MEMORY KEEPING 101: ARTISAN & PIXELS 2 PAGES – A DYNAMIC DUO
A 30 Day Free Trial in Digital Scrapbooking Heaven
Two things in FOREVER go together like a horse and carriage – that’s Artisan and Pixels 2 Pages (P2P). If you are perfectly satisfied with the templates FOREVER offers for photobooks, photo gifts, greeting cards and calendars, then you need not read any further. Artisan and Pixels 2 Pages are for digital scrapbooking aficionados and they can try out both during a 30 Day Trial. Keep reading to find out why NOW is the perfect time to take advantage of your free trials.
Artisan is a very powerful design hardware. With it you can create a wide variety of digital print projects – everything from greeting cards to photobooks, but I even use it for social media memes. You can design virtually anything with Artisan and FOREVER offers a wide variety of digital art to use with it.
Pixels 2 Pages is an online community for Artisan users. The primary focus is digital scrapbooking, but the skills taught are applicable to whatever you want to create in Artisan. However, developing your skills is just one of the benefits of membership. The real drawing card is the fun. P2P Artisan specialist are called Pixies and they sprinkle a little magic into every corner of the community.
Let’s consider the icing on the cake! Since we’re talking FREE today, let’s talk about all the stuff included when you purchase Artisan and join Pixels 2 Pages.
Artisan is a one time purchase of $129.99. That’s it. You will own the world’s most powerful, most comprehensive tool for digital creation. Not only does it include the powerful Perfectly Clear Auto-Fix, but what you will also get is a lot of other built-in resources – page templates called blueprints, shapes, fonts, frames and strokes, to name a few. Then there’s digital art – so much free digital art that I created photobooks and other items for over year without even checking out what FOREVER offered for purchase. And, generous FOREVER keeps offering free digital art. So every once and I while I just do a search and see what new free stuff I can find.
With your Artisan purchase, you also get a peek into P2P. You’ll have access to the Pixie created How-To Manual, public posts in the P2P community and partial access to P2P events throughout the year. If that peek perks your interest, which it most likely will, then you’ll want to join and there are two ways to do that – monthly and annually. The monthly price is $19.99 or you can save a little with the $189.99 annual membership.
For many, the P2P community, sharing ideas and offering encouragement is reason enough to belong, but there’s more, like the Facebook page group, monthly newsletter, monthly blueprint downloads, weekly guides, videos and project ideas and such. You also have access to the library where they’ve archived years of training, so at your fingertips you have answers to more questions than you’ll ever think to ask. There’s a free quarterly crop and while anyone can attend parts of it, only P2P members have the inside track.
Oh yes – and every year there is a huge Virtual Party for P2P members that’s spread out over weeks and culminates in a weekend binge of creation. There is a fee for this event, but guess what, it only costs half of the value you will receive in digital goodies. The fun starts with weekly classes in March, to give you a head start on what will be introduced at the weekend crop. Then for an entire weekend in April, you crop with the Pixies. Everything is recorded, so if you have to miss a class or can’t attend the crop, it will all be there for you to enjoy anyway. For many people that weekend is their favorite thing of the year.
Do It Now!
I am sharing this with you today, because now is a special time to take advantage of this Dynamic Duo. If you sign up for your free trials in January, you can enjoy full access to the “Let’s TACO About It” quarterly crop (January 12-13) and for only $19.99 you can participate in FOREVER Virtual (January 20), which will offer lots of FOREVER training and the “Party After Dark” P2P Crop.
After these special events and a month’s access to these wonderful resources, I’m betting you will be hooked. Why don’t you check these out: Artisan, Pixels 2 Pages, Forever Virtual or just call me at 972-971-5263 and let’s TACO about it!
In my career as a FOREVER Ambassador, there was one thing I really hated and it was the way their prices were moving targets. The decision to invest in Memory Keeping is an important one and when someone decides to do it, they shouldn’t have to hurry up or wait to make their basic purchases, but the way FOREVER handled some of their pricing made me crazy.
