Hi everyone, Beckie here!  This week I wanted to share with you some tips for organizing and managing your photos on your computer.  Oh – and I encourage you to share YOUR favorite organization tips in the comments of this post!

Managing Photo Files

• Uploading files to your computer. Even if your camera will plug directly into your computer, using a memory card reader is a safer, more reliable way to transfer your photos.  No more worrying about your camera battery, no more dragging the camera over to the computer.  Just pop out the memory (and I always pop in a fresh one at the same time!) and plug it into the reader.
• Utilizing Software for the Transfer. I prefer to use the file import settings from my photo management software over my camera software (another reason I just pull out the memory card). Photoshop CS comes with Adobe Bridge, and PSE comes with the Elements Organizer – both of which have great import utilities.  You can also use Adobe Lightroom for this  purpose as well.  All three will allow you to specify a default location and a default folder/file naming structure to use every time you upload.  Here’s an example of the file upload utility from Bridge (the options are very similar with PSE Organizer):

• Photo Folder Structure. I take soooo many pictures at a time that I create a folder for every day (see the setting highlighted in purple above).

Delete the bad and tag the good!

• Delete the bad. Do yourself a HUGE favor and immediately delete the bad photos!  You know, the ones with horrible expressions, horrible focus, etc.   If you don’t get rid of them now, you’ll be looking through them for YEARS thinking “some day I need to take the time to delete these crappy shots” :).

Tag the Good.  Ah, and here’s where it gets interesting…There are numerous software programs that support tagging, and there are even MORE suggested methods of structuring your tags.

• Software for Tagging. As Scrapbookers, you might have already seen or even used ACDSee.  I do not use ACDSee for my photos – primarily because ACDSee doesn’t apply my color calibration profile.  {Creating a calibration profile is a way to ensure that your monitor is displaying colors the way they would be printed.  Most monitors present photos as being “cooler”, or more bluish, than what they really are}.  Additionally, ACDSee has not proven itself to be as stable to me as other photo management tools.  I have, however, used Adobe Light Room 2, Bridge, and Elements Organizer (with PSE 8) for tagging photos and all three work well.  In fact, the Elements Organizer 8 has a pretty cool facial recognition feature and you can ask it to automatically tag faces for you!

Regardless of the software used, here is the method I use for tagging photos:

• If it’s worthy of a scrapbook page, I give it its own tag.  The entire group gets an “EVENT”, or “LOCATION” tag.  As a scrapbooker, I think about how I would want to document the event.  If it is a birthday party at the park, I give it a birthday party tag.  If its just another play day at the park, I give it a “park/playground” tag (that I use over and over).   For example, I don’t scrapbook every trip to the park, but I do intend to scrap a page about the time we spent at the park this summer.  So I tag them all under “Park/playground” so I can easily pick my favorite photos to scrap when I’m ready to create the page.

• PEOPLE tags…you can make yourself crazy trying to tag everyone in every photo.  At this point, I only tag a person in a photo if the photo itself is good.  I simply ask myself…”If I was creating a scrapbook page about ____, is this a photo I’d want to use?”.  This  is an awesome way to quickly and easily locate those really good multi-purpose portraits.  Yesterday I took photos of the kids playing in a kiddie pool and tagged them as “kiddie pool”, and then I tagged one really great shot of my daughter by name:

• Viewing Photos by Tags.  Its slightly different for each software, but for Bridge, you simply right-click on the tag name (in the purple box) and select “Find”.  A search window opens up that lets you specify how wide of a search to perform (all folders or current folder only, for example).  This is the key reason why I only tag really GOOD portraits of people with “people” tags.  I can use my “Piper” tag to quickly find all of my favorite photos of my daughter the next time I’m ready to create a layout about her.  Otherwise, I know I can find all of the other pictures of the kids playing in the pool by viewing the “Yard Pool” tag.  This will bring up multiple sets of photos from different dates (we play in our little kiddie pool at least once a week!) but that’s fine – I’m eventually going to scrap ONE layout about all the time we spent in the pool this summer.  The rest of the photos will likely only get used if they are really good portraits of the kids – worthy enough to have been tagged by name.

Create back-up copies of your Photos

I’ve accumulated nearly 10 years worth of digital photos already, and I’ve been using this system for organizing photos for the past 8 years.  Please don’t put your precious family memories at risk by only storing them in one location!  Hard drives WILL fail – its only a matter of when! So sticking to a backup process is the single most important thing to do!

