How do you organize your layouts??

[Sarah8914]

Okay, I'm sure this has been asked before--it usually seems like it's digi supplies or photos. I love my system and it's perfect for me, but I'm curious how others do it... just because. My way seems so easy. :)

For instance, when you're ready to print, esp in books, how do you know the order??

I save all of my layouts by the date of the pictures in it. So it is totally obvious where it falls: ie. 10-31-04.tif/.jpg and most are 2 pagers so I have a and b. I recently started separating them into folders by year, just because.

Anyway... just curious. :) And bored I guess.

[Paula]

Well, I save them by years and print monthly. I don't do those books cuz I don't like them. LOL

[meems]

I recently have started to put the month and date in my layout filenames (I do it like yymm LO title.psd) so that they will sort by chrono order.

I'm not sure how much good this does me b/c I have all my LOs in separate folders by CTs. One of these days I shall put them all in one folder maybe . . .. So when I print I just grab files from each CT folder and make a new folder of the fulles jpgs. then I upload those jpgs to shutterfly.

[mrs_jb]

My system currently is to print every two months, so everything goes into a current folder, then it gets moved once it's been printed.

Because I don't scrap chronologically, I've never thought of doing one of the shutterfly books, other than for a theme or as gifts.

Currently I use American Crafts albums, so I can add pages in where they belong and everything falls losely in order.

[meganmecrazy]

I save all of my layouts by the date of the pictures in it.

That's what I do but I've been wondering what to do on the LOs where I have mixed dated pics! LOLOL!

[ditzyscrap]

Right now, my system is no system. All my layouts are dumped into a "To Be Moved" folder, lol. Eventually they make their way into folders for each person or event, depending on what "album" it would go into when I printed it (NOT that I've printed any in the past 4+ years, lol). Anyway, I have folders for each of my kids, and each vacation/trip gets one...I have them for nieces and nephews too, but those get given to my sisters when they're done - I just keep them on my HD because I like taking up extra space. LOL! ;)

[meems]

Because I don't scrap chronologically, I've never thought of doing one of the shutterfly books, other than for a theme or as gifts.
I don't scrap chrono either but apparently cannot pass up the deal of free SF books :D. I just put the LOs in the book chronologically. But the books themselves span all kinds of time and overlap too.

Maybe it doesn't bother me b/c I never had any interest in scrapbooking as a way to preserve memories (which probably explains why I don't journal very much). I just like to play on the computer :p. I do see the value of memory preservation; it's just not my focus.

[nikkiARNGwife]

I don't scrap chronilogically...just put them in a "to print" folder until their printed. My scrapbooks are more in the order of when the layouts were created than by month/year etc. It's just too much work to keep them in order. I almost always put a date on my pages so it's no biggie to me. :)

[scrapperjade]

I need a better system... mine is all mixmash, lol.

I have a folder called "CT Layouts" where I put all of my flattened jpg layouts (web size) I've made for Bree's creative team I'm on. Layouts that aren't for a CT I put in a folder called "Layouts".

ALL my layouts get saved as a layered PSD in a folder called "PSD Layouts", lol.

And then the ones I want printed get saved as a high res jpeg & put in a folder called "Full Sizes". When they are printed, I just delete them, knowing I have the original psd file saved if I need to print it again.

[SeattleSheri]

I save everything with the date as part of the file name ... but the flaw in my system is that it doesn't account for older photos that I'm currently scrapping. I guess I will manually reorg them when the time comes to put them together into a book

[meems]

I need a better system... mine is all mixmash, lol.

I have a folder called "CT Layouts" where I put all of my flattened jpg layouts (web size) I've made for Bree's creative team I'm on. Layouts that aren't for a CT I put in a folder called "Layouts".

ALL my layouts get saved as a layered PSD in a folder called "PSD Layouts", lol.

And then the ones I want printed get saved as a high res jpeg & put in a folder called "Full Sizes". When they are printed, I just delete them, knowing I have the original psd file saved if I need to print it again.
do you have a pet dog named Dog by any chance?

[scrapperjade]

do you have a pet dog named Dog by any chance?

LMAO! I know, I told you my system sucked!

[bellbird425]

[QUOTE=meems;208433] I just like to play on the computer :p. /QUOTE]

hehehe

my books are mostly theme based cos i dont do chrono either -my themes are very general like really girly LOs; everyday life LOs etc

[newfiemountiewife]

I've never printed anything, so it's not an issue for me LOL

[rach3975]

When I print LOs I put them into an album per year for each of my kids, and within the album they're chronological. (I scrap them in whatever order I want, then reorganize once the year is finished.) On my computer I organize them the same way: a folder for Jason at 4, a folder for Ben at 2, etc. I don't put the date in the title because it's easy to find what I want from the thumbnail once I'm in the right folder. Plus, I don't think chronologically--if I want to go back and see the LO of Ben at playschool, I know to look for the Playschool LO and won't remember whether the photos are from October or February.

