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I've been lugging around magazines in boxes for about four household moves. So now I'm thining of tearing the magazines apart and scanning them to CD/hard drive. Anyone done this?

Sounds like an enormous amount of work. I organized and saved hundreds/thousands of embroidery designs to 3.5" discs. Even made folders with color prints in the folders. When was the last time you saw a floppy drive? I then moved them to cd's but finally copied to thumb drives. I bought a back-up hard drive so I'd never lose them. It crashed. My quilt magazines are on shelves of narrow bookcases lining a hallway. When I don't feel good or need inspiration I take a stack to bed. I don't think my magazines will ever be scanned. I do, however, have dozens of small post-its sticking out the tops. LOL I have three ereaders and three mp3 players but still enjoy turning pages of books. I have scanned my favorite magazine patterns but kept the magazines. Hate to not be able to find it.

I thought about it, but it seemed like a lot of work....and would I EVER get around to doing those projects? I answered myself honestly, then took a really deep breath & sold some magazines to another Guild member. Don't miss 'em. Thought I might, but I don't. Even felt good making some space in my cabinets.

Some articles, I have clipped & put in page protectors in a 3-ring binder, but again -- it's more stuff to store/haul, and I know I haven't looked at what I've clipped in a long time.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: StarrySky,

No I haven't, but I've been trying to scan old high school yearbooks. I've been trying to scan in a "searchable" format, but haven't got the kinks worked out. Got any hints?
Don't forget that some magazines are online so that may save you some time, tho if you've had them for 4 moves, they're too old, aren't they?

I did that a few years ago, haven't seen them since...LOL. But no they traveled with me where ever I went. I couldn't be without my Mags. I needed my instructions & inspirations.
nuquiltr

@ Evelyn - on the magazines that are held together by a staple, I was thinking I could remove the staple & then rotary cut down the middle. Re-assemble in page order and then run through my Neat document scanner. I can also store them to my cloud and transfer them to my Ipad. Lots of ways to store them. I'm going through my 4th household move and tired of lugging boxes full of magazines. I think for every magazine I get rid of I get three more castoffs from a guild meeting

I do love thumbing through paper magazines and even when I re-look at a magazine and I pattern that I didn't like before suddenly becomes likeable.

I even separated my fav magazines with the post-it tags sticking out into a separate box, but whats the point since they are still in a box.

Wildcat: I'm thinking you could scan the page and then somehow create a text box around the picture and type in the name?

I put the cut out/torn out pages in a binder. I just punched holes in the side, but you could also use page protectors. That's as much effort as I want to put out for something neat but will probably never be used.

I've cut out articles and put them in sleeves in 3-ring binders. I do use them,if I can find them. I need to figure out how to label and store the binders. I have them everywhere! I've got them for ideas,drawings,santas,pattern covers,dolls,scrapbooks,recipies,articles to re-read,pictures of quilts,toy patterns I've designed, Christmas cards,free quilt patterns...

I need a system of organizing and storing the binders. Been going through magazines and have dumped a lot of boxes.

Nancy, you (once again) sound like me! My whole life is in 3-ring binders!

My sewing stuff is all in white binders. I use color-coded binders for recipes -- meats are pink, side dishes & veggies are green, and all baked goods are blue. (I think I started it that way because those were the colors I could find 30-ish years ago!) Christmas recipes or ideas are always in dark green binders.

I make labels on the computer. I type the name in Word, going vertically. I print it out on card stock, or if I'm lazy, tape it later to card stock. A label has to be stiff, or it can't slide into the pocket on the spine. I use an old rotary cutter blade to trim the label small enough to slide into the spine pocket. Older notebooks that don't have the plastic pockets on the front & spine, I simply labeled with a Sharpie.

I even keep appliance manuals & household info in binders...also my homemade organizer/calendar...shopping info with area shopping mall maps & directories...sightseeing info for when we have company...home dec & landscaping ideas...gardening info...medical info...my cats' medical info... Need I go on?!

