I'm still here... and still freebie hunting

Phew! I've been amiss from this blog for a  good fortnight or so and I apologize - I had to impose a ban on myself.  Not from you so much lol, but from downloading any more freebies until I managed to wrestle down the 50 GIG zip archive I already had (and that's just on one computer, all up I have 130G to unzip) as it was making my computer very sluggish and blogging, not to mention ANYTHING else was exceptionally slow.  Mind you, I did happen to make a decent dent in the ominous "unzipped" folder which will now ensure I can open Photoshop at least, lol
 I didn't have any room for months to allocate to the scratch discs (whatever they are - I set mine to be 3 GB do you think this is enough, wisely designer peeps -who may read this?)


As you may recall, last week was IDSD  (International Digital Scrap-booking Day) and there was 14 pages of Craft Crave just to begin with, five worthwhile blog trains and of course the Goodie Train. I liked the novelty and prettiness of the theme, The Orient but I think overall some designers felt extremely inspired by the palette and theme but generally most designers most of felt a little flummoxed/stifled at how to create original pieces, for instance I now have fifteen geisha elements and twenty Asian coins, which I think I won't ever use, but I couldn't resist their cuteness. Fall Carnival remains my number one contender for best train of the year. Did you spend up big on the DSD weekend?  One of my biggest motivators for designing myself is so I can raise just a small amount of funds to spend on paid kits - they really are ten times better than freebies.
And you know that I love my freebies. It's nice to just have everything co-ordinate rather than attempting to disguise the fact you have created a layout from a hodge podge mix of different designers, kits and colour schemes. However, beggars must not be choosers and for now, I am extremely grateful that freebies exist, so I can partake in this excellent creative outlet - I find just the process of planning layouts and collecting freebies cathartic, so I can imagine actually using my collection will be an immensely rewarding task. I still have only made one measly layout. But I am going to change that this week, as I am ready to post some layouts here - not on any gallery yet (argh!) and we can all have a chuckle - I am sure that I will be my own best/worst critic!

I also really enjoy MScraps (but how could you not with all of those esteemed designers in one place!) and lately I have been really impressed with the generosity of CatScrap, and have some beautiful QP albums as a result.  What are your favorite blog trains?  Do you prefer PSP heavy trains such as The Brat Pack Train or prefer the minimal elegance of an Mscraps train?  I do love Jen Yurko's contributions every time along with many others (ok I will name names but my memory is flawed remember so excuse me if I spell you wrong or get the name muddled, I am recalling these from the top of one's head!)  Doodelle, Scrap Matters peeps, Pixel Perfect Designs, Flergs, Ellie Lash, Vicki - A Work In Progress, Fei-Fei's Stuff, Captivated Visions, Caged Bird Designs, Aprilsa Designs -- ooh I know I am missing some, so I might in fact put together a list of best blog train submissions and award a prize - maybe take a vote?  Yes, let's do that.
Let me know if you have a blog train favorite or perhaps you yourself are a designer, you are most welcome to nominate yourself (encouraged even!)

 and I was right back to the red zone, with only 96mb to run the pc on (I do not recommend this, weird things start happening, I have expected to open my case and see twenty mischievous goblins having a drunken party inside, such was the inoperability of my computer.
Even though I'm 31 and therefore still acceptably permitted in nightclubs without looking entirely desperado, I am a bona-fide geek-chic. Give me gigabytes over an ice cold G&T any day.  I've always been enchanted with the  border-less freedom and instantly teleporting to a million (billion) cultures and locations of the Internet.. In fact, I was rather hoping the enamourment  would subside into something less intoxicating, so I can return to the days of bone idle laziness occasionally.  "Whatever can I do with myself today?" that seemed reassuring rather than the frenetic nojob ever gets finished before another one starts pace of middle age.  Remember being bored?  Doesn't it seem like ions ago, much before kids, careers that will not wait and everyone wanting a little piece of you that you can't even find for yourself thesedays?  Yes, the internet is speedy time travel and my cultural passport with a click of the mouse.

