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With all this talk about organizing stamps and dies and such, I'm curious how you categorize your items.
Currently, mine are:
Animals
Beach, Pool & Sea
Birds & Insects
Birthday & Celebrations
Christmas & Winter
Faith & Religion
Flourishes & Designs
Flowers & Foliage
Food & Beverage
Gardening & Farming
Guys
Health & Hospital
House & Home
Love & Hearts
People
Scenic
Sentiments
Travel & Transportation
Vintage
Weather
Initially, the above categories worked for me. But not so much now. I'm thinking there are too many categories and that I should be looking at categories that are less specific. I tend to confuse myself further when an image fits into multiple categories. For instance: I have an image of an old style apple truck from SU. Is it: farming, food, transportation or vintage?
My categories are defined by the drawers things are in. So I have more than you, but they are substantially different. My sub-categories are in the parentheses.
Christmas (religious, sentiments/tags, poinsettia/holly/wreaths, and all others)
Backgrounds (large, and small/builders)
Elements (frames/shapes/swirls/shadows, and celtic/baroque/music/celestial)
Quilting/sewing/art/baskets/etc
Baby
Kids
Home/family (includes some sentiments)
Garden
Food/drink
Animals/birds/etc (realistic, solid/outline, and whimsical/punny)
Fall-winter scenics/snow/snowmen
Spring-summer scenics/beach/ships
Southwest
Trees/mountains
Leaves
Floral (8 subcategories by style of image)
Sentiments:
...Birthday (also includes birthday images)
...Graduation/other holidays/invites
...Builders
...You... (as in thinking of you, you are..., for you, etc)
...Hi/hello/friends/happiness
...Thanks/gratitude/kindness
...Sympathy/hope/comfort/get well/religious
...Wedding/anniversary/love/valentines (includes images where applicable)
...Bookplates/handstamped by/"oddballs"
Alphabets
Mostly if I make adjustments now, it's because a drawer gets too full and needs help!
That sure is tricky. Some people alphabetize but that wouldn't work for me. I have fewer categories, with maybe around 120 sets in total. My categories are roughly these:
Floral/ nature
Sentiments
Christmas
Masculine
Wedding and baby
Sympathy
Vintage
Backgrounds
Random images with no topic, like Gorgeous Grunge
Basket with acrylic sets from Paper Pumpkin and other sources
Then I have stack of misc that include grad, Easter and Valentine's
Dies and folders are in another location in my craft room
This kind of and for the most part works for me. I usually know where my sets are and can find them. But sometimes I think I could do it better and I will follow this thread with great interest!
Animals
Bunnies (I know they're animals but I have a bunch)
Birds
Christmas
Elements (these are design elements - flourishes, shapes, etc.)
Halloween
Inspirational
Trees
Leaves
Food
Love
Patriotic
People
Thanksgiving
Sentiments
Holiday Sentiments (things like Mother's Day etc.)
I tend to confuse myself further when an image fits into multiple categories. For instance: I have an image of an old style apple truck from SU. Is it: farming, food, transportation or vintage?
Me too, drives me a little wonky. I have a sweet bird stamp with the sentiment A little birdie told me it's your....and you choose Birthday, Anniversary. And it has a branch and flowers. I simply am NOT going to cross reference all my stamps in Celebrations, Birthday, etc.
I don't believe there is a simple way to do it. So I am definitely staying tuned for more posts.
I store my stamps in notebooks. I'm currently revising, as some notebooks are getting too large. I'm also storing my stencils in the appropriate notebook.
Sentiments - Friendship
Sentiments - Celebration (Birthday/Graduation/Retirement,etc./Invitations/Thank you)
Sentiments - Get Well/Sympathy/Faith based
Love (Anniversary/Wedding/Hearts/Valentines Day Sentiments and Images )
Holidays - Christmas/New Year
Holidays - March - November
Alphabets/Numbers/Calendars
Background/Design Elements
Animals/Birds/Bugs
Angels/Fairies/Gnomes
Children/Toys
People/Fashion
Masculine/Transportation/Travel
Floral/Containers/Gardening
Scenic (Leave/Trees/Sky/Season/Structures/Scene Builders)
Food/Beverage/Kitchen/Home
Dies and EFs are stored in separate boxes with much more general categories. It works for now.