Nobody loves a bargain better than me, so I love FOREVER print deals. I’ve always got a project on my mind and yes, I save them for the 50% off deals and Club Weekends free shipping. That just makes sense. However, some deals just didn’t.
To me, the pricing for much of the FOREVER services were counterproductive to my efforts. When I first started with FOREVER (almost 3 years ago!) the pricing for storage would fluctuate wildly. I get it – they were trying to match what the competition was doing and the competition, those fishes, flies and boxes, use slashed prices to lure in customers, but we had things the competitors didn’t, so why were we slashing those prices?
Obviously, I wasn’t alone. I was a mere newbie, what did I know? But behind the scenes the Executive Ambassadors were saying the same thing I was.
Few people buy permanent online storage or private video streaming on a whim. Most people don’t even realize it exists. They think you have to pay for storage month by month for the rest of their lives. They think their personal videos have to be posted to some social media giant to be shared. FOREVER isn’t a household name, yet.
So, Ambassadors go around letting people know they have a choice, but figuring out what that means usually takes some getting used to and some serious consideration about budget. When the price changed for those unique services week by week and day by day, trying to offer your customers the best value for their dollar was a game of chance.
It Got Better
I am not privy to everything that went on behind the scenes, but at the first of this year, they made a change to the pricing on storage. They set a price that was the price, but they weren’t quite to where I wanted to be, because the price was consistently marked down the same percentage. It wasn’t what I wanted, but at least I wouldn’t be faced with telling anyone the 50% off storage was last week and now they had to pay full price.
In recent months, they tried something with a few of our other premiere products which, like our storage and video streaming, you can’t get anywhere else. When Valet, the file migration software beloved of the professional photo organizers, was introduced, they didn’t kick it off with bargains. They said here’s this unique software and you can try it free for a month, but then this is the price. Nobody waited for a deal, because there wasn’t going to be one. They just purchased it with glee.
That went so well, FOREVER made a change with our other unique software programs, Artisan and Historian. Instead of juggling the price with deals from month to month, they announced the price was the price and that was it. Guess what, sales continued at the same rate they had before. People weren’t buying because of the deals. They were buying because they understood the value and uniqueness of what we offer.
It’s Going to Get Even Better
So, come January, the same thing is going to happen with storage and streaming. The price is going to be the price. The “deals” which have been going on all year are going away, because when something is permanently 25% off, that isn’t much of a deal. I’ve got to tell you there will be a slight (very slight) rise in the price of storage and streaming from the net price you’d pay today, but it will be the price and I am so happy.
So, if you have storage you need to buy or have been considering streaming, the price you can get it for, through the end of December, is the cheapest you are ever going to see it. Come January 1, 2024, the new prices will be announced and that’s going to be the price. The only deal you can get is the 5% off you get with The Club or the $20 off with Welcome and Referral Coupons. That’s it! My job will be easier and I believe our clients will be less confused.
While We’re on the Subject of Deals, Let’s Talk About Our Print Deals
While I think FOREVER has been a little frustrating with some of their deals, I have always been very impressed with their print deals. Just like you, I used to think my only options for photo printing were the fish and the fly. While I was always a traditional scrapbooking fan and didn’t delve into the world of digital photo books (or digitization with the box for that matter), I did go their for Holiday Cards and photo printing. I’d be all excited about a deal and then when I’d made all of my selections, I’d be aghast at the final price. It would seem awfully high.
Well, let me tell you about those slashed prices at the fish, the fly and the box. Their bargains are offered on a particular portion of the sale and then they get you on everything else. If you were buying Christmas cards, for instance, you’d get the reduced price on the basics, but if you did anything beyond that, like a different finish or shape, fees would be added which were not marked down. If you were creating a photobook, the standard number of pages would be discounted, but every page after that had a hefty per page price. And those other digitization people? Who cares if they were going to give you 60% off on the initial items, because they’d always charge you full price on the rest of them.
When FOREVER has a deal, the deal applies to the whole product. If your digitization box is 40% off, then your extra items are going to be 40% off. If your photo book is 50% off, then the extra pages, matte finishes and anything else added to that book will be 50% off. And of course, the same applies with your holiday cards. Now that’s what I call a deal.
