Organizing Supplies

Haven’t managed to post this week as I’ve been busy organizing my digital supplies. Last weekend as I said in my last post there was a big sale at www.designerdigitals.com and as a result my bank account is $50 lighter and my supply selection is boosted by some great additions. My problem has been that as I’ve added more supplies to my collections its been harder to remember what I did or didn’t have and where it was saved. Which meant when I was scrapbooking I was wasting time looking for supplies. This became really evident when I tried the 30 minute challenge last week and I realized I had to do something to help my process. My files on my external hard drive are sorted fairly well but I couldn’t search them. Yes I had copied the summary picture into one folder but what if I wanted to remember where I had a orange flower with a button. I couldn’t I had to look through them all. So I decided to tag my supplies and use Photoshop Elements Organizer to do this. I don’t use it for my pictures which I sort by event and date. So why not use it for my supplies. So I’ve spent most of my scrapbooking time this week going through my supplies and tagging each item. As some items have more one than one tag this is taking a while but even now I have found it beneficially and I haven’t even finished. It was great today when I decided I wanted to be creative rather than continue cataloging to be able to search for elements I needed or wanted without having to go through each folder looking for them! Certainly made the whole process much faster!
Photoshop Elements Organizer is really easy to use. I found it very simple to get things started and get multiple tags allocated to each item. I didn’t even read the instructions I just got started and it seemed to work. I even managed to work out how to rename a “folder” or “pile” I had created and then even to merge two. So if your using Photoshop Elements and your not using the organizer I can highly recommend the ease of using this program. Remember I’m using this for only my digital supplies and not my pictures. Anthony has warned me off using organizers for pictures and I haven’t really felt the need. But even 50% through the digital supplies I know this was the right decision to get it done. My word of warning is to make sure you backup your catalog so incase of disaster you can restore it. I haven’t yet done this but need to – as I don’t want to have to start again.

Enough words – here’s the layout I created this evening using one of the new templates I purchased last weekend.

Supplies -

Technorati Tags: photoshop,PSE,organising supplies

Simple Pleasure and the be-dazzler for scrapbooks.

Until you loose your health I don’t think we total realise what we have. Yesterday for camp scrap we had to create a layout about the everyday and the hear and now. Got me to thinking as I was looking at the pictures that I have printed ready to scrapbook about my Dads hear and now.

On January 7th 2007 my Dad had a major stroke. He had been living alone since my Mum died but was active and involved in the local community. Since the stroke he has been living in a nursing home with 24 hour care. The hear and now for Dad is what you would expect in a nursing home and the limitation there are of that. The home is great and my sisters visit as regularly as they can. Myself being on the other side of the world finds it harder but my in-laws visit about once a week for me. When I do visit I try to take him to the local pub as often as the weather allows as this is one thing I’m 100% sure brings him pleasure. He is now a man of few words but that pint is nectar from heaven as far as he is concerned and if I can bring him joy but taking him for one I will. So the pictures I scrapped are taken on one of those walks to the pub – recording that simple pleasure of a pint of beer, a good newspaper on a summers day in England.

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,i-rock,big picture scrapbooking

All the papers used other than the base page were from my scrap supply! To make the title I cut the word PLEASURE using my gazelle and sponged the edges. I then adhered to the cardstock prior to sewing with my machine several lines of stitches. Then added the word simple in alpha foam stickers on the top. The coppery swirls in the cluster I made myself using my tool I-ROCK

Can I just say I love this new tool – the be-dazzler for scrapbooking. So easy to use and add some dazzle in your layouts. See the movie below for a short intro to the tool. Let me say I will be ordering myself some more bling to use with this tool – I only ordered limited colors. The tool itself costs less than $10 and the cheapest place I found to buy it was www.scrapbooking-warehouse.com but that may not be true still or you maybe able to find it somewhere you can use a coupon!

Finally a Blog for Me!

Ok so I've been reading other peoples blogs and enjoying them so I thought it was time to add mine to the world of the blog.

Welcome if this is your first time. My goals of this blog are as follows:-

1. Share my Creations
2. Share some techniques and ideas
3. Set some challenges for my customers