I re-invent my categories every now and then as I find what does/doesn't work for me, but here's where I'm at currently:
Travel: Includes all modes of transportation from hot air balloons to little red wagons, as well as destination-oriented images (Eiffel Tower, Southwest imagery, landscape silhouettes)
People: Includes real and imaginary/mythical (mermaids, gnomes, fairies)
Things That Grow: Flowers, trees and leaves, mushrooms, etc.
Frames, Borders and Corners: Pretty self-explanatory
Accents and Flourishes: Includes "grunge" elements, small "filler" stamps, etc.
Accessories and Furnishings: Anything people would use - houses, clothing, kitchen and sewing stuff, books, baby stuff
Paperwork: Tickets, library cards, Bingo cards, ledger sheets, text backgrounds, ABC/123 borders and such
Times and Seasons: Calendars, images for holidays other than Halloween and Christmas, summer (beach), fall (harvest), winter (snow and snowmen), also sun/moon/stars
Halloween
Christmas
Hearts
Animals/Birds/Bugs/Fish
My sentiment categories are:
Times and Seasons
Halloween
Christmas
Celebrations (wedding, birthday, congrats, for you, to/from, invites, etc.)
Happy: Anything from "you are my happy" to quotes about playing, fun, smile, laugh, "Happy day", etc.
Love and Friendship
Life: inspirational quotes, "be yourself" type of sentiments
Notes: Just a Note, Thinking of You, Thank You - that type of thing
Our World: Anything relating to ecology, animals/birds, the ocean, flowers, etc.
Feels like I'm missing something, but I can't think what, so I'm stopping now...
__________________ ~ Sue Happy for no reason...
Last edited by gregzgurl; 02-14-2016 at 03:08 PM..
Reason: thought of one I missed
As most of you know, my collection is small and I use a binder with stamped images to index my stamps. I really like this method and plan to continue to use it until I start accumulating too many binders or until I find a better method. (I really like being able to see the actual size and shape of an image and how it may or may not coordinate with other images.)
But I'm finding that my method makes it difficult to put my stamps away. I have to refer to my index to know which drawer each stamp goes in. After a crafting marathon, I'm left with piles and piles of stamps that need to be put away. UGH! I think I'd rather wash dishes!
So, I've been following all the organization threads and working up the courage to break up my sets and sort my stamps by category (as well as their images in my binder). But if I have images in multiple categories, how and I to know which category to store them?
Lydia, it cracks me up that you have one whole section for BUNNIES!
Carla, I like the scenic category and have one myself. But I keep finding all sorts of things I want to tuck into that category. Everything is scenic to me! LOL
__________________ Melissa59 ♥
Last edited by melissa59; 02-15-2016 at 08:44 AM..
I re-invent my categories every now and then as I find what does/doesn't work for me, but here's where I'm at currently:
Travel: Includes all modes of transportation from hot air balloons to little red wagons, as well as destination-oriented images (Eiffel Tower, Southwest imagery, landscape silhouettes)
People: Includes real and imaginary/mythical (mermaids, gnomes, fairies)
Things That Grow: Flowers, trees and leaves, mushrooms, etc.
Frames, Borders and Corners: Pretty self-explanatory
Accents and Flourishes: Includes "grunge" elements, small "filler" stamps, etc.
Accessories and Furnishings: Anything people would use - houses, clothing, kitchen and sewing stuff, books, baby stuff
Paperwork: Tickets, library cards, Bingo cards, ledger sheets, text backgrounds, ABC/123 borders and such
Times and Seasons: Calendars, images for holidays other than Halloween and Christmas, summer (beach), fall (harvest), winter (snow and snowmen), also sun/moon/stars
Halloween
Christmas
Hearts
Animals/Birds/Bugs/Fish
I really like how you've simplified things. One big category to cover a lot of bases. I think this is something I need to do as well.
P.S. When I had very few stamps, my biggest "collection" used to be hearts. Then I divorced and stopped buying them. If I chop down all the trees in my backyard, maybe I won't have anymore use for tree stamps. What'ya think?
I know some people like to go as broad as possible, but to me it often makes sense to go in the other direction.
