Nov 2, 2012

PCCrafter is GONE GONE GONE

I had mentioned in previous posts about the state of pccrafter ( http://chocolateonthekeyboard.blogspot.com/2011/12/tis-sad-day-comingpc-crafter-is-closing.html )  and its closing. But this week it became official. Now if you click on ANY bookmarks or links you and or "I" may have included in blog posts or webpages I have made - that were linked to pccrafter  - the link will take you to an error page, and/or provocraft.com.   

So if you didn't download ALL of your purchased downloadable content, in the past almost 2 yrs we've known the place was closing down, you have now lost that ability.

Please make sure that if you do have pccrafter collections installed on your computer that you BACK THEM UP!!!  You can use an external drive, a thumb drive - which can be bought in 8gig to 64gigs worth of storage capability.  I always back up my graphics collections to multiple locations. I use portable external drives to back up my computers : documents, photos, graphics, music and video.
I like using thumb or flash drives (usually 16 or 32 gigabyte size) to store or backup/copy to - entire specific collections:

I save my entire PC HugWare folder - to a thumbdrive (since I have over 18gigs worth - I use a 32 gig thumb/flash drive for that)  - the PC HugWare folder contains all of my "INSTALLED" collections. So when I need to copy to a new computer, I just copy over that entire folder.  I also save other large specific collections I might buy from certain places online, such as DAISIE Company, or NitWit Collections etc.  I've invested a lot of money in clipart I've bought from those sites, so its important to me to back them up. But remember any drive can fail, your computers hard drive, an external drive, thumb/flash drives etc are all vulnerable to failure. So if something is important, irreplaceable, or that you would be heart broken to lose - back it up to more than one place.

I also use the ClickFree.com C6 model external drive to back up my "entire" computer. The C6 model backs up not only all the usual stuff, but also my Software Programs that are installed, and my computers operating system. (Currently all of my computers are running Windows 7) 

You can also use Online Backup Storage sites such as Carbonite or Mozy

Sites such as Carbonite and Mozy would be most valuable to those who fear a disaster - where your home is destroyed and your computers with it, (sadly what many are going through now after Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast of the USA), or if your computer is stolen. Having your computers, documents, photos, graphics, music and video in "Cloud" storage, could be worth its weight in gold.

PCCrafter at one time in their 10+yr run on the internet truly was the best source of downloadable Clipart.  Their artists, and the varied styles offered to us through the years was amazing.  I personally own over 600 complete clipart sets, called Creatables, and Scrapables, Cardables. and then I have several months worth of the Monthly HugClub content - which included Paper Dolls,  scrapbook/card toppers, home helper sets - which had blank calendars, recipe cards, note paper etc.

A very select few artists that once upon a time sold their art in downloadable form at pccrafter - do continue to sell their artwork online.

Laurie Furnell sells at Etsy and at Aimee Asher.com
Tammy DeYoung sells at Aimee Asher.com
Joy Hall sells at Aimee Asher.com
Tammy Sherman sells at Aimee Asher.com

Gina Jane (Johnson) sells at DAISIE Company,com
Shelly Comiskey sells at DAISIE Company.com

Check my side bar listing of Clipart & Printables resources (under the "freebies" listing) to find websites that sell downloadable clipart.