How do you organize your stamps?
 

I'm sure this has been asked before but I thought I'd see if there were any new ideas. Just to be clear I'm not talking about what to organize them in or with. I'm happy with the various size plastic bags stored in Anna G boxes (fromHSN)that I use. I'm talking about how you organize the stamps to be able to best find what you need. In my quest to use more of my product,I think this might help. Right now I organize by manufacturer. This looks neater as my boxes are on open shelves with no lids, so stamp sets of similar sizes are mostly together (with some exceptions). For instance the majority of my MFT stamps are taller and narrower so it looks more uniform in the box. However, many times I find myself looking for a particular thing, say a thank you sentiment or maybe flowers, so then it might make sense to organize in this way too. Now I have to go through every box ( embarrassed to say I have 3 of them )to find what I need. So, please share, how do you organize if you have a lot of stamps. Thanks.

To qualify my answer, I am a StampinUp user for the most part so the boxes are primarily one of 2 'styles'. Also, I have less than 100 sets so not the biggest collector for sure.

For me, the most logical way to store is by genre. Christmas is by itself, then my few Valentines and Easter and Grad. So seasonal is on the end of one open shelf. My separations are as follows: sentiments, floral/nature, masculine, elements, wedding, sympathy, backgrounds... I have a basket of unboxed Paper Pumpkin stamps except for Christmas that are in an extra empty box. Then I have a small basket of random stamps I have found here and there. I may have missed a theme or 2 in my list, but you get the idea.

It works for me, I have ample shelf space so I can keep things organized well. Hope that helps :)

** These genres are sometimes times 2 because OCD demands that old style wooden stamp SU boxes have to be kept together, and the slimmer foam unmounted ones have to be kept together.

my wood mounted stamps are broken sets organized by themes... my clear and unmounted "sets" are by mfg. ( except the wood mounted ones I unmounted those are still by theme...

I started an evernote file and (its an ongoing never ending deal) but, it helps me when I want to know which sets have "blessing" or what ever in it, it brings them all up even the dies. which then tells me where to find them because, I have the mug shot of if its wood or unmounted on the files.

I originally tried to sort by manufacturer, but that didn't work for me at all. I would either constantly use the same stuff that I remembered owning, or I'd have to go through several sections to find what I wanted to use.

I switched to a "theme" sorting after that, and I much preferred it. I had the following themes:
Animals, Floral, People, Love/Wedding/Anniversary, Holiday, Sympathy, Birthday, Baby, Sentiments, Other and Christmas (since the Christmas collection is massive and wouldn't fit the holiday section)
The themes were based on the big things I made cards for, essentially, and they worked great for that. If a stamp fit multiple themes (ex. cute baby animals that could go in either baby or animal), I would put it with the theme I'd most likely use it in.

The sections themselves weren't organized in any particular way. I didn't want to alphabetize or go by manufacturer again. Instead, any time I used a stamp, it would go to the back of the pile. That way, I'd (hopefully) go through the stamps I haven't used first.

I recently re-organized my stash again in preparation for my 2017 goals to make use of it and pretty much destroyed that whole system. I mixed all my sets around and got it in 3 sections: color (anything with lined images that can be colored in), stamp (anything with primarily solid images that needed to be stamped) and sentiment (few - if any images and lots of words/phrases). The stamps were just sorted into one of the three sections and stacked in a random order. My approach is going to be to just keep using the first/top stamp from each section until I've gone through them all.

Since my stamps are in pockets and labeled, I can still find a stamp if I really need to. But I want to get to a point where I have a bunch of finished cards in my stash I can pick from instead - so that I'm card-making on my own time, instead of right before the birthday party. Knowing that I have to go through a ton of stamps is a small deterrent that keeps me from constantly looking for the perfect stamp and keeps me focused on working with what I've already got.