If you put your vintage apple truck in "farming" (and I'm amazed that you have a whole category for that - just goes to show how much our collections reflect ourselves and our lives and our worldview), then chances are that you would automatically check there if you were looking for something to do with transportation. I don't know about "food". If you think it's important that you connect that image with food when you are designing cards and you don't think you will without a prod, you might want to stamp it in "food" and leave it physically in "farming", with a "See: farming" annotation in your food category. You don't obviously want to have to do that with a gazillion stamps, though. So think about USE and what your thought process is when you work, and not about some abstract notion of perfectly categorizing everything in every possibly category in which it might fit.
I am trying to keep the following in mind as I work on my re-org project: I am NOT doing this primarily so that I can find my stamps more easily (since I could pretty much do that before I started breaking things up). I am doing it so that I will be prodded to make the best USE of my stamps. If something seems to fit in more than one category, or doesn't seem to neatly fit in any, I ask myself what I will most likely use it for and see if it fits somewhere pretty clearly when considering it that way. That has saved me some frustration and the insanity of doing those gazillion "See:" stampings.
As for "vintage" : I resist the idea of putting stamps physically in style categories. It would just leave me with more categories containing a mixture of probably unrelated images and the whole point of categorizing is to not have those. I am thinking, though, that if there ever were a good reason for a paper catalog, it would be for organizing stylistically - vintage, steampunk, etc. So I might ultimately try that for a few styles and see how it feels, find out whether it's helpful.
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
Last edited by Rachelrose; 02-15-2016 at 08:56 AM..
If you put your vintage apple truck in "farming" (and I'm amazed that you have a whole category for that . . .
If something seems to fit in more than one category, or doesn't seem to neatly fit in any, I ask myself what I will most likely use it for and see if it fits somewhere pretty clearly when considering it that way . . .
As for "vintage" : I resist the idea of putting stamps physically in style categories.
I don't know why I have a farming category. All I have in it are the apple truck, a rooster, water pump, horse, bale of hay, pumpkins, corn and corn stalks. And some basic gardening stuff.
As for the other two comments, they are like an inhaler during an asthma attack. I think I can breathe now. It's not as hard as I'm making it out to be. And I shouldn't try to make things fit into item AND style categories. Ok. I can do this -- I think.
So glad you can breathe now Melissa! It's amazing the ways we can complicate things. I'm pretty OCD and have to force myself into some broader categories.
My stamps are bare "nekkid" (thanks Sue, I love that term) and stored in notebooks. Images are stamped on both sides of cs and slipped into clear report covers. Stamps stored on back side. Like Rachel, for stamps fitting in multiple categories I put a small note, see __ for additional stamps. Small stamps are in baseball card pocket pages. This works really well for me except... I'm prone to rearranging which means restamping those index pages. AARRGGGGGHHHHHHH, stop the madness!
Melissa, I would say that, unless you have either a love for or a compelling and reoccurring reason for making farm-themed card (like your family is a farming family or you have lots of friends who live on farms or you just love farm-themed cards), you should break up that category. If you want to make a farm-themed card, you're going to automatically go looking for trucks and pumpkins and horses and the like in the larger categories you end up putting the stamps in.
Maybe you need a gardening category, because you love making garden-themed cards or you know a lot of gardening fanatics. In which case, you might decide you need more gardening images. Again, think about what you really need.
Your collection is not like a library. And here's what I had to learn to resist, because I was/am a librarian. As a librarian I thought about my "collection" all the time. Where was it weak? Where was it outdated? I didn't need to have a lot in every single Dewey Decimal number range, but I needed my collection to be fairly complete so that my patrons - whoever they were - could find what they needed.
My stamp collection, however, is intensely personal. It is about me and also the people I know and love. So it doesn't need to be complete in a universal sense. It has to be complete for me and be arranged in a way that helps me be creative.
And, remember, everything can be tweaked as you go along. Nothing is really ever done. ;)
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
My stamp collection, however, is intensely personal. It is about me and also the people I know and love. So it doesn't need to be complete in a universal sense. It has to be complete for me and be arranged in a way that helps me be creative.
And, remember, everything can be tweaked as you go along. Nothing is really ever done. ;)
Amen and amen! I agree with everything that you've said, but most especially the last two paragraphs (quoted here), and MOST especially the last sentence! I've been tweaking for as long as I've been stamping (as far back as 1989, but not really until 1995 or 1996), and I'm still doing it as we speak. ;)
I think that it's THE best advice to say "store them in the categories that you will be inclined to look for them", as several have mentioned. The idea to stamp an image (or sentiment) on a card in another category, but store it physically in the dominant one, is sound advice, as well.
