Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Organization Nightmare!

Since I changed to digitial scrapbooking this past August I am starting to have some issues with finding photos and started to scrap photos two times! Yikes! As if I have time to scrap photos twice. Anyway, I am using a program called Picasa2 for my digital images (jpgs and png files). I have been coding all the backgrounds, embellishments, and wordart I download into categories so when it's time to scrapbook I can quickly find what I need for a layout. It can be time consuming at times when I download tons of freebies or kits that I have purchased at one time but in the end it is so worth the time I spend coding. I try to code on a daily basis. If I don't have time to code the kits then I don't unzip them until I have the time to do so.

Now, silly me didn't realize that my photos were also going into the program. I have been sorting my photos into folders by month and year. So say for example, I took photos today, they would be downloaded and put into my March 2007 folder. When I scrap these photos I would name the layout 20070307Neveryday. N would be code for Naomi and everyday would be just an every day photo. If we were at the library it would be named 20070307Nlibrary. I would code each child with their name. If the layout didn't go into a specific child book then I would just put the event down. They would be all put into the 2007 folder. This has been helping me find my layouts after they are complete but HELLO! WHAT ABOUT MY PHOTOS!

Since I scrap out of order. I scrap most recent photos first and then when I have time I go back and scrap old events. I tend to jump around a bit. I have been having a bit of a trouble keeping up with the thousands of photos I take on a daily basis. In adobe photoshop elements the program which I use to digital scrapbook my photos go into there and there is a calendar which I use to note the event and that's where I have been to note if I completed the layout.

Just today I coded all my 2007 photos in picasa2. Noting who the photo was and what event. I'm hoping that it will be easier once I have all my photos coded so I can find a photo fast for a challenge. I have been participating in lots of challenges on many different digital scrapbooking sights. It really motivates me to get layouts complete. My favorite website would be www.digitalscrapbookplace.com, however, there are others that I also scrap at but the main sight where I participate is the DSP sight.


At least I got 2007 photos coded. Still need to do 2006, 2005, etc. etc. YIKES. I guess I can do a little each day and then I'll be caught up. Don't want to spend too much on this project or I won't get my pages scrapped though. Goal is to complete 400 pages this year. Maybe once all my photos are coded I'll have no problem reaching my goal.

2 comments:

loonyhiker said...

I'm still trying to figure out Picasa. I've done the control + K to tag them. Is that what you are doing? What do mean coding them? I'm impressed that you found time to do all this. See, I told you that you were my hero!!! You need a big S on your shirt for supermom!

Karen said...

Wow, I'm so impressed by your organisational determination CTM. I use Picasa2 but I am far more haphazard than you. Good luck and I hope you ghet through all that back catalog of photos.