I think, ultimately, your system should be whatever helps you create. If you're frustrated about looking through the stamps to find a specific one, then maybe a different sorting approach would help. If you have a ton of stamps and feel overwhelmed and unable to choose which one to use, then a random chaos would help more. :)

I have a lot of stamps and they are stored in categories and sub categories. When I didn't have many stamps I could store my mfg. but that's impossible now. Categories are like this:
Birthday Word, Birthday Sentiment, Birthday Party/invite;
Sentiments - Hope/Joy/Dream, Sentiment - Life/Encouragement, etc.
Seasonal by: Christmas/winter; Thanksgiving/Fall, Spring (mother's day, father's day, etc., Summer (pool party, vacation), etc.
Flowers: small, med-large, ling stems
Leaves....
Trees....

I have a lot of categories based on how I use stamps. It works perfect for me and I can find what I want when I want it.

I store my clear stamps by manufacturer too - but I have them on spinners - which makes flipping through the various brands SOOO EASY to find a sentiment or image. I just flip through the different brands looking for the type of font I want or the saying. And I have the dies tucked in with the stamps - all in the original packaging. It takes me no time at all to find what I need. I included a picture to show I have it set up. There are two spinners in my craft room. For my wood mount individual stamps - I have those organized by category and stored in the Stampendous Stufftainers - with a label on the side indicating if they are birthday sentiments and images, wedding, baby, thinking of you, animals, puns, and so on. There's a picture of that too. They are stacked up in the white cubby shelves. This makes it so easy to find a wood stamp. I have no theme organization to my SU clear / cling mount sets - other than I store all SU together in DVD racks and on a shelf. I keep my A MUSE Studio stamps sets separate too on my desk in mesh containers that I stack. I hope this helps!

I'm another broken-set-stamps-stored-by-category person. Most of my "sets" are missing stamps that I knew I would never use that I gave away, the remaining stamps are like with like - flowers with flowers, thank you with thank yous, etc. I recently overhauled the system because I found that the categories weren't working, so I tweaked them. For example, a new category is "Seaside" and includes beach, tropical, boats, lighthouses, etc. "In the Sky" includes clouds, sun, moon, stars, airplanes, hot air balloons, kites, etc. "Encouragement" includes get well, thinking of you, sympathy, and quotes having to do with overcoming obstacles and having strength.

Think about what you are likely to use a stamp for and what triggers would help you find it, then organize accordingly. If it isn't working, figure out why and re-gear. I've tweaked my system umpteen times and I'm always hopeful that the latest tweak will be The Last One...

One thing that is invaluable to me is my binders - one for seasonal/holiday and the other for everything else. They are organized into the same categories as the stamps themselves, but if there is crossover (gifts can be for Christmas or birthday, for example), then there is a card for each category that the image/sentiment can be used for. I don't do this, but you could make a note on the card that tells which category the stamp itself is stored in (I pretty much already know)...

Wow, such good ideas. Thanks for sharing. I think I may try and reorganize by category and see how that goes.. Do any of you keep documentation of the stamps you have...is they what you do with Evernote? I've thought of this but it seems like a lot of work and I'm not sure I'd use it. I did this with my ink colors and never look at it.

I found Evernote to be too time-consuming for me, others love it and swear by it. I do have a folder on my computer with subfolders for each stamp manufacturer, with pics of the stamps I have in each. I only look at it when I'm going to buy something, though, to make sure I don't already have it...

When I order anything stamp-wise online, I just clip the image on that website while I'm there (with the "snipping tool" that is on most computers already) and save it to the appropriate folder. If it's something I already own and don't have a picture of, I'll just do an image search, then clip and save as usual...

I use a slightly different method. My stamp sets are all numbered (1 - 180-something, at the moment). I just recently switched from a paper index to Evernote, and it's working really, really well. The best thing about Evernote is its search function. Whatever I'm looking for, I can usually find it in seconds.

Every stamp set has its own "note" in Evernote, with a picture, either clipped from the Net, or photographed or scanned by me. I list everything in the note that I might want to search. And, I put the number right at the top. Once I find the stamp I want in Evernote, it tells me the numbered sleeve that it's in, and since the sleeves are all in numerical order, it takes no time at all to find the right one.

Once I really played around with it, I found so many little "shortcuts" in Evernote that it really takes me no time at all to put in new stamps. My transition from paper to pc was, by FAR, the quickest organizing change I've ever made. I'm doing the same thing with my dies (which are all numbered D1, D2, D3, etc.)... with my embossing folders (numbered E1, E2, etc.)... with my stencils (ST1, ST2, etc.).