I know Memory Keeping is a big investment, however, the returns on your investment are immeasurable. How can you put a price on creating and sharing a heritage which will reach generations you will never even know? I don’t think you can, but with FOREVER and their new pricing policies, you won’t be playing a game of roulette. The price will be the price for the basics and you’ll enjoy true savings on the rest. Call me today at 972-971-5263 to talk about your memory mess.
MEMORY KEEPING 101: A LITTLE INCENTIVE TO GET STARTED
The $20 Welcome Coupon from FOREVER
I want you to discover FOREVER! I know I rave about it all the time, but I’m not sure you know how easy it is to get started. I probably also fail to tell you FOREVER has $20 waiting for you to sweeten the pot. Here’s how it works!
It Starts With My Link
FOREVER has assigned me a unique and specific link. They want you to sign up with an Ambassador you know. Someone who you feel comfortable with. They do not want to be an anonymous website like so many of web-based companies out there which assign you a number and talk to you through bots. They have a wonderful Customer Service staff and a great help page, but they want you to have a real live Ambassador of your very own.
That link takes you to FOREVER. According to the device you use, you may immediately be asked to provide your email and create a password. It’s OK, it’s free. If it just takes you to the Home Page, click on Log In in the upper right hand corner and then under the green Log In button, there’s a link “Need an Account? Sign Up Free”. Click that and you will go here.
Fill it in and hit the Sign Up button. That’s it! Welcome to the wonderful world of FOREVER, but don’t stop there, because you need to claim your $20.
FOREVER Will Send You an Email
When your sign up is through, go to your email. If you don’t see an email from FOREVER then check all those spam folders. Confirm your email address and then FOREVER will send you your Welcome Coupon.
Twenty dollars is waiting for you. When you open the Welcome Coupon email I suggest you either print it out and/or save it someplace where you can find it again.
Near the bottom of that email is a code. That’s your $20. You’re going to want that when you make your first order. Many clients are ready to buy when they join. They cut and paste their code into their order and they are done. But I also have clients who aren’t ready to buy from the get go. That’s why I want you to print it out or save it somewhere you’ll be able to find it later.
In Fact, FOREVER Will Send You a Lot of Emails
So, one of the reasons FOREVER wants you to verify your email address is because like everyone else, they want to send you all their stuff – and that’s why you have an Ambassador. FOREVER stuff is great if you are about to start a bunch of projects, because the emails will keep you informed of all the great promotions which are going on. If you’re just sticking your toe in the water and aren’t interested in the stuff, when you get your first promo email, go to the bottom and click either “update your preferences” or “unsubscribe from this list.” Then you can tell them thanks, but no thanks – but wait until after you get your $20 coupon!!! I don’t want you to miss that.
Use That Coupon!!
First of all, you have 60 days to use that coupon. On Day 61, it will no longer be valid. So please find a way to use it within 60 days of signing up. The coupon will work with most things on FOREVER, with a few exceptions – gift cards, events, FOREVER Club memberships etc., but for merchandise, it’s all good.
Stack your deals!! Many, many, many companies are quick to send you a coupon, but then trying to use it is almost impossible, because you can’t use it with any other offers. That’s not so with FOREVER, except in very, very rare cases, which will be clearly marked. You can stack your $20 welcome coupon with all the deals on the Deals page, as well as with The FOREVER Club discount, which I would be happy to explain to you.
Get the best price! At the first of every month, FOREVER informs its Ambassadors about all the deals for the month. When you know what you want to buy, just give me a shout before you hit the buy button. I can let you know if you can get a better price by waiting a day or a week.
And that’s it! Twenty dollars towards your Memory Keeping project. You can also get $20 for referrals, but we’ll talk about that and The FOREVER Club another day!
If you are one of my FOREVER clients, then just log into the FOREVER website or get on the app. Both avenues will allow you to do AutoPrint projects.
If you haven’t become a customer yet, it’s free and easy to sign up. You’ll also get a $20 Welcome coupon just for confirming your email address, so don’t forget that part. You do not need to have storage to create these AutoPrint projects. From the main page, hover over “Create & Print” and select “Autobooks from the left side.
