-->

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Unmounted Stamp Storage

I spent this morning cleaning off my work desk. At least that's what my family thinks I was doing.  I meant to, and was feeling really proud of myself, until I realized that I mostly just moved stuff around and dumped a bunch of papers that I wasn't sure what to do with in a big bag to go through later.  Reality is that I really need more than a morning to tackle this project.

Anyway, I noticed that my unmounted stamps are pretty much bulging out of my current containers and are difficult to go through. I know stamp storage has been addressed a bazillion times in a bazillion different places, but I'd love to hear how you manage yours.

Here's my 'system', to use the term loosely:


If I get them packaged with the company info I usually keep them in the packaging and toss them in the basket on the left (larger ones) or the container on the right (smaller ones). I like knowing at a glance who made them.  If they're still too big I wedge them between the basket and the jewel cases which contain the stamps that don't come in sturdyish packaging.  My plan is to get 3 matching (wouldn't that be nice?!) bins in the near future.


As soon as I get them I stamp the image on a piece of paper and slip it into this binder which is jammed full of 9-pocket page protectors and regular page protectors.  Once upon a time they were organized in here by theme, but then I started keeping some of them together by manufacturer and then I just started filling in empty slots.  Oops. Looks like another organization project to add to the list...

I also have 'swatches' of every ink pad, embossing powder, Distress Paints and Stains, and Stickles in this binder.  The front has samples of most of my punches and somewhere else in my room (still working on the cleaning!) is a binder full of samples of all of the dies I have.  I suppose it doesn't do me a whole lot of good if I don't where it is.  LOL...yes, the organization project is not going to be a one-day deal.

I'm not sure this works for me anymore.  It's kind of a pain to rifle through these baskets when I'm looking for a specific stamp.  The up-side of this system though is that I often find stamps that I've forgotten about.

What works for you?

7 comments:

sally said...

I'm lucky enough to have a tower drawer (1") that I got in the sale from "storage4crafts" that keep my stamps in - demo tape label per drawer to tell me what theme...I stamp them into a5 primal bound art books but now I've filled 5 I've moved up to A4!

Kay Wallace said...

Love this idea, Julie! I store my unmounted stamps in 3-ring binders, too!

massofhair said...

Keep my stamps in boxes labelled whichever stamp company they are from, some have their own box, Stampotique, Paper Artsy then some share Dylusions/DonnaDowney/Unity etc etc.

I also have some metal drawers the kind motor mechanics have & keep my wooden stamps in there.

It is such a personal thing isn't it! :-) xxx

ionabunny said...

In IKEA here in Norway they have flat pack boxes in the lightbulb department that they give away. You are supposed to collect your dead lightbulbs in them and take them back in for safe disposal. They also give a donation to the world wildlife fund for every full box. I do that. But..... I also use them for everything storage!!! They are great. They hold 9 Bigz dies perfectly, Ribbon, buttons, beads, paints and of course stamps!! Lots and lots of stamps. It's great cos you can write on the outside so you know what's in there and they stack. Big enough to be useful. Small enough to be perfect. My shelves hold much more now. And I can find it!! Hugz

Julie S said...

Oh, I love that idea. Will have to check out my Ikea people next time I'm there.

Nikki W said...

I have about 9 labelled boxes, Nature, sentiments, alphabets, backgrounds, people etc. I also have smaller boxes for stamps from the same company. It works great and I am about to make a stamp catalogue in a 12x12 scrablook album, so I can find random images, or the perfect sentiment etc. I dont want to split up sets, so this is the easiest way to see what I have at a glance in the album, all my BDay sentiments on one page etc. Its just a lot of work ... so I will procrastinate a little longer. LOL

Julie S said...

The binder with the stamped images is a huge help to me. I like the idea of separate boxes for storing sets.