Get Real! 

Now remember I have Parent ADD.   I bounce from one thing to the next quicker than Speedy Gonzalez.  I have a long talk with myself.  If I don’t do this now I will never do it and my computer will crash and I will lose everything.

• This is a commitment!  It’s going to take time.  I have to set aside a few hours per week for this. And it’s going to take a while.  10 years can’t be backed up in 10 minutes.
• How far back do I want to go? 10 years or 20 years?  Should I scan them all in?
• Prioritize.  Baby Albums, Wedding, Pics of the Kids Birthday’s and then everything else.

Where are all my photos?

• Hard drive on computers
• iPhone
• Prints
• CD’s from Santa and Easter Bunny pics
• Misc from photo sites from friends
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Misc.. cards, external drives, etc..

Tools

Get my tools to accomplish this task.

1. Buy a Terrabyte Drive with at least 1-2 TBs.  I found one at CostCo for about $110.
2. Order Archive Quality DVD’s and back up all photos in to these DVDs.  Make 2 Sets of each DVD.   I found archival quality DVD’s at supermediastore.com.  I ordered Taiyo Yoden DVD-R Media with sliver lacquer for about $31 without shipping.
3. Shutterfly or Snapfish app for iPhone

What do I want to do with Pictures?

1. Create photo books – actually if I can put it all in photo books I will be thrilled.
2. Print a few photos for family and friends
3. Make a keepsake box of pics for my kids

Photo Books and Gifts

There are so many places where you can get photo books printed these days.   I’ll be honest. I haven’t tried them all.  I have 3 companies that I have used:

• Shutterfly - I’ve enjoyed the quality of these books. I think they are priced well at $35 per 20 page book in 8″ x 11″ in size.
• Blurb – They offer a great way to self publish anything from your own cookbook, journal, or kids stories.  But best of all they have tools that can turn your Facebook Pics and your Instagram pics into books.  So it’s a great solution for Instagram and Facebook Pics.
• MyPublisher – I love these books.  They are printed in several different types of paper from Glossy to Matte.  Their pages lay flat.  Soft and hard covers.  This is a great solution for those super special albums.

Getting Started with your Digital Pics.

1. Back up – Don’t forget to do one big backup before you start.  This is what your external TB hard drive is for.  This may take a couple of hours. It’s best to run it and get it started.. go get lunch and come back.
2. It’s easier to go year by year.  Review all your photos year by year and make a list by event or month.
3. Edit – Go through each event and start editing  each individual photos for red eye, delete bad pics, crop the pics that need cropping etc..
4. Organize pics into folders or directories either by Event or Year by Year, Month by Month.
5. If you think a picture would look great in Instagram, start another folder and name it Instagram and go back after you are done editing and then edit these Instagram pics.
6. Load your photos to Shutterfly, CostCo, Picasa, or other online photo storing program.
7. Burn Archival DVD’s of the pic folders you just finished.  Just to be safe.. burn two copies.
8. Then decide what you are going to do with this series of pics you just added.   I’ll tell you what I am doing.  I am making photo books in Shutterfly, My Publisher, and printing out pics on CostCo’s website.  I am going to load a few pics to mpix.com to make some gift type items for parents like photo magnets, and statuettes for the kids room.
9. After you verify that the archival pics are not corrupted on the Archival DVD’s and then you go online and see that all your photos loaded correctly on Shutterfly, then you are safe to delete your pics.

Hints for archiving iPhone pics

1. I downloaded the Shutterfly app and added an Album called iPhone Pics and uploaded all my iPhone pics to this directory.
2. From this directory you an move pics into other albums.  So I always start here and then move pics into the albums the pics should be in.

It’s so easy.  I had mine load while I was sleeping.  And when I woke up the next morning all the pics were there.

Other hints

• You have more time than you think.  Before you got to bed every night, you can load a new set of photos onto Shutterfly and run it while you are asleep.
• Need to run to the store.. archive a directory of photos before you leave.

Backing up your Non-Digital Pics.

Okay this is much harder than the digital prints because it’s not already organized by a date stamp.  So clear the table, grab a few post its, and start your piles!

