MIddleground Organising

I'd recommend keeping your kits together and complete - don't separate them. You have ACDSee don't you? Tag all the previews - tag them by designer, store, BYOC, other collabs, themes, Main colour schemes, styles. I also have an MOC tag so I can easily grab stuff for MOC without worrying about if it's in the store or not. I remove the MOC tag from kits as designers leave the store or retire the product. That is the only tag I remove - I leave the store it was bought at tag etc.

Start with the kits by your favourite designers, and recent stuff.

As you are using a kit, if you see an item or paper you know you would want to use to add to another kit in a page at a later date, then tag that to help you find it again.

 

I just keep my files as TLP>Designer... I can look at the folder in windows and see what is in the pack. If you seperate it the packs in to papers etc, first I think it is a waste as you will have a terrible time if you want to use for something and it becomes a retired product, so for example it will be hard to know and I would think time consuming to even figure if it is retired for use during MOC etc.

I usually will put in the windows search for example "Staple" and it will pull up all the staples noted in all of my stash.. I really don't think you need to organize down to product. Some designers use a number system to their elements so a button is not noted as a button. That I think would be difficult.

When I scrap, I look at the kits in window and will pull from there when I do File>Place.

 

I would suggest then to file it by Store>Designer... I unzip to my download folder, scrap with it and then file it by Store Designer in my EHD. Once I have moved the product to the EHD I then remove it off of my computer. I do not store anything on my laptop.

Each person needs to organize with what makes sense to them.

 

I would put it under LBW as that is under TLP and where I scrap. Ru (SB) also does collabs with Rachel and then Soco has collabs with Anita. I will do the main designer that sells at the pad and place the items there.

That is how I do it anyway.

Collabs with 2 TLP designers, sometimes I will keep them in both .. that is just me though LOL

 

I do it the same way ...
I use bridge and I like to keep my kits alphabetical per designer and I put the release date after the name of the kit.

 

At a bare minimum, I would go through and tag all your previews with kit/alpha/template/element/etc. Although I keep my kits sorted by designer (not store), I don't tag them in ACDSee with the designer name because I don't search or scrap that way.

After you tagged your previews with what they are, you could go back and tag more specifically depending on how you scrap. My catalog has the following categories (with tons of subcategories/tags): Activity (places to go & things to do), Holiday/Season/Celebration, Texture (cork, fabric, etc. used for elements & alphas), Theme, & Type.

 

I do a lot like @cfile. Store>Designer>Kit.

I unzip all papers, elements, word art into the Kit folder then put alphas into a sub-folder of the kit. So essentially the whole kit is in one folder. I use Picasa and I normally don't have the alpha folders open in the tree view but I know they are available because of the icon showing a sub-folder.

As for collabs, if the 2 designers are at 2 different stores, I file them under the store where I bought them. If both designers are at the same store, I will put it under the designer I use the most. As for store mega kits, I have a folder for "store Collabs" and each one has its own folder in there.

When a kit gets retired, I rename the folder in windows with "z-" in front of the kit name and it sorts to the bottom in both Windows and Picasa. If a designer leaves a store and goes elsewhere, I can just move the designer folder to the new store. Came in real handy when SO closed down! For stores that have closed down and I have a lot of kits from that store of retired designers , I again do the "z-" thing and they sort to the bottom (SO for examples). And, yes, I keep them available... just scrapped with a retired kit from a closed down store earlier this week. I also have a folder for "Retired Designers" that I move any folder for a designer that retired to (Etc by Danyale comes to mind).

 

and most of the suggestions from @HavaDrPepper

I have always done this too...Store, Designer, and if a designer's products make a kit (e.g. paper, alpha, etc) I make a folder for them all and call it Kit. I only tag Previews to start, but if I have time ...meaning I didn't buy much that month, I can do more in depth tagging which is usually for the things I really like or like to use. I also keep every product I buy in a monthly folder so I know what's new and then put that folder into my Store folder. Things get uploaded monthly to that folder which is on an EHD (and backed up!). Then I take time during the new month to tag and sort the products into the right designer folder. It goes faster for me when I can do things in a batch and not purchase by purchase each day or so.

I also really appreciate it when a designer names her files as opposed to a generic number etc. That way I can do a search on my computer or in Lightroom by the category name ...WA (word art) or by a possible word like friendship, sad, star.

Seriously, I'd suggest to do it the simplest way first, then if and when you have time, add more details. Visual helps me the most.

 

I put mine with the designer I’m most likely going to think of for that kit.

I know some put it in one & a preview folder in the other that ways it’s in both.

 

Create shortcuts and place them in the other designers' folders. That way you aren't taking up a ton of space on your hard drive and every collab is easily accessible via each of its designers.

 

It works well with BYOC, too. I create a folder for each byoc and I put in a shortcut for each of that month's products. If I'm feeling industrious LOL I also put a shortcut for the byoc folder into the product folders so I can easily see all of the coordinating products.

 

@littlekiwi I have a folder for collaborations and freebies. Inside that folder I start with the kits name, then follow by designer.

If I download a BYOC as "collection" I keep those together by year/month within the BYOC folder. I am Mixed Media Monthly fan too. I have a M3 folder. Inside that the collections are kept by year/month.



For monthly subscriptions I find it is easiest to start with the month eg "9" for September. Any add-ons I follow with ".x" For example, in September I have main kit (9) followed by Paula's add-on (9.1) and Rachel's add-on (9.2). Doing this keeps the add-ons aligned with main kit...but each designer's add-ons are separate. Thus I can coordinate, yet participate in a designer specific challenge that may require use of their products only.