am just going to have to take time to use a notebook for all my notes to be in one place, take the time to organize all my pictures and favorites into manageable categories. When you cut out ideas and things of magazines do you just throw the rest of it away. I find that kind of hard to do with the cost of them. It just came to me I could use sticky tabs and mark pages, organizing by category. Then I can keep my mags in case my tastes change and there is something else in them I need later. Thanks for all the great ideas! Keep em coming! Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beyondbaffled Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I do a lot of things similar to those already listed. I have a favorites folder on my computer called "Miniatures" and that folder is seperated into individual folders "Dollhouses" "Miniature Pieces" "Suggested sites" (all of these are from Greenleaf - all bookmarked b/c I haven't been able to look at them all yet) "Printies" and an "Other/Various" category. In the forum itself under "my controls" I recently figured out you can track a topic and I've saved some of the really great DIY tutorials there. Unfortunately I have found that some of the printies sites suggested now are dead links so if I find some really great printies I will go ahead and save the file onto my computer or print them out immediately. I also have an excel spreadsheet where I save a list of every miniature that I would really like to have or learn how to make. I have started a seperate spreadsheet that lists everything that I have bought so far for my first dollhouse and the cost. I think it will be interesting to look back after this is all finished and see how much I really put into it. The one thing I haven't figured out yet is how to organize my actual dollhouse supplies and the miniatures that I have bought so far. I've been putting the minis in an empty drawer in my jewelry box just so they don't get lost in the shuffle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebonylocs Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 i wish i to be organized like the rest of you. i keep the ideas stored in my head, hoping that i will remember when the time comes for me to act. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avidcrazyquilter Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 i wish i to be organized like the rest of you. i keep the ideas stored in my head, hoping that i will remember when the time comes for me to act. Oh No! That would never work for me, I can't even remember my own age! I was kind of hoping someone knew a group of tiny elves that could come crawl in my computer and organize everything for me for a small fee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 When you cut out ideas and things of magazines do you just throw the rest of it away.I save ALL the how-tos, so that the only parts I toss are the ads. Because of how AM did theirs and because they're small I have saved them intact. When my sub runs out I shall go through them all & index all the articles I want to reference. I to that for each section of projects in each notebook and it makes finding a particular project quick & easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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