Storing Ideas

How do you store ideas that hit at inconvenient times? I'm  a big fan of notebooks! I've got tons of them going, each with a slightly different purpose.

Ideas marinating in notebooks until I can get to the creativity kitchen

The big sketch pad in the back is one I've been using for about 20 years to sketch out quick doodle project ideas. The first sketches were of ideas for dog bandanas that my mom and I sold at craft shows when I was in my early 20s. 

The tiny one captures blog topics.

When most of these ideas popped into my head, they were so detailed that the post almost wrote itself, but since I didn't have the time then to actually type it out, I jotted down the essence which of course I would remember later. Yeah, right!

Item Number 74 is "Creativity Lessons Learned from my Cats." I bet that would have been good, but now, as I watch them napping on the couch, I have no idea what the thought was behind that post. 

Many of these ideas, will never come to fruition, some will marinate for years first, and others, like the vampire bunny and the fleur-de-lis light switchplate sketches push so hard at my brain that I create them right away.

If your peak idea time lines up with your available work times, I ENVY you. My ideas hit at 3:00 a.m. on a weekday morning or when I am in the shower getting ready to head off to my day job. That's life I guess.

20-year-old product sketch from my first business venture--doggy bandanas