I know there must be a million
ways to organize stamps so that putting your
hand on the right stamp right
away saves time and frustration. Initially it
does take some time to do what I am about to describe but the benefits are well
worth the effort.
I had all my miscellaneous stamps in loose categories in plastic storage
cart drawers that I would have to dig through to find the right one. I took them
all out onto a long trestle table to sort them.
I didn't want to spend a lot so I
sorted them into shirt box lids that I could layer them two deep in a
drawer. To view the whole contents of
the drawer I can just lift out the cardboard trays (carefully as they can collapse,) and
then I can see at a glance all I have in that category. I also took photographs of each tray to store
on my computer. Now I can sit at my
computer and browse through all my stamps without even opening a a drawer.
This step saved me hours of stamping each one
onto pages for a three ring binder. I decided it would also use too much
printing ink to print out the photos so that’s the reason that I just view them
on the computer When I find the one I want I can just go to the labeled drawer.
Yes ,the small label printer from Office Supply got all my drawers organized
with easy to view content labels.
For my Stampin Up Sets I
did make a three ring binder by photo copying the front index pictures of
my clear mount stamps and for the wooden sets it is easy to download an index
image from Splitcoaststampers.com They
have every StampinUp set with an index card and ideas gallery. You look them up by Alphabet. I also made an
alphabetic Index of all the sets I own for the front of this 3 ring binder and
also a section for all the word stamps for every set. Now I can browse through this album for the
right image or quote without having to open stamp sets to see what they
contain.
I have all the clear boxes stored
in Alphabetical order on my bookshelf. My girlfriend and I have been to a lot
of used stamps sales in the last couple of years so my collection has grown
exponentially. I think we fit the definition of "she that dies with the most
stamps wins.
Have fun re-organizing and let me know if you have a similar system
or a better one.
Aloha.
Suzanne
