Stamp Catalog - COMPLETED!

Okay almost completed. My friend Wendi is going to bring me a few sheets of cling foam so I can finish my background stamps but other than that...it's all done! I have been posting about  my progress on Facebook since this has been quite an under taking and I thought I better post the complete process, along with pictures on my blog.

First off, I use the Stamp Storage cases from Stampin Up. I have scoured the internet for a cheaper source and while I did come across some there were none that were as easy and convenient to obtain. Manufactures in China want you to order thousands, and preferably each month. I have quite a few stamps but not that many. I did find a source in the UK but they never got back to me on shipping costs, etc so I am giving up and just sticking with Stampin Up.

I cut sheets of paper at 5" x 7" for the front and back of the cases. I would cut stacks at a time so I didn't have to stop and cut frequently. I had already had my stamps pretty well organized before I decided to catalog them all so it was fairly easy to just take them out and do them again. I was able to rearrange and use the space more efficiently by using this method and it did require slight adjustments in organization but works out much better.

I arranged the stamps  on the sheet of paper and it was much like putting jigsaw puzzles together to get maximum efficiency. While I did get frustrated a few times it was worth the extra effort and work.

Once I had the stamps in place I put my large stamp block on the stamps to keep them positioned. This sheet wasn't full. On the fuller sheets my stamp block wasn't quite big enough so I would also use my long rectangle block to pick up the stamps that didn't fit on the large square block. I loved being able to stamp multiple images at once and it saved a TON of time.

Here you can see the images stamped on the sheet of paper. I still have room to add more stamps at a later date if I need to do so. Since this sheet is Christmas I am sure the space will be used in the future at some time.

For the catalog I stamped on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper showing the stamps that are on either side of the stamp storage case. I would do the 5" x 7" first and then stamp on the catalog page immediately afterward. My friend Linda copied her sheets but I decided that Memento ink was a lot cheaper than printer ink and since I could stamp multiple images at once it wasn't that much of a bother and I didn't have to get up and walk over to the printer every time I made a new catalog sheet.



Here is the catalog page with both sides stamped off. It is easy to see where the stamp is in the case just from looking at the catalog sheet. Notice the area down the middle that is open, I will show you later what I did there.

As I got each catalog page done I placed them in sheet protectors and put them in a 3 ring binder. I just got a cheap one at Staples for $2. Once all that was done I knew I needed to figure out a way for easy indexing. I already had my spines on my stamp storage cases so I just printed them off again and placed them in the middle of the sheets.

For even more clear identification purposes I added a small round sticker to the bottom of each page. I used a method of "A1, A2, B1, B2" etc. The reason I went with this method was because my stamps were already arranged in alphabetically order according to category. It will be easy to add cases this way as well if my collection grows *okie wonders if anyone noticed her saying if instead of when*. So instead of having to change everything I can just add "B17, B18" to the B catergory or "A3, A4" etc.

 
 

Here is a close up shot of one of the pages. I took it so you can get  better idea of the letter number system and also point out how one side is blank. Since I use a thin mounting foam I can get stamps on both sides of most of my cases. If the stamps are already on mounting foam I arranged them so all the thick foam ones were on one side and thin foam or acrylic were on the opposite side. In some instances I was only able to use one side of the case, but that was rare.



 

Here is a picture of the case from the outside. I opened it so you can see both sides of the case. You might wonder why I chose to use brown ink instead of black and it was just a matter of preference, and I like the color brown *okie cracks up laughing*. One thing I do like about making my own covers is that all the stamps are equal to the eye now. Before I acrylic, rubber, mounted, etc being seen through the case and it was difficult to see the image clearly due to all the other images. This way the images are seen easily.
 

This is a picture of the stamps on the inside of the case. The stamps are aligned with the images on the front. This makes it easy to find the stamp and return it to the case when it is used.

And the final picture is off all my stamp cases indexed and put in order. You can see the small stickers at the bottom identifying them according to the small round stickers on the catalog page. 

I can fit 11 cases in each little cube but I find it hard to pull them out with 11 so instead I just put 10 in each one and it is a lot easier to slide them in and out this way.

The wood blocks in the bottom right hand corner are the background stamps that I need to unmount. I already have their cases and catalog sheets ready so once I get the foam from Wendi it won't take but a minute to get them in their cases and correct spots in the system. I will say this about unmounting background stamps...it is more difficult and not for the faint of heart. If you are concerned about messing up a big stamp then you might want to leave them on the blocks. I however am a crafting daredevil and decided to go for the gusto. I just used the same method as I do for my other stamps but did find placing them on the cling foam was a little more tricky due to the large area.

