How do you organize your kits?

N

Nixenkind

New member
I'm asking out of curiosity and because I hope to maybe get some input.
Meanwhile, I now have A LOT of SSD kits and start getting confused... I have filed them under the respective designer's name, and when I plan a layout, I'm scrolling through all of them and decide for the one I find the most fitting.
That always takes a while, and I keep thinking about other ways to categorize them, but haven't found a better way... if I put them into categories, there are always those kits who pretty much make their own category, and those who fit into two or more... that drives me INSAHAHANE!
So, I thought I'd ask- how do YOU categorize your kits?
THANK YOU for answering!
 
LOL, the same as you - SSD / Designer / Kit :)
When scrapping some LO, I open the folders in Windows Explorer showing Extra large icons and searching visually according to the colour scheme. I have survived almost 4 years like that!
 
I've completely changed the way I organize in the last six months, and it's working well for me, so far. But something I found is that I tag the preview of each kit so that I can then look up something by tags and find it easier.

I now organize by theme because I tend to scrap by theme. I put all food kits together, I put all travel kits together, all school kits together, etc. General kits that have no real theme go either boy or general. That way, I'm not looking through a ton of kits if I'm just trying to find a school kit to use. But the tags help me more than anything. I don't tag everything in the kit - just the preview.
 
For me, there were a couple of things I really wanted out of my organizing system.

1. less folders - I didn't want to put a ton of folders in to separate the folders.
2. tagging system - I really like being about to use one word to be able to separate folders.

I came up with the idea to "tag" the folder/file names. I rename everything with DESIGNER NAME - TYPE OF PRODUCT - PRODUCT NAME (TAGs)

Example: Traci Reed - Kits1 - Tis Of Thee (4th1 Summer1)
Note - I put a (one) on the end of some words to help sort during searching.

If I'm looking for something in particular I just run a folder/file search.
 
DeepGirl said:
LOL, the same as you - SSD / Designer / Kit :)
Click to expand...

This is how I organize as well but I also have a folder with previews only that are grouped by product. So all alpha previews are named "1-designername-productname" so that they are all at the top together. Templates begin with a "2", kits are a "3" and so on. This works perfectly for me b/c if I need to grab elements from a kit other than the one I am currently working with, I can quickly scroll my preview folder to find what coordinates best.
 
I sort stuff in folders by what it is - template, kits, alphas, embellishments. They have style subfolders like alphas - round or embellishments - stamps.

I sort kits by whether I have used them or not. I have SSD-new, and SSD-used once (because I try to use every kit at least twice) and SSD-used. I don't divide them by designer unless its a CT I'm on because unless it's a CT, I'm rarely looking for a specific designer. I'm looking at colors & themes. I tag the folder preview in Lightroom with color & theme.

My templates are tagged with number of photos. They are jumbled into one folder because I haven't come up with a good way to sort them yet, after 5 years of trying. :)
 
I have my kits organized by designer. I don't like to organize them by store name since designers switch, stores close, etc. Store collabs go in a Store Collab folder. I also have a Miscellaneous folder for designers whom I don't use regularly, but have a kit or two from via The Digi Files, etc.

I tag kit, element, and alpha previews in ACDSee with theme, type, etc. I also have a 'To Be Used' tag for all my shiny new unused kits and a 'Favorites' tag for all my go-to elements.

This is what my system has evolved into after 10 years, and it seems to be just enough organization so I can use my stash effectively, but not so much that it takes time or energy that I'd rather devote to scrapping. I mostly do CT work during the week, so I don't really have to dig into my stash more than a few times a week.
 
I've gone through a lot of stages with my organization, from having everything tagged to putting everything in one giant folder, and I've found the key to any system is to organize your supplies based on how YOU scrap and how you look for things when you're scrapbooking. What runs through your head? Color? Designer? Pattern? Store? Theme? Newness? Used/ Un-used?

It may be some combination of those which is where tagging can come in handy, but if you find yourself debating about what category something should go in, I'd put it where you'd actually look for it later, even if that's not what someone else might call it.
 
I organize mine by Store and then within that folder it's by designer. I keep a "preview" folder in each store folder so I can just look through that find the kit I want then go to that folder and open it up. I also do a preview folder of all alphas so that I can easily find which one(s) I want to use. It works for me. I think the most important thing about organizing is doing it in a way that works for you.
 
I store my products in folders by designer. I have all my supplies in Lightroom and tag the previews. I have about 30 different "themes" for my kit tags, so I can find what I'm looking for pretty quickly. I can browse through all of my kit previews at once, or search for a particular type of kit.
 
My folders are organized by designer name since that seems to work with the way I scrap. When I start a page, I have an idea of the designers' kit(s) I want to use. I tried tagging previews, really wished I could have finished, but that just started to overwhelm me. I can see how it would be helpful though just to look through a folder of previews and pick what to use.
 
Darcy Baldwin said:
I now organize by theme because I tend to scrap by theme. I put all food kits together, I put all travel kits together, all school kits together, etc. General kits that have no real theme go either boy or general. That way, I'm not looking through a ton of kits if I'm just trying to find a school kit to use.
Click to expand...

This is how I organize, too... If I know I won't use a kit again, I'll pull out favorite items and put them into my "toolbox" folder... which is divided by flowers, ribbons, paint, etc... and then the theme elements go into the theme folder. There are a number of kits that I love everything about it and it goes full into the theme folder.
 
My folders are sorted by designer. No shops. And everything is tagged in ACDSee by theme, colour, and such.
 
