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Hey all you veteran stampers, how do you store your SU! stamp sets? I have wayyyy too many sets, have weeded out the retired ones for garage sale material but need to find an ORGANIZED way to be able to see or know what I have without rummaging through stacks of little plastic boxes! I am not the most disciplined, organized person in the world. My mom says I suffer from CHAOS (you know, Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) cuz i can't seem to keep things in order. Any ideas would be better than what I'm doing now, which I'll choose not to share! TIA, Deb
Hey all you veteran stampers, how do you store your SU! stamp sets? I have wayyyy too many sets, have weeded out the retired ones for garage sale material but need to find an ORGANIZED way to be able to see or know what I have without rummaging through stacks of little plastic boxes! I am not the most disciplined, organized person in the world. My mom says I suffer from CHAOS (you know, Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) cuz i can't seem to keep things in order. Any ideas would be better than what I'm doing now, which I'll choose not to share! TIA, Deb
I can't really offer help, but I love the CHAOS. I never heard of that before, yet I suffer from that as well. I'll have to remember that.
Concerning the storage question, I originally started with the big plastic tubs. I definitely recommend not doing that. I hate getting the one on the bottom. Next I thought that shelves were the answer. If I ever get a stamp room that isn't my dining room, I might try shelves. Right now, they must be portable so that I can have someone over.
Most recently, I tried 4 drawer iris carts. I hoped they would stand on their side in there, but I can't quite do it. So, I store them flat three or four deep, with a category for each drawer.
I definitely looking in the gallery at photos people have of their stamp rooms. I love to go there to dream!
I was doing to the tub thing also until I got too many stamp sets (is that possible?). I tried to sort them by theme in the tubs but I just never used the ones on the bottom because it was a hassle taking them all out. I got to reading threads about unmounting your stamps and I decided to go for it. It's a work in progress but I store them in CD cases file the cases alphabetically in an old dresser in my stamp room. I have a binder that I keep a stamped image of every stamp set to refer to. I am slowly emptying out all the tubs and I am loving it!!!
__________________ Laura SCS Member #772 My Gallery
I was doing the tub thing also until I got too many stamp sets (is that possible?). I tried to sort them by theme in the tubs but I just never used the ones on the bottom because it was a hassle taking them all out. I got to reading threads about unmounting your stamps and I decided to go for it. It's a work in progress but I store them in CD cases and file the cases alphabetically in an old dresser in my stamp room. I have a binder that I keep a stamped image of every stamp set to refer to. I am slowly emptying out all the tubs and I am loving it!!!
__________________ Laura SCS Member #772 My Gallery
I use the shelf method. Alphabets in one section. Sentiment sets in one section. Everything else is in alphabetical order by set name. This is only because I am a demo. It's just easier for me to find the sets I need.
Before I became a demo, I used large acrylic box frames, I think 11x14". Each was labeled according to type ("flowers," "bugs" "sentiments", etc. Then all stamps were sorted into them accordingly. It was a WONDERFUL system for me! I could either stack them on top of each other or store them on a shelf like books. Finding what I wanted was a breeze!
I have mine in plastic tubs that are stacked on top of one another. They are the lightweight kind with handle holes on either side and would normally be used for file folders. They aren't super big but they aren't too small either. I have all of my sets arranged by size of the box they are in and they are all tipped on their sides. I just recently started doing this after having them all on a shelve. We'll see how useful it is over time.
The CHAOS comes from FlyLady. It's a free web group of people with too much clutter in their lives and suffer from CHAOS Syndrome! Her ways really work!
Now about stamps sets. I have too large iris drawers full of the least used and.or holiday sets. The rest are either unmounted in 6 x 9 catalog envelopes in a photo box or in their SU boxes stacked on their sides along 4 shelves in my stamping closet. This way I can read the set, remove one without the moving the rest and gives me max storage!
Check out www.flylady.net is really works - 15 minutes at a time!
__________________ Karen
...My life is like a stroll on the beach...As near to the edge as I can go...Thoreau...
I have mine stored by theme: alpha's, vintage, floral, holiday, etc.
I have also taken favorite sets that I can't part with and combined them into larger boxes to save room. For example, I combined All Year Cheer 1, 2 , and 3 into two boxes instead of three. Saves a little bit of room.
Mine are in the drawers of a dresser that I had that was currently not in use in another room. Works for me.
Boy - this sounds just like me as well. I have my stamps all over the place in boxes, iris carts, plastic storage. etc. I keep telling myself I will get everything organized but this is yet to happen. One thing I did learn from an organization class that I took at a scrapbook convention is to catalog your stamps (i.e. make a book of every stamp you own, give it a number or something to help you identify the stamp), then on your sets put the corresponding # or whatever you identified the stamp set as. Then have a particular area designated in your home/room or wherever your stamps are stored so you should be able to find stamps easier. I know I'm always looking for particular sets and get frustrated when I can't find the set I want. I'm slowly trying to get this system in the works...it's just finding the time to get it to happen!
Mine are in under-the bed storage bins....Three on each side of the bed, and organized by theme - kids/babies, flowers/bugs, winter/christmas, etc. Works for me, these bins are only about 3 sets deep so you don't have to do too much digging yet they hold an amazing number of stamp sets!
The CHAOS phrase has been the closest thing to a diagnosis for myself that I can find. Just perfect, thanks!
They call us flybabies. I'm a regular of the flylady.net site too. (The originator of the term CHAOS). It really does help to motivate me to declutter things. (well, besides the craft stuff , but I'm working on it)
Anyway, as far as storage goes, I decided to unmount all my stamp sets because I had run out of room. Now I store them in CD cases (centers pop out) and in a CD rack. You can read more on this topic if you do a search, there are lots of ladies here that are UM fans.
I also made (in progress) a 3ring binder that is an index of all the stamps that I have. You can photocopy the index sheet when you get new stamps, stamp them out, or go to the SU website and print. Its really easy to browse through to see what I have. I also bring it with me when I go shopping or to a SU club so that I don't double up. I also highlight my current catalog with the sets that I already have.
For papers I'm using postage boxes cut down like a magazine holder. Sorted by colors/family. Good Luck!
I store mine in baskets with the name at the top. I just like the way it looks. I would love to have a storage cabinet, but unfortunately that's not in the budget.
Paper stoage is an issue in it's self! I have to crates on file cabinet wheel bases under my desk. All of my papers, 12 x 12 or 8 1/2 x 11 are in vertical string close clear vinyl envelopes. This has worked so far, and is the only place I have room for it all! (yes, both are crammed full).
Yes, I am a flybaby too! Moderator of our local Butte County Flybaby group! Check her out, www.flylady.net - no one should have to live in CHAOS!
Hugs!
__________________ Karen
...My life is like a stroll on the beach...As near to the edge as I can go...Thoreau...
Stamp set organizing question
