How I store my stamps...

Like a lot of other Stampin' Up! Demonstrators I have a TON of wood mounted stamps. I keep them in cases - all Stampin' Up! stamp sets come in clear snap cases but I also buy empty Jumbo cases for all my loose stamps from other stamp companies.

I keep all my wood mounted stamp cases on the top shelves of my den built-in.

The only exception to this is my background stamps. Those I take OUT of the snap case and store like books on a shelf. I label the side using my DYMO labeller with the name of the stamp.

I also use my DYMO labeller to label my snap cases with the set name or the contents of the case (misc birthday greetings, misc valentines, misc leaves etc..). I sort them by theme on the shelves - all my word & alpha stamps go on one shelf, my nature/flower stamps on another, my Christmas on another, etc... I do this theme grouping as well as the labelling because sometimes you can't tell what kind of images are in the case just by reading the stamp set name.

When I'm looking for something I just go to the specific theme shelf and start pulling cases out to see the stamps. I know some people (more organized than me) will stamp ALL their images on paper and then place them in a binder as an image reference. I think that's a great idea and I'd love to be able to do that but haven't found the time yet. The closest I've gotten to this is taking a scan of some stamp sets (or misc groupings) and including that in with the stamps so I know what's supposed to go back into that particular case. One tip I remember reading was to photo copy the sticker sheet before you cut it up and mount your stamps. I always forget to this until after I've cut into it.

I admit that my method of organizing my wood mounted stamps is not the most efficient but it works for me until I can come up with something better.

I store all of my Karen Foster snap stamps in a rubbermaid bin in a cupboard in my den built-in below my stamp shelves. The smaller ones I keep in a snap case which fits inside this bin.

My rubber cling mount stamps I keep in a binder on transparency sheets. I keep meaning to stamp the image with stazon so that I know where to put them back when I'm done with them but again that's on my "organization to do list".

I keep some of my other acrylic stamps in a CD holder (yes I bought the brown and blue Martha Stewart one) and then in CD cases that I've labelled by stamp set name or theme as well.

When I first started buying CTMH stamps I also purchased their storage box and keep the stamps in the plastic envelopes they come in.

I know that I should come up with a better system for my unmounted stamps and try to organize them all in one place but I haven't found the time yet and I'm not sure how to do this. Maybe move them all to CD cases?

It's kind of a catch-22 isn't it? I know that once I'm organized I will save myself all kinds of time but it's finding the time to organize that I'm having trouble with.

On Craft Critique Gina Krupsky shared a different way to store unmounted stamps. I think it's a really cool idea if you have the space!

Here's another stamper's craft room and she is super organized with image reference binders and drawers for all her stamps. Can you imagine what her room woul look like if she didn't organize it???

If you'd like to share your stamp organization tips or suggestions please leave a comment.