Digital Organization & Enabler Alert

So while we are on the topic of organization, I thought I might share how I organize my digital stash (digital scrapbooking supplies AND digital photos AND digital layouts, etc).

Last year several girls in my Photoshop class recommended the program ACDSee to me for helping me organize my digital stash. At first I was a bit overwhelmed, but then I found some cool online sources for help and now I love using ACDSee to organize my loot. Basically you can tag each of your items with whatever attributes you would like to use for your version of sorting/organization. Once you're all tagged, you can select the attributes that you want from a list you create and ACDSee will pull up what you're looking for.

You can tag by designer, by kit name, by color, by texture, by pattern, by theme, whatever helps YOU keep track of what you've got. You can put as few or as many tags on an item that you want. Then, when you're ready to search, you can also select as many tags (attributes) as you want and start pulling up and viewing items. IT's AWESOME!!! I tag everything first and then sort out into their new "storage categories".

Here's a super quick & simplified breakdown of how I organize my digi scrapbooking supplies:

When I first download new kits and items, they (the zipped folders) go to a folder on my desk top called "Zipped Digi Scrap". I save the zipped files in here until I get a chance to unzip and sort them into their appropriate files.

** On the left side of the screen shots you see a list of files. These are the actual folders on my computer where the files are physically stored. This is where I would drag and drop to physically sort and organize the files.

** On the right side of the screen shots are the lists of categories of tags/labels. This is where you drag and drop for tagging purposes only.

When I unzip the files, I save them in an "New Digi Scrap to Sort" folder. I know this might seem like overkill, but it works for me and I don't always have gobs of time to unzip and tag and finish sorting at the same time. Sometimes I "buy and fly"...


Anyway... When sorting them and tagging them, I open up ACDSee and begin the sort process. (Something I learned the hard way: If you don't sort & tag within the ACDSee program, your tagging system will not work. Always make changes IN the ACDSee program.) I first label the whole folder by Designer and then the Kit name and then go through each element of the kit and start tagging. Once you have set up your tags/labels, it's a relatively quick process.

Here's an example of where I have downloaded a Jessica Sprague kit and began sorting. The first thing I did was to create a folder under Designers>Jessica Sprague for the kit "Home Away From Home". Then I highlight everything in the kit and drag it over to the Home Away From Home tag under Jessica Sprague. This tagged EVERYTHING in that kit as Jessica Sprague - Home Away from Home Kit.

Now, after I have sorted things (not tagged, actual sorting) into their appropriate files I can go back into ACDSee and select the Jessica Sprague - Home Away from Home tag and it will pull up everything in that kit in the view window, and then I can drag and drop what I want to use into Photoshop.

After the main kit tagging, I go back and open up each and every item in the kit, papers, embellishments, word art, etc and tag them appropriately. In this example I have tagged a striped paper from the Home Away from Home Kit. When I select the paper file, I drag it to the "Stripes" tag under Patterned Paper, under Papers. The cool thing is that it applies all the tags "Papers, Patterned Papers, Stripes" to the file all at once, with one drag. YAY!

I do this for all the elements in the kit and then go and sort the items into my actual folders categories which reflect the same names as my tagging categories. This part is super fast because I can pull up all items tagged Paper, Staples, Brads, whatever and just drag and drop into their new folder home.

This is super simplified, but I hope it helps someone. You can get some great tutorials and more detailed help from a site called Digi Scrap Info. They have some amazing ACDSee tutorials. :) You can also read more info on it from Jessica Sprague by clicking here to go to the article on her blog.

Happy Organizing! We have a super busy week this week! A ton of InkStaks to build and ship out, a big church ladies event (Enrichment) in my backyard on Wed night (Dutch Oven cooking... mmm) and I have to start sorting things in the house so that we can get ready to start working on replacing flooring. I found some awesome hardwood flooring for an AMAZING price online! It should be here in about 10 days! WOO HOO!

So now that I have told you all about this,
here's some FABULOUS news!!

ENABLER ALERT - BIG SALE BIG SALE BIG SALE!!!

Receive 40% off ACDSee 10 Photo Manager!
Take advantage of the Summer Fun Sale! Offer Expires 08/26/08

6/24/08 UPDATE:

I've gotten several emails on what my "tag structure" looks like. The easiest way other than typing it all out is to give you the screen shots. Thank goodness for that function! I've also been asked what the difference between the PSE Organizer and ACDSee is. I can't really tell you other than I played with PSE Organizer for a couple of days and did not like it. I went back to using my Windows file system to sort and organize... and then I discovered ACDSee and loved it. One thing I didn't like was how PSE Organizer bogged down my computer when sorting and tagging, etc. I think you just have to compare the two for yourself.

Click photos to view larger & details

Thoughts for Thursday: Goals

"As women we wear so many hats that it is absolutely necessary to be organized and do those things which move us toward the goals we have set."

