Yep, here is my entire rubber and clear stamp collection... about 300 stamp sets in all. None of my stamps are on wood. If I purchase a stamp that is attached to a wood block with foam, I am quick to remove the rubber from the foam, adhere the rubber to a piece of EZ Mount cling foam,trim and place in a cd case. Luckily many of my favorite stamps are already mounted on cling foam so there is no wood/foam removal. The stamps shown in the cd case below were all ready to place in a cd case!!! Shown is Graphic 45/Hampton Art's Magic of Oz II set with Stampendous' Count Jack and Mumpkin. How do I know what's there so quickly you ask?
Well, once my stamps are in a case, I assign a number to the case (if you click on the top pic, it will enlarge and you should be able to make out the numbers that are labelled on each case). I then stamp the images on a page in my stamp catalog which, along with the stamped images, includes the name of the stamp set and which cd case number the stamped image can be found in. Not only does this allow me to CONDENSE my stamp collection for minimal storage, but now I can find ANY image I want to use in a matter of seconds. I just refer to my catalog, pick my image and VIOLA, the cd case number is listed right there. I go to that cd case, pull my stamp and I'm off to the races!!!! Here is a sample of what one of my image catalog pages looks like:
The best part of this storage system is that ALL of my stamps are mobile!!! No more digging for the stamps and struggling to pack them to take with me to crops. Each cd case holds one layer of cling mount rubber stamps OR two layers of clear stamps because the clear stamps are thin (one layer inside the front cover of the cd case and one inside the back cover).
Any cd rack or bookshelf will work to store your stamps, I just prefer to have mine accessible on the wall so that they are up and out of the way. The less surface space that I have to give up to storage, the better. The cd racks that I'm using are from IKEA and run about $5.99 each (I have 2). The binder was in the clearance rack at Staples for about $2.00 and the cd cases came from Big Lots and were about $3 per pack. I would guestimate that I bought about 8 packs of cd cases. You can probably find them cheaper online. Just make sure you are getting the normal (large) cd cases.... the kind that music cd's come in. The ultra thin jewel cases DO NOT hold stamps. I made that mistake....
Ok, that is it for today's post. I'm hoping this helps someone who is struggling with a quadrillion stamp sets that need to find a home!!! Catch you all next time!
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