Welcome back - so glad you dropped by! As I mentioned yesterday, I'm STOKED about my new stamp storage system! The "powers that be" finally caught up with my thought process and produced what I've been wishing for! Stampin'Up! just came out with DVD-size cases to store their new cling-mount stamps in, and they are AWESOME! Not only are they extremely reasonably-priced ($4.95 for a set of four), but you can get a TON of stamps in there! Here's what I'm talking about:
What you're looking at in the above picture is one of the cases filled the way I'm doing it, but open for you to view. There is enough "wiggle room" for three (3!) layers of unmounted stamps in there, so I cut a transparency to 5" x 7" (the size of the case) to stick the third layer of stamps on. I have 3 'wheels' (unmounted) and five stamp sets in this ONE case!!! I numbered them so I could prove it - grab a Stampin'Up! catalog and follow along, if you care to:
- Bold Snowflakes jumbo wheel
- Bronco standard wheel
- Boho Backgrounds (set of 4, but I cut the word strips that made up the fourth into individual ones)
- Best Fiends (set of 6)
- Bloomin' Beautiful (set of 5)
- Bronc Buster (set of 4)
- Boho Friend standard wheel
- Boatloads of Love (set of 7)
Convinced? FABULOUS, no?!?!?! Just to further prove how THRILLING this is for me, here's another visual:
Yes, one of those standard storage crates you can pick up at Michael's, Joann's, etc... There are sixteen cases in there, and no, this is not where they will live, I just wanted you to have a reference point for size. In this teeny, tiny amount of storage space, I have - are you ready for this? - 26 standard wheels, 9 jumbo wheels, and 104 stamp sets!!!
I am delighted, giddy, ready to do cartwheels! I'm thinking that once all of my stamps are stored this way I will have one smallish DVD rack full. Definitely an improvement over the random, mish mash, scattered way I have my stamps currently. I still need to make labels so I know what's in each one... They are loosely alphabetical - I put sets that are close alphabetically into the same case, but I'm more concerned about being space-effective, so I'm not being too OCD about it. Sherry is planning to number her cases for an index - not a bad idea, so I think I'll follow suit!
This is where the re-think on my stamping storage system comes in, too. Leslie mentioned that she was a-skeered to separate her sets like I was planning to (all the hearts together, all the Christmas trees together, etc.) and - while I was willing to do this in the name of efficiency - it was still a bit painful. Since I will now be able to lay hands on any stamp set within seconds, and since I have each stamp stamped on an index and referenced as to where it came from, there is no need for me now to separate them, so I will leave them in their happy little families...
Okey-dokey, kiddoes! I need to get some actual work-that-pays-the-bills done, so I'm signing off for now! If you're all jazzed up about this system, call your Stampin'Up! consultant, or go to my friend Sherry's website - you can order online and they ship it directly to your door! I'll be back another day with more storage solutions to our collective madness! Ta!
