Storage Solutions: Stamps

'Hello!' on a beautiful autumn day here in Sydney! The sun is out and the birds are tweeting, and it's just the right amount of 'cold' for a nice hot cup of coffee :-)

This is the second post in the Storage Solutions Series. The first was all about paper & card stock. Today, I want to share with you my storage ideas for stamps.

My love obsession for stamps goes way back! My first set of stamps ever were from Stampin' Up! It didn't take me too long to figure out I preferred clear stamps over rubber stamps. I like the simple idea of being able to see exactly where I'm stamping. I'm not too good with precision and hate it when images end up being stamped off-centered. (I keep thinking I should get one of those Stamp-a-ma-jigs) Anyway, over the years, I've collected quite a few stamps - not too many rubber stamps, tons of clear stamps. I've always struggled with keeping them neatly organised and easily accessible.

Clear Stamps: I started by putting them into page protectors that were filed into one enormous binder. But I hated the way everything sagged and looked messy. Then, I backed the page protectors with A4 size card stock, which did make things slightly better, but I still wasn't happy. This isn't such a bad storage idea - if you find the right sized binder and decent, sturdy pockets to hold everything. But somehow, it wasn't working for me.

Then last year, I organised them into categories -

• Alphabet
• Sentiments
• Patterns/Backgrounds
• Birthday
• Holidays
• Baby
• Girly
• Boy/Man
• Cute Mini Stamps
• General Sets

I got clear plastic containers, one for each of these categories and labelled all the boxes. It wasn't a bad idea, but I did face a couple of issues with it: A. The boxes were taking up too much space, B. some of the stamp sets didn't fit into the boxes, so I had to trim them to size; which meant I had to take them off the original packaging. Somehow, I still wasn't convinced it was the best solution.

Now I have them in clear filing cases/folders - the ones with zippers. I still have them in the categories, which makes everything easily accessible and doesn't take up too much room. I got mine at Daiso and I got them in B5 size, so everything fits in there in the original packaging. They hold everything quite comfortably, with enough room for more, knowing my obsession for stamps :-) For some reason, the labels from my label maker wouldn't stick onto them, they kept falling off! So then I just took a black Sharpie and wrote on the folders, problem solved! I have them standing up neatly on the Expedit units and I'm a happy crafter :-)

Rubber Stamps: I don't really have too many of these, well, not as many as my clear stamps. Before, I had them all dumped into two small drawers, which meant I had to rummage through everything to find a particular stamp. But now, I'm lucky enough to have three dedicated drawers for all of my rubber stamps. I love the drawer inserts we got for the Expedit unit.I've put all the stamps face down, so I can see every stamp at a glance. That way, hopefully I'll be motivated to use them more often. And yes, I really need to get the Stamp-a-ma-jig :-)

So, my dear crafty friends, that's how I have my stamps organised. How have you organised yours? Drop a line here...would love to know :-)

In my next post, I'll show you how I organised my ribbon.

Until then, happy crafting!