1. Gather all your pictures and start organizing them by year and event.  It’s a great idea to store them in archival photo boxes  like this one from the Container Store
2. Gather all your negatives and organize them by year and event and then slide your negatives into negative storage plastic pages like these from the Container Store:
3. You can also put all your negative pages into a 3 ring binder like this one  and sit them on your shelf with all your other photo media.
4. Do you you need to scan images?  You have two options:  Scan the pictures in yourself.  Buy a really good Epson Scanner and scan a Saturday away or send your pictures to a service like : ScanCafe.

I’m not quite here yet, but I am planning for it now. I decided that in 2013 my goal will be to go back and have all my printed photos and Negatives Scanned in and sent to me in Digital Format.  I hope to then make some photo albums.

It’s April 30th and my goal is to be done with all my digital photo albums by the end of the summer.   This is with 30 mins – 1 hour each  of work and a couple of days off here and there.    But last week I finished 4 albums by just working on one each night and then spending a day proofing all four albums.

I hope by August I will reclaim at least 100 GB’s of space on my hard drive, so I can do what?  Well download more apps for photos of course!

Hope this helps a few of you!   I’m off to work on backing up Baileybea.com now!

Nancy

The Doctor is in!

In 1st grade I played the role of Lucy in a Peanuts Christmas play.  I wore a stiff polyester dress and lucky for me my hair is already dark brown so I didn’t have to mess with a wig.  My favorite part was when Lucy got to be the Doctor and charge Charlie Brown 25 cents.   Well since then we traded the 25 cent advice for a $25 co-pay to see a Psychologist.   But so far I haven’t found a Psychologist I really need because I suffer from a new digital disease….Data Hording.

How did I come to recognize this new ailment?

Well… my digital world was about to crash.. big time.   My iPhone gave out on me, my laptop was giving me problems, and my desktop was screaming for a backup.  My main problem was “Not enough space.”  I remember 15 years ago when I got a 525 MB external hard drive and I thought, “No Way am I ever going to fill that up!”

Famous last words of a single person with no digital camera, no husband and no KIDS!   Let me.. reiterate.. NO KIDS!    My new Mommy lifestyle really requires a few Terra drives!  How was I to know I was going to turn into a photo, music, graphics, app, craft junkie?    How was I to know that my kids would have more apps on my iPhone and iPad than the adults in my house!     I have a 170 GB hard drive on my Macbook Pro and 110 Gigs is Photos.  20 more GB’s is music (humm have I told you I have a huge music collection?  I love music).  and about 20 GB’s was just graphics and documents.   Sigh!  Clearly I have a data hording problem.  What was I to do?  Honestly I had no idea where to begin.  Was there a 12 Step Program for Data Horders? Does HGTV make a show for that?

I’m so organized!  Yeah right!

Well if you were to ask anyone from the kids school, the waiting rooms of my son’s speech therapy office, or Girl Scouts if they know me, they would all probably say, “Yes, Nancy, she’s so organized!”   Recently at my son’s 7th Birthday Party a friend of his arrived with his Grandparents, who told me they were informed by their Daughter in Law that I am the most organized Mom they know.”   Ha!  That was funny!

Obviously these people haven’t looked inside my hard drives on my computers.   Like most parents I know I have the new type of ADD that isn’t officially a diagnosis yet….”Parent ADD.”  I run a tight ship, strict schedule, but I live in 5-15 minute increments of time assigned to task.  Therefore I get a lot done and nothing done at the same time.  I am mostly treading water.  I often day dream of my singleton days when I can leave a project on the table and know it’s not going to get moved into 3 other piles by the end of the day depending on who needs the table.  Sigh.. but I digress.

The Devil is in the Details!

Okay.. I never have time to take care of details anymore!  Damn you Parent ADD!  The fine details like cleaning out your email, deleting files, editing photos, deleting music you don’t like off your iTunes.   Heck, finding time to set up the  iTune’s playlist is hard enough for me these days!  (which is why I am now mostly on Pandora).  The details of filing and managing is suddenly all way too much for me.

