Each Monday, I discuss my Scrap Happy project based on Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun
Organizing Digital Scrapbook Content
I mainly scrapbook conventionally, using paper, adhesive, and photographs. I do a little digital scrapbooking, too. I find dealing with digital content to be quite challenging. About once a month, I visit Creative Memories’ Project Center to collect digital freebies. I also collect digital freebies that land in my Google Reader or I stumble on when surfing scrapbooking-related websites. For the past two years, I have simply dumped them into folders on my laptop by date published online. This is an easy to way to make sure I don’t download something twice. This is a difficult way to find anything when you actually want to use the element.
A New System
About a month ago, I was home with a sick kid and spent the most of the day and part of the next day organizing digital content (easy to do with a laptop and a sick kid sleeping on your lap). I sorted by brand (e.g., Creative Memories, Ali Edwards, Two Peas in a Bucket), type (e.g., paper, quote, embellishment), and theme (e.g., sports, holidays, nature).
Delete!
I had imported some of this content into my digital scrapbook software several months ago. I started by deleting all of my digital freebies from this software. Then I imported everything by folder I had created on my desktop. I backed up all of my digital content onto a DVD. Last, I deleted the digital content from the folders on my desktop. Be careful. I can do this because it is all in my digital scrapbook software program and it is all backed up elsewhere. Make sure you have a back up before you delete anything.
I Can Now Use My Freebies!
I immediately started using my freebies! I so rarely used them because they were so poorly organized.
A New System for New Downloads
Now that a system is in place, new downloads go into new folders I created. I have set a calendar reminder in Gmail to import and back up any new digital content every three months.
One More Thing
I did not permanently delete anything I had downloaded. I have digital embellishments for things like rugby, which I will probably never use. I have a hard time getting rid of this sort of think permanently. I suggest that if you know you will never use it, delete it. I will probably do this, when I need more memory on my computer.
Your Turn
How do you organize your digital scrapbook supplies? What motivates you to organize your digital content? What prevents you from organizing your digital content? I love to hear from my readers. Please comment below!
Related Posts:
- Scrap Happy: A Happiness Project
- Scrap Happy: Boost Energy
- Scrap Happy: Back Up Digital Photos (File Under Boost Energy)
- Scrap Happy: Organize Traditional Scrapbook Supplies (File Under Boost Energy)
Stephanie Medley-Rath is a sociologist and scrapbooker who studies scrapbooking and memory keeping. Scrapworthy Lives is a blog focused on her sociological analysis of scrapbooking, with a sprinkling of posts about Stephanie's own scrapbooking projects.
