Few Questions from a Newbie :)

[Mom2my3boys]

Hi Everyone!

I'm NOT new to scrapbooking, but I'm new to digital scrapbooking. I am looking foward to becoming hooked and going broke doing it LOL.

I'm a 27 (almost 28) year old SAHM to 3 boys. Aidan is 6, Austin is 4, and Avery is 18 months. I've been married to my hubby Roy for 7 years now.

The questions I have are:

1.) How do you keep all your files and downloads organized so that I know what I have and where?? Do you do it all by papers, elements, fonts, etc? Or do you do it by kit names?

2.) How do you all print your pages? I'm used to doing 12X12 pages, but my printer can't print 12X12, so is digital scrapping only in the regular paper format?

3.) Any really good tutorials or sites you can recommend for kits, ideas etc?

Thanks! Looking forward to getting to know all of you!!

Heather

[Paula]

Welcome to SSD!! You'll love it here. Here's my answers to your questions:

1.) How do you keep all your files and downloads organized so that I know what I have and where?? Do you do it all by papers, elements, fonts, etc? Or do you do it by kit names?

I organize by designer where I put everything from that designer in that folder. Then I have a categories section that lists all kinds of things such as patterned papers, solid papers, elements (with a BIG section breaking it all down).

I have a Mac, so I assign aliases for each thing. I can show you my entire list if you wanna see it.

2.) How do you all print your pages? I'm used to doing 12X12 pages, but my printer can't print 12X12, so is digital scrapping only in the regular paper format?
I scrap 12x12, but I print my LOs in 9x9 size because that's the size of my scrapbooks. I print at the local printer here in town that only charges me 35 cents per copy. I print monthly.

3.) Any really good tutorials or sites you can recommend for kits, ideas etc?
Not sure what you mean here.

[Darcy Baldwin]

Hi!! Welcome to SSD - it's so good to have you here. You're going to get as many different kinds of answers to your questions as there are people responding, so hang on!!

1. Organization. I tend to keep it very simple. I keep kits together, by nameofdesigner-kit. I don't do it by store as designers tend to move around and I don't shop from my stash that way.
I have a new -to-be used folder where I keep recent purchases. When they've been used, I move them to their appropriate folder (kit, element pack, alpha, etc.). If there is an alpha in a kit I know I'll use over and over, I copy it to my alpha file. I have room in my pc, so I don't worry about having extra copies of files around when I need them. That way, when I'm just shopping my stash for an alpha, I have all my favorites there.

There is a program called ACDSee a lot of people use to organize, where you can tag items to be able to pull up all of your 'blue papers' at one time if you happen to scrap that way. I'm a kit scrapper, so it's easier for me to scrap from kits first and foremost.

2. I scrap 12x12, since most designers create their kits that way. Once I'm done, I resize it to 8x8 to have them printed at Sams and put into albums for my home.

Some actually save up and print them in bound books at places like winkflash, shutterfly and mypictales.com.

3. I think we happen to have the best store around for kits

You'll find tutorials at almost any digi place you visit. www.scrapbook-bytes.com has an extensive tutorial list, as well as Misty Cato's blog

[Darcy Baldwin]

Originally Posted by Paula

2.) How do you all print your pages? I'm used to doing 12X12 pages, but my printer can't print 12X12, so is digital scrapping only in the regular paper format?
I print my LOs in 9x9 size because that's the size of my scrapbooks. I print at the local printer here in town that only charges me 35 cents per copy. I print monthly.

Paula - are these printed on cardstock or photo quality prints? 35cents each is great no matter which way!

[Paula]

Darcy, I have him print them on cardstock. Since I would paper scrap on cardstock, that's what I have him print on. =)) It's an awesome deal and if I go over 100, he drops it to 25 cents.

[LeeAndra]

(01) Hi!

(02) I have an EHD (external hard drive) with one huge folder called Kits and one huge folder called Elements. Kits are subdivided by designer name. The elements folder is divided into Alphas, Backgrounds, and Miscellaneous. How it's organized on my hard drive doesn't really matter, though, as I use ACDSee to organize my stash, so things are further categorized and tagged in there.

(03) I scrap 12 x 12 and have them printed at 8 x 8.

[nikkiARNGwife]

I organize by designer but I also have and elements folder that I have broken down into categories and copy any element from a kit I know I can use again into those subfolders.

I print at 8x8 also but you CAN print at 12x12. There are lots of online printing sites that will print that size and I did that when I first started digi, but it's cheaper at 8x8 and I like that size for my books.

[MelissaL88]

Hi! Welcome to the land of Digi!

1) I organize by Designer/kit. Meaning, each Designer has her own folder, then each kit I buy has it's own folder underneath. I use ACDSee to organize my stash, so I do not break up alphas or elements from the original folder they came in. ACDSee allows me to add tags based on the way I look for stuff to scrap with. This is a whole separate topic of discussion LOL!

2) I scrap at 12x12 and print at home 12x12. I really like that format the best for my personal albums. When I'm reprinting LO's for grandparents, etc., then I resize and print at 8x8.

3) When I first started out about 4 years ago, I used the tutorials on Scrapbook-Bytes. Misto Cato (one of the designers here) has some excellent tutorials on her blog.

Good luck and have fun!

[Nikki Epperson]

Heather -- welcome!

I think the ladies have all covered it, but in the question of tutorials, I would say - try some templates. I LOVE templates and you can find some here in the Cookie Decorating Challenge and also Bree's are fabulous!

Good luck!