Now that this time consuming task is done I think I will treat myself to a vacation and go on a cruise! HA HA HA It's only 9 more days until I will be getting my butt on that big boat! Can't wait to spend a week on the high seas with some awesome people!

***UPDATE***
My friend Sharon from Australia commented on my Facebook page "Hey I discovered that the cuttlebug c plate makes an awesome stamping block when you need a larger surface =)". I never thought of that and it would have saved tons of time from using the two blocks since the C plate is larger than the 5 x 7 area I was stamping. Oh well at least I know for future reference! Thanks for the info Sharon!!

Unmounting Stamps

I have had a few requests to post how I unmount my stamps so I thought I would repost the information today.

This was original aired *okie laughs at sounding like she is on tv* in October last year.

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I decided this weekend I would get the rest of my stamps unmounted and put in the Stampin Up Stamp Cases I ordered from Stampin Up. I didn't decide this until Friday night, and I didn't finish until Saturday night! WHEW talk about a job! But it was totally worth it. I got 10 sets of Stampin Up stamps to fit in 3 DVD cases.

Now I knew if I posted about doing this you guys would be hollering "hey okie we need pictures!" so in my foresight I took pictures! Okay everyone say "YYEEAHHH OKIEEEEE!"....I can't hear you! *okie puts one hand behind her ear and waves up with her other arm to get the people cheering*. That was much better!!

I got the static cling foam on eBay from a seller named 941nmb and I got the product quickly. The seller did combine shipping. I ordered 7 sheets and I now only have 1/2 sheet left.

1. In order to save on foam I laid out a sheet of foam and then arranged my stamps to maximize usage of the product *okie thinks she sounded very professional just then*. Okay, let's break it down, ya'll know I am cheap and I am gonna find the best way I can to get the most out of anything! HA HA HA










2. Here you can see where I stamped the images with Stazon ink. I used Stazon so it would be permanent and not rub off. I left the stamps on the foam as I was stamping so I could get them positioned where they were originally. I did sometimes have to move a stamp or two so I could get an image stamped.











3. I unmounted my stamps by peeling them off the blocks and foam. Usually the foam stayed on the block and I was just able to peel the stamp off the foam. If you have problems you can stick the stamp in the microwave for a few seconds to loosen up the adhesive. Luckily I didn't have any problems and mine come off pretty easy. Some of the older ones took a little bit more elbow grease but it wasn't bad.




4. I lined up the image on the foam by holding it up to the light. I actually had the stamped side toward the light and the stamp facing me. I thought about trying to find my little light table thing I have but I was too lazy to go look for it. The good thing about the foam is that it takes a few hours for it to become permanent so if you don't get it straight the first time *okie thinks...or the first four times* don't worry, you can just pull the stamp up and reposition.











5. After trimming the foam on a few I noticed my scissors were getting sticky and I go the Undu out and cleaned them off. I decided to use the little device shown in the picture to get rid of the sticky and it made it a lot easier to trim the stamp. I can't remember the name of the thing, but it has talcum powder in it.






6. Next I trimmed right next to the stamped image. The foam cuts very easily. I was using big scissors at first but then went to using my Cutterbee's because I could get in the corners a lot easier on some of the stamps.








7. TADA! *okie throws her hands in the air like she just did the most fabulous magic trick* And this is what you end up with after you get the stamp stamped on the foam, unmounted from the block, positioned on the foam and then trimmed! A nice little stamp that takes up about 1/4 of the room you were using before!





8. Now you can see why I unmounted my stamps! What you see in the picture is actually space saving proof. All 10 sets of the stamps fit in 3 Stampin Up Stamp Cases! A few of the sets were smaller ones but at least half were the large sets.


Well now you guys see why I didn't post this weekend! Oh I know you are thinking "okay so what did you do all day today!" I worked on my Naughty Princess card set that will start tomorrow!

Unmounting Stamps - Revisited

I have had a lot of interest in the last few days about how I unmount my stamps. I have posted the link to the post on my blog where I showed pictures and went through how I do this process but since getting a few more inquiries I thought this post was worth revisiting. I did do a little editing to the original tutorial.

Also, tonight is the deadline for the ProMarker giveaway! If you feel you didn't answer all the questions correctly that is okay, I said semi-correctly. For those who feel like I made you jump through hoops this time...oh well. I just thought it would be something different to do and since it was a bit of a bigger giveaway I did think it deserved a little more effort. I will never tell you that you have to post about my blog on a whole bunch of different places nor will I tell you that you have to follow my blog *okie is still in awe that people think they NEED blog followers since it kinda freaks okie out that 1,700+ are following her and is always concerned about making a wrong turn and getting everyone lost*.

