Planning your pages

In today's digital world it can be overwhelming to open your files, even well organized files, and sort through all those pictures you have!  As time passes, it becomes even more difficult and perhaps the memories and feelings of that day have since passed.  While there are many ways in which you can plan out the pages of your scrapbook, I'm going to discuss something new that I recently stumbled upon and it's working well for me.
What is it?  It's Microsoft's OneNote notebooks. You can learn more about it here and even see a demo.  Now, I'm not trying to sell this program at all.  I happen to have it on my computer since I got the Microsoft 2010 upgrade student package last semester when I took a college course.  There is no better deal on software than for students!
OneNote allows you to establish multiple notebooks.  In my world this will equate to my separate scrapbooks (i.e.: 2011, AJ's First Year, etc.).  Once you have a notebook set up you can create a tab for each event.  I'll use the example of AJ's First Year to explain this.  I have a tab for each month since I want the album to go chronologically through time.  Within each tab you can create a page so here this will be the actual pages I plan to scrap.  Here's a look at it.

You can see my tabs along the top and my pages on the right side.  On each page you can do whatever you want!  I drag and drop some or all of the pictures I plan to use.  I type in my journaling and make notes about page ideas I have.  Sky's the limit!  Some other thoughts are to put a preview of the kit you plan to use for that page or a template.  You could post a picture of some source of inspiration. 
Now when I upload my pictures from the camera I open up my notebooks and start planning out my pages and documenting what the events were about.  Even if they don't all get scrapped, at least you will not longer have to worry about losing those precious memories.  Maybe this is something else you can add to your organizational toolkit.  I'd love to hear any other ideas and things that have worked for you!

A bit of time to organize!

Organization.  Exciting topic, I know.  But to a crafter, organization can be a major issue so supplies are not lost or forgotten, so projects can be completed faster, and so your space allows your mind the freedom to think.  This is also true of digital arts!  But I think this point is easy to lose track of as you download goodies and know that they are all safely tucked into a folder.  Yes, folders, they seem so organized but without careful consideration, your digital stash can suddenly become an overwhelming mess of folders!
If I could start all over again, I would have organized everything using categories in Bridge, but I didn't have that then.  In the end, my stash is fairly well organized for me but it's not great.  I've flipped back and forth too many times - by designer, by kit, by theme...which should it be?  That's truly a personal question. 
Here's a little insight into my personal organization system (if one can call it a system!)

• I for one cringe at separating a full kit into separate folders since not all designers have taken the time to name their files in a distinct manner.  I'm not saying I never mix and match, but by and large I want the same green on one page to match the green accent, etc. 
• The one thing I did right away was to create a separate file for frames as they are generally very useable across kits.  I think another area where this would also apply would be fastners, especially anything that is metal in style.
• Another biggie for me is to make a preview of a template file if one was not already provided by the designer.  That way you can easily see what your templates look like without having to open up each one.
• Terms of Use.  Since I generally keep my kits together, I keep them in the folder as well.  However, if that is not your system you may want to consider setting up another folder to put these in so you have easy reference in case you need it.  I'm always a bit annoyed when a designer simply labels the file "Terms of Use" or "TOU" since then I need to rename it.
• Fonts.  I keep all of my fonts in a separate folder with subfolders to identify where they were downloaded from. I find that it is helpful when I need to reference a font for a layout I've posted.  There is software you can purchase to organize your fonts but I haven't ventured into that just yet. :)
• Brushes.  I won't go into this in much detail but if you use Photoshop Elements or Photoshop, I have found it helpful to organize my brushes into sets so I can simply load a set to work with.  For example, Floral, Grunge, etc.

Again, it's all personal based on the way you work and that's just a little bit of what is working for me.  And I do think it deserves some thought if you are starting out so you don't get buried in!

I was thinking about this over the past weekend as I had a few hours in the car returning from our trip.  I was able to make some stride in organizing what I call my Designer Toolkit.  I had started it a while back while taking The Art of Digital Design but I surely did not keep up with it.  Now, I can completely see the value of maintaining organization here as well.
So my point, give some thought to it so you don't lose out on taking advantage of all those useful goodies you have!
Here is a link that may help you out with some further ideas:
http://thedailydigi.com/digital-scrapbook-organization-3-ways/

Happy organizing!