And now my data hording was at the end of it’s rope!  My iPhone was dying, my computer hard drive absolutely hated me and I could see a tiny bit of sheer joy coming out of my Mac Repair shop when I asked about updating to a new hard drive… Caaaaaaaaa Ching!   So I had to run to the experts!

There I was at the Apple Store Genius Bar getting the low down on my digital life.

Do you back up? Yes, I back up.  But what was causing all these problems? I asked.

Did I know you have an enormous amount of photo files? humm Yes!  I do.  Why do you think I’m here?

Do you know that you have more music in iTunes than anyone I know?  Yes… I’ve been in Austin longer than 5 minutes. I have a lot of music!  Let’s move on hip Apple dude with the square glasses!  And why I am telling you to download the latest Alabama Shakes CD.. if you’re so hip shouldn’t you be telling me this? Hummm… Just tell me what to do and do they have a magic fairy for that?

Your computer is about to have a major crash, you need to update your Operating System and your iPhone home button is broken.  And our diagnostic reading says that your computer wants to be asleep more and on less.    Seriously!  My computer want’s to be asleep more?  I have pounded my computer into old age or is the computer just jealous of the cat?

So my computer was about to have a major crash.  What to do?   Being the super organized person I appear to be to others I made a list.  I make lots of lists.  It’s actually my favorite pastime.

Computer To Do List

1. Back up both computers on Terra Drive.
2. Organize and delete Downloads
3. Back up again
4. Organize and delete Documents
5. Back up again
6. Organize and delete old software
7. Back up again and say one Hail Mary till you see the computer is going to be alright!  Then say Amen!
8. Organize and delete Videos
9. Back up again
10. Update all Operating Systems on both computers, iPhones, iPad and iTouches.  {Geez, I am Apple’s dream customer!}
11. Back up again!
12. Do something with all my Photos!
13. Burn DVD’s of photos, make photo books, DO SOMETHING with all these images before 2013!

So there you go.. my to do list. I did items 1-11 and it took like 9 days non-stop. I am not kidding.   There was no image, document etc.. left unfiled! I was all full of knowledge and knowing again.  Whew!  But now what do do about those darn images.

Stay tuned for my next entry… A Picture is worth a 100 Gigabytes!

ex-librīs [Latin, "from the books of..."], is usually a small print or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the inside front cover, to indicate its owner.  – wikipedia.org

My favorite thing to do in October in Austin, Texas is go to the Texas Book Festival to have authors sign books.  I love giving signed books as gifts.  My kids have huge libraries of books signed by very talented authors and illustrators from Eric Carle to Louis Sachar.  Books at my house aren’t downloaded, but held up straight on a bookshelf like a treasured jewel.  In a time filled with iPads, Kindles and other eReaders, I still find having and owning an actual book more comforting that any cool gadget on my desk.  Paper books don’t need charging, but instead charge my familly with imagination, knowledge and escape.  A few years ago I then decided I needed a unique gift idea for every age, and that’s when the idea of bookplates occurred to me.  Bookplates are the perfect gift!  Add a bookplate to any book and “whahla” la you can make any book feel even more special!  Combine a bookplate with a book or gift certificate to a book store and there you have it  “the perfect gift!”  I always imagine that sense of pride in when one takes when they decide to honor a book with a bookplate personalized with their name.

These days you can turn a variety sticker stock into bookplates your books with your name, but also show some personality and style.  Here’s a few pics of stickers that would make great bookplates.

Bookplates for Him

Bookplates for Her

….. just peek  look at the perfect gift!

Click here to see more bookplates for Adults

Bookplates for Kids

Click here to see more bookplates for kids at Bailey Bea Designs

Bookplates Shown above are:

• Boatman Geller Pink Whale Sticker
• Boatman Geller Blue Alligator Sticker
• Laura Mitzelfelt Designs Monkey Sticker
• Boatman Geller Mermaid Sticker
• Boatman Geller Seahorse Sticker
• Boatman Geller Blue Rugby Stripes Sticker
• Boatman Geller  Retriever Sticker
• Boatman Geller Blue Madras Sticker
• Boatman Geller Brown Zebras Sticker
• Dress the Desk Lemonade Sticker
• Boatman Geller – Bright Floral

ENTER TO WIN A SET OF 24 PERSONALIZED

VALENTINES DAY CARDS  from Boatman Geller!

