Organizing Question

[rlma]

I have recently purchased Digital Scraproom to help me get a little more organized. My question is how do you organize your scrapping supplies? Do you organize them by item type, designer, site, etc?

TIA for your ideas! :)

[Sandersmr]

I was organizing by item type, then by kit/pack. Until recently, I was purchasing primarily from one site so that worked well. But now that I'm buying more from other sites, I need to decide if first I will sort by site, then type or first type then site.

[Donna]

For some odd reason, I first organized by date.......then after about 2 years-I organized by designer.......

I'm ready for more tips........My hard-drive overfloweth!

:)

[Lisa Dozier]

This is a tough qq as there are so many ways to organize. My most successful way- for me anyway , is to organize by designer. Each one has a folder . When I was on creative teams- like Sylvies- Sausan designs- would be in a ct folder with all my designers in it.I then can organize further if I have the time.
I also started to organize the way Gina Miller had said she does- by having a favorites folder that you put all your faves in - for example- I have a metal that I like - I put it in the metal folder - a COPY- I always keep the kits intact. I make sure it has the designers initials on the file name. I also have an alpha folder - with just the letter a - copied from each set. I can quickly choose which one fits my layout . I really like this method-but now that I am here - I need to set up a new Guild one.
So many ways to organize- I burn everything to dvd and then move to an EHD. HTH- Lisa

[MommySpice]

Currently I organize by site, then designer, then kit. Kits always stay together. It works for now. We'll see if it continues to work that way. *lol*

[Birgit Kerr]

Yep, same here. Site-->Designer-->Kit
In the beginning I also organized by category, tearing kits apart as it where and having stuff organized by flowers, brads, staples, tags etc but I didn't have many kits then and that stopped working pretty quickly as it was just too much work to keep straight what came from what designer and what kit.
So I just stuck with site-designer-kit and that has worked best so far.

[Sandersmr]

One thing I do when I remember - I take the contact sheet or the preview sheet from each kit (I actually prefer the contact sheet - hint, hint) and copy into a folder so that I can scan the contact sheets for colors and elements when planning my layout. I've heard some people actually print them out and put them in 3-ring binders.

[Stephanie]

by site, then by designer for me. And the stuff I haven't touched in a while gets taken off the hard-drive and burnd to a CD

[Christie Frachioni]

I guess I am very antiquated in my "system"... Type of Kit Folders (Page Kit, WordArt, Alpha, Ploppers, QuickClicks/Templates, Brushes, Overlays), then by Kit Name. That's it.

I like the idea of having all of the Kit Samples/Contact Sheets available for quick reference. Maybe I'll make a folder of just those (copies, of course.). Hmmmm.....

[Sandersmr]

Christie - your system is very much like mine, but I have added sub folders for my two or three biggest sites that I purchase from, especially since on of the other sites also uses a 2 number designation for the designer on their kit names - I didn't want to confuse them with this site's kits.

[Christie Frachioni]

Christie - your system is very much like mine, but I have added sub folders for my two or three biggest sites that I purchase from, especially since on of the other sites also uses a 2 number designation for the designer on their kit names - I didn't want to confuse them with this site's kits.

Yeah, for those kits, Maggie, with the 2-digit designer code, I just drop the digits and just use its "regular" name to file them under. So far (knock on wood) I've had no repeat names for kits. Although, if that happens, I'll just tack on the designer initials at the end or something.

The challenge in filing the way I do, is that I have to remember - generally- what's in the kits. You know, color schemes, unique elements, etc. Which isn't so hard on the ones I use a lot, but every once in a while I'll think, "Didn't I see a [fill in the blank] somewhere along the line? Now WHICH kit was THAT in??" Right now I have fifteen CDs filled with kits. That's almost 11 GIG of data (!!) and it's starting to get hard to remember it all.

Now, if somebody comes up with a way cool databank scrapbooking filing system of cross-referencing, they'll make a bloody fortune!

