have you ever...
 

reorganized your stamps and split up SU sets? I'm thinking of regrouping like stamps together and wanted to know if anyone else had done this and how it's worked out for you.

TIA,
Karen

I've been tempted, but then I think, oh my, I'd never get the original set back together. I did have the problem of not knowing what I had where, like if I wanted flowers, I couldn't remember all the sets that had flowers in them, so I bought myself 4 post-it boards for the inside of my craft closet door and stamped each set on a piece of white cardstock and put them up to inspire me and remind me. Then if I trade a set, I just remove the cardstock poster of that set. If it retires, I highlight it. Maybe that will help you organize so you can find similar items.

I've only done this for a few sets. I don't usually split any up, I just put similar sets together. Like I put Riveting and Circle of Friendship together. I also put my Quick Thinking set with one of the All Year Cheers, likewise with the Much Appreciated and another All Year Cheer. When it's something like a sentiment set, I don't mind rearranging it, since it's not like all the stamps necessarily work together. I don't generally split up image sets, since I tend to use more than one stamp from a set on a card.

I'm in the precess of doing the same type of thing. I'm stamping my existing sets and keeping the stamped images together in a binder. For future sets I buy, I will photcopy the sticker sheet before I mount the sets (I got that idea from a friend). That way, everything should be much easier to find & use.

I don't think I could ever break up a set. I get the inspiration of them in their little "family".

Good luck!

I have done that since the beginning of my stamping---I found that i couldn't remember all the stamps i had and hated digging through boxes. I had the binder with the photocopied sticker sheets to help but that wasn't enough for me. I bought acrylic trays from Job Lot and Bed, bath and Beyond to stack and i keep like stamps together, I have a flower tray, a birthday, an animal,a background(small ones),baby/wedding one and sentiments and then a misc. one. Here is a picture from my gallery http:////www.splitcoaststampers.com/...8&ppuser=46596 and here they are stacked http:////www.splitcoaststampers.com/...8&ppuser=46596 It works great for me, but I know it freaks alot of people out, LOL

that might actually be ILLEGAL!!! LOL



i would never be able to remember how they went back together!

I have for several of my specialty sets like birthday, anniversary, baby, thinking of you, fall, winter. If I think I may put them back together someday I use pencil and mark the end of the wood with the name of the stamp set and in a circle the total number of stamps in the set. You could also make a photo copy of the set before you break it up and keep that as a reference.
I like how easy it is to find what I have for a baby card or an anniversary card or a sympathy card since these are the least often made.

Ditto!

Double ditto!

I'm in the process of creating a user friendly binder catalog specific to my sets. This way I can include my acrylic sets and UM rubbah sets in my "categories" as well. It is proving very helpful, especially to know what sentiments I have. But to break a family up would be oh so heartless IMHO!

I also have a tight grip on my families! The only exemption is the Smile and Smile some more; they are together. And I have Small Script in with an All Year Cheer, because they fit in the case, and are message related.

I have stamps from all different companies... *cough* alot of stamps from alot of different companies.

I've pulled all of my words, sentiments, greetings, quotes, and grouped them together.... unless a certain phrase or font goes with the set exclusively.

I have some SU sets grouped together - (Art of Life & Easy Elegance) (Trees Three & Sheltering Tree) (Loads of Love +Accessories) etc.- because they are so similar and I get more inspiration having more stamps to choose from.

I fit in individual stamps from other companies in the SU boxes as they match the theme or style. This helps me make my cards with more individuality and uniqueness than always using the same set of stamps together.


I don't worry about keeping sets together as I am a hobby demo, plus I have a binder that shows all sets together, and the SU catalogs to refer to.
Plus - I only buy what I love, and don't often sell my stampsets.

I tend to keep everything :)

I have stamped all my stamp sets and keep them in a binder, I also have categories in the binder, Shapes, Textures, Flowers, Trees, etc. so if I just need a tree I will see all the tree stamps I have in one place, they are labeled as to what set they are in and I'll know what box to look in. I also have themes, Anniversary, Baby, Birthday,Friends, etc. and I stamp all the stamps from different sets that would be perfect for that theme. But I have pulled out all the word stamps from all the sets and put them in categories in the plastic boxes. If I need a thank you stamp, or a friend stamp, etc. I can see all of them at once and don't have to hunt them down.