SU stamps that come in the dvd style cases go on dvd racks in alphabetical order. Wooden stamps go in drawers (From Joanns) by category; i.e. sentiments, holidays, birthday, etc. Other companies go in Avery Elle clear pouches by company, then alphabetical - got this idea from Jennifer McGuire.
My categories are very simple. I try not to get too involved with sentiments on my animal stamps. I also try to look at all my stamps to find the best mix and match stamps. I hate to make a card and find a sentiment in a different drawer that I forgot about.
My drawers are divided as:
Shapes/geometric
Animals
women (ladies sitting together etc)
masculine (golf, bbq & tools)
youth (kids interest)
sentiments (no graphics)
trees/nature
flowers/insects
holidays (all together)
I also struggle with this! I have a stamp index, which is overdue for updating or I may even just get rid of this! I end up looking through my stamps anyways! The category I struggle with the most is the sets that have sentiments as well as images. Also many sets can go into more then 1 category, thus to lazy to copy the image and put it in the binder! (not to mention we have to replace our printer, it broke :(
Some of my categories are :
Alphabets's
B-day
Baby
nature
flowers
Bugs/insects
Thank-you
Sympathy
Friendship
Winter/X-mas
Fall/ Halloween/Thanksgiving
Valentines, etc.
I tend to overthink things & probably make it harder then it really is!
Love all the organizing info...helpful. I currently have a wood stamp shelf (made by my husband) and I have the shelves filled by category..flowers on one, verses/words on another, Christmas on three shelves!! You get the idea. My clear stamp collection is now growing and I have 4 notebooks holding those via categories..(which will change as the collection grows).
My biggest help in organizing is that I have a small notebook where I have stamped all the wood stamps (took awhile to accomplish) and grouped them together by category..Christmas, Trees/leaves, Flowers, Birthday, For Him, Words, Animals, People, Backgrounds, Birds/bees/butterflies, Misc. (these work for me..your's would be different) I have also included in this notebook a photo copy of the cling stamp set from the notebook system. When I start a project, I reach for notebook and decide which stamp, etc. I will use. I also have all my major craft items logged in this notebook so I can plan everything and then go pull it from the various areas to have at my workstation. I too work in a small bedroom and have items stored vertical (not always handi). The other craft items I have logged are Stencils, Embossing Folders, Punches, Emboss Powders, Cricut dies, paint charts for ink pads, watercolors, acrylic paints, Watercolor markers, Foam Designs for Gelli Printing. I keep all the inventory in two 7x9 three ring binders on my workstation and refer to it often. It also helped me avoid purchasing items that were too similar or duplicates. Way too much OCD for some people..but it makes me more productive. Hope this helps. I have been getting great ideas from all these postings, thanks to all.
__________________ Have a creative day, every day.
I also struggle with this! I have a stamp index, which is overdue for updating or I may even just get rid of this! I end up looking through my stamps anyways! The category I struggle with the most is the sets that have sentiments as well as images. Also many sets can go into more then 1 category, thus to lazy to copy the image and put it in the binder!
I tend to overthink things & probably make it harder then it really is!
Again, try to put stamps in the first category you'll look in. You know yourself. And remember that for any stamp you could come up with a number of categories it would fit in. Doesn't mean you need all those categories!
I did make a paper index at one point, and it turned out to be pretty much a waste since I never looked in it (that's just me - I like flipping through my panels, like you do). For someone else, it's helpful. For someone else, Evernote is helpful. For me it would be overkill. I just don't own that many stamps.
Easy to overthink this. I know.
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
Categorizing sets would never work for me...if I needed a floral image I might miss the ones found in a birthday or sympathy set because I was only looking in the floral category. I arrange my sets alphabetically and use a picture index in a 3 ring binder. I buy vinyl sleeves with 4 slots on each side. When I buy new stamps I Google the sets to get the images and type in the titles on a template I've made and print it out on cardstock. If I need a particular image I can quickly flip through the pages, find it and then go right to the set on my shelf. I've used several different methods over the years and have found this to be the most efficient for me.
My craft room has shelves and I use lots of plastic boxes to keep like things together. My stamp categories are based on the primary function of the set: sentiments, images, and those that coordinate with dies. I store the coordinated sets with the steel dies right beside them, in order to preserve a modicum of sanity. Each category is alphabetized.