[rlma]

I guess I am very antiquated in my "system"... Type of Kit Folders (Page Kit, WordArt, Alpha, Ploppers, QuickClicks/Templates, Brushes, Overlays), then by Kit Name. That's it.

This is exactly what I am doing now. Until recently I was only buying from one place. Now that I have joined DSAG, I was looking to see if there was a "better" way to do it.

[rlma]

Now, if somebody comes up with a way cool databank scrapbooking filing system of cross-referencing, they'll make a bloody fortune!

That's apparently what digital scraproom is supposed to be for, but you have to organize everything in a way that is easiest for you.

Uggg, I have over 23GB of stuff for scrapping. lol Let's just say I tend to go overboard when I buy. lol

[Christine Haskell]

okay....i think i am WAY low tech on my organization, and this may seem a little silly, but this is what i do:

i make an 8.5x11 document. i place on that the preview, or thumnail, of each kit, element pk, etc. under that i type the designers name, product name and the website. i usually enlarge the preivew a bit. i usually put about 6-8 products on one page. i wait until i have enough products to fill up a disk, then i burn them to the disk, number the disk, and put "disk #___" on my document with my previews. i usually have 2 pages worth of products for eack disk. i slip my papers (with the previews printed on them) into page protectors, 2 papers per 1 protector, and slip the disk inside too. this way, i can flip through my notebook of products, pop in the cd, pull what i want off of the cd and then put it away.

i know, i am a dork! LOL

[MommySpice]

okay....i think i am WAY low tech on my organization, and this may seem a little silly, but this is what i do:

i make an 8.5x11 document. i place on that the preview, or thumnail, of each kit, element pk, etc. under that i type the designers name, product name and the website. i usually enlarge the preivew a bit. i usually put about 6-8 products on one page. i wait until i have enough products to fill up a disk, then i burn them to the disk, number the disk, and put "disk #___" on my document with my previews. i usually have 2 pages worth of products for eack disk. i slip my papers (with the previews printed on them) into page protectors, 2 papers per 1 protector, and slip the disk inside too. this way, i can flip through my notebook of products, pop in the cd, pull what i want off of the cd and then put it away.

i know, i am a dork! LOL


That seems to make an awful lot of sense to me!!! Maybe I'll have to do that myself!!! :)

[vanillalatte]

I guess I use the method that most here do...Site, then Designer, then Kit. For some designers where I have a TON of their stuff, I sort into Type within the Designer folder, but I keep my type categories pretty wide. QuickClicks/Templates/Ploppers/Pre-made pages all in one folder, anything having to do with text like fonts, word art, alpha's in another, etc.

[TexasJamie]

Here's my method. Been using it since I started and now...I have soooooo much stuff I don't know if I want to start something new!

1)Purchase and download kit
2)Name kit as follows
Kit Name (from designer)
Designer Name
Site Abbreviation w/product ID #

So mine look something like this

Floral Extraveganza - Debb Cozzi @AG#xxxx

Then I have category folders set up (some examples below)
Alphas
Doodles
Embellishments
Kits A-D (going at the way thru Z)
Ploppers
Paper Packs
Word Art

That's how I manage all mine........so far so good.......and like I said....way too far in the game to change now! :D

[mommysmemories]

Hmmm, I have about 35 cd's full, and most of that is FREEBIES! I organize my (brand-new!) external hard drive by type (full page kits, papers, alphas, etc.), then by site, then by designer. I also have all of this included in PSE's organizer. Right now I have about half tagged, so I can search for all my tags, metals, florals, etc. Working on tagging the rest! Oh, I have separate catalogs in PSE Organizer for my photos vs. my scrapbooking stuff. Too much to put all in one!

[vanillalatte]

Oh how I wish I had time to catelog all of my stuff in Digital Image Suite's Library. It would make life so much easier if I could do that and just do a search for paper, tags, ribbons, etc. Ahhhh, someday! :)