Comments on: How to Make a Beading Journal with Photos and Text to Keep Details of My Projects?

By: Marlies Bates

Marlies Bates — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 13:55:24 +0000

I use a 4 x 6 inch photo album with a photo of each item and a sticky label on the back that I write the price on. I can then take it with me to craft shows or when traveling to show prospective buyers.

By: MyCarolAnne

MyCarolAnne — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 22:10:54 +0000

I go the digital route. Each item has an inventory number/ The photo from my camera is stored in the folder identified with this inventory number. Information is typed in word and saved in the folder also. any additional information can be also stored in this folder. All folders are stored in dropbox or any other off line storage place in inventory order. Always there – PC, IPhone, laptop, or whatever.
I keep the original photo copy, an edited PSD copy and a web size copy always ready. A little work, but it has been worth it for me. I have almost 2000 folders starting way back in 1996. Sandee Jene.

By: Sue Runyon

Sue Runyon — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 12:53:17 +0000

Barbara – that’s a brilliant idea on the coin sleeves for pendants.

My version is very low tech. I just use the big index cards and can put a sample/example in a jewelry baggie and staple it onto the card. I file them in a box.

By: Barbara MacDougall

Barbara MacDougall — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 11:24:51 +0000

If you go the binder route, you can get a greater selection of clear plastic sheets with pockets of different sizes from coin dealers. I’ve recently seen people put their extra pendants in those at shows. Easy to show your selection to prospective customers, while keeping items clean and organised, and people can quickly see the fronts and backs without touching them. You can see exactly what you have in stock and are getting low on.

By: Sheila M

Sheila M — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 11:23:00 +0000

I like the private Pinterest board idea.

I’m a tech junkie who makes jewelry and crochet. I snap a photo of my finished project with my iPhone and use the Markup feature in Photos to add a text box of brief notes. Since my photos are saved to he cloud, I can see a larger view on my iPad later. I even made a Patterns folder in Photos and drop a copy there for quick retrieval. That helps a lot.

By: Noreen

Noreen — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 22:36:28 +0000

If you go for the physical book type of journal, you could use a loose leaf binder notebook. You could use photo pages with pockets for your photos – or even samples of your jewelry. You could print out thoughts and ideas and add them to the notebook. And you could add lined paper (or computer paper) for hand writing notes. You could also punch holes in one side of large envelopes of a size to fit the notebook, and add them to the notebook to hold all kinds of papers and information if you like.

By: Rena Klingenberg

Rena Klingenberg — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 20:20:20 +0000

Hi Melissa, thank you for giving me the title of “Queen of Everything to do with Jewelry Making”! LOL!

I have some ideas that may work for your beading journal – or that may spark other great ideas for you. I’m thinking that to combine photos and text, it might be best to have some sort of computerized journal. (I don’t enjoy printing photos and pasting them onto paper pages, so most of my suggestions are based on not printing photos. 🙂 ) But of course you may feel differently.

I’m also thinking you may want your journals to be private.
So here are some ideas that came to me as I read your question:

* Evernote (evernote.com)

* Pinterest – you can have private boards, and organize your jewelry projects with different boards. Add text captions to your photos as needed.

* An online blog that you can set to be private (no one else can see it). Each project could be a separate blog post. The way blogs are structured would make it easy to organize and find your projects there.

* One or more documents in your computer’s word processing program. Easy to add text and photos to it. And make sure to backup your computer files regularly with something like carbonite.com so you don’t lose any of your beading journal.

* And here’s an idea for using an actual paper journal system (which is the system I use myself):
Use a pretty blank journal book that you love. Sketch the jewelry images on the pages, with the written details around the jewelry sketches.

Melissa, yes, I’d love to hear your feedback on any of these (or other) ideas that you try!

And I’m looking forward to hearing other ideas for this too! 🙂