Choosing the Right Digital Scrapbooking Kits
It is easy to become overwhelmed by the vast amount of digital kits that are now available. Heck, even I still get overwhelmed! Before you throw your PC out the window, here are a few tips:
Tip #1: Designate Files for Your Downloads
Trust me on this one. The sooner you designate your files, the easier it will be to find all your lovely goodies hours after you downloaded them. I have a main folder named “Digital Scrapbooking Kits.” Within this folder, I have sub-folders for each designer. I use this method, although it certainly isn’t the only one nor the best. It simply works for me. But if you want to start off with catagorizing your kits according to color or season, go for it. You’ll find it’s easier and faster to access your kits when you have common folders for them.
Tip #2: Avoid the “Freebie” Trap
And what is the trap? Downloading every freebie you come across without taking a few moments to ask yourself some questions. For instance, why do you love the kit? And love it you should. If your only reason for downloading a kit is “Hey, it’s free!” You’ll end up with more deadwood on your hard drive than you can imagine. Collecting kits can become very addictive, very fast. If you like a kit’s colors, great. Download to your heart’s content. Start early with saving space on your hard drive by becoming selective about what you download.
Tip #3: Understand Your Preferences
Do you love dots? Shabby large prints? Classic styles or Retro? Clean and Simple or Wild and Wooly? The more you know about what rocks your boat, the better shopper you will be. For instance, if you really love bright colors, then browsing at a shop that features mostly pastel-colored kits will be a waste of time unless you want to try something new. I’ve noticed a “Pied Piper” syndrome in the digital community. A new kit will be unveiled and a few early “cheerleaders” will rave about the kit’s ultimate lusciousness. Before you know it, people will rush to own this kit, even though they wouldn’t have bought it unless they felt they “had” to have it.
Tip #4: Try Not to Duplicate
This one will be slightly challenging for the beginner simply because a beginner is just starting to view kits and understand what is included in most. For instance, there will usually be brads, ribbons, and paper. Take a good look at kits before downloading and recognize if the kit is similar to what you already have in your digital artbox. If you already have several kits that have similar colors of red and green, do you need one more? Sometimes a kit will have elements that you already own but yet one element that you reaaallly want and don’t have. Just be aware that duplicates will fill up your hard drive. Fast.
Tip #5: Take Some Time for Pruning
Right along with tip #4, you want to occasionally go into your folders to see if you still love your kits as much as you did when you first bought them. Don’t be embarrassed. It happens to all of us! In the heat of the moment, we buy and download a kit only to later discover that we really can’t use it or we don’t care for it as much as we thought we would. Just like pruning a plant can help it thrive better, so will “pruning” your hard drive! If you’re not sure, make a copy of the kit and free up some space.
Discovering exciting digital kits can be fun and over time, you will learn your preferences. Just remember the Golden Digital Rule: BUYDFR!! (Back Up Your Digital Files Regularly!)
