Design notebook

I am a magazine junkie, I think it started when I was in design school. We had to go through magazines and pick out the elements in the pictures for vocabulary words, etc. I was always looking through BHG at lunch time so I ended up with a huge file of recipes cut out in a huge mess. Now days my addiction is two-fold, I really like that or I need that for later. So, I purchased an artist sketch book from the craft store and I am whittling away at my stack of magazines.

You will need:
Sketch book
self-adhesive divider tabs
Glue stick
Pen

First divide your notebook into categories that you will use, i.e. recipes, things you like, reference, home decor ideas, etc.
** I actually have ideas for a few different notebooks, for now the recipes are thrown in a binder with plastic page protectors I'll sort them one day into tried and loved and chuck the ones that I don't want, but one thing at a time. **

You can buy blank divider tags that you can use the self adhesive tabs to attach to a page in the notebook to help find the pages when the notebook is closed.

Then as you are going through magazines (for me it's two or three at a time so it doesn't get away from me) cut the pictures you like and paste them onto the pages in the appropriate category. The best part is you can write on the page next to the picture why you saved it so you don't have to remember for later. Sometimes for me there is something way in the background that appealed to me because it sparked another idea. I can record that info and later I don't wonder why I cut out a Clorox ad with a person in a tub. There is also enough space to sketch the new idea.

As you go through your notebooks you can start to see consistent themes that will help you define what your true design style is and what is just a passing phase.