My stamp room: A work in progress...PART 1

I love to go on all of these blogs or watch videos on YouTube about other people's craft rooms. I even pin pictures of them on Pinterest. The rooms I see are usually all nice and organized, and beautifully decorated with furniture from IKEA -every crafter's dream room.

That's my goal, too. However, I am not quite there yet!

If you have ever seen any of my stamp rooms in this or our past houses, you know that I am a "clutter bug"!

Well, let me tell you, I've come a long way!

It's getting there… Everything in its place or at least, I have a plan to put it SOMEWHERE, but haven't put it there yet!

I've come to the conclusion that it will never be perfect, but I wanted to share it with you anyway! If there is even one idea I can give you to help organize your stuff, I've done my job.

So, be warned! This is not a nice and tidy space like one of those "perfect" rooms you see on the web- you'll always see a little something messy in the photos!

... Just keepin' it real, people!

Here it is- my little piece of heaven !

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MY FAVORITES:

The card catalog

A recent addition to my room, this lovely piece of the past was GIVEN to me by my friend Pam A. I ended up taking a few of the drawers out to accommodate my cards and 12x12 paper, and boy, does it hold so much stuff!

Here is a peek at some of what's inside:

I even have those little pull out shelves that used to be used to write down your Dewey decimal system number(remember those?) it is now a shelf to use for heat embossing and/or using a glue gun. I keep the supplies in the drawers right above the pull out shelves, and I have an extension cord held up by command hooks, that runs along the top of the unit.

I do stamp 90% of the time, but I also love crafting in general! So, for that other 10% of the time that I'm not stamping, I even have room for general crafting supplies in this wonderful cabinet:

My custom made stamp shelf

My fabulous husband made this for me about 15 years ago as a Christmas gift!

I keep all of my non-SU! stamps on this. The shelves are adjustable to accommodate my tallest stamps, and I am able to fit stamps three-deep on each shelf!

The left-hand side of this shelf was created as a ribbon holder. I haven't used it in years because I used to have a long  table in my stamp room. I recently took that table away and was able to enjoy the side of the shelf again!

Note: you saw all my old, small punches in the card catalog drawer. All of my flat storage punches are on a ledge that goes across the width of the room. You'll notice some of them in this picture underneath the shelf.

Extra note: my husband always wants me to tell you that he will gladly make a shelf like this for you for $150. So there, I did!

CHA-CHING! Typical man… Always seeing the dollar signs!

Pull-out stamp shelves

When we bought this house, this room already had these shelves. The previous owner, I believe, used to have canning jars on them (kind of like a cold cellar?) My handy husband knew of my needs and converted six of them into pull-out shelves. Now I am able to store way too many stamps! The top, stationary shelves currently house some things that need to be given a new home.

The curtains and tie backs are recent thrift store purchases. Sometimes I just have to hide the mess and this was my way to do it!

More punch storage

This idea came from Pinterest!

An over-the-door shoe organizer comes in handy for storing punches! I use this one that I bought at Aldi for $5 to store my "lever punches". It's even my favorite color!

Well, that's it for today! I have lots more to show you, but another post will have to suffice!

A big "thank you" to my dear friend Nancy! Not only has she helped me on many days to just clean and organize my stuff, but she has given me lots of "mom advice" (like, "finish what you've started!") and also some great ideas for future projects! 

Stamp storage (Part II) - photopolymer stamps

I LOVE OUR PHOTOPOLYMER STAMPS!

• They are totally clear! Say "goodbye" to crooked greetings! Say "hello" to the perfect alignment of alphabets! Didn't use enough pressure when you stamped/image didn't stamp completely? - You can almost always line it up again perfectly and stamp again(!)

• They are super sticky! No more having to use to 2-way glue on the backs so that they stick well to the clear blocks!

•They are really affordable! When all three stamp types are offered (wood, clear, photopolymer), photopolymer are always the least expensive!

But the issue is always having to contend with them being "sandwiched" in between two sheets of plastic when stored. I don't know about you, but I always found it a chore, albeit a small one, to put them back after use... Does it go this way? Does it go that way?

When SU! first started to sell this kind of stamp they were only available online (we still introduce a new photopolymer stamp set on the first Tuesday of every month, online only). But then when our new catalog arrived, we began to see more and more of these of this type of wonderful stamp being offered! In fact I've noticed that if the stamp set requires careful placement of images, it's only offered in the clear photopolymer.

