Storage Solutions: Stamps

Oh ladies! Do you know I had this post done up months ago and then just forgot to post it?! Like seriously... in January I took these photos! But I guess things like this never age, so I thought I'd post it now regardless. It's a bit of an insight into how I store my different types of stamps because like many of you, I have quite the stash of stamps!

First up, it's my collection of rubber stamps. Now I'm not discriminative enough to say that I prefer rubber stamps over acrylic. I'm sure there are many places you can go to find out the pros and cons of each. All I know is that I was lucky enough to have accumulated a reasonably large collection of rubber stamps when I was on the Evalicious Design Team and I store them all in a fish-bowl I picked up at a discount shop.

I decided to have them all loose and individual stamps, so even when I received actual packets of stamps I simply just emptied them into the bowl. And yes, I also store my StazOn Ink, an acrylic block and a notebook in the same bowl. I figured it was easiest to have everything I needed for using the stamps all in the one spot.

And what's in the notebook you're probably wondering? Well in order to keep a record of which stamps I owned, and what they were called I stamped each of them in the book and labelled them first before I popped them in the bowl.

I also found that this was a great way of finishing my scrapbook pages too. Whenever I'm getting close to done with a layout I'll flip through the book to see which stamp might finish it off nicely. I find that's easier than searching through the actual stamp collection.

Alternatively I also find that if I browse through the book it often inspires a page right from the beginning. As you can see, many of the stamps are great journaling prompts. I'm not sure if this video will work, but it shows me flipping though each page for you....

When it comes to my clear or acrylic stamps I've got a different storage solution.

In this ring folder (nothing special.... can't even remember where I got it, but it certainly isn't scrap-specific) I keep all my Studio Calico, Kellie Stamps and other random acrylic stamp sets all in the one place. They're all mounted on Storage Panels which I bought from here.

Now acrylic stamps sets come in a few different 'configurations' as you know. It's hard to see in this picture, but if the set comes mounted on clear plastic with a printed black image then I'll trim off the backing and excess plastic (if it's attached, or simply pull off the backing plastic if it's not) and then simply stick the set as a whole, down onto the storage panel. The acrylic stamps themselves are what cling to the plastic of the panels.

But sometimes the sets come mounted just on clear plastic, and as the stamps themselves are clear it can be very difficult to see what the image is. Just like my notebook for the rubber stamps, when I'm scrapping I want to be able to quickly browse through the folder to find what might work on the page. I don't want to be squinting and holding my head sideways to first work out what the stamp even is! So for these ones I first give them all a test-stamp with black Staz-On Ink which leaves them all 'stained' black.

I'm not fussy about the idea that the stamps might be somehow ruined by this process. In fact, I read once that it's actually quite an accepted practice for priming your acrylic stamps so they stamp clearer images in the future. So I figure it serves two purposes!

Once these stamps are arranged on the Storage Panels I take a permanent marker and write a note about the name of each set/stamp so I'll know for future reference.

So that's my method of stamp storage, and it works for me. But I'm sure there are lots of different options, and I'd love to hear about what you do. One person who has quite a lot of insight into how you can organise your Workspace is Marcy Penner. Which is why she's the perfect candidate to be teaching the upcoming Studio Calico Class of the same name ;-) (did you like that segway? hee hee!)

I got really excited watching her video promo explaining what she's going to teach. It's all about having a system of organisation that works for you. Preferably one that's both beautiful but more importantly, functional. Check it out HERE.

And if you're thinking of signing up for the class, then you might want to take advantage of the corresponding shop offer for 10% off class supplies. It includes the stamp Storage Panels I was talking about earlier amongst other things. So I personally can't wait to take this class. Maybe I'll see you there!