Let Boatman Geller make it easier for your children to send a unique and personalized valentine to their friends and classmates this year!   It’s a sweet way to say “Please be mine Valentine!”     There are 10 designs to choose from and this giveaway is valued at $34.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

There are 3 ways to enter to win a set of 24 personalized Valentines Day Cards from Boatman Geller.

1. Leave a comment below and tell us which card you would love to win in here on Block and Script.

2. Become a fan of Bailey Bea Designs on Facebook and post on our wall which card you would love to win!

3. Tweet the following “I entered to win Valentines Day Cards from @baileybea http://tinyurl.com/6wqc3er“

Deadline to enter is Tuesday, January 10th at 5 pm PST Note: Open to US residents only.

Winners will be announced:  Wednesday, January 11th.

Did you take a really great pic this summer of your family at the beach while on vacation?  Beach pics often make the best holiday cards!  No need to worry about everyone wearing matching holiday outfits or editing the one family member who blinked in that perfect shot.  Just break out that fun summer picture you took on the beach, the boat or while waiting in line to go climb the top of Cape Hatteras!   This Holiday, while most of us will be buried in snow, cold, and wind, you can tempt us to envy your fabulous family summer vacation at the beach!  Trust me we will all be secretly jealous and wishing we were there!

Here’s our top Beach theme designs from Boatman Geller’s 2011 Holiday Album.

Our favorite new beach designs is Boatman Geller’s Jetties!  It’s so fun and whimsical!  Best of all Jetties comes in over 10 different Boatman Geller products.   Holiday Cards come in Pink and Navy.

Click here to see all of Boatman Geller’s Jetties pattern products

Click here for Jetties Pink Holiday Card

Click here for Jetties Navy Holiday Card

Click here for Jetties Pink Square Label

Click here for Jetties Navy Square Label

Coral Repeat is a classic Boatman Geller Design that never goes out of fashion!  Holiday Cards come in Teal and Orange Coral Repeat!  Coral Repeat also comes in over 10 other products.
Click here to see Coral Repeat Photo Card

Click here to see Coral Repeat Photo Card in Teal

Click here to see Coral Square Label

Click here to see Coral Square Label in Teal

Click here to see Coral Address Label

Click here to see Coral Address Label in Teal

Boatman Geller’s Shell Pail design is classic beach with a little bit of holly whimsy!  It’s hard not to think of your fondest memories of sea shell hunting when looking at this card.

Click here for Shell Pail Photo Card

Click here for Shell Pail Square Label

Click here for Starfish Address Label

Madras Patch is the classic beach pattern that is never out of fashion!   Boatman Geller has two Madras Patch patterns available in their Holiday Album.  Madras Patch Blue and Madras Patch Bright

Click here to see Madras Patch Blue Photo Card

Click here to see Madras Patch Bright Photo Card

Click here to see Madras Patch Blue Square Sticker

Click here to see Madras Patch Bright Square Sticker

Click here to see Madras Patch Blue Address Label

Click here to see Madras Patch Bright Address Label

Border Seashore is the perfect card for any beach sunrise or sunset pic!  Boatman Geller added a matching address label and square sticker to go with this pattern. You can also mix in the Starfish Address Label as well.

Click here to see Border Seashore Photo Card

Click here to see Border Seashore Square Label

Click here to see Border Seashore Address Label

Sand Dollars are my absolute favorite thing to find on the beach and this classic Sand Dollar design by Boatman Geller is perfect for any beach pic.  Sand Dollars is really great for anytime of the year and many occasions.

Click here to see Sand Dollar Photo Card

Click here to see Sand Dollar Address Label

Click here to see the Sand Dollar Square Label

Whether you are on the beach or in Palm Springs, the Palm photo card design can be a great choice for your holiday family picture!   The best part is if you get the matching stickers and address label you can use them year around!