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I got the static cling foam on eBay from a seller named 941nmb and I got the product quickly. The seller did combine shipping. I ordered 7 sheets and I now only have 1/2 sheet left. I believe the foam is about 1/8 of an inch thick, if that thick.

1. In order to save on foam I laid out a sheet of foam and then arranged my stamps to maximize usage of the product *okie thinks she sounded very professional just then*. Okay, let's break it down, ya'll know I am cheap and I am gonna find the best way I can to get the most out of anything! HA HA HA












2. Here you can see where I stamped the images with Stazon ink. I used Stazon so it would be permanent and not rub off. I left the stamps on the foam as I was stamping so I could get them positioned where they were originally. I did sometimes have to move a stamp or two so I could get an image stamped.











3. I unmounted my stamps by peeling them off the blocks and foam. Usually the foam stayed on the block and I was just able to peel the stamp off the foam. If you have problems you can stick the stamp in the microwave for a few seconds to loosen up the adhesive. Luckily I didn't have any problems and mine come off pretty easy. Some of the older ones took a little bit more elbow grease but it wasn't bad.





4. I lined up the image on the foam by holding it up to the light. I actually had the stamped side toward the light and the stamp facing me. I thought about trying to find my little light table thing I have but I was too lazy to go look for it. The good thing about the foam is that it takes a few hours for it to become permanent so if you don't get it straight the first time *okie thinks...or the first four times* don't worry, you can just pull the stamp up and reposition.











5. After trimming the foam on a few I noticed my scissors were getting sticky and I go the Undu out and cleaned them off. I decided to use the little device shown in the picture to get rid of the sticky and it made it a lot easier to trim the stamp. I can't remember the name of the thing, but it has talcum powder in it.







6. Next I trimmed right next to the stamped image. The foam cuts very easily. I was using big scissors at first but then went to using my Cutterbee's because I could get in the corners a lot easier on some of the stamps.








7. TADA! *okie throws her hands in the air like she just did the most fabulous magic trick* And this is what you end up with after you get the stamp stamped on the foam, unmounted from the block, positioned on the foam and then trimmed! A nice little stamp that takes up about 1/4 of the room you were using before!


You may have to rinse or wipe off the stamp after you do this because the powder keeps the stamp from sticking to the DVD case.





8. Now you can see why I unmounted my stamps! What you see in the picture is actually space saving proof. All 10 sets of the stamps fit in 3 DVD cases! A few of the sets were smaller ones but at least half were the large sets.








Stampin Up is offering many of their stamps in the "clear" form now that is how I order mine when possible. Those I leave on their original foam. If you do some rearranging of the stamps you can often get two sets in one case. I just line them up where I can fit more in, this way it saves on storage as well. But I do not store on both sides of the DVD case if the stamps are on the original Stampin Up foam.

If the stamps are a new wood mount set I take them off their original foam since it is thicker than what I use for the rest and it allows me to use both sides of the DVD case this way. Here you can see how they stamps don't come in to contact with one another with the case closed.

I have my sets on a shelf in my craftroom *okie thinks that was stupid to say because where else would she keep them? The bathroom?* I have the DVD crates from Walmart standing up and slide them in there. Stampin Up sells the DVD cases for $4.95 for a set of 4. If you are interested in ordering cases and don't have a Stampin Up demo just let me know and I will gladly refer you to a demo I do business with quite frequently.

Okie? Where is Okie??

Well I am right here! *okie cracks up laughin*

I decided this weekend I would get the rest of my stamps unmounted and put in the DVD cases I ordered from Stampin Up. I didn't decide this until Friday night, and I didn't finish until Saturday night! WHEW talk about a job! But it was totally worth it. I got 10 sets of Stampin Up stamps to fit in 3 DVD cases.

Now I knew if I posted about doing this you guys would be hollering "hey okie we need pictures!" so in my foresight I took pictures! Okay everyone say "YYEEAHHH OKIEEEEE!"....I can't hear you! *okie puts one hand behind her ear and waves up with her other arm to get the people cheering*. That was much better!!

I got the static cling foam on eBay from a seller named 941nmb and I got the product quickly. The seller did combine shipping. I ordered 7 sheets and I now only have 1/2 sheet left.

