Sunday, April 12, 2015

Organizing Digital Stamps: A Day Late and SEVEN POUNDS + later...!


So I promised a post yesterday
regarding organizing (some of) my digital stamps.
 
Two days
six flash drives
one external hard drive
a ton of plain white cardstock
5 packages of page protectors
one package of dividers
and one 2" Avery one-touch notebook later...
 
And my biggest collection is organized!!!
And it weighs a whopping 7.5 pounds!
And I learned---a lot!
 
For years I've used numerous flash drives
and then an expansion drive-
had computers crash (the cat threw up on the open laptop...)
and most of my data saved...
so I had files everywhere
and not always organized in the best manner.
At first I thought "gee, I will just log into the site
and print off a list of my orders...."
Well, there was only about 1/16 of them listed
and most of them had expired so that was useless.
(Insert note: anyone considering a Kindle
Amazon's site TELLS YOU if you've already ordered a book!)
So I started searching my laptop and flash and other drives.
And saving files.
But when I went back to get them---
well, some were there, some weren't.
More searching.
Some I had "hard copies" of---so that helped fill in a few gaps.
I then spent the time and went through the artist's entire site
image by image,
and rechecked my drives to fill in even more gaps!
I think I recovered all but 3.
And losing 3 out of 90+ is a darn good average!

So, from here on out-
THIS IS HOW I WILL ORGANIZE MY DIGITAL STAMPS!
This is what will work for me.
Take what you like and leave the rest!
Each image has it's own page.
The name of the image is at the top
(I pretty well know what image is by who-
but if I were uncertain, I would have included that as well!)
and then I sized it to what I am most apt to use--
and copied it three times on the page.
 
 
I LOVE pop dots and it typically takes three images
to do the layering I like to do.
I also included a colored image
(if not by me then one I liked/found--I can color-
but I can't get the "shadow" stuff down--
so I like to have something to go by)
I then put this sheet in a plastic page protector.
That way when I want an image,
I can pull out that MASTER worksheet,
copy it and go!

I got this binder
and at first I didn't think I would like it.
But after a few seconds, I fell in love love love!
My fibromyalgia is raging today--


and this baby just has that one little lever
and opens in a heartbeat.
NO PINCHED FINGERS-NO PRODDING AND PRYING!
This is NOT your average notebook of yesteryear!
I don't get paid by Avery-but I should!
 
I put all my things together one way-decided that wouldn't do-
so reorganized them all a second time.
(Actually, a 3rd-as Poppa Cat decided he was going to "help"
and they slid every which way!)
I gave that lever a workout
but had it been a regular notebook-
no way I could have handled it today!



 
Once I got all my MASTER SHEET IMAGES together
and divided in a way that suits my pea brain
I then gathered the odds and ends of images I had already printed
in days gone by.
Each like image went into its own page protector as well
and I simply filed that in after the MASTER IMAGE SHEET.

 
So now I can go pick an image,
if there's a copy ready to go just pull it out and get craftin'!
It's not a big deal if there isn't---
I just pull out the MASTER IMAGE SHEET
make my copy
(sizing it as needed)
and start coloring!
I have also kept/printed copies of variations on the images
I've seen and liked-color combos to try, embellishments, etc-
and stashed that in there, too, for future FYI)
 
This book was HEAVY!!!!
I had to weigh it---
a whopping 7.5 pounds!!!
I may have to divide it out into smaller books-
but at least I KNOW where all that brand images are!
This took hours and hours---
and even after saving it three times
in three different places
before I closed my file
I lost the last 25 pages (on the computer?!)
BUT I HAVE THE HARD COPIES NOW!
 
Only 4-5 more artists digi's to go!
Lol.
Not nearly as many tho-thank goodness!
 
I am just going to get in the habit of doing this
each and every time I order a stamp.
Be forewarned-
if your computer crashes-
or the time frame "expires"
or the artist retires the image
the artist has no obligation to replace your lost image.
Some are nice-and will.
Others-not so much.
I also found that I was able to pull up about 3 different sites
for the same artist
and saw different stamps on each one---?!
And the organization by catagories
wasn't consistent between the three...!
So having the hard copy-or the external hard drive--
CYA (cover your ART my friend!)
 
Until next time,
happy stamping and scrapping.
Blessings,



1 comment:

Stressed Stamper said...

nice and organised - not wanting to burst the bubble - I too did something along those lines - prob is you use the images cut them out and put back ones for rainy day - you can guarantee at some point they will fall out of the sleeves, you will drop the file-lever arch will open and all the sheets will fall out...mine are now cut out - not nec in the finished shape and in a box entitled - to colour...Enjoy though - hope you don't have bad luck like I did
Hugs Sarah