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"Knowing" your stash

littlekiwi

littlekiwi

I charge by the hour for anything before noon
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
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Ok, I've tagged my stash in terms of MOC compliant, designer, BYOC, DYD and a few other things but still feel like I don't know what I own. Using the visual order history from the store isn't really an accurate portrayal of my stash as I lost quite a bit a few years back when my laptop was stolen and my backblaze backup wasn't finished. How do you get to the point where you know what you have? Thinking if somehow I found a way to know my stash better I wouldn't buy such similar things, use the same kits over and over again etc
 
I don't really think I "know" my stash very well at all, especially lately. I open up a folder and I'm like SURPRISE! because I don't remember buying it or using it. LOL

I do know some designer's products better than others, and that's mostly because when I scrap a page using multiple kits from one designer, I somehow seem to remember the kits a little bit more. Maybe experimenting with that type of scrapping would help?
 
I think part of my issue is while I've tagged the basics I haven't finished tagging by theme which ultimately is 9/10 where I start my product search if its not driven by particular products or designers. I doubt that the subject/topic level of tagging will occur during MOC unless a miracle happens
 
i am so overwelmed, have been for over a week. I so love being in photoshop, but i look at my drive and think what the hell, i backed up in 2017, folder mydata86 is dec 2017, its backup is mytos_39..(to restore, i have 39 parts to combine). know i was in middle of moving planners to on partion, templates to another partion. my prior zips are gone for that point earier (hum, that why had alot room on one partion. everything since in mytos 40-47 on my h partion. no idea what on the usb drives, hope my old zips are.I just might not get back to this afterall
Maybe use my year sub on photoshop, to go back to old layouts, most named the paper i used and organise them
 
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littlekiwi said:
I think part of my issue is while I've tagged the basics I haven't finished tagging by theme which ultimately is 9/10 where I start my product search if its not driven by particular products or designers. I doubt that the subject/topic level of tagging will occur during MOC unless a miracle happens
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wouldn't even try tagging in MOC, unless you happen to be caught up with challenges and have extra time.

I looked at my downloads folder, my scrapbook kits folder, and I just gave myself grace and said, "Cheryl, you will not get all this organized and that is okay. Just focus on getting pages done." So that's where I'm at now.

Hope you are able to navigate some of your products to make some pages. :)
 
@gonewiththewind I basically said as long as it was tagged with MOC and the designer, anything else would be a bonus but even finding themed things is a struggle if they haven't been tagged. I'm working on it a bit tonight as I can't scrap the layout for the 2nd for a week or two (need to get the photos done first) so I do have a bit of spare time
 
Cath_ said:
i am so overwelmed, have been for over a week. I so love being in photoshop, but i look at my drive and think what the hell, i backed up in 2017, folder mydata86 is dec 2017, its backup is mytos_39..(to restore, i have 39 parts to combine). know i was in middle of moving planners to on partion, templates to another partion. my prior zips are gone for that point earier (hum, that why had alot room on one partion. everything since in mytos 40-47 on my h partion. no idea what on the usb drives, hope my old zips are.I just might not get back to this afterall
Maybe use my year sub on photoshop, to go back to old layouts, most named the paper i used and organise them
Click to expand...

It is overwhelming, especially after you are coming back after such a long break and having to refamiliarize yourself with where you've saved everything, and then having a new version of Photoshop to get used to as well. But we can do this! Just focus on making pages! Glad you are back to scrapping again!
 
I tend to do a store search for themes and then once I see the designer I check my stash for it.
I don't know what I have, but I am ok with it. Shopping for scrapping supplies and scrapbooking are my guilty peasure.
 
I don't. That's why I organize. :)

I do know my style, though. I know that there are only 3 digital scrapbook stores I ever buy from, and there are only a handful of designers at each of those 3 stores that I buy from. If I see something I like at one of these stores from one of "my" designers (and the store doesn't tell me that I already bought the same item), I will check my "To Be Used" folder to see if it's (or something similar is) there. I don't purchase items more than a year(ish) old unless they are being retired. I know what types of events and emo/personality things I scrap, and I know what elements I always (and never) use so I'm pretty choosy with what I use and what I buy.

Most importantly, there is rarely a perfect kit so if I happen to finish a page and then notice a kit in my stash that I could have used, I shrug my shoulders and move on. I do regularly go through my "To Be Used" folder and "To Be Scrapped" folder and match up photos + kits but if I miss one, that's okay.
 
Eyeore said:
I tend to do a store search for themes and then once I see the designer I check my stash for it.
I don't know what I have, but I am ok with it. Shopping for scrapping supplies and scrapbooking are my guilty peasure.
Click to expand...
That is what I do too Stefanie!
 
Can you see the kit previews instead of folder icons when you scroll through your stash? I change the folder icons to kit previews every time I add something new to my stash, so every time I scroll through my TLP folder I'm seeing the kits and products I have. Well, not the tiny things like buttons and staples that are hard to see, but enough.
 
