Organizing your digital stash?

H

Happy Now

New member
I am fairly new to digital scrapping, but I have already acquired a stash of digital goodness... Wondering if any of you had any organizational tips for storing kits and such that really work for you? Do you leave the downloads as they come? Organize by store or designer? Break kits apart by type (buttons, ribbon, alphabets, papers) or color (pastels, brights, reds, yellows)? I think I have heard of a software program for this purpose, but I am really wondering about simple folder organization alone... Thanks in advance!
 
I break down my stash by store, then by designer. I rename all the previews designername_kitname then put a copy in the store folder and in the designer folder. This way I can just open the store folder and then see all the kits I have from the store easily.
 
I file in folders...kit in a folder with a subfolder for the alpha if there is one...then those folders go into either a designer name folder or a store folder for collabs. I don't file designers into store folders...they move too frequently or add more stores. Then when I want to find something to scrap with I use Windows Live Photo Gallery. It's free and I have my stash tagged with the type of element (paper, fasteners, wordart, frames, etc.) I started a blog series about using windows live to speed tag but everything on my blog is on hold at the moment. I hope to get back to the tagging videos soon though.

I'm also thinking about doing private lessons...learn speed tagging in a live session where I show you on your computer and you can watch me tag and ask questions and stuff. PM for info if you are interested. (oh, and all of my 'work' is on a donation basis...my official business is closed now.)

HTH!
Kristi
 
My advice is to organize your supplies by how you think when you scrap. Do you mostly use kits? Do you often say "I need an orange polka-dot ribbon" or something equally specific? Or do you think in terms of designers or stores?

My advice for new scrappers though would be to keep your organizing super simple, like even as simple as a Supplies folder or a Used vs To Use folder (if that's important to you) when you first start out. Then as you get more comfortable scrapping, you can start organizing your supplies based on how YOU would look for things. I say this because I know I spent a lot of time as a newbie scrapper organizing my supplies based on other peoples systems, only to find that I never used them because they didn't fit with how my mind worked when I scrapped.

But if you want to get an idea for what others are doing, here's a couple of previous threads that have a ton of info and screenshots. Cindy especially has an impressive folder-based organizing system set up.

How do you organize all of you scrapping supplies?
How do you organize your digi-stash?
Tell me about your organization...
CindyS----

HTH!
 
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I use a folder system... but I have an unused kits folder that I put everything in first before they get put in their specific folder... my folder system is pretty extensive but I like it... but like Lynette said, I really recommend having an unused folder and used folder to start off with to figure out a system that works for you. I love having my unused folder and that's the first place I look when I sit down to do a page and then I know for certain that I'm using everything I purchase.
 
I tried using ACDSee with a lot of categories and it wasn't helpful to me. I have my files by kits. I like to browse to look for certain things because sometimes I don't know exactly what paper I'm looking for.
 
I file my kits away by designer. Mostly because I only shop at a couple of stores. I am mostly a kit scrapper so I don't break them apart.
I also have folders just for alphas, essential papers (kraft, blacks,white), stitches, photo masks, word art, frames, date bits..etc...This helps me keep some of my more basic supplies all together so I don't have to sort by designer to find anything.
I also sort my templates by designer and keep them seperate from my kits. I find that this helps me get to what I am looking for faster.
I am sure with a little trial and error you will find the perfect system that works for you.
 
I use the folder system. I organize by store then by designer. Then I have categories under each designer such as kits, elements, alpha, templates, etc. I also have a single folder with only the previews of all the stuff in my stash. That way its easier for me to see what kits I have to match pics instead of having to go under each designer folder.
 
I keep my kits in folders and keep the names as they are. I pretty much know what store each designer sells at plus 99.9% of my kits are from here anyway. I do keep a preview folder where I keep a preview pic of each kit so that I can view them easily. I have just started using Picassa also to tag the items in each kit. It's taking a while, but I love being able to get to items that way.
 
Store-->Designer-->Retired or Current-->Kit Name

With the exception of, I usually shop on Saturdays, and end up with more kits than I can use all at once, so I unzip everything I get on Saturdays into a folder with the kit name, and they stay in the folder called "Unused Products" until I've used them. Once I've used an alpha at least twice, and a kit at least once, it goes into my standard organization. For things like the sweet shoppe quarterly or other assortments that are bundled minis, I have to use at least 3 minis before I move it over... it just is my way of ensuring that I use what I buy.
So often when I first started scrapping, I'd buy any kit that looked even somewhat cute, and then found out that 80% of them, I ended up putting in folders and never even unzipping! So now, I do this added step of "unused products" to make sure that I use everything I buy at least a little bit.

For the designers I CT for, I also copy/paste all of their kits into a folder specifically for my CT work, and I put a layouts folder in there, so I can place copies of all my layout previews that I upload in this one folder... it makes it so much easier!
 
Lots of great ideas here, thanks!! LOVING the idea of capturing the previews into one folder... I am sure it will take some time to get set up initially, but then should be fairly easy to maintain... Thanks!
 
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