I don't do well with file cabinets, but give me a binder (or 50), and I can organize an entire life!

I cut with an x-acto knife the pages out of my magazines on items and directions that I think that I want to do,put a month in a sleeve and then a notebook. I don't need to see fabric and trips from 12 years ago. This takes up so much less space and I still have the info, I just use a marker to list the name of the magazine and the years on the edge of the binder.

Wanda

Ok,Starry, where were your parents born?

Just scanned the first magazine & it went pretty smooth. The most tedious process is cutting the spine off & then shaving off a bit more of the left edge to make it fit in the scanner. Scanned it in & deleted the pages that were full page ads. Sent to my iPad -- yippie!I'm already dreaming of sitting by the pool and flipping through the pages. I have a variety of magazines so some have spines that are glued and others have staples in the middle.

quote:

Originally posted by nancyc20:
Ok,Starry, where were your parents born?

One in the bedroom & one in the kitchen! Don't tell me yours were, too?!

I was born in a hospital, though.

Leadies I can identify with each of you on points you have made.
Starry and Nancy I too have binders with crochet, tatting, embroidery, crazy quilting, red work....along with several shelves of magazines and quilting books that I don't use or look at...I need to have a purging....

Years ago before we had a computer we would go visit a friend of DH and he let me print out all of the things I had seen on Carol Duval's show... I still have a huge pile of papers somewhere that I haven't seen in I can't remember when....
While here in MI away from home and my sewing room I have tons of ideas on how to be more organized in my space....can't wait to get home

I had too many magazines to save for projects and went through them and narrowed them down to will I really make this, if not gave them away. Those I like I scanned to computer and saved in separate folders. I still weed them out.

When I get a new magazine in and see something I like, I write the page number on a sticky and attach to outside so I know what pages I need to scan or where the project is I wanted to make. I figure my computer has more space than my sewing room. I have backups in case of crashes.

I have started to save my bookmarks also.

quote:

One in the bedroom & one in the kitchen! Don't tell me yours were, too?!

barn

quote:

Originally posted by nancyc20:

quote:

One in the bedroom & one in the kitchen! Don't tell me yours were, too?!

barn

Barn?! Well, Mom always accused me of thinking I was living in a barn, whenever I left outside doors open.

I few years ago I weeded thru my quilt magazines. I took the time to look thru each one and if I didn't see anything I really loved or hoped to make someday I got rid of it!
My favorite Quilt magazine is the Better Homes and Gardens "American Patchwork Quilting" and their Sampler. I DO keep all of those.

My fav magazine is Quiltmaker. I can never part with an issue.

quote:

Posted Jun 09, 2012 05:41 AM Hide Post
I few years ago I weeded thru my quilt magazines. I took the time to look thru each one and if I didn't see anything I really loved or hoped to make someday I got rid of it!

That sounds like a good idea. I am thinking I should do this too. It might take awhile but if I could get rid of some it would create some room for me to buy some more. I'm hopeless I know but I'm sure I'm not the only one who uses such logic.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Miss Lensews2,

armywife - I've seen the Neat scanner on TV and been so tempted...how do you like yours? I need to get rid of some of this paper...arghh!! I have cut down on my magazine subscriptions and have tried passing some along but have still kept way too many. Couldn't even tell you what was in which one. Realistically, I would be surprised if I ever actually went back and made something from one of them but sometimes I do look again just for some inspiration.

I love my Neat! DH originally bought the portable scanner to use with our laptops, but about a year later we brought the the larger desktop model and I scan everything. Great for organizing my receipts when it comes to tax time. The only drawback is scanning items that are bound like books or magazines, but the work-around is to use a regular scanner and then import into Neat.

As I look at my paper-strewn desktop this sounds like a great idea. I have a regular scanner, it's just not as quick and easy to use as what the Neat sounds like. Thanks for the info.