I get a lot of magazines passed my way from family and as I read them I snip out anything which catches my eye and fill blank journals with pictures. I’m a very visual person and this practice inspires everything from poetry to life habits to cooking to gardening to craft to how I set up my house! (It’s like old-school Pinterest, right? Ha!)
It doesn’t have to be something I would DO, or WEAR, or necessarily WANT, though…it’s more just about the visual inspiration. I don’t think about it too much – if my eye hovers over it for more than a couple of seconds, I cut it out.
I’ve been doing versions of this as long as I can remember. I’ve thrown a lot of these book out, too – because of course my tastes and predilictions change over time and it isn’t like there is anything much of me in them – so I feel relaxed about chucking them if they no longer serve their purpose, which is to inspire me!
Here are some pages from my 2010 inspiration book:
Helen Lehndorf 
14 responses to “inspiration books”
You make these so beautiful they are art pieces in themselves, bound to uplift and inspire when ideas hide
in the midst of dark winter days!
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Aw, thank you! That’s a lovely thing to say. x
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I made quite a few of these sorts of books in my younger days, but these days I can’t justify spending money on magazines so I’ve got nothing to cut up! Pinterest forms my inspiration books.. not as pretty but same deal, I guess.
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I don’t buy mags (well, maybe the occasional Frankie) but my family passes them on to me a lot.
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I love these! I do something similar, for similar reasons, and what I like most is that the process always sparks more connections and I end up rushing to my notebook. I’m going to have a little snip and stick today – inspired! and intrigued by ‘don’t ask amanda’…
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Ha! Thanks, Kate. ‘Don’t Ask Amanda’ is an Australian fashion label – that was their ad, I think:
http://www.generalpants.com.au/store/brands/womens/dont-ask-amanda.html
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They’re gorgeous! I love keeping inspiration scrapbooks too…I started keeping them to keep some of my bits and bobs off my walls and out of my drawing sketchbooks, which were starting to burst at the seams!
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Yay!
After posting this an ‘in real life’ friend commented she didn’t know how I found the time to do this – which took me aback a little…I think because it happens a little at a time over a long time, it doesn’t feel like it takes much time at all.
Viva la inspiration!
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I really MUST start an inspiration book 🙂
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🙂 Mainly it means I don’t have magazine snippings tucked into books and all around the house!
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wow.these are amazing, helen! now i must start a similar book. you’ve inspired me. i never buy magazines either but i often see them in opshops… i will start collecting and snipping.
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Yay! 🙂
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Your scrapbooks are amazing Helen. I used to feel bad about cutting pictures out of magazines, but putting together your own groupings of inspirational things completely justifies the act. And Yay for the old fashioned kind of ‘cut and paste’ with, scissors, glue and newsprint!
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Thanks, Bronwyn, yes! like ‘Pinterest’ but IRL. Ha ha! I was just thinking today how old-fashioned I am about how I do things…in some areas it is a good thing, in other areas…I could definitely ‘upskill’…
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