[mcardall]

AAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH! I have to stop reading these threads. All these non-chronological scrappers are about to give me a HEART ATTACK! I know that everyone has their own method and it makes sense to them, but it just makes me nuts knowing that there are BOUND books out there that aren't in order! Okay... stepping out of my neurotic obsessive need to be in order to explain my system! :)

My layouts are all named by the date of the photos. So, layouts for today would be 2008-0821 001, 2008-0821 002, etc. Then when I organize the folder by filename, the pages are in order and I know exactly what to print. If there are photos that are mixed together for that month, then the photos are 2008-08xx 001, 2008-08xx 002, etc. For a mix of photos for the year, they are 2008-xxxx 001. I haven't even done a layout with photos from more than one year, but when I have gone back and pulled an old photo & journaled from my perspective NOW, then it gets the current date, not the date of the old photo. Does that make sense? So, for last year's anniversary, I pulled an engagement photo out and scrapped it, but it was more of a looking back type of layout, so I dated it 2007-1012 001, because that was my anniversary. I don't scrap my photos in order. I just scrap whatever hits my fancy. BUT all of my layouts are in order in my books. I use 3ing binder style albums because I can just pop them open and add a layout when I want to. I JUST started printing my books this year. I have one album that is January thru May 2008, one album for June 2008, and so far one for July - whenever it gets full! When I create a layout, I save the psd file until I get enough of them to burn onto a DVD. My flattened jpg files are all in a To Print folder on my hard drive. They are also on my external & on my hubby's internal drive. After my pages are printed, the flattened file gets deleted off my external because that's where all my scrap work is. My two internals are more like my backup drives. Yes, I know that is backwards, but we do it that way so that I can use my hubby's computer to scrap, too.

[amystoffel]

I have files by year, and then within the files by month.

But I'm always all over the place scrapping wise...sometimes I may scrap pics from 5 years ago, and then from that same day...so before I put them into the files, they go into a "waiting" file.

Sounds terribly disorganized but it works for me.

[SirScrapalot]

Meredith, I am your worst nightmare...

I dont scrap chronologically. I don't even put dates on some of my pages. Often, I don't scrap an "event" When I feel like scrapping, I go in and pick the photos I like for the layout. Then, I save the layouts by their title. And that's it. I haven't printed yet, but I am planning to do so soon. When I do, I will just put the layouts in the book in an order that is pleasing.

Are you convulsing yet?

LOL, it works for me so far.

[Emmy]

I have a folder in my scrapping stuff for "finished layouts". I keep the flattened jpg and psd in there until I move them. The time they live there fluctuates. :) When it's time for them to go (hard drive getting full...) I move them to two places - one is a folder for all my layouts with folders by year. The other is into my actual photo storage. When I pull up the photos for march 16, 2004 I will likely see any layouts scrapped with those photos in the folder as well. This helps me track what I've scrapped and what I haven't.

I print my layouts individually and file them in top loading albums sorted chronologically (I don't scrap chrono though - I scrap whatever).

I love the bound books but can't use them for my primary albums because I don't scrap in order and because I don't think they would be durable enough for my kids to browse.

[Stacey42]

My are organized alphabetically by layout name, in a folder named for the year I created the layout. :) I don't scrap chronologically. I don't print in the order I scrapped. Whenever I have a spare $20 or so I chose as many of my favorite unprinted layouts as I can afford and have them printed. I have a scrapbook of stuff about me and another one about the boys I put the pages into.

The only bound book I have printed is from my Journal Your Christmas project, which had us create almost 40 layouts with specific Christmas themed prompts frm Dec 1 to Jan 6.

[nesser1981]

I organize by Year, then Month and then date. So I have a 2008 folder, then Say an August folder and I name my pages the date month and number of page.

So, August 15, 2008 would 15aug1.

I print shutterfly books as soon as I finish the month, I print it, well if I have the money. :thumbup:

[mcardall]

Meredith, I am your worst nightmare...

Are you convulsing yet?

LOL, it works for me so far.

my left eye is twitching... is that normal? :p

I do need to clarify... I don't scrap anywhere near in order and I don't print in order either. But when I do print a page, it gets put in its chronological home in the album.

[sugarink]

I have a Full Res folder, a PSD folder, and a Web Folder... Then in each one, I have separate folders by category: Friends, Family, Children (one for each of my boys), Husband and I, Faith Journey, etc.

In ACDSEE, I tag them by which designer I CT for.
I do need to sort them out by date, just haven't gotten around to it. I eventually want to print them out once I have enough layouts to complete an album. So far, my goal is create an album for each category above, by year and or event.

[Nikki Epperson]

Meredith, I am your worst nightmare...

I dont scrap chronologically. I don't even put dates on some of my pages. Often, I don't scrap an "event" When I feel like scrapping, I go in and pick the photos I like for the layout. Then, I save the layouts by their title. And that's it. I haven't printed yet, but I am planning to do so soon. When I do, I will just put the layouts in the book in an order that is pleasing.

Are you convulsing yet?

LOL, it works for me so far.

OMG! This is so me too! I'm thinking when I print -- it will just be kinda whatever is eye pleasing -- no order! um, b/c I'm a disorganized mess and I work best that way!

[DawnMarch]

I dont scrap chronologically. I don't even put dates on some of my pages. Often, I don't scrap an "event" When I feel like scrapping, I go in and pick the photos I like for the layout. Then, I save the layouts by their title. And that's it. I haven't printed yet, but I am planning to do so soon. When I do, I will just put the layouts in the book in an order that is pleasing.

Are you convulsing yet?

Yes, I am. The mere thought of this much chaos in the world has already caused me to develop a nervous tic in my left eyelid :) Must . . . go . . . organize . . . . . . stuff. . . . .