Click here to see Palm Long Photo Card

Click here to see Palm Square Label

Click here to see Aqua and Olive Stripes Address Label

Bailey Bea Designs has dozens of stylish gift options for the foodie and cook in your family!  Here are our top 5 picks for this holiday season!

Recipe Box

Recipe Boxes by Boatman Geller and Dabney Lee at Home make great gifts for cooks, brides, and friends.   The top lid opens and you can slide a recipe to the top flap holder, to make it easy to see your recipe while you cook.   Prices for the card holders start at $70.  Click here to view Recipe Boxes.  Click here to see Holiday Recipe Boxes.

Salt n Pepper Shaker

Add style to your dining table with this handsome couple.. Salt n Pepper!  This personalized Salt and Pepper set is from Dabney Lee at home. It is the perfect gift for the person who has everything, weddings, housewarmings, and hostesses.  This pair is a sure hit at $40.  Click here to see Salt and Pepper Shaker.

Personalized Platters

Personalized platters by Kelly Hughes Designs and Boatman Geller are  great for just about everything!  I have put everything on them from cookies and muffins to craft supplies.  In my house they are mostly used for potluck dinners and picnics. I am surprised by how often we are reaching for one!  Prices start at $40  Click here to see all Platters.  Click here to see Holiday Platters.

Cutting Board

Cutting boards from Clairebella are one of our best sellers!  They come in two sizes.  The small one is perfect for the bar and cutting smaller food items and the large one is great for everything!   We leave ours on our counter top for easy all day use!  Prices start at $42 for the smaller cutting board and $55 for the larger cutting board.  Click here to see Cutting Boards.

Acrylic Tray

We have acrylic trays from Boatman Geller, Kelly Hughes Designs, Dabney Lee at Home and Clairebella.  They come rectangles and square shapes and their handles vary  in form depending on designer.  We use our tray for entertaining, carrying items to potlucks, and holding the party favors.  It’s a big hit in our home!   Prices for the acrylic trays start at $65.  Click here to see all Acrylic Trays.  Click here to see Holiday Acrylic Trays.

Bailey Bea Designs wanted to give Hanukkah some extra attention this holiday season!   We have quite a few new Hanukkah items we thought customers would love to decorate with, give, or use for Hanukkah this year!

Bailey Bea Designs has added over 250 new holiday photo cards and over 400 holiday address labels!   There are may styles to choose from in a variety of price points.

Click here to see Holiday Photo Cards

Click here to see Holiday Address Labels

While we don’t have many invitations for Hanukkah we do have these three lovely invitations from Boatman Geller and Kelly Hughes Designs!  Each of them would be beautiful for an open house or dinner party!  Prices start at $30  Click here to see Hanukkah Invitations.

We have hundreds of new gifts stickers this holiday season!   Add the flexibility of a personalized that that you can personalized to be either a gift stamp or an address stamp and you have many options to top off your Hanukkah gifts this season.  Prices for Stickers start at $21 and prices for stamps start at $40.

Click here to see Holiday Gift Stickers

Click here to see Hanukkah Gift Stickers and Stamps

This kids Hanukkah tabletop set is by Kelly Hughes Designs.   All the items come together as  a group or can be purchased separately!  Kids really love this whole set!  A few of our customers have used these placemats underneath their child’s menorah.   Click here to see the Hanukkah Tabletop Set.

These soaps are handmade in Vermont by Carved Solutions.  Customers can choose from a variety of packages.  If you are hosting family this Hanukkah these soaps would be perfect for the guest bathroom.  Sets also make a great gift! Prices start at $15  Click here to see more Soaps.

Hanukkah is all about candles and if the candles on your menorah are not enough consider putting one of these lovely hand made candles from Carved Solutions on your side table for fireplace mantel.   Each is made in the USA and candle provides a nice glow for many hours.  But the best part is that this candle burns evenly and you can put a tea light on the inside once the original wick is gone.  So this candle has a longer life than most candles.  The warm glow of your symbol or name showing through at night is a lovely sight!   Candles come in two sizes and start at  $25.  Click here to see Hanukkah Candles.

