Documenting My Halloween Art Collection

It's not like I haven't tried several times before over the years, but each time I thought I found a way to easily document my Halloween art collection it failed. If you've been collecting Halloween art for a few years, I'm sure it has crossed your mind that you really should be writing down information about what you've purchased. I've been collecting for many years, and every time I thought about documenting the collection my eyes glazed over. 

My first attempt at least four years ago was to use an app called Sortly. I love Excel spreadsheets and thought that an app might work well for me. I could take a picture with my phone and enter the info about the piece right into the app. There was also a variety of folders you could use and at first it seemed great. But after about 2 weeks, I realize that while it was useful it wasn't easy for me to just look something up quickly and I soon stopped using it. I had to pay for a yearly subscription and after a year I had only documented about 15 pieces. At the end of my yearly subscription I downloaded what I had done into an Excel spreadsheet and there it sat. 

I stewed about the problem a few more years and was only able to gather all my receipts and business cards and throw them into a folder. Basically it was a mess, but at least I had everything in one place. Sort of.

After thinking about it for awhile longer, I realized that I really wanted something I could flip through with my hands. If someone asked me about a piece I wanted to flip open an index card file and find the piece quickly. I went out and purchased blank index cards, designed my own record that I could print on each card and fill out on the computer and searched high and low for the perfect spooky looking index card file. After a brief high of a few weeks, I had only completed six index cards before getting bogged down in the data entry and abandoned the project again.

Then, a few weeks ago, I got inspired to start again when I read a Facebook post from Jennie Hepler-Takens, Halloween artist and producer of the Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween.   She uses a system of file folders to document her collection. One folder for each artist and she just put the receipts and other miscellaneous information about the art in the folder. 

That sounded simple and was a bit more organized than what I currently had, but it didn't solve my desire to be able to quickly flip through records to find what I was looking for. (As you may recall, I have a terrible memory and need to look things up repeatedly.) I also knew that I really should put the information on my computer for security. In the event of a fire or some other reason it would be good to have my information in the cloud.

I realized I needed a large binder and some plastic sheets that I could just drop the info I had on an art piece inside it. The binder could have alphabetical dividers and if I designed a sheet where I could add additional information I had about the artist and piece I might be able to keep it up fairly easily. Canva made this part so much easier! I designed the info sheet that I could easily drop a photo into it.

I've been printing the info sheet with just a photo and then handwriting everything else into it. For some reason, I find this more satisfying (and quicker) that typing things into the form before I print. In the mornings I've been photographing a few pieces and printing out 2-3 forms that I can fill in throughout my day when I have a few minutes. 

My iPhone does a great job of scanning documents, so after I have a few forms completed I just scan them into a folder into the Notes section on my iPhone as a back-up. I label them with the artist's name and a number. Done.

So far this is working great and after three weeks I've documented 33 pieces! I like that I don't have to be on my computer the entire time to document a piece. Photographing and then printing out just a few forms each morning allows me to add a bit of information when I get the chance during that day.

This system may or not work for you, but find something that does! I'm lucky that I purchased many pieces on Etsy over the years and they still have my receipts, but who knows for how long. I know you're thinking that Halloween is upon us and you really don't have time to think about this right now, but you'll be making lots of purchases (if you're like me) and now is the perfect time to start documenting your collection. Start with the most recent pieces and work your way back. 

You can do it!

Uncle Rufus Guarding My Halloween Art Collection Binder