My Inspiration Files

My Inspiration Files . .

Let’s Get Organized Electronically!
Susan has developed an electronic database that can be used to store images for inspiration. I started this project by pulling out all my folders in the file cabinet that had all my clippings.

Installing the software was really easy to do. The installer makes a My Inspiration Files folder in your program files folder (Win). So the first thing I did in order to start off organized was to make a folder inside the My Inspiration Files folder called Graphics. All my images that I scanned or acquired from the web went into the folder. It made it so easy when I went fo create a back-up CD. If I have learned anything in the last 6 months it’s create a back up, even if you just did one yesterday.


Scanning
I scanned everything I had. I even scanned little pieces of paper I had sketched ideas on. Needless to say I was side tracked more than once, when I found stuff I hadn’t seen in a while. The process totally rejuvinated the artistik flow. It took lots of hours to get everything scanned. Oh the reward when I was done. I could open the program and place each image on an individual card, and scroll up and down, and search and look at years of collecting in a matter of minutes.

I entered as much information as possible in the description box. I tried to make sure that I used key words that came to my mind when I thought of that image, so that when I returned to the program to do a search I could find it easyly. Always make sure to fill in the field that asks for the file name of the image, so that if you didn’t place the image in your graphics folder you have the name in order to do a search and find the image.

Image Mode:


List Mode:




This is a perfect aid to organize images. You can also find images on the web and sort and organize those in the same manner. See newsletter #1 Pg #5 for further instruction on acquiring images from the web.

The program also has a list where you can organize your favorite inspiration web-sites. It comes with a starter list of over 150 sites. It was fun to visit the sites that were listed. I kept a lot, but I knew some I just wouldn’t use in the future so I replaced those with some from my own list of web-sites, there finally of those little pieces of paper. By giving them a rating and typing in key words you can easly find inspiration in the future. This really helps when you loose a computer and you realize you didn't back up your web-browser to keep all you bookmarks.



As with any software make sure you do a back-up of your file and images often. I have chosen to keep my paper files on top of having them on the computer. My compurters seem to be accident prown.

Cheers to Organization.

~Sonia Barton