You may have noticed I left a particularly touching comment or feedback on your blog, and this is why you are now reading this, as I left a link - that is not self-promotion really, as I travel to hundreds of blogs in a week and have no way of ever finding out what the designer or writer said in response, it's quite sad really. But, it won't stop me from leaving these warm-fuzzies or customer feedback (which as I am qualified in Marketing Research and customer relations, I'm one of those  "can sell ice to eskimoes kind of girl" ).

 I have decided I will post my comments here, so I can remember them and also invite my readers to add their thoughts and opinions, besides I do wish to model " Freebie Fan Club Model Behaviour Code" which states that leaving contexual comments on posts that you feel you are taking something valuable from away from or you just feel implored to cheer that designer up who for baffling reasons seems to have no readers judging from the appalling lack of thanks or comments, despite having a downloaded tally in the hundreds for the hard work and talent they share.
I always like to make those designers feel heard - it can be very unnerving to be carrying on daily diatribes and conversations with oneself, in reality this is called insanity but online - it is called Blogging!

So, on that note,   Goodbye to myself - and to whomever may be reading along.
I'll be posting more regularly now, this was quite easy to type (as I love to write and talk - can you tell lol?)
and I will be sharing my commentary on what posts I have read and commented on, which will provide some interesting discussion and exploration of some excellent designing talent at very least.

Fondly,
Miss Renee

p.s Spread the word and my link, I would be eternally grateful - talking to oneself can get terribly mediocre!
I am now going to list the freebies via my side link - which I will update every day (if needed) This way I can also share discussion and freebie hunting tips and news in the main blog post for our beloved readers.
Always check the sidebars for great links to great freebies - all personally handchosen by myself and if you work down the list, you will be assured of getting the maximum hit of freebie goodness from all over the world. So get your google translate ready - because a good freebie hunter must be fluent in all languages freebie style!    Telecharger away!

Mediafire Vs 4shared - The Fight for Survival

http://scrapbookideas.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/fall-fun-digital-scrapbooking-kit-free/
Oooh this one is a lovely full kit (4shared) and I happened upon it purely by chance.

I've been getting really busy unzipping my files to make room for the "Goodie Blog Train -The Orient".
I also notice that many other blog-trains coincide with the start of the month.  I love it!!
I really thought Fall Carnival was my favorite blog-train so far, given the huge variables of talent and experience (hands down Trish really has the best blog-train no contest in my opinion) I felt all the entries were beautiful and very useful for compiling a huge kit to use outside Fall as well. The Carnival theme made the elements extra exciting, I think - I think it is best to have the theme be a combo theme like Fall Carnival perhaps?

http://designbydani.com/girltalk/2010/10/huge-giveaway/    >>  get all those templates above too!

It is essential when using 4shared for this train to clear out your cookies after every third download max (I normally do it after two accepted downloads) all it will take ages - and 4shared has been giving people a lot of errors if they have an abundance of cookies in their browser - it is definitely not the designers fault. If a 4shared link is not working - it is either a 4shared outage (which can be confirmed by trying to download one of your own hosted files on your account) or you are being stuffed about because 4shared figures you have had plenty of download privileges and makes you wait whilst some other user gets the bandwidth.
The fastest workaround is to clear all of your cookies, log in if possible and if still not working then favorite the file so you have a recorded link to the file (you should try to upload it to this account) and try again once the outage is fixed (usually about three hours maximum)

You can also use these principles and apply them to the freebie files hosted on Mediafire downloads.
 I notice that more and more designers are opting for Mediafire, which apart from the prolificness of pop up ads and noisy PIMP pages (is it just me that gets bombarded with pop ups using Mediafire? I am wondering if I indeed have a computer virus as I am noticing a lot more pop up action on blogs and mediafire when freebie hunting.  Is anyone else finding this?
Leave a comment in the comments if you have experienced this.  I know that there is new way for ads to operate via a mouse-over activation which I think is being utilized by a lot of add ins and plug-ins for blogs and media sharing sites. Basically you no longer have to click a pop-up link, instead they just activate the link if you happen to "mouse-over" the area of the page - quite cheeky if you ask me.  I find Mediafire's PIMP page is just a horrible  association for an otherwise professional and easy to use site. I am disappointed that Mediafire would taint the user experience so much, given that the site has very good potential - no wait times is definitely a bonus, but I wonder if we pay for this bonus by being subjected to popups from a wide range of suspicious websites.