I use the windows explorer to do a search of digital kits, admittedly this will only pull up in the designer has named the items well. For my latest layout I wanted 'then' and 'now' wordarts so just typed in 'then' and did a search. It pulled up the Good Old Days kit by ForeverJoy, quick check it's still current in store and used that kit. I then chose another kit with similar colours to make up the difference.

I will admit though that I am not hugely concerned about using themed products on my pages as I think the photos, title and journaling are enough to communicate the theme and the scrapping bits are just there to pretty it up.
 
My system won't help you because we scrap so differently. I tend to stick to certain designers and I organize by store/designer/kit structure. I put a copy of the preview in the designer folder then I can scroll through them when I'm looking for something specific. I have used Bridge to tag only the previews with themes and I can search in Picasa using that keyword and the items do come up. I do make it a part of my unzipping process to add that tag right away if I buy a new kit.

I also took the time to set up a spreadsheet of all kits I own with sheets for each store. I have a column for if I have used the kit so that I know what is in my stash that I haven't used. I add any new purchases to this spreadsheet during the unzipping process as well. During my DYD, I referenced this spreadsheet and was able to use quite a few kits that I've ignored in the past. Some were theme kits that didn't even go with the photos for the day but the colors worked and I just used the generic elements.

I am more focused now on using kits that haven't been used before. But my issue has been those kits that don't have plain, non-patterned papers in them. I should pull together some of those plain papers from other kits by the designer that I can use in that case. I have to have a plain background on my pages, especially DYD!
 
I usually just use the search feature on Adobe Bridge or in Windows to search my folders.

I have every kit/product preview named -- _folder -- so that I can just search all the product previews in that designer, shop etc.
 
My method is to just peruse product previews. I have a mental inventory of most of my stash and get a refresher by doing a quick scroll through. If I'm looking for something specific, I use the search feature (based on how the designer named their files).
 
Tree City said:
I made a promise to myself not to buy stuff just because it was on sale. That's helped me to know my stash because I'm more intentional with my purchases: I don't get bogged down unzipping and mindlessly backing up 10 kits. Instead I'm looking for a specific type of kit (after making sure I don't already have it, based on a search in my Previews folder) and I buy one...or two...of them. :)

And if I'm feeling lazy and don't want to browse folder images, I just pull up my Excel spreadsheet.
Click to expand...

I learned this from you ;)

I have also stopped buying just because it is on sale. I've even gotten to the point that I try to choose templates I haven't used before and I have a lot of those. I have favorites that I tend to use over and over. I will put things on store wish lists but won't buy "just because". Right now those are filled with hiking and camping and beach kits because those are the types of photos my cousin posts for her grandkids (that I am scrapping for them). I have so many kayaking photos that I'm tired of using the same kit all the time! Unfortunately, that is not something that shows up in these types of kits. Nor are they kits suited to camping and hiking in Florida. Whole different world down there.

I'm really feeling good about having used so many of my unused kits because of my kit spreadsheet. I feel like it is helping me stretch my scrapping abilities as well.
 
ugh, I'm feeling worse than when I started...just had a look to see unused but purchased kits in December/early January and I'm utterly ashamed it got so out of hand and I bet thats the same most months too.....I have nearly 40 new supplies that I haven't even used just from the past month or so
 
I've wondered about this and I'm finding the conversation interesting!

I think my general "folder organization" (as in, my Windows Explorer organization) is a strength to knowing/seeing what I have. I organize my digital stuff first there, and then import it into Organizer from that folder. So I have a folder (in my Documents/Digital Scrapbook/) called Digital Scrapbook Materials and, in that folder, I have the following:

01 Birthday
01 Books_Literary
01 Crafts_Hobbies
02 Family
02 Friends
02 Self
03 Bohemian Style
03 Photo Focused
04 Florida
05a January_New Beginning
05b February
06 July_August_Summer
06 Spring
06 Winter
07 Autumn_Thanksgiving

And the list goes on. Folders in the 10's are related to things like individual alphas, fonts, solo element sets, solo Word Art sets, 11 is Styles, 20 is Kits (that don't fit any other themes), 22 is Mixed Media Kits; the 40s are for Templates of all kinds, divided by "designed," "pocket," "Photo masks" etc.

It doesn't take long to move things into an appropriate folder. If I'm working on a LO of Florida, I'll start with the 04 Florida folder. I try, when downloading, to tag and sort things in bulk (so every element/image gets a tag with designer, theme, and store - at minimum). If I see something that would work for Florida in a random kit, I'll tag it (flamingos and palms show up in unlikely places.) If I see a word bit or something that I *know* I will want, I'll tag it.

I think knowing your digital stash can be tough - unzipping and going through it as soon as practical after buying helps a lot. KNOWING I have to do it means I'm more conscientious about what I buy (says the lady with two HUGE kits to go through yet).
 
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