Stamp Storage

A big shout out to Kinsey Wilson and Studio Calico for showing how stamp storage should be done!! For those that don't have a growing stash of stamps randomly thrown into bins that you seem to forget about, this post will not be interesting to you :) For those that do, feel free to head over to Kinsey's full blog explanation here!! This is basically my recap of her post, but with my own pictures and slight variation on her method!

• What the heck is all that!? You ask. Well, the basic idea is you store your stamp sets in DVD-like clear cases, then create a catalog within the binder! The catalog shows all your stamps in a concise manner, and references which case the stamp you want to use is in.
• Why would anyone on Earth want to do that!? You ask. Well since the stash keeps growing and maybe because I'm getting older, it is harder to remember what stamps I actually own! Flipping through the binder is much easier to quickly see what stamps I have when I am working on a scrapbook page or card! Also, there are other systems where you put all your stamps in the binders and then the binders become huge and bulky and just as difficult to flip through as going through your stash in random bins anyway!

STEP 1:

• Group your stamps into main categories, then start adding to the storage cases

STEP 2:

• Create spine labels (I cut mine from white paper, 6 1/2" x 1/4")
• I used Kinsey's numbering system - top number is the main category and bottom number is how many cases within that category, ex. American Crafts stamps are category 1, but I filled 2 cases with all American Crafts stamps, so you can see I have 1-1 and 1-2 for these.
• Here's where my method varied a little, I decided to use different color washi tapes as a way of "color coding" the cases, so another way I could find them is just by looking for the matching washi tape

STEP 3:

• In the binder, you can either stamp each stamp onto a sheet of paper for the index pages, or what I did was take the backings and taped them down

STEP 4:

• I made my tab using the Jenni Bowlin tab punch, but any sort of tabs will do
• I matched the main category name and taped down with the same washi tape used on the case

STEP 5:

• I made sure to start the next category on the next page instead of the back of the first category's page, so if I need to later add in sheets of paper/stamps into that same category it doesn't put my binder out of order

SHELF SPACE:

• I still have to add a bunch of random stamps I have, but they should all fit into one of those categories!
• I thought these would take up way more shelf space, but look how little that is!

Side notes:
- I printed the grid pages from the pdf provided on Kinsey's blog post here
- I tried adding rubber clings to the cases, and while they stuck, they were too thick to have stamps on both sides to close the case, so I decided they will get a separate method of storage
- It took me about 5 hours to complete this much, actually 6 if you include the time it took to stop and head to Office Max and get more heavy card stock to print off the sheets for the binder, only to find out your husband has lost his iPhone, search the house upside down, drive back to Office Max and look around the parking lot (closed by now) and suspend the service for the night (side note's side note: he called Office Max this morning and they had it for him) haha!
- I just added the mini Amy Tangerine sketchbooks in the binder for fun
- Kinsey also added an index page for her stamp pads, which I intend to do too at some point!

Hope this helps anyone looking to do this, happy organizing!! :)