Never Lose Your Stamps Again!

Today I’m going to help you to never lose your stamps again! For the last couple of months, I have been sick, so my crafting Mojo left. I haven’t done any card making or real crafting.

This did, however, give me a great opportunity to reorganize some of my crafting stash.

Today I’m going to share with you how I am storing my physical stamps, dies, embossing folders and stencils… it’s all one system.

Last month, I shared on my YouTube channel and blog how to use OneNote to keep track of what is in your physical stash.

If you haven’t already, take a look and see if it will work for you too.

The problem

Last summer, I organized my stamps using plastic shoeboxes from Michaels and plastic sleeves that I found online at www.checkoutstore.com. I bought the 5 5/8″ x 8 ½” ($9.99 for 50) and the 5 5/8″ x 7 ½” ($11.99 for 50). So far, the quality has been great.

This worked out pretty well… however, the shoeboxes started breaking (you might have noticed the purple duck tape I used to keep this one from splitting), and since the tops are wider than the bottoms, they cause wasted shelf space.

So I decided to upgrade.

The solution

So I ordered the Interdesign 59430 clear Linus Pullz bins from Midland Hardware ($5.89 each).

Check out my VIDEO!

OOPS!

The first thing I noticed when I was moving my first stamps over to the new bins was that they didn’t fit.

I don’t know if these bins are smaller than advertised (since the 6 in measurement is on the outside, and doesn’t reflect the inner space) or if the sleeves I’ve been using are too big.

Tweak it!

Either way, I had a decision to make. Do I return the bins, find another use for them, try some different sleeves and hope they fit? No. I just turned the stamps on their sides.

They fit perfectly!

They each hold less, but that also means that the bins holding my dies don’t weigh as much.

And the bins fit on shorter shelves.

I’m going to add a couple more shelves to my cabinet and this is going to be a much better use of the space.

I always have a bit too much empty vertical space on my shelves.

So that’s the storage part of the system.

I cut a piece of cardstock ( 8 ½ X 5 ½ for the longer sleeves, and about an inch shorter for the shorter ones) and slide a stamp set, embossing folder, or stencil into it.

Then added labels indicating the manufacturer and stamp set name.

To make it easier to find the right set, I put a label on each side.

Die storage

For my dies, I use magnetic sheets to hold the dies and try to combine sets by the same manufacturer.

For the magnetic sheets, I use magnetic vent covers from Home Depot.

They measure 8” x 15” and you get a 3 pack for around $5. Which means each sheet can be cut at 5”, perfect for the sleeve sizes, and you get enough for 9 sleeves for only $5.

Now for Organization.

Then I made cardstock dividers using my Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board and sorted everything by the manufacturer and alphabetized the dividers… Now I can find everything!

(This is where OneNote is definitely a help… if I’m looking for something and can’t remember who made it, I just do a quick search in OneNote. I think I have too many stamps)

Now you’ll never lose your stamps again, and neither will I.

I hope this inspires you to reorganize your stash to make it easier to find your stamps and dies…

And make it easier to create everyday!

Let me know how YOU organize your stash in the comments below!

Deb Jenkins

If I can make it, YOU CAN TOO

Visit my channel and Blog for tutorials, inspiration, and motivation!