Taming the chaos of digital scrap supplies

I don't even scrapbook digitally, but I have A LOT of digital scrapbook supplies.  A LOT.   I pick them up when they are listed as freebies or they are on sale for $1-$2 a set.   I really want to try my hand at digital scrapbooking, I also like to find things that can be printed.  During a recent computer crisis, it dawned on me that I had no idea what bits and pieces I had collected over the last few years.  I decided to do a few things about this.

1. I upgraded my Google Drive storage.  With each email account, you get 15GB of free storage. This storage is shared between your Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos.  15GB goes pretty fast.  For a measly $1.99 per month, you get 100GB of storage.   That's more like it.   The next level is 1TB for $9.99 per month.  (Hey Google, if you're listening... Can we get one that is in between?  I'm not at the 1TB level yet, but I'm approaching 100GB pretty fast!)

2. I installed Google Sync.  This connects to Google Drive and automatically syncs whatever you put into the Google Drive folder.

3. I created my files within the Google Drive folder and started moving my digital files into the appropriate files.

4.  Once they were moved, things got just a little complicated, and this might be where I lose some people.  That's okay.    When you download digital files, they usually come via .zip file.   I unzip those files and then get to work. (I put the zip files into their own folder and upload them to a different Google Drive account, just to keep them somewhere and separate from my supplies)  Most of the time, in the unzipped files, you have all kinds of stuff.  Terms of Use, coupon codes, thank yous, the digi files and the Mac versions of the digi files.  I immediately delete the excess - macosx files, files that start with *_*(mac versions), coupons, cover/sample kit photos and usually the TOU.   (I have one TOU for each digi artist in a different folder, so I don't keep duplicates)

5. Next, I take everything out of any separate folders and move them all into the master folder:

Now all the elements, papers, journaling cards, etc... are in the same folder.

6. After that, I select all and click on Print at the top.  This opens Windows photo printing software.

7. I select Adobe PDF,then uncheck "Fit Picture to Frame" and select Contact Sheet, then I click Print.

8. This creates a "contact sheet" showing what is in the folder.

9.  I keep these contact sheets in a folder labeled "Contact Sheets" and use them to reference.   I can tag them, flip through them and see what I have so I can make the most of my digital supplies.

This may not be a great method for everyone, but it really helped me to know what I have.  I find myself using it more simply because I know it exists, lol.