Whoops!  My horribly flawed memory had a slight malfunction -  I forgot I had a blog almost - almost!

I have been on a unzipping blitz for the last four days and admit that I am now getting more of a feel of what my sorted scraps do and don't need.  It seems to me that a lot of elements are repeats of the same things namely flowers and epoxy! Flowers of all kinds - paper, beaded, ribbons, ceramic, felt - it seems flowers are popular scrapping items. Nothing against them personally, but I have enough of them now - ditto for butterflies, flairs, psp anything (honestly I really am done with those kind of elements, I almost crave real items - real buttons, real ribbons and real extractions. The artistic interpretations are best left to doodlers, as I can never have too many of them. I really enjoy designers who think outside the box when creating elements for themed kits. One of the goals I will have a designer is to be creative and constantly injecting personality and individuality into the design so my customer can tailor the layout to them specifically, through clever elements that allow maximum participation and interaction. I'm going to have a look around the shoppes and web to showcase some specialty elements and the designers here on the freebie fan club. It would be handy to know - especially if we can get some exclusive freebies for the blog to publish.  I am curious to hear about your freebie stashes - what folders are bulging?  What elements do you love receiving as freebies?  I love getting anything for my "specific date related" folder meaning date wheels, mini calenders, elements that you can show the date on the layout in an eye catching way.  

I also love anything memory keepsake related - camera elements, labels, cursive script minimal word art, neutral colours, journal spaces that are unique.. in fact, I have noticed that I am moving away from collecting glittery clustered items and now seek a cleaner, more sophisticated use of whitespace and a few themed elements to accent the story of the layout, rather than using elements to tell the story.  Posh indeed!

Running List of My Freebie Travels Tonight (list updates)

http://designbydani.com/girltalk/category/freebies/    Dani's Freebie Archive for Halloween Goodies.
http://suzee-q-stuff.blogspot.com/2010/10/wackadoo-wednesday-freebie-post_27.html Starting Here.

Help me and I will help you!

Awww, it's always a bit sad when designer's mojo takes an untimely hiatus and sometimes a vacation is simply the best way to reframe and reinvigorate the passion. Snowmoon's Designs (a regular freebie queen) is doing just that but not before she leaves on a high note by giving us an awesome 4 part kit via 4shared.
http://snowsmoon-myworld.blogspot.com/2010/10/woo-hoo-vacation-starts-tomorrow-and.html For the rest of the best freebies - http://www.suzee-q-stuff.blogspot.com/
Check out what Suzie found - she does pictures like a good blogger rofl! Today I am going to allocate my blog time towards talking about how to make 4shared and freebie hunting in general a less tedious and time consuming task. This means you can spend more time actually using the bloody things! I am still unzipping like a mad woman, I am starting to get a bit down actually, as I have been sorting and unzipping for about a month solid (10 hours a day) and I still have about 8000 files to go. I'm really proud of my filing system (my stepdaughter just went WOW!)
as I have everything tagged and sorted into themes or materials made of (elements) and papers are by colour, pattern, and style. It's an almighty file network of over 467 folders and so far, about 120 Gig. Is this considered large? I also have discs (about five) so that is another 20 gig. I also have to keep them in a way that I don't repeat any downloads ever, and this means folders within folders within folders. But it does work, I rarely double up.
The worst part is that I don't have any space to back this house of cards up, so if anything happens I will lose, oh, six months of solid sorting. I plan to be a designer, so that is why I am being so meticulous and it includes getting all those tools as well. Plus tutorial links and books - I really have the most diabolical bookmarks folder system too - over 1000 digi related links. Le sigh. I am hoping some other freebie hunters will eventually read my blog and maybe commiserate with me or tell me I am doing it all wrong! LOL I need a designer mentor.
I think I keep sorting and sorting cos I am afraid I won't have all the tools, but I should be scrapping me thinks? I think I obsess about order and having the best collection, because I don't like making amateur layouts. But... it's the only way forward.
So, get onto me soon ok, make sure I post a layout. If you don't make me, it probably won't happen hee hee! And I so want it too! Besides, if I did layouts - I could get posting bonuses lol, and more freebies!!!