For current customers, on FOREVER’s website >go to the Library > select your photos, >select Print in the upper right hand corner. Then follow your nose. I selected 4 photos, chose Coaster Set and in milliseconds I had a set of four gorgeous coasters. All I needed to do was hit the “Add to Cart” button. It’s that easy!
Breaking It Down a Little More
If that’s moving a little too fast for you, let’s take it a little slower. With AutoPrint, you have a wide variety of quick gifts to create:
AutoBooks
Sizes 8X8 -12X12
Softbound & Hardbound
Standard & Layflat
Photo Gifts
Coaster Sets
Tabletop Panels
Notebooks
Magnets
Drinkware
Water Bottles
Photo Mugs
Photo Prints
Glossy & Lustre
Sizes 4X6 – 11X14
Your first job is to select the images you want to use. While these selections can be chosen on the fly from your FOREVER Library or in a folder on your device, if you have storage, it’s easy to make an online album and collect the photos you want there. Start with the photo you want for the front and then add the rest in the order you want them to show up. A little preparation makes the actual ordering go even faster.
When you are on the website, hover over Create & Print and select “AUTOPRINT” from the drop down menu. Then select one of the four categories above. For this exercise, we’re going to make a standard 8X8 softbound AutoBook.
I selected AutoBooks and on the next page, I chose Standard. The screen moved up so I could choose an 8X8 Softbound. And here’s the Get Started Page.
When I clicked “Get Started” it gave me this screen. From here I can go to my Library, my Albums, my Tags or as you can see there is an “UPLOAD” button in the upper right hand corner.
For this project, I chose tags and selected the “Floral” Folder. This folder has 161 photos in it, but I can have up to 892 images in my 99 page book. (Artisan 6 users can have up to 199 pages!!) I used the “Select All” button to get all 161 photos and then hit the “ADD SELECTED” Button.
Before one second could pass, my book was created. I could literally hit the “Add to Cart” button and print out my album.
But wait, at this point, I have options. I can add “Photo Pages” or “Text Pages.” Or I can “Edit Pages.”
Let’s do some Editing! I added a title to the front of the book and the spine. I changed the layouts on some pages which had textboxes, because I just wanted photos. There are text boxes at the top and bottom of each page, but I left them blank, so they won’t print. I chose a pattern for all the pages and then a solid color for the cover.
It’s taken me longer to explain what I did than it did to do it.
Were I actually to print this photobook there is some cleaning up to do. I decided to do this particular tag folder very spontaneously and there are some duplicates. I might reorder the photos, too, but I wanted to show you just how easy it can be.
There are some changes in the works for AutoPrint, to streamline it further into Create & Print world, but FOREVER is devoted to offering the quick, easy and clean looking option, so while the navigation might change a little, the look and the ease of AutoPrint is not going anywhere.
I have to tell you, the retail price of the album was $27.15. My FOREVER Club Membership knocked it down 5% and a promo on that day knocked it down another 40%. I could have printed the photobook for $15.48 (plus tax and shipping). Who said Memory Keeping is expensive? And if you’ve been using another online vendor, because you thought they were cheaper, maybe this will give you pause.
In later posts, I’ll cover Design & Print and the Artisan 6 program, but next week we’re going to talk about how to $20 on your first order.
OK, so FOREVER is a Digital Media resource that offers everything from Media Digitization to Video Streaming – but if you hang around me much, then you already know that.
The FOREVER Library is the place where all the stuff you’ve uploaded to FOREVER hangs out. It’s not the only place. You also have albums, as well as tags for sorting and finding your photos, but the library is where everything is all at the same time. You can upload directly to the library or to your albums. It doesn’t matter.
What Can It Do?
Your library can do a lot of cool things for you, so I decided to take a few minutes to introduce you to it’s features. Obviously, the great big blue “upload” button is the one you’d use for adding photos from your computer to your storage. If you want to add photos from your phone, there’s a free app for that. If your media is hard copy, we need to talk about digitization. See last week.
