More Purely Patriotic

Today I have a few more layouts to share with you from my new kit, Purely Patriotic, and Mercedes has put together a beautiful Quick Page Freebie for you too! Remember both the kit and 4x6 Mini Album are on sale for 25% off through the 5th!

The images above are linked to the product in my store. 

Layouts by Holly

Layout by Mercedes

Layouts by Noelle

And your Freebie, this beautiful Quick Page created by Skribbler Mercedes

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Purely Patriotic

I have a fun new kit out today, just in time for the 4th of July Holiday next weekend here in the United States! I would like to give a quick Thank You to Angie P on Twitter for naming this kit for me! Thanks again Angie!

The kit and 4x6 Mini Album are both on sale for 25% off through the 5th!

The images above are linked to the product in my store. Check out these awesome layouts by the Skribblers too! 

Layouts by Beth: 

Layout by Steph

Layout by Christie Dawn

Layout by Chrissy

Stop by tomorrow for some more layouts and a freebie :D 

CU Grab Bag

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet! I have an awesome CU Grab Bag out this month with FlowerScraps. The theme is Summer, and it's fantastic! Click the image to pick it up, click here for a full reveal

and here is a little CU freebie that goes with the grab bag, enjoy! 

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Sneak Peek :D

This kit comes out June 27 :D 

Space Saving Tips & Tricks

I mentioned in a previous post that I have been reorganizing my digi-supplies, and through this process I am working on cleaning up to save space. It's a big job, but once I've done it I will have some new systems in place and hopefully be able to keep it cleaned up. As I've been doing this I've learned a few things, and thought I'd share a few of my space saving tips and tricks! Most of these are any operating system friendly, I think!

1) Duplicate files: Most designers include a copy of the product preview, TOU file and sometimes additional advertising pieces in each downloaded file. If a typical kit is 3 downloads, that's often 3 copies of a bunch of files! I organize each kit like this:

Folder "Kit Name
      Subfolder 1: Papers
      Subfolder 2: Elements
      Subfolder 3: Alpha
      Loose in folder: folder.jpg (if the kit doesn't come with one, I make one) and the TOU (if there are
      multiple previews, I keep one of those too.

I delete any duplicate files (extra TOU, previews, blinkies, etc.) If there is a coupon in the download, and I think I'll use it, I file those in a separate folder called "coupons" so I can easily find it later.

It might not seem like much, but I have found TONS and TONS of duplicate files in my cleaning process, and although I can't tell you exactly how much space it's saved, I'm sure it's at least 1 GB

1b) Duplicate TOU: For designers I especially love and collect lots of kits from, I have a folder with their name on it. Inside this folder are all of the individual kits. Most designers use a standard TOU that remains the same for each kit, or even better, a URL I can go to to read their most up-to-date TOU. If this is the case, I keep only 1 copy of the TOU in that designer's folder. When I DL new stuff from that designer, I check to make sure that the TOU is still the same, and keep the most current/up-to-date version. If I have 10 kits from one designer, I only need 1 copy of their TOU, not 10!

2) PSD ---> Tiff conversion: This has been a HUGE undertaking, especially as a designer because I have TONS and TONS of PSD files for papers, elements and templates of all kinds. Tiff files maintain the layers just like a PSD file, only they end up being about half the file size. No joke. HALF the size. Here is a screen shot of the settings I use in PSE6 to save my Tiff files. I have only done all of my layered paper templates and about 1/4 of my page templates and have already saved over 7GBs of space on my EHD doing this!

3) Kit & Alpha purging: This is a pretty obvious space saver - if you're like me you collect digi-supplies like they are going out of style! I know I have a habit of downloading kits that I will likely never use. For me - these are most often really super girly kits that I love, but as mom to a boy, will likely never use. Delete 'em. There will be more cute girly kits out there if I ever have a little girl to scrap! Another habit of mine is to hold onto every single kit I CT with. While I LOVE the designers I work for, a lot of times I scrap a LO for them with a kit I normally wouldn't scrap with, usually because of theme. If I'm not going to use the kit again, I can delete it. No one is going to know or have hurt feelings. And if it comes down to it, I'm sure your designers would give you the kit again if you found you did need it :D 

Alphas are one place I have found I can save a lot of space. There are 3 ways I do this. 

1) If designers include both the individual letters and the "all in one" I usually keep just one or the other. It depends on the alpha, but usually the all-in-one since it's usually a smaller file. 

2) Delete alphas I won't use. Most kits these days come with an alpha, and I love a good alpha! But not all of them are my style! Sometimes kits have alphas that I know I would never use - there is no need to keep it if I know I won't use it! 

3) Delete the kit. If there is an alpha I love but it's paired with a kit I won't use - delete the kit, keep the alpha! I have a folder just for alphas I've collected, and probably 1/4 of them used to be with a kit that I no longer have. 

That's all for today, these are just a few space saving tricks that I use, and not every one of my methods will work for all of you, but maybe something will help you out in your space saving adventures! 

Do you have any of your own space saving tricks? Share them in the comments! I can always use a good tip or trick! 

CT Work

I am a bad, bad CT member because I haven't shared any of the awesome products I've been working with lately, so now's the time. So sit back, grab something to drink and get ready for some beautiful goodies!