By not worrying about separating the actual stamps by category, it requires so much less thought. I can find it by manufacturer, name, image, sentiment, theme, etc. And, because Evernote works on all of my devices, I will always have my inventory with me. If I find myself at a craft store, I can pull it up on my phone to see if I already have something.

Sorry for the long post, but maybe it will given someone ideas. Like others said, you really need to figure out what works for you. We all seem to think differently. Good luck! :)

Stamp Storage
 

I store my all my SU stamps somewhat by category in their original SU cases on a bookshelf (built especially for them to fit the space I had available for them).

I also have a binder that I use to keep a copy of each stamp set that I have. That makes it easy to flip through and see exactly what I have and what I am looking for. As I purchase each new stamp set, I don't put it away until I have stamped it for my binder. I use one color for each stamp set and can get three to four sets on a normal 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of copy paper along with the name of the set, the manufacturer, and whether there are dies or punches to match. These are inserted into plastic page protector sleeves. It can be a little overwhelming to start this system if you have a ton of stamps, but once you have it and keep up as you add to your collection I find it the best so far.

:shock: I had no idea there was such a sophisticated way! I don't think it would be for me but very cool!

I started a binder. Unfortunately, I was too busy, and did not keep up with it. I've been stamping for probably 15 years, and have a ton of stamps!
Probably 90% are Stampin Up. (I became a hobby demo 10 years ago.). When they started offering the clear mounted, I quit buying wood mount, so I copied the case pictures for my binder for a while. Those are still sitting in my printer.
Now that I'm retired and have more time, I'd like to get my binder updated. When I do, I will number them as you have suggested so that I can find them.
I also used to keep a running alphabetized list of stamp sets. That went by the wayside as well. I'm trying to decide if I want to use These are My Stamps or Evernote to go back and make myself a new list.
Bashful Stamper, would that be redundant to using your method?

Is it redundant? Well... yes and no. ;) The more I use Evernote, the less I feel the need for my binders, which is almost a shame because I put so much work into those binders, LOL. There's something to be said for both methods, so if you have the time, I say do what makes you happy. :-)

I seriously thought Evernote was too much work, but now that I've got the hang of it, I'm finding that it's MUCH quicker to update, and to look for things, than the paper binders. It also takes up less space. And time and space are both limited for me, so I'll probably stick with this. It's worth noting, though, that I went ahead and paid for the premium version of Evernote. I'm using it for other things as well, so it's worth it to me. (You can do this with the free version, but there are some limitations.)

I will say that the one thing I will miss from my paper binders is being able to see the size of my stamps. I actually stamped every image in my binders, so I could really tell how the finished image would look. That, and just being able to flip through the binders for ideas and inspiration was nice.

cough cough I think it depends on how big your collection of tools is..
I started with binders, which grew to many binders which the appeal for evernote to me is the search function. ( I do not remember set names) for wood mounted ones that I broke from sets ( I have tons of single stamps) I wrote the set names on the blocks a few years ago.
and once upon a time I played in the PIF threads, so I already had mug shots (on line in an old blog) of stamps so, for me it was not as time consuming as it could be as if I had to go photograph everything from scratch.

I think binders work better for me for inks and such because, you are looking for the color not the image or the sentiment.

It all depends on how you craft. I don't need to know how made the stamp, I craft by themes. So when I want to make Halloween/fall items: all the stamps are in that category. Here are some of my categories:
Animals
baby
background
birthdays
christian
Christmas
Drinks and Food
easter
Fall/Halloween
Male
Sentiments
Thanksgiving
Winter
Valentines

It makes it easy to find what I am looking for. I also think evernote is a good way to organize stamps too. But when creating it: you must be as detailed as possible for a stamp set. That way no matter what you search, it can find it for you.

