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I have not used Color My Life so I can't help you there.
I used Evernote for several years. It just became too buggy for me. I don't have a lot of tech-savvy and I can't deal with the frustration. Evernote locked up for me almost every time I used it. I understand that Evernote recently raised their prices. I had run out my subscription and notified them that I would not be renewing and I have not seen another bill. I do get the occasional "Come Back" email which I just delete. You can get Evernote for free but your uploads are very limited. Also you can only be on two devices on the free plan. Those two reasons coupled with the frustration I experienced were the reasons I left Evernote and will not return.
I started using Airtable in February of this year. It was a major undertaking to enter everything I own but I had a five week period in March where I could not walk much so it was a good chair activity. I have a LOT of stuff and I entered it all in those five weeks. But the manual entering is a big downside. But the upside is fantastic! I entered a LOT of information but you can hide fields easily. I was able to make Avery labels for everything I wanted (dies, embossing folders, punches, DSP) in a matter of a few minutes. Unbelievable!
Airtable is uber-customizable too! I chose to put more information than most people might but, as I said, you can hide fields as you choose. I have the retail prices listed for all my items so it makes it easier for our homeowners insurance.
The best parts? Since airtable is cloud-based, there is no limit to the number of devices you can have it on. You can have unlimited bases (I know that word is Airtable-specific but if you choose Airtable, it will be easy for you to understand) and I can't believe I will ever have to pay for Airtable. I should always be able to stay on the free plan.
I think this may have fixed my issue of buying more than one of something I already own. I have done that more times than I want to admit.
I spend way too much time looking at Pinterest but with Airtable I can check to see if I own the same products or something similar. The search feature is incredible! For example, I just entered "Grandson" and I have 9 stamp sets with that word! Then I type in gallery view and I can see each one to decide which size and font appeal to me. Beats the heck out of standing looking at my sets one by one~!
Last, I share my stamps with three friends and they with me. Last weekend a friend called me asking if I have anything with a moose. In less than a minute, I told her I have three stamp sets that contain a moose and one moose punch!
I am part of two stampers groups and I am told there is someone out there who is going to share her airtable bases soon. If that becomes a reality, I will be contacting her right away. The idea of just downloaded a base and moving my items from that base to my own base will fix my only issue about Airtable......... too much time entering information.
Can you tell I think Airtable is the BOMB?!
The following 2 users liked this post by VeronaSue:
Wow the labels and the search for Grandson sound amazing! The data entry not. When you in put it I imagine you entered each word in the set. Thank you for sharing.
I put my stuff into Airtable this summer and I like it. It’s free, to me that’s the main advantage! To be honest, when I’m looking for stuff, I generally go rummaging through my stamps before I actually check the app. I guess it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks! Also, I think I watched a YouTube video by Justine Hovey on it and that helped.
Last edited by miss; 09-09-2023 at 04:52 AM..
Reason: Added a thought
When AirTable was first suggested here on SCS I jumped in and started with my stamps and dies. I loved how to use it and found that it was just what worked for me, as opposed to Evernote or similar. But my problem is that I don't function with technology as a go-to. I am definitely more of a hands-on person. I returned to my older paper-based methods of keeping track.
However...I can say that if I really loved working with technology, AirTable would be IT for me!
This is so timely for me! I have just been researching this also. Good to know about Evernote. I did find I liked AirTable better from what I could on its functionality, and also interested in Color My Life. I believe Color My Life has a 30 day trial so I may be giving it a try. The cost per month/year was low. I want to say it was about $15 a year.
I liked Evernote, but I switched to Airtable so I could use on my PC, tablet, and phone. Airtable worked great until the last month or so - there's a bug on the Android app that causes it to immediately crash. So I exported to an Excel spreadsheet this weekend that I saved to my Google Drive so I can access from any PC or device. If Airtable fixes their bug, I'll likely go back because I like storing a photo each item.
I have a limited amount inventoried in Airtable. Airtable has recently reduced their workforce and changed how they charge to use their product. I want storage to remain free, so I am a little worried that Airtable will make some change down the line, after I have entered all my information. It is a lot of work to put the information in, but the payoff is great in being able to find things, which is especially nice when shopping away from home. I don't use any automations, etc. Do you think Airtable will remain free for how we use the app?