~Mary Kay Ash

Today's TFT is brought to us from a Mary Kay email ad that I received the other day from my friend, Amaryllis. I thought this was a good quote to share as I am really bad about getting organized to accomplish my goals. I write them down and generally get them taken care of, but sometimes I get a bit distracted along the way {life sometimes just comes at ya full speed} and it takes longer to get done that which I have set out to do.

What are some of the goals you have for your life? Write them down... Make a plan.... Take some photos.... Make a layout....


Inky Smiles!
Erin

Pink n Green

I can't seem to get enough of fun colors lately. Yesterday I picked up some fun stuff at Joann's to make an apron and a few items to put in my studio for the SOMEDAY that I get to decorate it again. (Too many walls to patch and stuff to repair in the meantime.)

I love this color combo! This is a belated birthday card (standard A4 size) that I made for my sister, Elizabeth.

Colors are White Daisy, Sweet Leaf & Garden Green (CTMH) and Sweet Blush (PTI) .

Supplies used are:

Cardstock - CTMH

Stamp sets - CTMH (Simple Stitches, Happy Birthday)

Patterned paper - Paper Trey Ink

Ribbon - Paper Trey Ink

Inks - CTMH & Versamark

Embossing Powder - SU!

Glitter - Doodlebug Designs

Threading Water border punch - Fiskars

Digi Fun... Independence Day Is On It's Way...

Since everything is still topsy-turvy around here I have been playing around in the digi realm... Every year since we've been in this house Brent and I have had a big neighborhood/friend 4th of July Pot luck BBQ & Fireworks party. Each year different people show up and each year seems to be more fun than the previous year. This year I had wanted to make some really cute paper invites, but things are obviously, well u know, so I did them digitally in PS Elements.


The papers used are from Christine Smith and the elements used are from Christine Smith , Raspberry Road Designs and some random ones that I picked up somewhere along the way and don't remember where they came from. I've omitted my address for any "party crashers".. lol!

The Culprit...

We interrupt today's blurfing (blog surfing) for a message from our sponsor culprit... (I'm finally feeling up to dealing with some of the photos I took... mostly I just need to get them off my camera card...)

This is the culprit... under the carpet in the concrete floor of my once 100% finished, cozy and well loved family room.... It's now repaired. Thankfully the family room sits on the high side of the house and the poo water did not seep into the floors in there. Four fewer walls that need sheet rock repair, yay!


Here are some snapshots of the aftermath... I've spared you the details of the poo water, nobody needs to see that..ewww...

We'd mopped up the water from the floor so we could walk around and move furniture. Thankfully my desk was not harmed in this incident. There were a few corners that we cleaned, but 99% of the desk was unharmed. YAY!


The laundry room was "only" hit in about 1/3 of it. The walls on the south side were hammered... cut out, etc. We've got to do some major sorting, cleaning and repainting in here now. UGH!



After we moved Nate & Sara up to the tiny spare room on the main level, we loaded most of the office furniture and family room furniture into the guest room. The recliners, desk drawers and files and a variety of small things that don't cram well are scattered in various rooms throughout the rest of the house. Fun, fun.

Character

"Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open."

I made a whole bunch of these little guys for some girlfriends a while back... Avon had these cute little Disney Princess Chapsticks on sale and I could not resist! And of course you can't just give them to your girlfriends without some sort of cute packaging.... (You can click on any of the photos to view them larger.)

I modeled my package after a matchstick box card and made it slightly bigger to accommodate the Chapstick tube. It's decorated in paper from CTMH which has been stamped with CTMH Stamps & Inks.

The flower is done by stamping Versamark ink on a piece of transparency paper (acetate) and then sprinkling white embossing powder over it and heating with your heat gun. Be CAREFUL.... the acetate WILL melt if you heat one place too long. Once the embossing powder is cooled you can cut out the flower. It may take several tries to get the desired effect... the embossing powder likes to stick to the acetate anywhere it can. You can try rubbing gently with an anti static bag, but be careful because it can scratch the acetate...


I stamped a CTMH paper flower with a polka dotted stamp from the Floral Elements set and set aside to dry while working on the acetate flower. When all the floral components were ready, I pinned them all together with a little (discontinued) sequin flower and brad (CTMH) and attached the flower to a white organdy ribbon (CTMH).




Supplies:
White organdy ribbon, paper flower, white brad & sequin flower - CTMH
Inks & Paper - CTMH
Stamps: Floral Elements, Delight In Everything, Follow Your Dreams
White Embossing Powder - CTMH
Heat Gun - Marvy
Adhesive, misc.

Thoughts for Thursday & Sketch {011}

“We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.”
—Max De Pree (b.1924), author, former CEO of Herman Miller, Inc.

Here's a 6x6" card sketch for you this week. You can also turn it into a 6x6, 8x8, 9x9, or 12x12 layout! I'd love to see what you come up with :) Feel free to rotate the sketch, flip the sketch, sketch up the sketch.... do something fun and creative with it! Leave a comment with a link to your artwork!

Inky Smiles!

Erin