It's an illness, I think!
Ok enough about me... back to the post.

Remember after every 4shared download(when the timer starts) clear your cookies. This way you never wait (and like I say to my regulars if you use Chrome browser then you only need to press ctrl +shift +delete) and the cookie cleaner dialogue box pops up.  Select clear all and press OK.  That's it! You are all done.
No more long wait times - ever.  Plus, you can use Rapidshare, Hotfile and those other awful sites a lot more than once, because the cookie they use to limit you has been removed by your sneaky self.  Good huh?

The chrome browser add on that is also my saviour, but you can use for free on any browser - Lastpass.  

Lastpass (link at end of post) is a built in password manager AND form filler. You only need to fill out your profile details ONCE and save it as a profile (ie: Renee's Deets) and you can record all your usual form information - date of birth, address, time, phone - you can even choose to have the form filler remember your credit card information or bank details.  I have used this extension for a year solid (would seriously die without it) and I am happy to recommend it for being totally encrypted, safe and reliable.

I personally do not leave credit card details on there, but more because if someone stole my computer they could have some serious fun.  Still, I have all my logins and passwords stored safely and it's online which means you can access all your usual sites and logins on whatever computer you need to.  I have mine running on Mr Mr laptop because he just hates logging in and Last pass does it all automatically.  You can tailor it to do whatever kind of login you want.  The freebies that are attached to forums and shops are no dramas with Last Pass. It actually makes you much more willing to participate in the community.
The essential reason I think you need to get both is because everytime you clear your cookies or temp files, you will notice any exsisting logins to any site (so be careful if banking)
will log you out. If you have lastpass, it's no worries, as it signs you back in - automagic!

What I really adore though, is the way you can use shortcuts to form fill with ease.
You just set a shortcut to press and it fills out the form.  My shortcut is CTRL+ALT+F (for form filling)
It is great, because it gets very tiresome filling out all the forms and you will find you can use it for newsletters, questionnaires - it really will become a favorite application.   It works with Chrome but also for Firefox and IE.
But I really think the Chrome combination with cookie clearing and Last pass is speedy and amazingly automatic. To be honest, I can be in and out of a shoppe with a freebie much quicker than 4shared, using this combo. Pretty cool huh! The good thing too is that you make your master form completely correct, with proper address and emails and you can update it at anytime.
This means you always join up to anything properly with no annoying errors - trust me it is so helpful just to press my shortcut, when the whole thing is in russian and I have no idea how to fill it out - Last pass does it all for me. It just knows what to do, and you just have to make sure you set it up for each site, to remember it, and I always make sure I check the details it saves to make sure it picked up the right username and password and I label that entry as you may have two entries for the one site (grrr, don't you hate having to have one login for the shop, one for the forum and one even for the gallery!) Well, this makes it all painless.
I should really get paid for this endorsement, ha ha. I just really dig it, because my memory is very poor due to some extensive medications, and I would be lost without it.


Here are the links to the secret tools for ultimate freebie hunting.  Feel free to share my link and get people to come and I can teach you many things about computer shortcuts for freebie getting and even collecting all kinds of freebies and resources.


http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/landing_chrome.html?hl=en   THE CHROME BROWSER

https://lastpass.com/       THE ULTIMATE FREE FORM FILLER AND PASSWORD MANAGER

The Freebie Fan Club Top Ten Links (Updated Weekly)

Today we have published our first Top Ten Rated Freebie Hunter Essential Sites and I wish to explain how this exciting and valuable little list of destinations should deliver you the very best freebies that are on offer on the Internet that week - all in one little column and no direct links of course, only to the blogs themselves.
Hunting is part of the fun and also visiting the actual freebie giver and clicking their links provides them with valuable information on what freebies are popular and also a chance for us to comment our thank yous and keep updated with all of our favorite designers.

Over time I intend to interview and delve more into my personal selection process and what each directory specialises in and where the timed freebies are and what materials they are made from.  Personally, you will find that I will generally publish what I only consider to be the best handpicked or directories.  Sometimes, like this week CraftCrave will be number one (that is a directory - your portal to literally thousands of freebies, tutorials and even blogger and crafting supplies - I check this every day without fail.)

