Tonight I'm spending a LARGE chunk of my time getting my (completely unorganized) organized. I'm hoping that it will help me find things faster, and therefore, scrap faster! How do you organize your supplies? Right now, I'm going by Shop >> Designer >> Kit. Any advice? I'm doing it all folder based, because I move from computer to computer, and I have my EHD.
I have things organized a couple of different ways - I have everything I've ever purchased on a couple of EHDs, organized by designer name. I started saving them by store, but it really wrecked havoc with my OCD when a designer would move! On my computer, I have the following folders: KITS: These are current product, unscrapped. Not organized in any way, because there's not a lot in there. CT SUPPLIES: These are first by store or designer, then by type of product (paper, ribbons, flowers, etc.). When I am finished working with a CT kit, I decide what I think I will probably use again, and then move those items into the CT Supplies folder. The remaining items get deleted. Then, if I need a specific tag, or flower, or alpha, to finish off a page, I get it from this folder. I've organized like this for years - it works for me
Long story short, I have a KITS folder where all my kits go. I've never thought about organizing by designer or store. I just put kits together because, well, they're kits. Maybe I lack imagination? I'm going to write out my system. Sorry it's long lol. I have a system on my computer. I have a main Digiscraps folder, which has these subfolders: Kits, Finished Pages, Extras (templates, alphas, fonts, etc go in there--basically, stuff that isn't a full kit), and a really important folder "To Back Up." Inside that "To back up" folder are these subfolders: CT, Finished LOs, Kits, and Extras (templates, alphas, fonts, paper or element packs, etc). And my EHDs have folders with the same names so that I can easily back stuff up and easily find stuff. On my EHDs, all my kits go into one main KITS (except for very themed holiday kits. They go into a HOLIDAYS folder, with subfolders for each holiday). I look stuff up by searching for the designer's name (if I want a CT kit) or just by search words that I've added as tags or to the comments section of the kit's preview. I never thought about organizing by store. Stores close, change names, or I just forget lol, so I just organized simply by kits. But I'm a kit scrapper. If I used a lot of individual packs, I guess I'd have to figure something else out. A few months ago I created an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of CT kits and kits I've purchased. The spreadsheet is called KITS. (I know, I'm really creative. ) The categories are Kit Name, Designer(s), Store, Themes, Colors, Misc (I put "CT" in the Misc if it's CT, "BYOC" if it's a BYOC product--so I know to look for matching stuff by other designers, etc). I like the spreadsheet because I can quickly organize by store to see where I really do spend my money, I can search for a certain color scheme, and of course I can organize it by designer or search for a certain theme.
I am a store organizer, because I love challenges! (hence my love of the Pad!) I put 00-in front of the Stores I go to a lot ex: 00-TLP 00-TDC 00-SBG 00-SSD then 01- for others I get, but am not as active this keeps them all nice in my brain, and I don't have to scroll down to get to the ones I use tons I go Store, then Designer. If she moves, so does her folder! If they retire (boo hoo), then an X goes in front of her folder so I know she is no longer selling. I also CT for some rockin' cool ladies, so I have them separate, cause I dig into their goodies more than normal (well, I'm not usually normal, but you know??) The only thing that isn't by store is templates, cause I became addicted to them for getting pages done for my year book! I separate them by designer in a TEMPLATE folder. I do have a DOWNLOAD folder also, I use that for my new stuff, and once unzipped and made purty, I like to take the element folder and put the papers and alphas all in one folder, nice and neat. I leave it there until I scrapped with it , or my folder gets to full, then I spend an evening filing. I really like to go thru the folders and "touch" them again and again.
I don't really shop around much. I have a core list of designers that I love and with the recent additions to the LilyPad they are all here now so I just have a folder for each designer on my EHD and I store their products in their folders. I do have a folder for The LilyPad that I put collabs in and each BYOC. I have the BYOC labeled by month and year. I have tagged and organized through ACDSee in the past but I always forget to open it LOL.
I have a main folder named Digital Scrapbooking I'm like Anne when it comes to favourite places The Lilypad currently has 01 in front of it as I'll be here loads doing the challenges! so that moves it to the top of the list in my Digital Scrapbooking folder I also have 01 Layouts 2013 - where all my pages this year will be saved 01 is also infront of my Creative Teams The I have ....... Kits by Designer (for designers I have not bought that much from) Kits by Store - inside that - "Designer names" so if they move stores I can easily move there folders to the new store (these will be designers/stores I own a lot of stuff from) Templates - the folders with the Designers name Favourite Alphas Layouts 2012 is now called x Layouts 2012 so they are moved to the bottom of the list
I am the WORST with organizing except for BYOC LOL Oddly I DO have the designers by name and stick their goodies in there but I also made a FAVS/AAM folder where I take all my fav digital things from designers or stuff I can use for ME pages and stick them in that folder too. I need to delete the doubles though and just keep it in one folder, I need the HD space LOL. I tend to look in my FAVS/AAM folder first and more than the designer folders. I have everything I tend to reuse in that folder
I am sort of the same a vicky, only differnece is I have all my kits stored in store folders and by designers etc but stored on my tranquil home server, I keep on my PC for a month at a time my pages I make in a folder called scrap pages and the month I make them, and after a month they then get moved over to the server.
Mine is all sorted in folders by designer. Then I tag everything in ACDSEE so I can see the whole kit at once (or the whole BYOC together) by just clicking. But it was a holy hell lotta work to get it tagged. And I deleted 2/3 of what I had when I tagged because I didn't want to tag it. It was kinda like moving. Now when I unzip something, I make myself tag it (which really only takes 2 min) before I start scrapping with it. I'm getting to the point now where I'm not sure I need everything tagged so specifically, because really I'm not often like "omg I immediately need a red bird", but those times when I am, I'm glad I do it, so I'm not sure if I should keep on or not.
mine was more or less the same used acdsee but i had to do a reinstall yesterday and lost all my tagging and cant be bothered to spend hours redoing it on here cause ill be having a new laptop the middle of the year so no point yet
I just have my kits divided up by designer. I also have a favorites folder and seasonal/holiday folders (e.g. my winter folder has winter, Christmas, and Valentine's Day schtuffs in it). I don't normally buy element or alpha packs unless I love them enough for them to go into the Favorites folder. I have a good enough memory that I remember where the designers I buy from sell at without having to further organize by store. I also usually purge my supplies once they are 2ish years old, so my stash is a manageable size. Once my last EHD gets recovered and/or given a proper funeral, I'm going to start organizing my kit/element previews in LR. I have no interest in converting all my PNGs to TIFFs, so I am going to 'compromise' by tagging all the kit previews, and that should be enough organization to keep me from stockpiling a bunch of unused kits while still keeping my mind (what's left of it, anyways) mostly intact.