I store by kit. I have folders for popular themes; PL type kits and sentimental type kits. I have one folder for less popular themes and then different folder alphas and other extras. I also have a previews folder which is also divided in the same way.
 
I love reading everyone's suggestions! I currently juts have all kits in one folder - designer name_kit name

but then i have a folder juts of previews so i can see all the kits in one spot - in an ideal world I'd have all of these tagged as well - but I don't! Maybe someday!
 
I love all of the suggestions. I've been tagging my folders and pulling out my favorite alphas so they are all in one folder....now that folder is out of control!!!
 
Wow, there are a lot of great suggestions here, thank you so much!!! I started to change my file system yesterday, because I think it suits my scrapbooking style a lot more when I categorize my stuff using the themes... so I started pushing files around yesterday :D!
 
I don't have a lot of time to spend organizing and since I tend to use all of the kits I have right away and rarely reuse items (since I'm mostly a kit scrapper), mine are organized by month of purchase. Non-kits, such as stitches, templates, masks, etc ... are organized separately by type. I archive everything once a month, moving them to an EHD to free up space on my computer. Most designers are pretty good at naming files within their kits, so if I did need to find a specific element, I'd just enter the search term in the finder. All of my kits also have previews in the main folders and the subfolders are renamed (papers, alphas, etc), so the amount of time I would need to spend to find what I'm looking for, is far less than the amount of time I would spend on a more elaborate organizing system.
 
Nettio said:
I've gone through a lot of stages with my organization, from having everything tagged to putting everything in one giant folder, and I've found the key to any system is to organize your supplies based on how YOU scrap and how you look for things when you're scrapbooking. What runs through your head? Color? Designer? Pattern? Store? Theme? Newness? Used/ Un-used?

It may be some combination of those which is where tagging can come in handy, but if you find yourself debating about what category something should go in, I'd put it where you'd actually look for it later, even if that's not what someone else might call it.
Click to expand...

That's great advice!

I like the idea of Traci's system, but when I think about pulling. things. out. of. their. original. kit. I get all twitching inside and my stomach starts churning. Like for reals.

It makes sense, I just don't know if I can break up a kit like that.

I have my EHD organized by stores, but on my laptop, I keep my most favorite kits in one folder organized by DesignerName_KitName, with folders for Alphas, Templates & "My Favorite Things". Then I keep my unused kits in my Downloads folder, broken into two categories: Free & Unused. <---That is where I do most of my scrapping from.

I really like to use new things the most.
 
I noticed myself that I won't use kits very often more than one time. So I have them filed like I filed my photos.
For June I have 06-2013 folder....
 
I have my kits organized by name since I'm more likely to remember what I want by the name of the kit. I also have pulled all the previews into a separate previews folder so I can browse through those if I don't know what I'm looking for. I use ACDSee, and I have tags for stores, designers, and themes. I've also tagged some individual things that I find myself needing to use outside of a kit (frames, paint splatters, doilies, leaves, etc.) I've only been digital scrapbooking for six months, but I've already evolved through several ways of organizing. I think a "favorites" tag is in the near future as well as maybe a used and new tag...
 
I have tried a few different ways but get overwhelmed with the organizing part and end up back at designer/kit/folder way. But I do like some of the suggestions here since I am getting a bit overwhelmed with some of my folders.
 
I like my folder way. :) I'm a Store/Designer/folders for Alphas/temps/Kits/misc
I should say I am a kit scrapper. The folder thing seems to work well for me for my CT's as well. :)
 
Nettio said:
I've gone through a lot of stages with my organization, from having everything tagged to putting everything in one giant folder, and I've found the key to any system is to organize your supplies based on how YOU scrap and how you look for things when you're scrapbooking. What runs through your head? Color? Designer? Pattern? Store? Theme? Newness? Used/ Un-used?

It may be some combination of those which is where tagging can come in handy, but if you find yourself debating about what category something should go in, I'd put it where you'd actually look for it later, even if that's not what someone else might call it.
Click to expand...

THIS! My organization probably wouldn't help anyone else, but it works for me. I've changed mine a million times in the 9 years I've been digiscrapping. I used to organize by store but quickly realized that didn't work with designers changing stores, stores closing, designers in more than one store with exclusive products to each, etc. Then I went to organizing everything by designer name and having folders for each designer. Do you all realize how many digital designers there are (or were in the case of those no longer designing)? It's pure madness! Now I have a SSD kit folder and an SSD template folder. Everything else is in either a Non-SSD kit or Non-SSD template folder since I do like to be able to find what I need if I am doing challenges here. Anyway, I am still refining my organization as I move things from one EHD to another.
 
i organize everything with picasa and it works great for me! i enjoy scrapping SO MUCH MORE since everything is organized that way!
 
joelsgirl said:
That's great advice!

I like the idea of Traci's system, but when I think about pulling. things. out. of. their. original. kit. I get all twitching inside and my stomach starts churning. Like for reals.

It makes sense, I just don't know if I can break up a kit like that.
Click to expand...

oh, this is definately me!! ust the thought makes my manic-ness more manic :p

therefore . . by store, designer, kit
 
I don't tag anything cause I have never ever gotten the "tag" thing.....I have my sorted by themes and also have an alpha, templates, stitches folders....I do alot like Traci does but I am another one that just can't pull things out of a kit and put them in a separate folder!!! I do have all of my CT's in their own folder and then after I use a kit from my CT folder, it goes in to the appropriate theme folder......
(if somebody can tell me how to do a "print screen and share it here I will show you ) :)
 
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