I receive subscriptions to different magazines for birthday and Christmas gifts and I keep all 12 months of the year piled neatly to refer back to. Guests can also thumb through the many issues if they don't have that magazine at home.
At the end of the year, I go through all the magazines and tear out all the pages I love or need for future inspiration.
To store them, I take clear plastic protector sheets from the office supply store.
The sheets work great in a 3 ring binder.
Just slip each page into a protector.
Now you can refer to your inspiration book at any time.
Categorize each notebook or section for Christmas, Kitchens, Sewing, Crafts, Recipes etc...
This notebook is the "Flintstone" version of my Pinterest account. Pinterest is a "virtual" inspiration notebook. When you see something you like on the Internet, you "pin" it into your own personal inspiration file.
Click HERE if you'd like to see my Pinterest account. You can also click the red "P" on my side bar. I add new things to that everyday. It is quite addicting. If you've joined Pinterest, follow me and then I can follow you...inspiration shared every where!!
If you tackle one little organizing project at a time, your house will be neat and clean in no time.
Have a great day,
~Karen~
I need to do this so badly! I have magazines everywhere and it's starting to drive me nuts!
ReplyDeleteI was going to do the "tear out page" thing with all of my mags, but ended up making a huge index instead. Have decided to do my usual, which is methodically go through each mag and make what I want to make then pass the mags on intact.
ReplyDeleteI did get all my mags categorised by date and volume order though, lol. Just can't bring myself to ripping apart, .
I sooooo need to do this. For my magazines, and all the tool catalogs that my hubby accumulates over the year ;)
ReplyDeleteI do this with all my magazines. I can't stand to have them laying around! I'm not so organized with the pages once they're torn out, tho...
ReplyDeleteI started scanning patterns I really wanted from my quilt magazines two years ago. Then I donate the magazines to our quilt guild for resale at our quilt show. The proceeds from this sale help defray the costs of shipping our Quilts of Valor. I think I'm up to 2006?!
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing every year! I'm really eyeing a Neat Desk in the hope that I can just scan all the things I tear out and then recycle them. The price is prohibitive though.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to save the pages is to use a document scanner and just save them as a digital file. With this type of scanner, you just feed the pages through it and it can save directly to an SD card. I have been tearing out pages and scanning for years. I just LOVE saving pictures of project ideas, etc.
ReplyDeleteI have a digital photo frame next to my desk in my sewing room that I put the SD card into and inspiration is just a glance away.
I love this idea. I started scanning mine just a few weeks ago and wil have to put the SD card into my digital frame. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteI so like the idea of scanning. I have a copier/scanner on my desk and can scan the stuff I like and keep the mags intact. Great idea. It will also get all those 5" 3ring binders off the self and give me more storage for fabic (dont tell my hubby) :o. Now the find the time to do the scanning :/.
DeleteI do that with my quilting and home dec magazines. It sure saves on clutter, but my binder library really grows.
ReplyDeleteLove Pinterest!! I can't stay off of it.
It's good to know I'm not the only one who does this! Great way to organize.
ReplyDeleteI have done this as well! The magazines were taking over the house, lol. I have them in folders by category, but do plan to use page protectors and binders a la Martha Stewart. :-) I could never scan them in as I love the feel of flipping through the pages. I'm so old fashioned.
ReplyDeleteI have a "house file" that I keep all my dreams and ideas in so I can show the husband and we can get to work. I also do this with my craft magazines. There are patterns I know I just won't do... so why keep them? Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHope to see you over at The Old Park Homestead!
LOL - My stack(s) of magazines could beat up your stack(s) of magazines!
ReplyDeleteSrsly, there are stacks stashed everywhere here. I can't bear to cut up Martha or the old Mary Engelbreits or any of my expensive quilt & craft magazines (some of which aren't even in English). And I could probably wear out our scanner if I put my mind to it!
But Family Circle, WD, Country Living, S. Living, etc. -- those get cut up for recipes (for me), cute pictures to paste (for a little boy I know), and just "pretty things," that go into sketch books for inspiration. I keep all the inspiration clippings & sketch books in an old wicker picnic hamper....shhhh, it's my secret stash. :)
I have all my Martha Stewart [1996-2005] and Real Simple magazines [2003-2012] filed on a bookcase in my bedroom. I put them in month order- so the january ones are all together etc. I love re-reading the old ones when it is the tright time of year. But like Anne, I cannot bear the thought of ripping them up. Bizarrely, I do not keep the british magazines which my SIL gives me subscriptions for each Xmas, the uS ones interest me more!