1. In order to save on foam I laid out a sheet of foam and then arranged my stamps to maximize usage of the product *okie thinks she sounded very professional just then*. Okay, let's break it down, ya'll know I am cheap and I am gonna find the best way I can to get the most out of anything! HA HA HA










2. Here you can see where I stamped the images with Stazon ink. I used Stazon so it would be permanent and not rub off. I left the stamps on the foam as I was stamping so I could get them positioned where they were originally. I did sometimes have to move a stamp or two so I could get an image stamped.











3. I unmounted my stamps by peeling them off the blocks and foam. Usually the foam stayed on the block and I was just able to peel the stamp off the foam. If you have problems you can stick the stamp in the microwave for a few seconds to loosen up the adhesive. Luckily I didn't have any problems and mine come off pretty easy. Some of the older ones took a little bit more elbow grease but it wasn't bad.




4. I lined up the image on the foam by holding it up to the light. I actually had the stamped side toward the light and the stamp facing me. I thought about trying to find my little light table thing I have but I was too lazy to go look for it. The good thing about the foam is that it takes a few hours for it to become permanent so if you don't get it straight the first time *okie thinks...or the first four times* don't worry, you can just pull the stamp up and reposition.











5. After trimming the foam on a few I noticed my scissors were getting sticky and I go the Undu out and cleaned them off. I decided to use the little device shown in the picture to get rid of the sticky and it made it a lot easier to trim the stamp. I can't remember the name of the thing, but it has talcum powder in it.






6. Next I trimmed right next to the stamped image. The foam cuts very easily. I was using big scissors at first but then went to using my Cutterbee's because I could get in the corners a lot easier on some of the stamps.








7. TADA! *okie throws her hands in the air like she just did the most fabulous magic trick* And this is what you end up with after you get the stamp stamped on the foam, unmounted from the block, positioned on the foam and then trimmed! A nice little stamp that takes up about 1/4 of the room you were using before!





8. Now you can see why I unmounted my stamps! What you see in the picture is actually space saving proof. All 10 sets of the stamps fit in 3 DVD cases! A few of the sets were smaller ones but at least half were the large sets.


Well now you guys see why I didn't post this weekend! Oh I know you are thinking "okay so what did you do all day today!" I worked on my Naughty Princess card set that will start tomorrow!


*****UPDATE DUE TO THAT PAIN IN MY AZZ JANN!*****

Jann asked about my stamp binders. Well I still use them. And that was part of the reason it took me so long to finish the whole stamp thing. I had some Stampin Up stamps in my binders and as I was going through the binders I noticed my stamps had somehow gotten disorganized. So of course I had to re-organize them! I do still love my binders and use them for my acrylic stamps.


You can click on the pictures to make them bigger if you want to see more detail.

Here is a picture of what my table looked like while I was in the middle of the process. It was quite a task redoing them all but now I can easily find what I need. I actually knew they had gotten a little disorganized but I just didn't want to do the task. But felt I had no choice this weekend since I had them all out anyway.








Here are my binders on the shelf. The white binders hold my Studio G and Inkadinkado stamps in baseball sleeves. Don't they look so neat?

And yes those are CARDS magazines you see on the shelf. I LOVE THAT MAGAZINE!







Here is a close up of the Tim Holtz binder tags all relabeled more appropriately now. It will be a lot easier to just grab the binder I need rather than thinking I had the right one and then finding out I didn't!

I HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY NOW JANN! *okie cracks up laughin*

I was asked to show how I unmounted my stamps

So I took some pictures of how I did it. I posted this on the Cricut MB but some folks couldn't see the pictures and I was asked to post it on my blog as well.

Peel the label off the block. Different brands do differently. I had problems with Hero Art stamps but SU and Studio G's did fine. This particular stamp is a Studio G.


Peel the stamp off the block. You can pop it in the microwave for a few seconds but I was too lazy to stand in the kitchen and use the microwave so I just peeled them off.


Peel the foam off the stamp. Again different brands react different. The SU stamps were usually pretty easy to get off the foam. I did notice if there was residue on the SU stamps it was easily rubbed off with my finger.


Line up your label on the back of the stamp. I quickly learned that the labels are not always the exact size of the stamp. Since I use a Stamp Ma Jig for stamping most of the time I also figured it was not necessary to get it EXACTLY straight, however I do try to line up as best as I can.



Trim the label next to the stamp. Cutterbee scissors get closer to the edge than regular scissors.


And there you have it! Your stamp now has the label so it can be easily identified!! If the sticky is not on the label well I am thinking you can likely run it through your Xyron easily enough and get the label to stick better.



Stay tuned for when I get the Aleene's Tack It Over and Over to apply to the back of my stamps for storage and using with the acrylic blocks.