Is your brain on overload with ideas for your arts and crafts? Do you dream up fantastic plans in the shower? Have epiphanies when you're washing the dishes? There are probably many projects you'd like to make someday, but somehow they can get lost in the cobwebs of your mind. Remembering all these great ideas is as easy as jotting a quick note or a simple sketch and throwing it into an ”Idea Basket.”

Create Your Basket

First you'll need a basket or box to put your slips of paper in. You might already have something lying around the house that you can use, or there are many handmade baskets available for purchase, although it doesn't have to be very big. Whatever you choose, make sure it is as special as the ideas you are going to put into it.

Here's an idea notepad from SooBoo, perfect for this occasion. Every time an inspiration strikes you, write a few words, draw a quick sketch, or describe what your creation would look like. Toss it into the idea basket. Or perhaps you are on the go and would like to carry a small matchbook notebook to scribble a plan in. These are a great little invention for making a quick note and keeping it from getting lost in a bottomless purse.

Sort Your Ideas

Once a month or so, go through your basket. This will give you a chance to sort your ideas and perhaps give you the incentive to make that next great piece of artwork. Some of the ideas may no longer inspire you, and you will want to weed them out. Other ideas will remain in the basket until you are ready for them to be created. The main thing is, that this will be the place your ideas are held in waiting until you have the time to give them the full attention they deserve.

The best part of this whole concept is you will never run out of ideas. When you think you are getting an artist's mental block, all you have to do is pull out your idea basket and your head will be spinning again with more ideas than you know what to do with. Don't want to make a basket? Try a blank journal; the concept is still the same. And don't quit dreaming up ideas!

Photos courtesy of Glynn Hanes, keepitinyourpants, and Cindi Thayn.

Recommended Reading:

Overcoming Artist’s Block
Recrafting Yourself in the Second Half of Life
Everybody Makes Mistakes