• Your backup location should be a secondary computer or device with sufficient storage space to hold lots of photos.  Now “lots” of photos will vary – newer cameras produce very large files, shooting RAW creates huge files! For several years I used a desktop PC with around 500GB storage space (we added a secondary hard drive to increase the storage capacity).  About a year ago I upgraded to a NAS – network area storage device – that has two 1TB drives.  They are “mirrored”, meaning I only use 1TB of space on the primary drive, and the NAS automatically copies the content over to the second drive as a backup.  I have the ReadyNas Duo.  A laptop that you travel with should NEVER be your backup!

• Establish a folder structure to allow you to easily backup your photos.  I have used a year/month structure for years and find that it works well for me.  My backup location has a 2010 folder, as well as one folder for each month of the year.  I create them ahead of time all at once to make my backup process quicker later.

• Establish a backup routine and stick with it! During the first week of every month, I copy all of the photos from the previous month to my backup location.  For example, the first week of August I copied the completed July folder up to the 2010 folder on my NAS.  If other people depend on your photos (business clients, etc) – you might will need to copy them to your backup location more frequently.

• Burn copies for offsite storage. 1-2 times per year, we burn copies of our photos onto CD/DVDs and take them to my parents’ house.  Since my NAS and my PC are always in my house, we would be at risk of losing everything in the event of some catastrophic event at our home. Having these backup discs is yet another level of protection.

• Scrapbook  your photo CDs! Why not turn your backup into a part of your scrapbook?  Burn a CD with photos from a major even like a family vacation, or photos from the summer months, or even just your favorite photos from the year and then integrate the disc into your scrapbook!  Create a hybrid page and glue the disc protector onto your paper.  Then the disc will slide in and out and will be there any time you need it!

Trying to access another computer or a NAS over the network will be slow, particularly if you utilize wireless access to your network.  So I generally keep about a year’s worth of photos on my scrapbooking laptop at all times.   I know that if I delete them, edit them, or even if something were to happen to my laptop, I’d still be OK because the original photos are all on my backup system.

The method I described is a “upload to working location and backup to storage location” method.  If you prefer, you could also do the exact opposite:  upload your photos to your back up storage location and only copy down to your working location periodically.    Select the method that sounds best for you – but most importantly – STICK WITH IT!

Photo Edits

One final note on working with photo files…I don’t bother saving edited or cropped versions of my pictures after I’ve printed them.  I only save the original, unedited version.  Getting comfortable with this has saved me SO much time and stress, not to mention space on my hard drive and backup system!  The only exception is photos that require a significant amount of work, that I’m not likely to be able to re-create again successfully.  You’ll likely need to crop every photo specific to the print size you wish to produce later anyway, so you should ALWAYS keep the original file.   This decision has freed me from the burden of saving multiple copies/versions of the same photo :)

I hope you found some useful tips in here today!  I would love it if you shared YOUR favorite photo organization tips in the comments below, too!

BeckiePhotography, Uncategorized 17 Comments

Hi Everyone! Denise here with this week’s Product Spotlight – the Occasions Collection! On sale this week for $5.63.

One of the things I love about the Occasions Collection is how it can be used for boy or girl’s parties. There is a nice mix of colors and patterns that could be used for both and how cute are those huge brads? There are two folded papers in the kit, the girl version can be seen in Kylie’s layout, the boy version in Lu’s layout (or if you go to the product page at the Shoppe – view all of the previews for details). Oh, I also wanted to mention the cool white paper edge/frame in the kit preview is included in the kit! There are two items in the Shoppe that coordinate with the Occasions Collection if you’d like to add additional themes or items to your layouts.

The coordinating Occasions Round Label Collection is on sale this week for $1.13.

And the coordinating Party Graphics – Digital Rub-ons are also on sale for $1.46. I love the piñata in this set and the crowns are a fun touch to Birthday photos.

Here’s a Birthday layout I created with the Occasions Collection and the coordinating Party Graphics.

Here’s some super cute Birthday layouts by the Shabby Artists.

from Kylie…

from Lu…

from Anna…

I hope the Occasions Collection, on sale for $5.63 this week, inspires you to break out those Birthday photos and play.