Are you looking for a few new items to dress up your table this Hanukkah?   We have fabulous stylish  tabletop products that will do just that and your guests will be talking about these tabletop items after the party!

We have platters by Kelly Hughes Designs and Boatman Geller starting at $40. Click here to see

Drink Coasters from The Chatsworth Collection come in sets of 100 coasters and start at $45.  Click here to see.

Blue Chinoiserie Ice Bucket by Boatman Geller with the option to add a second insert. Click here to see.

Blue Chinoiserie Receipe Box by Boatman Geller.  Click here to see.

Ceramic Hanukkah Plate by Little Worm and Company.  Click here for the Boy Hanukkah plate.  Click here for the Girl Hanukkah Plate.

Kids write Thank You cards much more willingly and easily with the Kelly Hughes Hanukkah Fill-in Thank You cards.   Click here to see the Hanukkah Fill-In Thank You Cards.

Boatman Geller has a line of Holiday Note Sheets that are so lovely and festive.  If you need to quickly write a list or a quick note, these note sheet sets are perfect for you! These Note Sheet sets are great not just for Hanukkah, but the whole Winter Season!  Click here to see our collection of Holiday Note Cards and Note Pads.

Through Bailey Bea Design’s Letters from Lilly web portal, you can design a variety of note cards, greeting cards, note pads and photo cards for the holiday.  Letters from Lilly has their own unique linen papers that define fine stationery.  Beautiful cards, beautiful paper, excellent printing.   They have several designs that are perfect for the holidays and two designs in particular for Hanukkah.  Click here to see our Bailey Bea Designs-Letters from Lilly.

Have a Techie in your life you need to buy a holiday gift for?  Bailey Bea Designs is now carrying some new products to make your techie look stylish and smart!  Here’s what we are recommending for Techies this holiday

1.  iPad Folio Case

The iPad Folio case fits both the iPad anad the IPad 2.  Users can fold folio into three positions for optimal iPad viewing!  Each one is designed to your specifications so the design options are endless.    You can find them on Bailey Bea Designs for $72 here!

2. Skins for Tablets and eReaders

Want a great way to add flair to your eReader or Tablet at a lower price?  Look at the skin designs by Clairebella.  Each skin is designed to your specifications and prices start at $31.  Click here to see Clairebella Skins.

3. Phone Cases

Does your cell phone look just like the rest of the phones in your workplace?  Here’s a way to add your own distinct style to your cell phone with phone covers from Kelly Hughes Designs and Clairebella.  Prices start at $55 for a case.  These cases make great stocking stuffers!  There are a variety of designs for Her, Him, and Kids!

Click here to see Adult Phone Case Designs

Click here to see Kid Phone Designs

4. Sleeves for eReaders, Tablets, and Laptops

Padded neoprene sleeves make a stylish solution to protect tablets, eReaders, and laptops.  Sleeves come in four sizes and are also a great value at $37.  Click here to see the Sleeves on Bailey Bea Designs

The ☮ Peace sign is the coolest trend around for kids.   This internationally recognized sign for peace was originally designed for the British Nuclear Disarmament movement by Gerald Holtom in 1958. It combines two different semaphone signals “N” and “D” in one sign.  The N and D stood for Nuclear Disarmament.    The US has been at war for 10 years now and we don’t have to think too hard as to why the Peace Sign is the hottest trend with kids, Tweens, and Teens.

At Bailey Bea Designs you can find Peace signs on just about anything we sell!  We carry clipboards, bookmarkers, round labels, note cards, water bottles, stationery sets, bag tags, ornaments, tees, frames, Christmas cards, phone cases, plates, address labels and placemats!  Our top Peace Designers are Boatman Geller, Kelly Hughes Designs, Tickle Bellies, Little Worm & Company, San Lori, Paper So Pretty,  Pipo Press and iDesign + Co.  Click here to see all Bailey Bea Designs Peace Items