Organizing the stash....

I used to be a traditional scrapper, and I guess I kind of still am. I definitely have a big box of paper and tools leftover to prove it!

One of the things I love about digital scrapbooking is that it doesn't take much space... anywhere I can bring my laptop, I can scrap. However, organizing the stash of digital supplies takes some effort too. One of the hardest things is that stuff comes in complete kits (collections) of coordinating items, but someday, I may need a blue button or a red ribbon for a layout and not know which of the 100+ kits it might be in.

That's why I use Picasa, which is FREE (I like that!) and works really well to organize stuff using tags. Over at The Daily Digi, there is a review of Picasa today, and I recommend checking it out:
Picasa – A free & useful tool in your digi scrap toolbox

TAGGING

This is the tool I find most helpful in Picasa, which they do mention in the above review. You can set up whatever tags you want, and then mark each graphic file with as many tags as you want. I tend to use simpler tags, so that I can easily cross-reference. For example, one paper might have these 8 tags:
paper
print
stripe
red
blue
green
black
distressed

If I'm looking for a stripe paper to match a photo with purple in it, I can search for "purple" "paper" "stripe." I use it most often when searching for elements. If scrapping using a themed kit, but that kit doesn't have a button or ribbon or string in it, I can search my entire stash in seconds by element name and color to see if I have something else that will work.

THE CATCH

Tagging a large stash can take a loooooooooong time. I've put in hours tagging, but I did go back and tag EVERYTHING. Now, I tag as I acquire new stuff, so it's much less painful, and once it's done - it's done!

Susannah is here | November 2009 ...and a Word Art Freebie

Little Miss Susannah arrived in November, and is the newest little person who knows me as Auntie Rebo. What's not to love?

I have been doing some serious scrapping this last week, so more posts to come!

CREDITS: Photo by Sharp Images Custom Photography, template by Stolen Moments Designs, Peach-faced Love Bird by Verena Designs, stitching from Birthday Party by Maria Designs, word art created by me. Fonts: Batik Regular, CK Becky

I completed this page for a speed scrap and one of the steps was to use word art, and there wasn't any in the kit I'd selected - aaaack!!! So I made my own, and you can grab a copy of you like it! There are 3 PNG files below, one of the whole thing, and one with each part, so you can recolor it if you'd like. :)

PC users: click on each image to open the full-size image in a new tab/window. Then click and drag it to your desktop, or right click and use "save image as."

Mac users: Ummm..... sorry, I don't know what the correct instructions are. Feel free to enlighten me!

interNational Scrapbook Day - May 1!

This weekend is a big one for scrappers of all kinds, and pretty much every digi scrap site out there has a lineup of celebrations! There will be fun events and contests, freebies and SALES!

I'll be hosting my first ever Speed Scrap on Sunday afternoon at Go Digital Scrapbooking, where I am on the Supreme Team, and I'm already making a list of all the great deals I don't want to miss all over the digi-scrap world! :)

It's going to be a great weekend! Here's the flyer for the events at GoDigitalScrapbooking, stop by and say hello!

I love being an aunt | May 21, 2009

My (totally adorable) nephew has been the subject of several of my layouts, but I've decided I want to be deliberate about creating a series of layouts featuring the little guy. For now, I plan to feature my favorite photo from each month, and do multi-photo layouts, but since this is one of my favorites, it got it's own page. I will probably create an opposite page using the same basic layout to coordinate with it. This is one of my favorite photos because our outfits "matched" (completely unplanned, of course, and don't tell his dad!) and as someone pointed out when I posted this photo on F*cebook, our eyes match, too. Awwww!!!!

Credits: Gigglerific by geniaBeana Scraps
Font: CK Mini

--*--

One of the cool things about digital scrapbooking is that the ideas and inspiration online is essentially endless. I can easily spend an hour browsing through galleries enjoying the amazing creativity of others. One of the sites I hang out at frequently is Scrapmatters.com and they host a challenge there called "Grand Theft Layout" in which the entire point is to create a layout inspired by someone else. The layout below is called "ooh boo" and is by Sarah Bennett, who is a designer and scrapper. (Click here to visit the ScrapMatters Gallery and see credits for this layout!) See any similarities with my layout above? ;)

Published! Scrapbook News & Review

Another one of my layouts has been published! The magazine requests an exclusive for 30 days, so I can't repost the layout here, but here's a little peek of "Sweet Susannah." She'll be back on the blog in a few weeks. :)

Disney Album | 2009

I've decided to make a small album of my year of adventures at the Disneyland Resort, so I've completed a few pages in the last week or so. This album is going to be 8x8 pages instead of the full size 12x12.

This one will be the cover page of the album:

Credits: Miss Kitty Add On and Mouse in the House by Brittish Designs, Mouse House by Dreams Fulfilled, Tag It 2 by Erica Zane. Font: Waltograph, Batik Regular. Template: Trixie Scraps Designs

This page will immediately follow that one, telling the story of how the obsession started....!

Credits: Mickey Christmas by Brittish Designs, Mouse House by Dreams Fulfilled. Font: Century Gothic.
Template by Eva Kipler/Eva's Divas.

This 2-page spread will be somewhere in the album, documenting the crazy cheesy Jungle Cruise ride:

Credits: Safari Park by Shien Designs, template by Andrea Gold (adapted), photo of Jungle Cruise entrance by SolarSurfer (public Domain). Font: JungleFever

Hawaii | January 2007

Oh, Hawaii... I never get tired of looking at these photos! I did this page for a challenge to scrap phots using my favorite color, and these were an obvious choice since my favorite color is blue!

Credits: Euphoria by Andrea Gold, Template by Laura/Simply.Scraps
Font: Mistral