Clear/Photopolymer/Acrylic Stamp Organization

Theme/style for me.
Store your supplies how you work; when you're stuck on a project and get that 'aha!' moment, what comes to mind? A particular type of stamp, a size, a manufacturer? Organize by that. There is no perfect organization method for everyone, only the one that best suits your needs.

I need to reorganize my stamps. I currently have them by manufacturer mainly because I have SO many Ali Edwards stamps and I tend to know what I'm looking for when I search them. However, I need to rethink this because I was recently looking through my entire stash and was taken aback by the duplication of various themes. How many coffee and book related stamps does one person need??

I think knowing whether you’re a flipper (pockets in bins) or a page turner (binders) is key too. I assumed I’d be a pager when I started stamping. but became a flipper. I have so many stamps in a bunch of bins, and it’s so helpful to pull each stamp pocket I’m considering partway out at a angle when deciding which leaves (or geometrics or whatever) to use, so they’re all in front of me at once. Then they can just be tapped back into their bin.

I’ve seen so many people who liked a storage system someone used, but didn’t take the step of first imaging using it - literally picturing themselves getting up to get a binder, opening and closing it, or putting a bin in front of them and flipping through pockets... Just because it looks nice doesn’t mean it’s the right fit. Even when I knew I’d be using bins, I first got double-wide bins because they looked neat in a video. But they were too heavy and large if I wanted one on my desk, so they were switched for singles.

I think that sounds fun If the amount is manageable, why not? 

LOL, that's why I just went ahead and put my stamps in binders.   I don't have a convenient space for enough bins to hold all my clear stamps, so they'd be out of the way and a pain (for me) to use, but with the binders I can see right away what I want. And I have room to keep the binders right near my desk. I also keep a small bin near my desk (within arms' reach) that holds my most-used inks and all my stamping blocks. So it's much easier for me to actually use my stamps.

For those who don’t have a lot of stamps, bins may work well. I’v been a stamper and collector for 35 years, and I have far too many stamps to store in bins.

I organize them all in binders. Most of my stamp collection is stored in Crop In Style Paper Sticker Binders (CIS PSB), which are no longer available for a reasonable price. I reorganized my stamp collection at the start of this year. I had run out of room and needed more binders. Costco had some on sale that were left over from their fall school supplies, so I got them for about $8 each. They don’t hold as many stamps, unfortunately, but they work.

The advantage to zippered binders is they store a lot of stamps (which can’t fall out), take up minimal space, and I can look through each binder extremely fast. I have tags for each of the binders listing what category or brand of stamps are in it. I organize by season as well as categories such as “sentiments,” but I also sort by stamp company in some cases. The binder in the image below is where I keep My Favorite Things stamps.



If you want more info, go to the following link to my blog post for how I organized them:

My Stamp Storage

I think so many of the "big names" who make organizing videos organize by manufacturer because they need to document whose products they're promoting and to stick within one company when making projects. Heaven forbid you use a Lawn Fawn sentiment when you're shilling for American Crafts. But that's not at all the way most of us create!

Like others said, it depends on how you think, and how much you have in each category. My stash is fairly small. I have one fabric bin that holds all of my image stamps, loosely organized by how big the package is. I find it easier to page through if the small stamps are in front of the big stamp sets.

I separated out sentiment-only stamps and alphas. They live right next to the other stamps but having them pulled out cuts down on how many stamps I have to page through to find image sets.

Would I like to have every stamp set in the same sized envelope with a little label on the top so I could flip through like a filing cabinet? Maybe... But I'm a visual organizer and don't need micro categories. If you have <5 of each category it might not make sense to use narrow categories, but it also depends on how macro or micro your brain is. Sometimes flipping through helps me make connections and get creative ideas, but mostly I remember that the medium sized set with the cactus has the "prickly" sentiment and I can find it within a minute without knowing who made it or needing it to be in a "plant/floral" category because I only have about 15 image sets that size.

btw you might enjoy Cass the Clutterbug's organizing style quiz clutterbug.me/what-clutterbug-are-you-test One of the few organizing experts I've encountered who will tell you that sometimes a shoebox works better than a filing cabinet, if your brain works a certain way.

Just found out that I am a butterfly and do indeed need a label maker!! 

This is a great way to organize store if you’re a binder person. And it perfectly illustrates how individual our brains and organizing preferences are, because I’d say for those who don’t have a lot of stamps, binders work well.  Though to contradict myself, obviously someone could have a ton of binders. 

I have a lot of stamp sets - even after a big purge - in six (?) long and a square bin. I wouldn’t be able to see see single categories on one binder page, so would need to flip back and forth, or open and shut binders to take pages out to compare.

I do a quick flip through bins, angling or pulling final contenders but generally leave them in their clear pockets so I don’t need to remove them.

ETA My system is similar to Jennifer McGuire’s and she has several videos. Differences are theme rather than manufacturer, and she has double-wide bins. Plus my labels are often hand written. 

The other reason I stopped using binders for any storage (not just stamps) was because opened up they take up so much space. It’s the same reason that hinged boxes and bins left the premises. If I have a stamp bin on the desk it’s only 6” wide (and goes back 14”). Though usually it’s not on the desk - it’s on a desk-height counter to my right made up of a few Ikea Alex units. 

These are the bins, aside from the square one for full cover background stamps. They aren’t for sale on Amazon now but I’ve bought them at The Container Store and maybe Simon. Some are very similar so if buying bins from InterDesign, now known as iDesign, check measurements. I have a wider, shorter bin for 6x6 paper pads. (I’m a card maker.)
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JTSE93I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Yes, some of my categories are pretty broad too. I realized that the picture I posted of one of my binder pages is a really bad example, because it's one of the mostly loosely categorized pages in the whole binder.    I had wanted to keep the TH art/drawing/perspective stamps together because for that one set, that is how I think of them - so I stuck them with other "sort of" drawing/artsy things like the graph paper grid, notebook paper, chevrons, and washi tape. (Organization that works well for me, in this case...but may be totally non-functional for someone else.)

As for the Clutterbug test, I've had the same experience - my results have varied (bee or butterfly most often) at different times when I've tried it. But I think that's a function (flaw?) of the quiz itself, not on the person taking it. I don't think it's a well-designed quiz, IMHO (fun, but not totally informative). Answers can vary based on the state of things in my house at any given moment, and also there are many questions that I could have easily answered "all of the above"...but of course that was not an option, LOL. 

She's currently filming a new season of her show in NY! Her whole family moved down here for a while. I've never seen her show but I love her YT channel.



I have only just taken the quiz myself and there were definitely results that I think are true in one scenario but not in another, there were plenty where I couldn't pick just one answer, plus there's the organizing style I tend towards vs the style that helps me actually function.

I think her videos are a bit more useful than the quiz itself. I saw one video where she mentioned people who love everything put neatly away but who leave piles of stuff out *specifically to annoy themselves* so they won't forget about it - that's me! I hate my piles, but if I pack stuff away neatly my brain thinks we're done. And because of whatever perfectionist mild-adhd procrastination brain thing I have going on, I have a lot of WIP piles.

I keep mine in these pull out bins (in Avery Elle envelopes). They are labeled on the front and I only pull out the basket I want and take to my desk. I purged a bunch of them from the 80's and 90's and now mostly have what I will use.

Well rats.  Won't let me post a picture.  No space.