Happy Sunday! :)
I recently received an email inquiry from Jared Briggs, of
WTSDuplication.com, asking if I might be interested in having him write an article for my blog, regarding something that is pretty important to avid scrapbookers - making sure our beloved albums are properly backed up and saved from loss due to computer issues, or any other issues which might cause us to lose files.. Which, I guarantee, WILL happen to you at some point in your scrapping life!
I have been very fortunate that I've never had to deal with any big data losses - partly luck, and partly because I border on obsessive-compulsive on keeping my files backed up in several formats and locations! I have had more than one computer bite the dust (I'm going to guess three, if I remember right?) with complete loss of everything that was on the hard-drive, but the most I think I've ever lost is maybe a small number of recently-downloaded kits which I hadn't yet gotten copied onto my external-hard-drives. (Yes, that is "driveS", plural - I always have my data on at least 2 EHDs, besides my desktop and laptop computers, and I do regular DVD back-ups as well. See? Obsessive-Compulsive! LOL! I even subscribed to a couple of the back-up services (Carbonite and Mozy - not both at the same time!) for about a year or so, each. I *try* to make sure that I sync my PCs and EHDs every week or two, but sometimes it's closer to a month. But being this way has certainly saved me much heartache and many hassles. I always feel so bad for digi-scrappers who have had a hard-drive crash and lost their data - sometimes including all of their photos, layouts, and kits - ouch!! These kind of losses *can* be avoided, by taking some very simple steps. Jared's article might have some helpful ideas for you:
How to Manage and Copy Scrapbooks on CD
by Jared Briggs, of WTSDuplication.com
Whether you’re working with a paper or digital medium, there’s always that chance that a random power surge or spilled beverage can ruin every page we’ve spend so much time perfecting. Backing up our projects onto CDs or DVDs is an extremely important part of modern scrapbooking, and it can save us a lot of time and heartbreak should something unforeseen happen.
Of course, keeping scrapbook pages backed up in digital form is convenient for other reasons, too. It’s a lot easier to send friends and family a well-packaged CD than it is a complete scrapbook. And, of course, you can just keep making copies to send to as many people as you want.
Organizing Your Pages
There is a lot of storage space on CDs and DVDs, but that doesn’t mean you should just pour as many images onto a single disc as possible. If you take that route, it won’t matter how well you have labeled or tagged your images, it can become a real endeavor to find the exact ones you want.
Before you burn a new scrapbook CD, make sure that all of the pages follow the same theme. The more related the pictures and pages are, the more likely you will be able to find them when you need them. Make a CD of birthday pages, one of summer vacation pages, one of wedding pictures, and one for any other theme that comes to mind. Then, when you need to put together a special book for a special occasion, you’ll have everything you need right at your fingertips.
Creating and Copying Your Scrapbook CDs
Saving your lovingly created pages to CD is a simple process, and many of you have probably gonethrough it at some point or another. Make sure you have quality CD burning software and set it to create a data disc. This will let you organize your files just like you would on your computer before you hit the button to start the burning process. The same software should allow you to take that CD and reproduce it as many times as you want. Of course, if you have to do this a lot, you may find it a little tiresome.
There is always the option of having a professional help you out with your CDs. After all, if you spent so much time creating those great pages, why would you want to hand out copies that were nothing but a shiny disc labeled with a permanent marker? It is possible to get CDs reproduced in short runs that come with artistic labels and even cases that reflect the scrapbook you have inside.
Whether you are scanning hand-made copies into your computer or doing the whole thing in
Photoshop, make sure you take the time to copy it onto a medium that won’t be affected by power surges or mysterious disappearing data syndrome (though I’m not sure that last one is a real thing).
I hope that someone will find that helpful! I checked out Jared's website, and saw that they can make some really fantastic-looking discs - which might be fun for Christmas gift-giving, or "just" to share with your family and friends. :) Thank you, Jared!
And now, I have a SNEAK-PEEK! For as long as I've been designing, I have NEVER made a Halloween kit! I figure SOoo many designers make them, and you can only do 'so many' Halloween pages... and who needs a dozen black/orange/purple kits, right?? Well, despite that, I decided I really wanted to make one this year, just to do something a bit different (for me!). And I had a great time making some fun and unique elements (all of the halloween-themed elements are hand-drawn/created by me in Photoshop and/or Illustrator, not any commercial-use stuff). My favorite piece is the cackling black-paper witch riding her broomstick (you can tell she's cackling when you look at her big warty face and almost toothless grin in profile - I can almost hear her wicked cackle!) and she was actually the very first piece I made for the kit. I wish I could hit a button and make the actual element come shooting out of my printer, for me to hang up somewhere! Haha!
I'm just working on finishing up on packaging, and the alpha, and then will get this added to my shops at
ScrapDish and
MyMemories ASAP. :) (I will, as usual, also have a small coordinating freebie to give away here on my blog, so watch for that as well.) ;)
Hope you have a terrific week! :)
