I got together with a group of friends to bring you this blog hop and share ways that we organize our scrapbooking supplies.  We hope that these ideas will help and inspire you to get more organized yourself.  Scrapping is definitely easier when you can find your tools and supplies!  My post is focusing on organizing your stamps.

I found this set of drawers at Lowe’s that works perfect to store my CTMH stamps.  Unfortunately, I don’t think they carry it anymore.  You could do something similar with any drawers or I also like to keep my stamps in baskets like at the top of the picture.  Baskets are fun and come in many shapes and sizes and it is easy to flip through the stamp sets.

I have my stamps sorted alphabetically by name.  This makes it quick and easy to pull out the ones I use often and know by name.

Something else I do is flip the stamp set around in the envelope so the images face the front.  With my current system it doesn’t matter much but before I had my stamps cataloged this made it easy to flip through them and see the images.  The easier they are to see, the easier they will be to find and use!

The best part of my stamp organization process is my binder where I have made a catalog of all my stamps.  When I used wooden stamps I actually stamped all the images (this is a lot of work) but for my acrylics I just lay the stamp set on my scanner and print.  I do one set per sheet because as a consultant I go through a lot of stamps and do a lot of buying and selling.  This system is easy to keep updated.  My previous catalog I had the stamps on 6×6 cardstock pieces and they were on the front and back.  That was hard to update.  In my new catalog I just make a copy and add when I get a new stamp set and I toss the sheet when I get rid of one.  When choosing the categories for your own catalog, think about how you search for stamps and what you have in your collection.  My categories are Alphabets, Sentiments, Flowers, Holiday, Misc.  I have a flowers section because it’s an obsession.  You may not have this issue 🙂 but you may have a shapes or backgrounds section instead or in addition to some of the categories I have.

Other ideas:
For wooden stamps you can store them in short drawers so you can see all the images.  I used this system before I went to all acrylic.  I had an iris cart and the stamps were laid out in the drawers so I could open a drawer and easily see all the stamp images.  I had each drawer organized and labeled by category.

Good luck and I hope you find an organizational style that suits your needs.  What works for one person may not work for the next but the one thing that holds true for us all is that we work better when organized!

Now hop to Ramona’s Blog and see what she has come up with for ink pad storage.

Here is a list of all the participants:
Photograph Storage – Leanne
Embellishment Storage – Jo
Ribbon & Fiber Storage – Shellie
Stamp Storage – Wendy K. <—–You are here!
Ink Pad Storage – Ramona
Pen & Pencil Storage – Jeanne M.
Sticker, Die Cuts and Rub-On Storage –Amanda
Tools Storage and Paper Storage – Mary


17 Comments

Jeri · 04/19/2010 at 6:49 pm

LOVED the ideas you had esp the looseleaf notebook as a catalog for your stamps..Im on it NOW!! thanks..this was a great idea..we all need to be more organized

Cindy · 04/19/2010 at 6:57 pm

Great storage ideas!! Now to get myself in gear and go organize my stamps. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Cindy

Jenn Joncas · 04/19/2010 at 7:13 pm

Walmart carries a set of drawers similar to the ones you have. I keep forgetting to bring a stamp set with me to check and make sure it’s the right size.

Great ideas!!

Leanne · 04/19/2010 at 7:23 pm

I love your catalog idea! I can never find the stamp set I want and I wind up going through all the drawers till I find it. Your catalog idea will save me so much time! GREAT IDEA!!

Vidette · 04/19/2010 at 7:32 pm

I love the idea of scanning the stamps. I never thought of doing that. I definitely learned something new today. Thanks.

Jaci Seerat · 04/19/2010 at 7:45 pm

I also use the drawer tower and LOVE it!!! Thank you for sharing.

Jo · 04/19/2010 at 8:05 pm

thanks Wendy.

Betty Anne · 04/19/2010 at 8:44 pm

Fantastic way to store stamps thanks for the suggestions.

Roxanne · 04/19/2010 at 9:02 pm

This is a great idea, Wendy! I’ve been struggling to get organized, so I’m going to visit the other blogs right now!

Jennifer in IA · 04/20/2010 at 6:35 am

Love the drawers and catalog of stamps – some really great ideas.

Jackie · 04/20/2010 at 7:34 am

Oh I wish I could find that drawer. Do you know the dimensions by any chance. Maybe with luck I could find something similar at Target or something? I have mind in a wider drawer with a homemade divider in between, but my stamps slip-n-slide too much in there.

Sylvia · 04/20/2010 at 9:01 am

Wow Wendy! What a find from Lowes! That fits perfectly! Thanks for sharing.

Jeanne · 04/20/2010 at 9:08 am

Gorgeous! My stamps are the one area that is really not organized for me. I have gone back and forth in my mind how to do it, so just can’t seem to decide. Thanks for the advice on the indexing system; it will be important for it to be easily update-able!

Gayle Taylor · 04/20/2010 at 9:41 am

Wendy, I know the blog hop is over but I am just now getting to look and read. I love your idea about the catalog for your stamps. I am going to start working on one of those TODAY. I have so many CTMH stamp sets and I have to find a better way of storing them. I really like the big cabinet that you found and am for sure going to find one. I have two of the CTMH stamp set storage containers full and have so many others just lying around. Rather than buy more of their stamp set containers I’m going to get the cabinet you have. I love having them all together like this. Thanks for great ideas.

Gayle Taylor
gaylememories@sbcglobal.net

Rita M Swartz · 04/20/2010 at 10:09 pm

Hi Wendy, I store my frequently used stamps in a long rectangular box. I don’t have many acrylic sets yet. I have small plastic drawers but they get too full so I use deeper stackable snap together trays. Thanks for the ideas!

Joann Williams · 04/21/2010 at 4:27 am

Wendy thank you for sharing your stamp organization. I absolutely love your catalog idea!!! I am going to start doing this myself because I use an iris cart now to store my CTMH stamps but its hard to keep track of what I have. I have them catagorized by color but I really like the whole alphabetical order way of doing it and having a catalog to reference as well. Thank you so much!

Bridgett Owens · 04/21/2010 at 8:37 pm

I really like your binder! What a great way to find the stamps you have quickly. It must be a breeze to just run through the book and decide which stamp set you want to use! I started something similar with a photo album. I stamped them all and that is a lot of work, plus it’s not as easy to add or take away since it isn’t a 3 ring binder. Thank you for the inspiration!
Angel Hugs,
Bridgett

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