Saturday 28 March 2009

Organising Unmounted Stamps.. a tutorial!

Well here is a bit of a departure for me, I thought i would share what i have done today in the form of a tutorial (once a teacher always a teacher!)


I recently subscribed to a monthly stamps kit from the states, and my lovely new set arrived today. As i looked through them it struck me that i will end up with lots of stamps, and, added to my current collection, i am likely to forget what i have... some organisation is needed! Also the set i bought have no picture on the back of each one, so it can be difficult to visualise how they will look from the mirror image on the front of the stamp.


I did see a tutorial on a US blog recently (Here is the original link) but i couldn't remember where i saw it when i made my own storage, so i thought i would have a go at organising the stamps myself in a similar vein. I chose A5 folders for storing the stamps, i thought the pages with the stamps on would be less likely to bend if they were smaller (and the folders look cuter!) This would also work with acrylic stamps, and with stamp removed from the wooden blocks.


Step 1. Gather stamps. Organise them into categories. Write the heading for the category onto 2 pieces of A5 card.

Step 2. Stamp each image twice, one onto each of the 2 pieces of A5 card. One image will be the laminated home for the stamp, the other will form the index card. I left some spaces to add new stamps as later kits arrive. You can even stamp on top of the plastic with a Stazon ink pad. It is also easy to add new pages to extend the storage.


Step 3. Laminate one of each pair of cards.



Step 4. Punch holes in the laminated card so they will fit in the folder. Stick the stamps onto the laminated card, and arrange alphabetically by category. Put into folders. I managed to fit 6 sheets into one small A5 folder.
Step 5. Collect the unlaminated cards, punch holes, and arrange alphabetically. Put all of these into one index folder. A note about the word and phrase stamps; the index card for these is so useful, as it is hard to work out or remember what each one says from the reverse image visible on the surface of each stamp.





Step 6. Decorate each folder (optional, but likely for paper-crafters!) I used old stash (K&Co Peabody Scrap to Go kit)





18 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow this is good and something i have been meaning to do too must get on and decorate my folders - love your s xx

Julia Dunnit said...

Ah, great minds..I have a very similar system underway for my clear sets..except I don't do index pages and I don't stamp the image onto the file pages (so nothing like yours then really!!). Love the way the files look in your final ic, all decorated and ready to inspire.

cannycrafter said...

Glad to see you got organised!!! Was it mine you saw the other week that inspired you??? ;) Caroline x

CoventryAnn said...

No Caroline, it was a couple of days ago on a US blog, can't remember which one though... great minds think alike hey! :)

Ginny said...

wow...i thought I was going good with mine on acetate in a folder..but I still have to flick through the all to find what I want...LOVE the index idea...thanks for sharing :0)

Vicki G said...

What a great idea!!! This is a fabulous way to organize your stamps and so pretty too!!!

Vicki

Jo Power said...

What a fab idea I had never thought of trying to organise them I just throw mine in a box might be a challenge for today thank you

Unknown said...

What a great idea, Thanks.

Fiona

Mandyjeffery said...

Great idea, Ann! Will give this a go! Mandy x

a little bit of me........ said...

Hi Anne i did the same with mine only problem i found was they kept falling off when the folders were upright and when turning the pages.
i have now kept to the same principal but them in drawers kept flat,
i agree its so much easier to find what your looking for,
i love you stamps,
jennix

Unknown said...

That's a fab idea. Thanks for sharing. Must go buy me a pretty file to keep something similar in.

Emily (stampingout on SCS) said...

Great idea! Love how you decorated your folders! :)

Penny aka Pennyk said...

This is something that I really need to do- I dont have a clue as to what stamps I have and this will get me using some of the forgotten ones Thanks for this.

Anonymous said...

great tutorial thanks fro sharing

Hello, I'm Vicki said...

i love this system and use it myself, it's great!!! xxx

Kathleen said...

Great idea. I have just bought a DJ CD box to store my UM stamps in, but using teh same principal of laminated sheets.
Which categories have you divided your stamps into?
Kathleen

CoventryAnn said...

I looked at my stamps to decide, so have gone with animals, birds (lots of these!)dots and swrls, journalling blocks, flowers, words and phrases... and some others i can,t remember!

CAROL said...

Wow! the folders are decorated beautifully and it's such a good idea, it takes me ages to find what stamp I'm looking for. They're just in a box at the moment,looks like another little project for me to do.
Thanks for sharing.