First up, something sweet! Scrappy Cocoa and Flower Scraps have created this beautiful kit called Sugar Sugar.

and my layout

I was a guest for Litabells Designs in June and got to play with a bunch of her awesome stuff. Including

 

and her June Grab Bag (which is awesome!) 

Designs by Sweet Mesquite also has a new kit out, called Messy Girl, but I made a boy layout with it! Check it out

Alright, I think that's all for now :D I've been working with some other great stuff too, it's just not released yet! 

Guest Skribbler Call

Check it out - I need guest CT members, so get those applications in!

I also wanted to share this layout with you - it features 87 photos! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I used some papers by KStudio from her Backyard Adventures kit and also her Stitched Alpha for the parts that aren't photos! 

Tagging System for Mac Users

Most of my digi-supplies are organized in a way I understand and can use, but templates are one thing that I haven't really been able to figure out a good system for. There are so many things I look for in a template when I am selecting one: number of photos, room for journaling, clusters to guide me etc. So the question comes up "Do I organize by number of photos, by designer, by style or some other way?"

With this, I started researching some tagging systems for my templates - and then realized that there is one built right in. No additional software needed, no opening another program to find what I'm looking for - just a little effort up front to get it all organized.

I'm sure all of you Mac users have used the search feature before - it's handy, and I love that it's built right into each Finder window that I have open.

When you search, it searches the file name as well as the file information to help you find what you are looking for. You also have the option to search the entire computer or just a single folder, or drive. I use an external hard drive for all of my scrap stuff, so I am usually just searching within Scrapmania, what my husband so cleverly named my EHD. For this method, I will be working within my Templates folder. 

So, now that you are re-familiar with the search method, let me show you the tagging method I have just started using. Before we begin, a few tips for you. 

1) Remember, it will be searching the file names along with the keywords you are assigning, so be specific with your terms - spell out numbers, use abbreviations you'll understand and be consistent to make your searches easier. 

2) I am in the process of converting all of my templates to Tiff files, I have found that they are about half the size of PSD's and just recently fell in love with them. Also, the Tiff files put the thumbnail of the image instead of the photoshop icon as the default image for each file, which is very helpful when looking through my folders! 

Alright, I've built this up, but it's super easy! 

Right click on the file you want to tag, and select "Get Info" from the options. The long skinny window above will open. In the Spotlight Comments at the top, add your keywords. For this template I have added the following words "one-photo, PU, template, TDF"  and I will be adding journaling, I must have missed that one. When you are finished adding your tags, simply close the window! Done! 

Now, when I am looking for a great 1 photo template, I can type "one-photo" into my search bar and this template will be in the list, along with any others. Or, if I wanted a one-photo template from The Digi Files, I could add one-photo, TDF and it would only show the ones tagged TDF! 

See, easy! 

(Ignore a lot of the extra stuff in my screen shots, I am working on re-organizing, so things are a mess right now!) 

One more of my little organizational tips - the items that are highlighted in green are products I have purchased, non-highlighted things are freebies I've collected. I like marking my purchases so I can remember to make sure to use them since I paid for them! 

Alright, back to tagging for me! Enjoy! 

Terrible Twos Blog Train

I am super duper excited about this kit - the idea started with one of the Skribblers (KnittinJen) asking if I might consider a Terrible Twos kit for her to scrap all of the tantrum photos she had laying around, from there the idea of a collab was tossed around and that turned into a HUGE blog train! My team has combined with Flower Scraps and her team to create a HUGE kit with Quick Pages and more for you to collect via blog train!

Here's my kit for you, it's a mini kit and a collection of word art tags for you to add to all your layouts

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And I'm also hosting a freebie from Skribbler Mercedes for you too - this beautiful Quick Page

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And here is the full blog train :D be sure to hit all the stops to get all the awesome goodies! 

Crystal
Flower Scraps
Scrappy Cocoa
Jennifer Myers.
Ginger
Scrappin' Serenity
Lina
Karen
Jennifer Magreevy
**Nibbles Skribbles *You Are Here
Knittin Jen
Donni

Lots of News!

Alright, so I have a bunch of stuff to share with you all, so grab something to eat or drink, sit back and enjoy!

That's right, my store at DSI closed this past weekend, I would have announced sooner, but a server move meant the store was unavailable so I didn't share until now - but big sale in my store at theStudio and there is lots of fun stuff in there! Including....a new release! 

And if you want this kit for 70% off - HURRY because it's on sale as the Deal of the Day through Thursday sometime - RUN! (I'll do the math for you....that makes this kit only $1.20)
This kit will also be the June Scrap-n-Swap at theStudio - I'll be back with a post about that soon, but if you think you might want to play then be sure to grab the kit while it's cheap! 
Here are a few of my other new releases both CU and PU (all 30% off through the 15th)

 

 

Super Deal! Take A Dip!

I have been getting a lot of email requests for some of my retired kits - so, I thought I would do something fun! Each week (ish) I will post a special deal here on my blog an opportunity for you to snag one of my retired kits for a super deal! This week, your super deal is:

TAKE A DIP

You can snag this kit right here for only $1.25 this week!

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Just click the Buy Now button above, it will take you to Paypal to make your purchase, once your payment is made you will be taken to a download page! Email me if there are any problems, my email is in the top bar of this page! Enjoy!