Next to it is a search bar. The effectiveness of your search bar is directly related to the thoroughness of your curating. The more information you have about your photos in FOREVER, the more accurately you can search. A sampling of the search terms you could use would be dates, titles and tags, but whatever you’ve got, FOREVER will try to deliver something.
At the end of the upload and search area is a box that says “All Files”, but if you click the blue area you get these choices.
Obviously, All Files is all files. Favorites are photos you have marked with a heart. You can see an example of the heart on the left corner of the photo by the blue and white selection box.
The next are three very helpful choices as you begin to curate your images: “Not in Album,” “Not Tagged” and “Neither Tagged Nor in Album.” As you get your photos organized, labeled, tagged and such, the number of photos these choices will bring up will grow smaller.
I’m proud to say all but a handful of my photos are in Albums and all of those not in albums were taken in the last few days. I have my photos automatically added from my phone, by the app, when I take them. Then I delete them or add them to albums daily or weekly, according to the day and the week.
I’m working on the “Not Tagged”. Tagging is a great tool for searching. Some day I will have all the people and places tagged in every photos, so I can search by name or location to find any photo I want. So far, I have them all tagged as either Travel, At Home, Out & About, etc., but I have a long way to go. FOREVER recommends spending 15 minutes a day on this task and it’s a great idea.
Then there are a series of “Show Only” choices. With them you can see only photos, video or audio. You can also isolate documents in the collection. Projects are cool, because FOREVER keeps a copy of all the projects they do for you – the photobooks, photo gifts, greeting cards and such. These projects do not take up your storage space, but are always available to you.
Under that selection box associated with “All Files” is a section where you can filter by both year and month. So, if you know you’re looking for the pictures of your husband’s 50th birthday, just select the year and the date of that celebration. In this image I chose 2021 for the year and have brought down the month selections.
Moving to the other side, under the “upload” button, you find the “Order By” selections. I tend to leave it on Date Taken (Oldest First) because I think in chronological order, but you can reverse it and as for (Newest First) if you are looking for something taken recently.
Sometimes you aren’t as concerned with when it was taken as you are when it was uploaded and the next choices cover that.
Other Things to do in the Library
Returning to the picture at the top, you’ll notice that each individual photo has a heart and a circle at the top. The heart, as I mentioned above, allows you to mark your favorites and you can always choose to have the Library show those to you. The circle allows you to select images for curating. Let me show you.
On the main Library page, I checked a picture and the screen above opened up, giving me new choices. I went ahead and selected all the pictures I was in, on the first date available, but I could have chosen every picture of me in the library, all the pictures on that date or even just one photo at a time to work on.
If I chose “Add to Album,” I would get this screen. It allows me to either set up a new album, add the selected photos to a top level album or with the “View Nested” arrow, I could actually add them to albums which are “nested” under the main album.
If I chose “Add Tags,” then I could add tags common to all five of those photos. Obviously, since I chose pictures of myself, I could tag them “Jane Sadek,” but you are allowed an unlimited number of tags, so people are only the beginning. And you can do more than one tag at a time, so if I had three ways of identifying all these photos, I would add all three tags. They could either be tags I had already created or I could create them using this tool.
Also from the Library you can share photos with other people. You can select as many photos as you like and then either share the link which is created or create an email or a post or message for Facebook. You can even create a QR code. How cool is that!
There’s a “Download” button next and when you click it, you’ll be linked immediately to your browser. Select where you want the photos to be saved and save. You’ll have a copy of these photos on your computer.
The “Delete” button (at the far end) will bring up a screen which asks if you want to delete photos. If you do, it will put them in your FOREVER delete bin for 60 Days.
Now this is a good one. The “Edit Info” button allows you to change the basic information on a file. You know how photos come from your camera with vague names like IMG 36 or a string of numbers. Well, you can change it to a more specific title like Jane in Dallas 2021 or whatever name would be more useful.
You can also provide a description of the photo here. You could explain who Jane was, what she was doing in Dallas, what your relationship to her is – whatever you want. In fact, while the description boxes you run into with many programs have a 25 word or 100 character limit, this description can go on for as long as you’d like it to.