I organize by theme and my categories are very similar to Binkiemonstermom's, with the exception that I have a huge section for florals, trees and nature. (I know you're not a fan of flower stamps, Binkie!).
My stamps are all on open shelves and some in drawers, by theme. I don't care if everything isn't matchy-matchy in terms of what I put the stamps in; I still have wood mounts in clamshells, also DVD cases and even a few PTI sets in CD cases. As long as the stamps are by general category I can find them.
One exception is that nearly all of my sentiments are stored by category in a 4-drawer iris cart right next to my desk. This was a suggestion years ago by a friend, and it makes it so easy to grab a greeting or inside sentiment quickly.
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I have hundreds and hundreds of stamps, and I've never needed to have a computer or binder system to keep track of what I have. Can't remember lots of things, but I seem to remember what I have in stock images and dies! You know, the important stuff, hahaha!

Whoops! Stamp images, not "stock" images. Stupid auto-correct!

With a lot of trial and error I found a storage method that works for me. I have my sentiment, alphabet, background and religious stamps stored separately. The rest of my stamps are stored by manufacture.

Good luck and be prepared to try several methods before you find the one that works for you.

Can you makes notes in Evernote as to where you stored it? i.e.: shelf 2, right side

Yes, you can add it into the text of the note if you want to, or you can have it be a tag. With the tags, say for instance all that you give the tag of "shelf 2, right side" could be found by looking up that tag (from the list) or you could search and it would find them all.

I broke up my sets last year and store by category. They are on panels, in page protectors, index in front, standing in bins. I have several very large categories - Floral, People and Faces, Design Elements, Birds, and Butterflies, and they are just standing behind a divider with the appropriate name. Everything else is on a panel with a label designating what is on it, alphabetized. I also have done quite a few of my dies and interfiled them - for instance, behind my two panels labeled "hearts" I have a page protector which holds a piece of cardstock on which I have glued down all my heart diecuts.

Breaking up sets is not for everyone. It was scary breaking up my sets, but it was also one of the best things I ever did for the way I work. I have not regretted it ever.

Thank you. I just need to find it and get started.

I am finally getting around to reorganizing my clear stamps and have decided to do them by theme not by manufacture. Yes, Racahelrose it is a scarry thought to breakup my sets, but I find I am wasting to much time looking for something. I now want to put them into plastic sleeves the way Jennifer McGuire suggested. My question is since I stored my stamps in cd cases I don't have the original sheet the stamps came in, what do I use to put the stamps on before I put them into the sleeve? Everyone has been most helping and have enjoyed hearing how every does their stamps.

This system applies to my sentiment stamps. Every sentiment stamp that I have, clear, mounted, and unmounted is stamped on the back or front of a rolodex card. I have a 6"X6" freestanding circular rolodex divided into categories. If I want a "thank you" stamp I just go to my rolodex tab file and flip it around. I have indicated which stamp set it belongs to if it's a clear set. I stamp in black ink to indicate it's a clear stamp and also list the name of the set; unmounted is stamped in brown and wood mounted in blue. Each time I get a new stamp or set that contains sentiments I stamp them on rolodex cards. The category tabs are cut from cardstock using three PTI tabbed rolodex folder dies and labeled by general category. I guess this is similar to people who keep binder pages of their sentiment stamps. I couldn't stand spending time going through each stamp envelope looking for a sentiment, so I spent a couple of days putting this system together and I just add to it as I get new stamp sets and delete cards when I destash. I found the idea sometime back on one of the PTI designers' sites where she was demoing their rolodex type divider dies. This can work for a person who doesn't want to separate out their sentiments from the rest of the stamp set. I just couldn't do it.

Animals
Anniversary/Wedding/Love
Backgrounds
Birthday
Beach/Travel
Christmas
Elements
Floral
Masculine/Gears/Tools
Nature
Sentiments

I think a lot of people doing the Jennifer McGuire system are using Duralar. But maybe someone with experience can speak to that and affirm that I'm remembering correctly. Since I use laminated panels, I'm relying on my recollection of what people said in other threads.

If they are cling foam mounted rubber stamps I intend to put mine on laminated cardstock ( bought the machine and the cs but, have not made time to do it yet...) and if its truly "clear" I kinda glanced at this thread with lists of acceptable mfg sheets ( and kept those) but, also have some duralar sheets for ones that do not.

RachelRose, thanks for the info, I will check out Duralar.

Here are a few threads I have found that mention Duralar. I've gotten it on Amazon myself.