Random stamps are categorized by theme: baby, wedding, Texas, Cowgirl. Yes, Texas and Cowgirl demand separate categories! All Christmas and Fall supplies are grouped in larger organizer boxes because I have LOTS and can't part with any and it is so seasonal that it counts as "clutter" most of the year.
Embossing folders and dies have their own boxes where they can stand upright for thumbing-through, and embossing powders and glitters have separate drawers. Embellishments are in another drawer, in a variety of size and shape plastic boxes. They are still a challenge for me because there are so many different little cutesy things! Ribbons have expanded to two drawers. It's entirely possible that I am a collector.
On the bright side - I rarely have to go shopping to do a project... I've got it!
I am like you in that that category system doesn't work well for me.
I am hoping this photo attachment shows what mine system looks like. If you decide to go this route, I would suggest that if you plan on adding more stamp sets (seriously?) you keep some empty slots every few pages so that as you add you can shift the cards a bit to keep everything alphabetical.
I store mine by company but I've recently subdivided my SSS sets since I have so many from the card kits. I really recommend that you index your images in some way. I use a smart phone app called My Stuff Pro. It's A very customizable database app that stores the photo, set name and so much more into! It is far more versatile than Evernote and when I tag a set, I have many categories similar to the OPs list. Probably many more. That makes my list searchable. Often sets have things in them that fit in many categories and I was getting frustrated when I KNEW I the perfect sentiment but couldn't find it!! I'm sure there is a database program you could use on a desktop too. Saves so much time and energy!
Hi Ladies, (this is my first post, so very happy to be in this community with all of you) I am newer to stamping, and was introduced a last March, although I've only been making cards on a regular basis since about November. My collection quickly got huge, and I was overwhelmed with how to organize everything. I found a company called Totally Tiffany, and she uses a simple way to categorize everything and offers various storage products to accomplish this. Her categories are: 1) alphnumeric -- anything letters and numbers, 2) theme specific (birthdays, baby showers, weddings, congrats, graduations..., 3) calendar year (Valentine's, mother's/father's day Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, etc.....or Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) and 4) rainbow (anything not falling into the previous categories, organized by color).
She has great tutorials and materials to explain the why and how on her website, as well as the supplies to do this....and sometimes she offers alternative suggestions if you can't or don't want to buy what she is selling. But no matter what it is, her 4 organizational categories stay the same because she says "keep together what you use together", and I find this very helpful.
:-)
I may be a little different in that I have mostly wood mounted stamps and no sets. I have them in vinyl portfolio cases by category - Animals, Backgrounds, Birthdays, Borders, etc. I took photographs (8.5 x 11) of the inside of each case and put them in sleeves which I then put in a 3-ring binder. When I'm looking for a stamp or sentiment, I merely flip through the binder to find what I want. For the few cling that I have, I leave them in the original clear sleeve and have taped those to the inside top of the portfolio case.
I have a ton of "categories" :p My stamps are stored in binder boxes and the categories I use are based on how I use my stamps. Each binder box has a label on the spine for the main category and the front of the box has the individual sub-categories. The list is really long but I can easily find any type of stamp I want
INDEX 1
ANIMALS BEARS & BUNNIES
ANIMALS CATS & DOGS
ANIMALS CRITTERS
BIRDS CAGES, HOUSES, FLAMINGOES
BIRDS CUTE � SENTIMENTS
BIRDS NATURAL - CLASSY
BUTTERFLIES LARGE � WORDS
BUTTERFLIES SMALL - MEDIUM
CRAZY BIRDS
INSECTS
INDEX 2
FOOD RECIPES - KITCHEN
FOOD CAKES, CUPCAKES, ICE CREAM
FOOD FOOD - DRINKS
FOOD CANDY & CHOCOLATE
FOOD DIET & FOOD SENTIMENTS
FOOD- FRUITS & VEGGIES
GIRLS & BABY GIRL THINGS, SHOWER, EXPECTING
MAGNOLIAS
OLDIES & SENTIMENTS
WOMEN MIXED MESSAGES
WOMEN & GIRLFRIENDS SHOPPING, SHOES, HOUSEKEEPER, HARRY POTTER, DOLLY MAMA, MODERN WOMEN
WATERCOLOR SU
MUSIC & DANCE
TRANSPORTATION WAGONS, BICYCLES, RACE CARS, SHIPS, LOADS OF LOVE
INDEX 3
FLOWERS 2 STEP ALTENEW, RUBBER SOUL, SU
FLOWERS GROUPS
FLOWERS MEDIUM
FLOWERS WATERCOLOR STYLE
FLOWERS JOFY STYLE
FLOWERS LARGE
FLOWERS LONG STEMS
FLOWERS SMALL
GARDEN PARTS TOOLS, WHEELBARROW, WHISHING WELL, LAWNMOWER, HATS , GARDENER, SEEDS, GLOVES , BASKET, URNS, FLOWER POTS,
GARDEN SENTIMENTS
GRASSES LANDSCPAE
GRASSES LONG STEMS
HEARTFELT CREATIONS
LEAVES MISC.
