The Done Manifesto for the Digital Scrapper—Part 9

with 14 Comments

by Jen White

Welcome to Part 9 of a series entitled The Done Manifesto for Digital Scrappers. If you are just now joining, I’d encourage you to start from the beginning.

Sometimes a girl has time to sit and play and be ultra crafty. Then there are times when a girl just has to get things DONE. The Done Manifesto for Digital Scrappers is for those times.

If you are interested in just getting it DONE, this series is for you.

We’ve been talking about the Done Manifesto by Bre Pettis. It’s been quoted as being “a set of working rules based on a sense of urgency.” We are working together as a team and a community to see how this “sense of urgency” could be applied to our craft of digital scrapbooking by taking a look at one “Done rule” per week and relating it to our world. This week we are focusing on Mr. Pettis’ Rule #9. 

1402-blog-manifesto-img1

Done Manifesto #9: People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.

Yikes. I think what this statement is trying to say is—Don’t just sit there, DO something! That is something I can relate to. And, I think you can too.

done-manifesto-rule9

The Done Manifesto for Digital Scrappers Rule #9.
No hoarding. Set your stash free. DO something with it.

I know people—okay, I know LOTS of people—who are digital scrapbooking “collectors”. . . period. For years and years and years they’ve been downloading and organizing and filing away lots and lots of beautiful scrapbooking supplies and tutorials, some of it costing them a small fortune. I’d wager that you know someone like this too. Yes?

It’s time for me to speak for the “stash” in your filing system. They want to come out and play! Don’t leave all that awesomeness cooped up.

Set your stash free! Create a gift tag. Design a greeting card or a Facebook cover. Share a memory on a simple scrapbook page.

Trust me. It’s liberating!

Now it’s your turn. Share your Rule #9 story.

Rule #1  |  Rule #2  |  Rule #3  |  Rule #4  |  Rule #5  |  Rule #6  |  Rule #7  |
Rule #8  |  Rule #9

_____________________________________________

jenwhite-48x48Author: Jen White | jen@digitalscrapper.com
All comments are moderated.
Please allow time for your comment to appear. Thanks!

14 Responses

  1. Bev
    | Reply

    Hi, my name is Beverly, and I’m a hoarder. There, I’ve admitted it. Whewwwww! I’m on the way to getting my stash under control; and I’m not just talking scrapbooking stash. I am a quilter, and my beautiful fabrics and tiny little scraps I save are crying to be used. And I could mention many other “collections.”

    I also took Linda’s organizing class, and the time I spent putting my digital scrapbooking supplies in order has been a blessing. But I’m afraid I try to keep making it better and better, spending way too much time organizing and not enough time doing. So this manefesto is just what I needed. Thank you Jen.

  2. Sandy McClay
    | Reply

    Oh yes…..I have been buying kits and templates and brushes for years! I have way too much and now that is overwhelming! Also PSE just gives me the shakes….I wish there was a class locally JUST for digital scrapbooking….:)

    • Joan Robilard
      | Reply

      I have learned a lot about using PSE from this site and also by subscribing to the PSE users magazine. They have lots of video’s. You start simple and soon you will be amazed at what you know.

  3. Joan Robilard
    | Reply

    As soon as I download a collection of digi scrap I download it to Photoshop Elements and add tags. So if I need a blue ribbon, I click on the ribbon tag and then the sub tag for blue ribbon and I see all my blue ribbons. In the computer they stay filed by the group they were down loaded in. SO I can look up by the collection (you can see those files on the left side of Elements organizer) or by tags (on the right side). I do this with elements, papers, templates and keep in a separate catalog than my pictures. I however have this funny thing about buttons so they just go in one category and I never look at them again. I actually get sick looking at buttons. Digi and real. If I could I’d give them all away. If only organizing my life was as easy as this.

    • Jen White
      | Reply

      HA HA. I’ve heard that about buttons on more than one occasion, Joan. So, know that you are not alone. 😀 Kudos to you for keeping organized!!

  4. Maryb
    | Reply

    This really stings….I have so many kits (stash) and I keep buying more but not using. I fall in love with so much digi scrap that I have to purchase; yet, it just sits there. I have tons organized and tons yet to organize. I am getting ready to purchase a new computer, and I dread that I might lose all that I have organized due to moving hard drives. I have an older version of ACDsee and my tagged items are on three different external hard drives -seriously I have TONS of digi scrap.
    Love the thought of a new computer (my current one is so old) yet I do not look forward to reinstalling programs, etc.
    I again, promise myself to explore all my digi-stuff and start using them. I also promise to quit buying more digi scrap. (ok, I will TRY to quit buying new digi-scrap)

    • Diane
      | Reply

      I could have written your same reply. I keep telling myself I will stop buying more stuff until I use what I have. That works just until I see something beautiful and I just have to have it!

  5. Angela
    | Reply

    Fudge! my message disappeared! I lost the signal.

    Thank you for that great answer, but my files are named for example, “Rachels bow3” and “DSCU bow2”, I would have to rename them as “Blue bow Rachels” and “Blue Bow DS” in order to find the blue bows. Perhaps I could do that whilst going through the folders.

    • Jen White
      | Reply

      Hi Angela.
      You could rename each item (Linda shows you how to do that as a batch really fast), or you could just add quick keywords.
      I think you would totally fall in love with Linda’s organization class. 😀

  6. Donna
    | Reply

    Two months ago, I started a project of making a page using each of my kits over the course of a year (I have about 1400). This has really helped me weed out kits I never use, and is also making me more conscious of whether I really need that pretty new kit I just saw!
    Love this series!

  7. Rikki
    | Reply

    Jen, what a coincidence! Just this morning I posted on my blog a long article about digiscrappers nowadays are not so much scrappers but hunters and gatherers. And I am discussing the benefits of mini kits. Your post fits right in, :).
    I am totally for using everything I have (and Lightroom is a great help with that). I keep all my new kits as “new, yet to use” in Lightroom so I won’t forget to use them at least once. If only for a greeting card. For me the difficulty is not so much USING my stash, but PURGING it as I have a hard time of letting go of older things I know I never turn to but cling to for sentimental reasons.

  8. Angela Hoynes
    | Reply

    Well it’s alright for you to say “set your stash free”, but I have so much I don’t know how to start! I got rid of all my PU stash a couple of years ago because I like the freedom of CU. I am wondering if I should go through it folder by folder and whittle it down, keeping only what I really, really like. Help!

    • Jen White
      | Reply

      Oh, Angela. I know just how you feel. When you have so much stuff on your drive, you almost feel crippled. You have no idea ‘what’ you have and if you did know what all you have, you don’t know where to ‘find’ it. Situations like these make you not want to scrap because it’s frustrating and takes too much time to sort through things.

      Honestly, we all have “so much” stuff. Scrapbook kits are relatively inexpensive that it’s so easy to keep buying. 😀

      A couple of years ago, I took Linda Sattgast’s class called Get Organized Now. As a direct result, I can now tell my organizer (for me it’s Bridge) to find all my photo masks or bows or blue paper — and it pulls them right up. No sorting through folders and folders of supplies. Also, every item is marked with the kit and designer name, so I know exactly who to credit for every item I use.

      I strongly recommend the course. Check it out:
      http://digitalscrapper.com/classes/get-organized-now-class/

      Registration is currently closed, but if you email Mary (info@digitalscrapper.com) she’ll put you on the waiting list. 😀

      • Arlene
        | Reply

        next list please

Leave a Reply to Sandy McClay Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.