I was so happy to see that the stamp sets were packaged in a clear case now too, and not just the two sheets of plastic!

But they still were sandwiched between two sheets of acetate even though they were in the plastic case! Ugh! It sounds like a small amount of work, but it was a royal pain-in-the-you know what... open case, peel off top layer of plastic, stamp, put stamp back on plastic sheet, replace top sheet, close case.

Then I watched a video by Mary Fish (http://stampinpretty.typepad.com/) and my world changed forever!

Let me explain how I now keep my photopolymer stamps....

First, notice that one sheet of acetate has the printed image on it and one is blank. 

Peel off the one that has the printed image on it, adhere a glue dot

 to each of the four corners, and stick it on the outside of the case (but underneath the plastic liner). When the case is open you should be looking at the printed images backwards! This is easy to see when you have words in the set:

(This is a view of the back of the case and so you can easily see  if you have a complete set, however, when you open the case the images will appear backwards.)

Next, peel off the stamps from the second clear plastic window sheet. You will stick the flat side of the stamp against your plastic DVD case. The image will match that of the other window sheet that you glued to the jacket inside.

Now they are ready to be stored! Everything is in its place and I don't have to fiddle with extra window sheets! 

I keep my extras as just that - extras. Window sheets are always great for shaker cards or other techniques!

Maybe you'll want to place that extra sheet on top of your stamps inside the case. That's up to you. I was happy to bid them adieu!

Aaahhh! I sleep well at night knowing that I took care of this situation!

Better assembly and storage tips for clear-mount stamps

This topic came up recently at a stamp club meeting. My friend Lisa B. was excitedly sharing what she had learned from a few Internet videos about nifty new ways to store stamps. I had been doing these for a while, but to see everybody's interested reaction when she told them, made me realize that I had forgotten to share my knowledge with the group. 

Whoops. My bad....

At the risk of everyone continuing to store stamps the old way, I'd better share with you now!

Of course I'm being sarcastic.

These methods really are making my life so much easier though, and I do want you to learn!

For today's post: clear-mount stamps

I taughts everyone how to mount clear stamps as it was first introduced to me by Stampin' Up! when the company first started to sell them. 

Once put together, the clear-mount stamps just got thrown in to the thin DVD case that they came in (at least that's how I did it!) - they easily fell out if the case opened.

NOT ANYMORE

When our clear-mount stamps were still new (and I had made a video about them), the common method for mounting them was this: pop out all the rubber stamp images and peel the stickers off of the matching labels (but leave them on the sticker sheet). Then, you were to stick the stamp facedown onto that sticker and lift up. The sticker would be applied.  BUT NOT ALWAYS PERFECTLY PLACED. 

When you completed putting the whole set together you just tossed them into the case, throwing all the excess rubber away.

HERE IS THE NEW AND IMPROVED WAY: (!)

Pop out all rubber stamp pieces (but do not throw away the excess rubber!) 

Do the same  with all of the stickers/labels (but do not peel them)...

Next, peel the backing off of the rubber stamp (it will not be sticky like our wood-mount stamps, as they use static cling to stick to the blocks, not adhesive!)

You also want to take one of the matching stickers and peel only half of the backing off...

Stick the label to the coordinating stamp. Since you left half of the backing on, you should be able to carefully place the sticky part exactly where you want it!

If you are satisfied with that placement, peel the other half of the backing away...

Continue to do this to all of the stamps.

Now you are ready to store them!

Take the excess rubber piece/frame and peel the backing off. Again, this will not be sticky, BUT  will stick to the inside of the plastic DVD case if you just give it a little press! 

You are now ready to put all those stamps back in their little "frame"! Remember, that the labels face the plastic case - otherwise they won't fit in their cut-out shapes!

Ready at a moments notice!

... And, I can easily see if a stamp set is  incomplete!

I do have many clear-mount sets on my shelf that are just "floating" inside plastic cases. I unfortunately didn't know about the storage method until last summer.  At least it always says on the outside of the box how many stamps are part of that set, so I know if they're all there or not.

But I like this way better!

Plus I wasn't always able to place my stamps directly on the sticker. This way, I only do one half at a time and I have much better luck!

Try it with all your newcClear stamps!

Tomorrow I will show you a new and improved for storing our see-through (and ultra sticky) photopolymer stamps! They are growing in popularity, so you'll want to be sure to read all about it!