 But, it is only number one for sheer numbers of good freebies in a week, meaning you need it this week as the freebies are spread long and far.
Suzie Q (check out her other super blog - this woman is amazing!) I swear her taste and mine are of one of the same - I love her suggestions the best this week. Susie is no doubt a busy lady but she is really spoiling us with nearly three consistent updates a week now - the Freebie Fan Club loves you Suz!!

Yeah, so there is many reasons a link is a certain position, it may be for effort and quality or consistency - I will normally let you know with an article post like this one. Craft Crave is automated in most respects, and has some really comprehensive finds this week - I cannot wait to interview all of them and get the real inside story on how they work and what they look for!

Go on, Tell me your number one essential freeby finder/giver in the comments! 
Our top sites are going to be invited here to have a look around and see what we think!!

 From being a dedicated Freebie hunter myself, I find the links in my sidebar here keeps me abreast of the really sensational items - and also outstanding acts of designer and shopfront generosity.  The links are in order of my personal favorites for that week - some are are well known directories, ongoing promotions or "hand-pickers" that I find are on form and that I am enjoying  (but you must be consistently posting to be in the top 5 ) and if I can be honest - they do a fabulous job.

Due to the proficiency of the existing searchers and designers, I saw no reason to add yet another blog to the already brillant system, however I did notice there was no actual blog dedicated to a collection of the collectors (figure that one out) nor any one place the designers feedback to freebie hunters could be read and for us to convey our feelings to them. The Freebie Fan Club endeavors to fill this helpful niche, and have lots of fun and comradely discussion on the way!  Please start to spread the word or follow this blog so we can begin to build momentum - I am getting wonderful feedback from both designers and freebie hunters and fans so the future looks very promising.  I just hope I still get time to do some digital scrapping - hee hee!

I may post the occasional blog link or my thoughts on a contest or blog I feel is doing something new, amazing or just useful to let people know about.  But in terms of everyday posting a list of freebies, that is already happening and it is my job to let you know who does it the best and every week, these trends do change.

It does come down to my personal tastes sometimes in my personal recommendations, but I assure you if you do follow all my top ten that week - you will see a wide variety of designer freebies and in some cases they will double up, but that doesn't mean you should not persist with checking all ten - as some engines are focused on particular blog lists and search words I find - for instance CBH Scrapbooking Search Engine is not my first point of call but it is worth a visit as most Paint Shop Pro Designers and new blogs and old blogs can turn up hidden in the pages.  We shall discuss the Search Engines and I am happy to always hear from my readers about a particular handpicker or directory that is doing a good job and reaping interesting finds.
I do have my favorites and I am sure you do too?  As for individual blogs of designers, I will most likely
release a few blogrolls that are specially selected and perhaps a monthly highlight with an appreciation award may be starting soon.

Rather than post a bloated blogroll mishmash of all freebie places, as I have a list of 678 places to find freebies, I would rather we offer you a certain standard of freebie - to be honest, the best criteria sometimes for me to judge is whether I would buy it and also how good quality or useful that element can be.
I will cover this more in a future blog. Time limited freebie hunting is usually the trickiest, and no blog defines the different times or styles. So again, my niche will be to do that.

 I have seen the current digi blogroll and whilst it is amazingly comprehensive - there are a few problems.
Designers do come and go, things happen and sometimes a link will be a dead end.
New ones are popping up every day - and they deserve just as much attention too.
Therefore, it would be just too much information to publish the entire list and the last thing I want to do is to saturate the new digi scrapper with information that may be overwhelming.   There will be surveys and also polls so we can establish what we do prefer when doing the actual Freebie Hunting,  our pet loves and our pet hates.  I will be then able to offer this to the designers and get some more information from them on perhaps why things are the way they are.

More to come on this soon.  For now though, go and have a little look at the Top Ten I have selected for our first week, I promise you won't be disappointed :)   Feel free to comment on your choices and your opinions, as always, in the comments.   The links are on the right of the blog - over here ----------------------->
It will be a changing list every week (to be fair) I do wish to send people to blogs that may not be getting the compliments and feedback they deserve for the freebies offered and so you may be called upon to go and spread some good vibes - after all, we are a community first, and a  freebie hunter second.

Happy Hunting!!

Miss Renee