ReplyDeleteblessings x
Great idea....I have a wish book but haven't used it for ages. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post. I pass along all magazines almost as soon as I get them. I look and pass them on. Given I have over 12 inches of "want to do projects" on my book shelf...I don't need more "to do" projects so I enjoy what I see and keep moving.
ReplyDeleteI've not gotten into Pinning...I'm afraid of another way to use my time with all those sewing projects I aspire to do before I'm done here on this planet. But I'll have fun looking at yours :)
Smiles,
Kelly
Karen,
ReplyDeleteI've done variations of this for years. Your term "Flintstone Pinterest" just made me laugh out LOUD!!! You crack me up. I just started following u on Pinterest, btw! :o)
I was so surprised to read this, as this is exactly what I've been doing. I also cut up smaller "inspirations" & paste them in an "Idea Book" I've been keeping.
ReplyDeleteI do this with the decorating pages from the front section of Country Sampler Magazine...silly me I never thought of scanning the patterns from the cross-stitch magazines I have.
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog...through Pinterest. :)
ReplyDeleteYour post is the exact same post that I just did on my blog. So we have something in common. Became a follower and looking forward to exploring your blog!
Funny you wrote this. Today I was cleaning out my night table drawers (where I keep my magazines). I have magazines since the year my daughter was born in 2006. I organized them by month and I promise myself to read the magazines of that month and recycle them (after tearing out pages I need to keep for reference, of course!). Thanks for validating my plans :)
ReplyDeletethanks for the reminder. I have WAY too many magazines and I am constantly going through them to find the good pages. I finally resorted to a filing cabinet to try to organize my 'pages'..LOL some of them date from the 80's..Pinterest has really helped me to cut back on magazine saving..LOL but I still have over a hundred around the house..I enjoyed your post..
ReplyDeleteMona
I did this last year with all the things I had torn out over the years. I had them in hanging folders but could never find something quickly. I was sick last year & couldn't do any of my crafts, doing this saved my sanity! I could imagine what I would be able to work on once I was better & weed out the things that I knew I would never do or had already completed. Love your blog & have gotten a lot of ideas, thank you.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm SO glad I'm not the only one!!! I drive my husband crazy with my magazines, so I "tear & save" my magazine pages since a few years ago; but because we have to move countries a lot, I ended up scanning them & keep the digital files. But when I have time, I also cut the pictures from the pages to make cards & tags.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how you label and file into your binder? Is it by year and all pages from various magazines in that year are included? I have hundreds and hundreds of pounds of mags I do not want to part with, but space has become a definite issue. Thanks for all the great ideas!
ReplyDeleteI would like to know how I can find out when some one I am following on Pinterest pins something new! I get e- mails when I am repined and I could care less
ReplyDeleteomgh i did this a few years back...i used to work for a joanns and got free discarded magazines..before they changed the rules. i was drowning in magazines. it took months to sort and I used a razor blade to remove pages and ended up just 3 hole punching most of them. since i dont let anyone else touch them..this has held up. i will eventually use protectors..one box at a time. since the magazines are gone,and they are technically filed, ive found it hard to back track and redo them..one day.lol
ReplyDeleteI thought I was the only one that did this... LOL... so much easier than going through stacks and stack of magazines! Also it you want to forget about an idea later you have one piece of paper to toss! Good post!
ReplyDeleteI'm doing this today to recipes that I want to keep. Over the years I have printed off way too many, thinking I would try them and never have. Some are special occassion recipes. I discarded a lot yesterday and once I get them into the notebook, I will look through them again and decide if I want to keep or toss. This is a long drag out project; taking more time than I realized but I'm the only one that can do it. I dread starting on the genealogy research box but that's going to be a good project between Christmas and New Year's for me, if not before. Imagine 30 years of genealogy research to look through and see if there aren't duplicates.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea!! I had to tell the world! You can see it here...http://sewlicioushomedecor.com/sew-organized-organize-magazine-pages-guest-post-sew-many-ways/
ReplyDeleteMarti