You can also edit or add a date. Sometimes our devices try hard to fill in blanks and provide a Date Taken which has no basis in reality.
If you’re loading a whole bunch of photos to your storage, the Bulk Organizer could be your best friend. You could do the whole curating job in one fell swoop. You just have to remember that whatever you put here will override anything else you might have in the metadata.
You can make changes to all of these sections or just choose those you want.
One more choice. Perhaps you’d like to select a group of photos for a slideshow. Well, there’s a “Slideshow” button. It will autoplay whatever you’ve selected and you can even put it on “Loop” so you can play it continuously.
Well, there is one more thing you can do from this screen. You see that brick colored square that says “AUTOPRINT”? Well, this could be step one for your next print project. Just select all the images you want to include in a digital photobook, photogift or perhaps you’d just like to print some copies to share.
The AUTOPRINT buttons connects you directly with the various potential projects in Autoprint. That’s where FOREVER does most of the work, like magic. You select the images and the project. FOREVER will do the rest. You’ll be given the opportunity to do some minor editing, if you chose, then all you have to do is pay for it and select your delivery method and address. You can have custom projects ready in seconds!
Wrapping It All Up in the Library
Most of these same features are available in the FOREVER app, as well as on the website, as I have shown them here. You just find them in different places. Personally, I enjoy working on files in the Library when I’m at my desktop or using my laptop, but I’ve heard of people who curate their entire collection of media on their phone, sitting by the pool, drinking a cool adult beverage.
It’s up to you. If, while you are in the Library on your computer, you need a reminder about any particular images, just hover over the “i” in the bottom right of any images. A small black and white screen will pop up to show you what FOREVER knows.
And that’s all there is to it. I plan to write similar posts about Albums, Tagging and the App in the coming months, but next week we’re going to AutoPrint. Start thinking about a project you’d like to have completed quickly – like magic.
MEMORY KEEPING 101: FOREVER FOUNDER SHARES HIS WHY
What’s FOREVER?
FOREVER is not yet one of those companies everybody knows about, yet I think a day will come when it will be the go-to place for all things digital-memory-keeping. Until then it’s one of my missions in life to be sure people don’t lose their memories from lack of knowing about FOREVER.
You can’t be around me very long without finding out I care about your photos and have all the tools you need to preserve them for generations to come. That’s especially true if you read this blog.
Why FOREVER?
The founder of FOREVER recently took the time to share the reasons why he has devoted the rest of his life to this company. In this short (4:40 minutes) video he tells what led him to discover the need for the company and why he feels it is such an important tool for anyone and everyone to use.
No one could be more eloquent on this subject, so today, instead of writing a few more hundreds of words, I’m sharing this video. Please take the time to watch it. I think you’ll agree with me, the time has come for FOREVER.
Glen Meakem, Founder & CEO of FOREVER shares his why
So, what do you think? Are you ready to make FOREVER your memories’ home?
TRAVEL HERE – NCFCA AT DBU, AT MY DESK & TAKING DOWN THE TREE
National Christian Forensics and Communications Association
Once upon a time, before there was a Spot On Images and we lived in Dallas, I used to attend Dallas Christian Writers Guild. Somehow that ended up taking me to Denton for a group of writers I can’t remember the name of. While I was never able to sell my novel, I did make some great friends. One of them, Rachel, invited me to judge at a speech tournament. By then, I’d figured out the market was focused on paranormal young adult fiction and wasn’t interested in a simple romance at a retirement center. I’d also moved to Wylie.
Rachel suggested I give judging a whirl. The tournament was going to be in Wylie at a church almost around the corner from our rental. She had no idea I’d been on the speech team at Bryan Adams High School. NCFCA, to which her children belonged, just needed community judges. She thought I’d be good at it, because she’d observed me critique the works of my fellow writers. I was flattered at the time and agreed to do it.