LEAVES OAK & MAPLE
TREES PALM BAMBOO
TREES PINE, CONES
TREES SERENGETI , TREE STUMPS, BARK BACKGROUND, LARGE
TREES W/LEAVES
TREES W/LEAVES, SWING, BIKE, RAKE
INDEX 4
CHALLENGE - COURAGE ENCOURAGEMENT � LIFE 3
ENCOURAGEMENT - LIFE 2 MIXED MESSAGES
ART � COLOR - CREATE
TIME � SMALL THINGS
THANK YOU
LOVE- ANNIVERSARY -WEDDING
SYMPATHY - GET WELL SYMPATHY -FUBAR
THINKING OF YOU HUGS
KINDNESS � PEACE GRACE
ALPHABETS
BOOKMARK
HUMOR � WITTY HUMOR � WISEASS
HAPPY � JOY LAUGH
ENCOURAGEMENT - LIFE 1 SUBWAY - IRISH
FRIENDS � GIRLFRIENDS 1
FRIENDS 2
FRIENDS SPECIAL PEOPLE 3
FAITH � FAMILY
BIRTHDAY � 1 HAPPY BIRTHDAY WORD
BIRTHDAY � 2 SENTIMENTS � QUOTES
BIRTHDAY � 3 HUMOR � KIDS - BLEATED
CELEBRATE � CONGRATS CELEBRATE
I keep mine alphabetically in individual vinyl sleeves. I removed sayings from each and put them in a notebook with vinyl pages in categories like "birthday" "sympathy " etc. because the words are something I use more frequently and it makes it easier to see which phrase or word is what i want without looking through all the stamp sets. I also keep a list of the stamp sets which makes it easy to select what I want without looking through all the sets. I don't think there's any right way it's just what's easiest for you.
Thanks for sharing all of the different methods. I am contemplating changing my current way using drawers for wood mount, binders for all others except SU which are in their package on behind-the-door hanging shelves (meant for DVDs.) Rather scattered!
Thanks for sharing all of the different methods. I am contemplating changing my current way using drawers for wood mount, binders for all others except SU which are in their package on behind-the-door hanging shelves (meant for DVDs.) Rather scattered!
Like you, I have several storage methods:
Wood Mount - In drawers
Cling - In binders in drawers
Stampin Up - In cases in drawers
Currently, I keep all my stamps in the plastic drawers of 3 Iris-style carts with a little room to grow. When I run out of room, I don't know what I'll do. Find new storage? Separate storage for cling & wood? Unmount and store everything together? I'll face that dilemma when I get there.
Since I store the images in a binder noting the stamp location, my stamps are very easy to find. But, this method requires me to refer to the binder to know where to return the individual stamps. If I've had a big stamping session, this can be a chore--which is probably why I have a small box of stamps waiting to be put back in the proper storage location. :oops:
For ease of cleaning up, I'm weighing the pros & cons of breaking apart my sets and storing like items together--similar to how I have their images categorized in a binder (soon to be 2 binders).
I have a slew of CTMH stamps. I have them in the CTMH large organizing cases. CTMH has their own 'organizing' method categories. I broke them down to suit MY needs:
I also have stamps from The Stamps of Life, Pink By Design, and various companies' clear stampson on acrylic sheets. Those are in binders. My SU stamp sets are in an Ikea Alex drawer--the larger drawers let me see the spine of the sets.
I'm in the midst of putting info of my stamp sets into Evernote. WHAT a chore! My ultimate goal is to tag each image so I can look through that program for the correct stamp I want.