Happy Scrapping everyone! :)

DeniseProduct Spotlight, Uncategorized 5 Comments

Hi all, SP here :o)  Monday’s are generally reserved for some kind of beauty/fashion inspiration…so I thought I’d go along those lines, with a new ad inspiration challenge!!  We’ve had one of these before…and I enjoyed it so much!  I love taking inspiration from the beauty and fashion world…and well, i guess the pickle world, too, lol!  I’m sure many of you have seen (or participated in) AD INSPIRATION scraps before!  They used to be a favorite of mine…I loved having that little bit of a jump start to a layout…and I really enjoyed interpreting an ad in my own way.  Not to mention, it sure was fun to see how everyone else ’saw’ it, too :o)  I find it difficult anymore to look through a magazine without seeing all of the similarities with scrapbooking, lol!  Fonts, page design, colors – they all catch my eye and bring my brain right back to scrapping and how well they would translate to a scrapbook page lol!

The first thing that caught my eye with this ad…was the rounded corners and super cool (and huge) shape of the graphic!  I am a sucker for rounded corners, lol!  I thought it might be a challenge to scrap with this shape (and it was, at first, lol)…but also love a challenge and decided to go with it.  I always appreciate having dedicated spaces for journaling…and the little pickle jar and plate of pickles lend themselves so well to a small clustering of elements.  So anyway – this is the one I went with and I hope you enjoy it!

Of course, I had to create a template to share with you guys (see below for download link), lol!  When working with the template (or any inspiration, for that matter) – keep in mind that you do not have to be ‘literal’ with your interpretation!  Perhaps you are inspired by the colors – or maybe the ad makes you want to journal on top of your photo – or, you could just like the idea of the rounded corner squares :o)  Be creative and have fun!

First – let’s get to the template…CLICK HERE to download it (or you can click the graphic below)…

And, here’s a better look at the ad…

And, while I have had this ad saved for a while…I haven’t had time to work on the template…until the last minute!  As a result, the team didn’t get this in advance (they are seeing it at the same time you are, lol)…so you are stuck with two layouts of mine, lol!  I went in totally different directions!  Here’s the first (I worked with the Darling Paper Collection, Giggle Box, Hopscotch, An Affair to Remember and Sprout…I think that’s it, lol)…

and the other (I worked with An Affair to Remember, Clementine, Sprout and Giggle Box)…

Whew, I think that’s it :o)  I hope that you guys have fun working with the template…and that you post your layouts in the Shoppe’s gallery for all of us to see!

I also wanted to mention that the BLOG will be taking a TWO WEEK VACATION for back-to-school from August 30th through September 12th :o)  That’s a couple of weeks away…but I wanted to go ahead and let ya know!  I know that school starts at different times all over the country and world…and I’m sorry if we didn’t get yours in the two week window…we really tried :o)

THANKS AGAIN – have a great week!

Shabby PrincessBeauty & Fashion, Free (not desktops), Other Challenges, Uncategorized 12 Comments

hey guys…SP here :o)  Hope everyone had a great week…and, so happy the weekend is HERE!  Before I show you this weeks gorgeous LAYOUT OF THE WEEK…I wanted to apologize for not being around much here lately :o)  But, there is a GOOD reason!  It is CALENDAR season here at the shoppe…and that means super long hours for Nicole and I…as we are busy as bees, working behind the scenes!  So, you might not see me in the gallery much…or anywhere else for that matter, LOL…but know we are working away in the background!  When we get a little closer with calendars – i’ll try to post some sneak peeks :o)  In the meantime though – we’ve almost completed the update of our ‘older’ calendars…so you should see those online soon!  Alright – enough about all of that, lol…on to the business at hand!

While I wasn’t actually on the schedule to choose this week’s LOTW…I couldn’t have been handed a better time – with so many gorgeous layouts to choose from!  It’s funny because I thought I knew which layout I was going to select…and when I clicked on it - I decided to look at the rest of  KristiL’s gallery!  That’s when i saw this layout…it was love at first sight and the decision was made, lol!

It was this layout that I originally had my eyes on – as I looooved the super fun bottom border and all of the detail involved!  But, when I saw this ‘BE’ layout…it was just too gorgeous and creative to pass up!  I absolutely LOVE the photo…and the ‘picture-in-picture’ concept!  The entire page is very organic and natural, and she could not have chose better elements to work with!  And THEN, she went and threw in the Neil Diamond lyrics…and the deal was sealed, lol!  There is so much depth and interest here…and the page just ‘takes me away’!  GREAT JOB!

CONGRATS, KristiL :o)  You have a $10 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe in your email inbox – have fun shoppe-ing!

