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Thanks, Shaz XX

Sunday 26 January 2014

Organising stamps, again.

I think this organising stamps into a workable system is going to be a lifetime project. When I did all my unmounting, in the main I organised by theme. Apart from a few companies who's stamps I have a lot of, Lavinia, Crafty Individuals, Tim Holtz etc.
 The trouble with this is deciding what goes into what theme, and what if they cross over into another theme as well? Some stamps just seem to defy fitting into any category.


 And do I keep any word stamps with the images, or file them with words/definitions etc?
I bought a couple of new Chocolate Baroque stamps last week, the Serenity & Tranquillity sheets. I thought about putting them into the Oriental section, which does work, but then decided to make a new folder up and store all my Chocolate Baroque/Graphicus/Elusive Images sets together.




Note to self: Do not buy any more, the folder is full!
 
So I pulled all the images from the various folders they were in, except for the Christmas ones. They will stay with Christmas stamps. Which explains the stamp mountain on my desk.
 I sorted them back out into complete sets.
During the course of this, I realised I have lost a stamp, The Rose Stem Script. I can guess where it is- somewhere at the back of the Expedit unit! This is one reason I have been trying to unmount from the foam backing where possible. I have realised over the years that in a lot of cases, it seems like the foam has shrunk, giving a concave surface to the back of the stamp, which means they don't want to lie flat on the storage sheets, and sometimes drop off.
Of course, this now means I have to re-organise the Expedit while I try to find it.
 What I did do was to get images of all the stamp sets, and print them out onto A5 paper. In one or two cases, I had to stamp the images onto sheets and scan them in, as the stamp sets are now retired and I couldn't find images anywhere.
 It does mean I can print more than one copy, so I can file one with the CB stamps, and one within the theme(s) it fits, in A5 binders, which will be easier to flick through than the stamp binders. I'm hoping this will work better than previous systems.

Edit: Two hours later, stamp found- along with two others I hadn't missed yet! And the Expedit is clean & tidy again.

9 comments:

Winnie said...

Such a great way to store your stamps. The only ones I have in binders currently are Tim's and I have 4 mini binders of them. The rest of my stamps are in draws by category. I love your idea, but alas, I am lazy. Happy Monday!

fairy thoughts said...

That's the $64,000 question to store in themes or designers. I must admit I do a bit of both that way I seem to remember where they are better ... But don't ask me why
Janet

MaggieC (Silvercrafter) said...

I tend to store mine by company first. Then I started putting sets together, then I had a load that did not fit and the number of boxes was growing too fast, so I put all the trees in one or two boxes, for example. Before they go into a box, I print them onto A4 paper, marked with the number of the box they are in. Then I scan each one (I wish I had kept it up stamp by stamp cos I now have a massive backlog) and put them into a computer file, so that I can find any given stamp at any time - that is the theory, and it does work for the ones I have done. I am gradually getting rid of all wood mounted and rubber stamps in favour of the ease of the see through Clarity Stamps and a few Hobby Art sets. The stencils are intended to go into another loose leaf folder, also cross referenced on the computer. Right, I am off now to continue the clear out and maybe even do some crafting for the rest of the day. Have fun with your stamps. xx Maggie

Kyla said...

I agree, its a full time job! I have unmounted all mine now (and have lots of lovely wooden block to play with at some stage) but I decided to put them in clear VHS cassette folders and wrote on the front a general theme (words, vintage, skulls etc). You are right, some don't fit any theme so they are just thrown in the drawer until someone comes up with a solution....or I buy more stamps so that there are enough to create a new theme of their own!!

kyla

Rossella said...

Looks like fun. Mine are in numbered boxes with all the images in a ring binder. Took ages to do but worth it.
Rosie x

Anonymous said...

Mine are sorted in a similar way to yours Shaz with an Index folder too. As you say the trouble is that some just don't seem to fit any particular theme. I had a few that were of faces, a few garden type and one or two architectural and hadn't a clue where to put any of them until I hit on the idea of a more general term - People!! Amazing what can be filed under that theme.
I do tend to separate all words from the sets into a words and phrases folder otherwise I'd never use some of them because I'd forget!
Hope you manage to get them all reorganised. I have to admit to enjoying the reorganising of my stamps as it reminds me of what I have!!

Princess Judy Palmer said...

Note to self: Don't buy more stamps.

Yeah....

How long do you think that will last??? Just curious!

Unknown said...

plastic plants

Dianne said...

Hell Miss Shaz, thanks for stopping by my nest, you had me howling, I couldn't do it, but my BF had the exact some problem with all her stamps,I don't have too many so quite easy for me to find them. I see lots of other Ladies have the same problem, well good luck and I hope you have a bit of fun doing it, have a great weekend,#80 Dianne..

An End of an era

An end of an era

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