//www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/mission-organization-f256/do-not-store-stamps-transparency-film-t605301.html

//www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/mission-organization-f256/dura-lar-question-t599073.html

//www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/mission-organization-f256/stamp-storage-jennifer-mcguire-t583526.html

BTW - and this may be mentioned on one of the above threads - some clear stamps actually come on a film that is not appropriate for storage. Unbelieveable but true. So don't bemoan the fact that you didn't save all of your original packaging. It might have done you more harm than good.

I admit I'm a visual person. I have mine broken up into themes but they are all on metal panels on the back of my closet door. I just open the door and grab what I need. It means that once a year I also go through and destash anything I won't use anymore since I have limited space. (Okay, sometimes twice a year!) This may not be attractive to many people but I love seeing everything and I get overwhelmed if I have too much. Besides, it's scary how much you can actually fit on two full sized doors. Like Sue, I most of my sets are broken up but it's what I use.

Is this why a couple of my sets are turning yellow?
*Sorry to derail slightly, just noticed it today and was wondering why...

I need to get organized, but I'm so afraid to stop using the by manufacturer way of sorting. I'm not sure why I guess that is just always how I have done it.

It's very, very common for photopolymer to yellow. The "photo" part of the term refers to light, which is how they process the polymer to "harden" it enough to become a stamp. It remains a bit reactive to light, but only in the yellowing sense - it doesn't continue to harden. The yellowing doesn't interfere with a stamp's performance or anything. Things that can harm photopolymer are chemicals that interact negatively with it - such as those in acetate and some of the CD cases, which is why they're not recommended for stamp storage. Polyester is more stable and is considered safe for photopolymer stamps - Dura-lar and many of the laminating pouches are on the "safe" list, for example...

This is good info. I'm thinking it may be a good idea to unmount my foam mounted stamps from the CD cases and get them onto duralar also. I think I heard somewhere that the acetate in CD cases was not good for foam mounted rubber stamps either.

If it's working for you, why change it? The best organization system is always the one that works for you.

On the other hand, if you're not splitting up your sets, then to re-organize them by something other than manufacturer is not something that couldn't be un-done fairly easily. You try it, you don't like it, you put the sets back the way they were.

When I split up my sets by category, I knew I was setting something in motion that was going to be a big deal to un-do if I decided to. Not impossible to un-do, but a whole lot of work. Luckily it has worked out for me! ;)!

came across this post - going to take some time to read all of these wonderful suggestions (and methods). I know I want to keep my stampin up sets intact. but, it is easy to forget what stamps might be useful in those "variety" type sets. I try to rely on my memory, but isn't what it used to be (unfortunately).

I also have to add that a lot of what kind of organization you need has got to depend on how much you have. My stamp collection is very small by most standards. So Evernote would be overkill. It's enough to have the stamps stamped on indexes at the front of every panel standing in the right category section of my 3 (yes, only 3) bins. I could actually fit them all in 2 if I didn't want to leave plenty of "flip room".

For someone with a large collection, this system would not be anywhere near sufficient, I'm sure.

I agree. If your brain goes to the manufacturer, then tears the best way for you to do it.

Sorting by theme seems to be the way to go. I think it applies to how most of us create; "I need a birthday, anniversary, masculine...etc. card". "I feel like making Christmas cards, or fall themed cards". You get the idea.
I still can't bring myself to break up my sets though. I just organize the sets in my cupboard by what the majority of the set has in it. For instance, sets with leaves, trees and flowers are all stacked together regardless of any sentiments included. Sets that are all sentiments are stacked together as well as baby, Christmas, birthday.
This is really NOT the most efficient way to organize but it did increase my use of some previously little used sets.
Because I can't break up the sets, an index of some sort was also required. I bought 4x6 index cards and a 4x6 photo box. I started by stamping out the most used things. Like every stamp I have that says "thank you" in any way. One stamp per card with a note as to what set it is from.
Alas, I have not kept up with it. It is time consuming and I have very little time to create anything as it is. I intend to begin using Evernote to snap a pic of each set and add notes to help me find the "thanks" "hellos"etc...Seems faster in the long run than trying to sit down and stamp them all out.