As always, THANKS BUNCHES and BUNCHES to everyone for posting such gorgeous and beautiful pages in our gallery!  It is our total pleasure to peruse the gallery each day…and see what you girls have created!

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!  See ya back here on Monday :o)

Shabby PrincessLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 8 Comments

Hey ya’ll, it’s Lu… and I’m back today with a fun little hybird project using Modish Girl, this week’s product in the spotlight. As I was strolling the aisles of a craft store (one of my favorite activities) a few months ago, I wandered into the chipboard section. There on the shelf sat this little unadorned “purse”, lonely & begging for some attention! I just had to rescue her & take her home. When I selected Modish Girl to spotlight, my mind just spun with all the “girly” ideas… and when I saw that naked little purse, I knew just what finery in which to clothe her.

The first thing that I did was consider the purse’s design… On the front, it had an opening slot to slide in a photo. I wasn’t planning on using this purse for photos, so I decided that I would cover this by creating  a “pocket” on top to add some dimension. I scanned the front & the back of the purse, then opened the files in my photo-editing program (I use PSE). I  extracted the shapes of the purse in order to create  clipping masks.  Once I had my basic shapes, I measured the purse vertically, as well as horizontally (both top & bottom) & sized my purse shape to those dimensions. I also added a 1″ strip on the top & bottom of the purse shape to wrap onto the top & bottom of the purse. It’s not necessary, just a matter of personal preference. To create the pocket shape, I just duplicated the purse shape & then downsized to a measurement that I felt would cover that oval cut-out. (Important note: I did not want to just paper over that empty oval, so I cut out a piece of paper & slid it into the photo slot, just as you would a photo. Then I traced around the opening onto the paper. I pulled out the paper, cut out the oval & used it as a pattern to cut out a piece of chipboard. I was careful to mark “top, bottom, left & right” on the pattern so that when I cut out the chipboard oval, it would be a perfect fit to the opening. Then I just glued this piece in). I also measured the sides of the purse to create paper strips, and used contrasting paper for those. Here’s a screen shot of the purse shape & side panels:

Once I had those shapes, it was smooth sailing. I layered on the papers & embellishments,  copied my master psd file, flattened it, save & printed. Then I turned my attention back to the purse itself by removing the clasp & handle and applying a light pink base coat pink. (I wasn’t overly concerned about this phase, as I knew I’d be covering the majority of the purse with paper). But I did want a little something “extra” rather than just chipboard edges, because this would be a more feminine project.  I also considered that it might be a good idea to spray the interior of the purse with some sort of sealant prior to adhering the paper on the exterior. I’m sure it could use that extra protection, otherwise the paint might easily scratch. (I didn’t do it this time, but I’m sure I’ll do this the next time). As I waited for the paint to dry, I start cutting out my paper shapes. I also cut out (2) pocket shapes out of chipboard… one I used for the actual pocket, the other I used as an additional chipboard layer glued to the pocket to create depth. You could stack a couple of these together for extra depth, and perhaps slip a little card in that pocket. Just remember to “notch out” a square shape, as you’ll see in the photo below.

 Then it was time to paste on the papers with the Mod Podge. After the purse & pocket dried (with my additional chipboard layer applied on back of the pocket), I sanded off all the sides to give it that nice shabby look. This is a perfect time to ink the edges, if you choose to do so. I decided against it on this project, so I moved onto applying a final sealant coat of Mod Podge.   When that coat dried, I wrapped on the black polka dot ribbon & glued the pocket onto the purse.

Earlier (while all the Mod Podge was drying), I had stepped outside to give those little brass closures a quick shot of spray paint. I went with white, to stay consistent with the color scheme.  The final steps were to screw the clasp back on, afix the button to the ribbon bow on the pocket, and stick the handle back in. And that’s it! All that was left was to fill with my little goodies. For this gift, I’m planning on turning it into a little manicure/pedicure set, complete with pretty pink polish.

 Wouldn’t this make an adorable bridesmaid gift? Or how about a favor idea for a little princess tea party? So many different & special applications with this little jewel. And with two little girlies, I’m sure I will be doing this project again & again. Well, that’s it for now, but I sure hope I’ve provided you with some inspiration on using Modish Girl. It is truly a girly yet “funky” kit (as Beckie said once)… and I just love that combination!

LuHybrid Projects, Inspiration, Uncategorized 4 Comments