I stamp one entire set on sheet of white paper and put it into a plastic sleeve, then they go into a binder in alphabetical order. I have a master list of all these sets in word, and following each set I have a description of where I have that set stored. I don't have a dedicated stamp room so my sets are tucked in various cabinets and storage spaces throughout our finished basement.

The binder is easy to flip through to find an image, and the system makes it easy for me to find and put away my stamps. My eight-year-old daughter loves this method and uses it without my assistance...she even puts the sets away when she's finished. Now if only I could figure out a way to get her to put her toys away...

I find I also get lots of inspiration from the stamps in sets, and I think I would have a harder time if I split them up.

I would fit similiar sets together- and as such 3 of my least used tags are in a seperate box from the rest of the other 3 tag sets. But in general, things don't get broken up- they get grouped together.

I put lose stamps in with SU ones, and there is no rhyme or reason, they just need a box.

I've done it simply because of space issues, and guess what.......the world is still turning on it's axis!! LOL! Oddly enough, I've found that by mixing SU stamps in with stamps from other companies according to category (flowers, juvenile, nature, animals, etc) I use them more often and in ways that I probably wouldn't have otherwise. It does jumpstart creativity, I think, if that makes sense. I do document each set that I get, though, and the number of stamps in each set with images of each stamp in that group just in case I need something to refer to. It's really ok to break up the sets if you want! It's kind of liberating.

I separate about half of my stamp sets. One thing I do when I have a new stamp set is to use a fineline black marker to write the set name and number of the stamp -- like "Very Punny 1/8" then "Very Punny 2/8" to tell how many stamps are in a set and to easily get them all back together. I have all of my sentiments and words stamps separated and in categories so if I want a "thank you" I can look at a whole drawer of those sentiments. It really works well for me but I will admit to being a compulsive organizer.
Margaret

I can understand that if you purchased only from SU it might be hard to separate *the family* but I purchase stamps from various companies so I organize my stamps in drawers.

Each drawer is labeled with a category (i.e. birthday, flowers, trees, winter, summer, animals, christmas, sentiments etc.)

With my SU sets I refer back to the catty if I need to see what stamp goes with what. Most of the sets already have a theme going so there isn't much *breaking up* to do within the set. The sentiments go into my sentiment drawer.

I find that I get so much use out of all my stamps when I can mix and mingle different ones together.

I have a lot of my older sets broke down like you are saying yours are. I haven't mixed sets in a long time, but it is SO much easier to grab things by sets like "Birthday" or "Thanks". I have more than just the words together in some sets, like all birthday cakes are with the "Happy Birthday" stamps, etc.

I break up the sentiment sets but almost always keep the rest together--though I did put the two background stamps from Looks like Spring in with my SU backgrounds and the flowers in the SU Flowers drawer. (I use the shallow plastic drawer thingies to organize my stamps.) The sets that inspire me as a "family" I keep all together but cross-reference in my binder inventory.

I think there's no "right" way to do it, just what works for you. Do what feels right to you!

I just organized a bunch of "other named" stamps into clear acrylic boxes from JA's (with coupons) according to type: flowers, birthday, thinking of you, etc. I have several SU sets that I broke up once I realized that I was NOT using them. Putting them with like-stamps has made a big difference in the amount and way I use them! I didn't break up many sets, but it was a leap of faith that is working for now!

Mary

I don't really break things up but I do some "combining". Things like all the tag sets, loads of love & accessories, all wrapped up & accessories, best fiends & just between fiends, sentiment sets, etc. I don't keep my backgrounds in their boxes so that gives me extra bigger boxes to combine with.

I like to have as few boxes as possible in my cabinets so if things go together, I put them together in one box. I figure if I ever trade or sell them, I would sell the whole combined set anyway. I label all the ends of my boxes using the label maker and put the names of all the sets in one box.

I also use extra SU boxes to combine non SU stamps by brand/subject, like all my Penny Black cows, Stampendous bees, Inky Antics penguins, Michaels $1 stamps and label the "sets" I make out of them.

Am trying to break out of the type "A" group,have added things to my SU boxes but not actually seperated them,did sell some sets and kept a certain stamp out of the set though. GOOD LUCK