Now, I’ve got to admit. These kids blew me away. I’d belonged to the National Forensics League back in the late 60/early 70’s. My fondest memories of the time was a trip to a Houston tournament in Jimmy Johnson’s red Impala convertible. After our sponsor threatened our lives if we went to Galveston, we, of course, snuck out and went to Galveston. It was 10 minutes on the beach and we had to head back, but the exhilaration of the outing stays with me, even today.
The home-schooled members of NCFCA are dead serious about their craft, unlike us crazy public school kids, who just wanted a reason to get away from home. Don’t get me wrong, we had some really great people on the speech squad, who would walk away with all the trophies, but most of us were just there for a good time. NCFCA members are all there to compete!
Anyway, I loved the experience and have continued to volunteer every time I can. We moved to Rockwall and I discovered many of the families in the church participated in NCFCA, but that’s really not my primary motivator. I really just love the kids and love the experience of the speech tournaments. If you are the least bit intrigued by it, I think you should follow the link above and give it a try. They have a tournament over in Ft. Worth in March. I’d love to have someone to carpool with.
Last weekend they had a tournament at Dallas Baptist University and even though I was fighting with allergies, I went ahead and judged, because I love it so. I was not disappointed. It took the whole day. I judged four events and the commute was substantial, but I loved it.
Bill was not amused. I left the house at 8am and got home after 9:30 pm. The allergy symptoms I had been fighting were winning the battle and I was miserable, but my faith in the upcoming generation was renewed. I have hope things are going to be better in the world when these guys take over. Come with me in March and let’s help the next generation blossom!
Digital Photobook Project
If you read this blog at all, you know I’m all about scrapbooking and I have a business devoted to it, but I also offer digital solutions. I booked a new digital assignment which needed a quick turnaround, so I was afraid starting it from scratch would take too long. I decided to create the photobook from one of the gorgeous templates Forever has on their site, but that was totally new to me, because I usually create photobooks from scratch in Artisan. As if that weren’t challenging enough, I also decided to use the album planner in the Historian program.
I had assumed there was some sort of integration between the Historian album planner and the photobook templates on the Forever site. What is it they say? “Don’t never assume nothing.” Yes, I found the album planner to be a great tool, but it would have been an even better tool if I could have clicked a few buttons and automatically populated the template.
My other challenge had to do with saving the template in some format which would let me stop somewhere along the way. I knew there had to be a way, because few people can sit down and do a whole album in one sitting. After exhausting all the methods which made sense to me and losing a couple of starts, I had to call customer service for some help. I am happy to report in a few minutes I had talked to someone very knowledgeable who had all the answers I needed. The solution was easy, just not intuitive.
I finished the photobook and got it ready for my client to proof. However, I do have several integration innovations to suggest to Forever. The photobook templates are lovely, the Historian album planner is a great tool and Artisan is an amazing scrapbooking program. However, these three products need to be able to shake one another’s hand. Integration of their products is one of the big jobs at Forever, but Job One is always the security of the online storage. What might seem simple or apparent as a product feature isn’t going to happen until the Forever engineers are 100% certain it won’t compromise the storage. So while I might fuss a little bit, I’m happy Forever does things the way they do.
Taking Down the Tree
Client’s rush order out of the way, the Christmas tree standing in my living room was the next challenge. I usually go to church on Sunday mornings, but this week I was just too puny to do so. Yet, I was also feeling too good to sit on the sofa and vegetate, so I started the job. I gave it a good three hours and got about two thirds of the way through before I ran out of steam.
Then my bestie came over and we indulged in one of our favorite comfort foods, chicken pot pie! Later Bill dragged me to Olive Garden for dinner. He had a plan to maximize his monetary investment while feeding both of us. Good job Bill. We may be eating Olive Garden to go orders and leftovers all week, but you proved just how much food you could get for under $50!
The Christmas tree project was Job One for me on Monday. It’s time to get over the holidays and get back to real life. Come back next week for more adventures of Jane. Wednesday is Travel Talk and we’ll be talking about some Southwest challenges which happened long before the recent meltdown and Thursday we’re talking about what it costs to build a scrapbooking page. Looking forward to chatting with you!
jane sadek 