I've been using Airtable for a couple years now and as others have said, it is easy to use and the search feature is great. You can customize with whatever info you want and sort how you want. The free version does limit to 1000 entries per base and I forget the limit size of the attachments. I'm not all that tech savvy but it's just like creating an Excel spreadsheet. You can have as many bases as you want with each base having up to 1000 entries. I have a LOT of stuff and found that I had to break some of it down into a base for Tim Holtz, a base for Stampin' Up, one for dies and one for stamps that includes stamps with matching dies. Then I have separate bases for embossing folders, another for punches and another for stencils. I have 9 bases currently. Do yourself a favor by really thinking about the info you want so you don't have to restart several times like I did! :o) Some of the info that I have columns for are: First column is the name of the stamp or die, then Brand, Theme, container stored in, photo, part number notes, coordinating stamp or die, price, type of stamp such as rubber, clear or wood, type of die such as Bigz, thinlet, word thinlet, date purchased and where purchased. That may be more info than a lot of people want but you can create as much or as little as you want. Good luck with whatever you go with!
My preference remains Kraft Inventory app. It did cost me one-time $4.99 to first sign up. Originally, it was only available for Apple iPhone; however, that may have changed by now. My only caution is to regularly turn off/reboot your phone. If your phone goes down for some reason (or if you purchase a new phone), not all of your changes/additions will transfer over (sounds like experience talking, huh?!?). You set up your categories however you want, or that make sense for your crafting. I even have a shopping/ISO list for when I am out-&-about.
I saw Airtable recently lowered the number of entries in a base from 1200 to 1000. That is not an issue for me because I have several bases like the poster above. Still very interested in base sharing but I have heard nothing more about that.
I am an Airtable convert. For me, it was the BEST choice. So far, Airtable has not been buggy for me. Not so Evernote. I do worry that Airtable might change their pricing and I LOVE the free version. I have read Evernote recently changed their pricing schedule but I was no longer paying so it didn’t affect me
I use My Stuff Pro. There is no monthly subscription or payment. I don’t know if the entries are limited but I’ve got thousands and haven’t hit a maximum. It doesn’t have photo recognition for words in stamp sets. But I just read them into the database by using voice recognition. I also use tags for more often used sentiments.
The following 2 users liked this post by Rebecca Ednie:
I use Color My Life and love it. Annual subscription is now $20. For about half my stash, I can just scan a bar code and image, company, and stamp name will pre-populate. Then I only need to add my tags. For the other half—ones not in their catalog yet—I have to put in all the info. But it’s not hard and it goes quickly. There’s an app and web version. It saves me so much time of looking though all my stuff to find just the right sized birthday sentiment or remembering what set has a few stars I can use as an accent. I just search my tags, and it all comes up.
I just started to use Color My Life and I really like it so far. I only have one container of stamp sets so far, and one container that holds embossing folders and die sets. I put a hold on purchasing this past year mainly for budget reasons, but also because I wanted to have an inventory system in place before the collection got larger lol. I was resisting going digital and tried to set up a "paper" inventory. I do the flip style storage in a container with category dividers and tried to cross reference the various images, but found it cumbersome to find the actual set, and it's only one container lol. Back in the old days with wood mounted stamps I kept a binder of categories and stamped the images on cardstock, but you're dealing with one image per stamp so it was much easier to catalogue, or open a drawer and visually find what you want. Best part of Color My Life and other apps I think is being able to cross reference with tags.
I agree whichever App you use, it’s all about the tags, and what information you put on your note.
I’ve only used Evernote, so will probably stick to it since I have tons of information already entered and I have enjoyed having it. I like that I can have it on the computer, laptop or phone and input from any of those devices. However, I will say the price has gone up considerably.
I don’t mind paying because I use it a lot, and I want the program to always be there. I don’t want it to be discontinued at some point, that’s why I wonder with programs that are totally free, how long can they stay in existence. Even splitcoaststampers needs more funding.The other thing I like is being able to use it without Internet because of where I live or where we travel sometimes I don’t always have wifi.,
Can you use Air Table or Colour my Life to search your files and make changes without the Internet? (Then sync once on-line)
Electronic Cataloging: Color My Life or Airtable
