The 1986 card that inspired my LOVE for papercrafting!

This card was given to me in about 1986 by my sister.  I don’t recall what circumstances led her to rubber stamping  but I clearly remember when I saw this adorable card I was really impressed.  The first time I went to visit her after receiving this card she shared with me her small shoe box sized collection of paper crafting supplies.  I am giggling, as she will too when she reads this, because … well…. her supply has definitely grown! She showed me her few stamps and we had a blast making cards.  I especially remember using glittered embossing powder that we heat set using the toaster! heehee Good times!

 This blog post is inspired by my friend, Carole.  She participated in the latest WOYWW (What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday) challenge and gave us a glimpse into her crafting studio.  It was the first time I had heard about the challenge and really enjoyed seeing this part of her home and I enjoyed seeing her chickens too! See her post HERE.  Carole posed the question: “How do you store your stamps”.  So, as promised, here is a long story of how I store, and index, my stamps : )

After my initial introduction into rubber stamping I collected a few supplies along the way but the availability of great papercrafting supplies was definitely not the same then as it is now.  By 1998 I had my own shoe boxed size collection.  It was that year that I was introduced to a group of ladies who were using products from The Angel Company.  The Angel Company offered the first rubber stamps I had ever seen that were not mounted to wood.  After purchase of their stamps you would cut the stamps out and then apply a Tacky Glue to the back of the red sponge. 

After the Tacky Glue dried the stamps would “cling”  to clear acrylic blocks for  use.  Once you were done using the stamp you would remove it from the clear block and store it in a CD case.  Because I had a mere dozen stamps I immediately “un-mounted” all of my rubber stamps – a method I still practice today. 

Soon after I started buying stamps from The Angel Company they improved their product - Oh Happy Day!!  Stamps still came mounted on red or blue rubber and some cutting out was required but the horrible messy part of applying the glue was eliminated as the backing of the new improved stamps was a gray foam with a cling surface for easy use with a clear acrylic block.  

  I was hooked on un-mounted stamping for the ease of storage!  I store most of my rubber stamps in a CD holder that fits comfortably on my desk.

It has a built in turn table so it spins easily.  It is approximately 16" high and  11" across with four columns that hold 112 CD cases.  Last year I had two of these on my desk and was needing a THIRD one! so I decided to do some downsizing.  Now I am  now only using one - which is already getting stuffed full and I'm thinking I need to pull my second carousel back out again pretty soon!  : )  As you can see it is nothing fancy. It is a working tool so it is a bit beaten and worn but it works!!

There are two exceptions to this storage method in my craft room.   

1. My House Mouse & Hopper stamps still have the wood attached and are presently stored in a tote.  I simply can’t bring myself to un-mount these stamps because the image on the wood is colored so nicely.  These stamps are like little works of art, as far as I am concerned : ) I often  “decorate” my crafting space by displaying these stamps on my shelves. 

2. Close to My Heart (CTMH) stamps.  These images are so well packaged and so smartly done I see no need to change up what they have already perfected.  All of my CTMH stamps are stored in a storage tote.

This leads me to a suggestion for Carole and anyone else who has their stamps stored in more than one location - an index book.  This book is a three-ring binder.

It is not fancy.  I have stamped images of the stamps I own on white pieces of paper or I have scanned the sheets that come with clear stamps or scanned the back of the House Mouse Stamp but no matter how I do it I get an impression of each and every image I own into this stamp index. 

Under each stamp set or specific image I record where the stamp is so that I can easily find the image. In the cases of the stamps in the CD cases – each CD case is marked with a number. 

I have tried to categorize the pages in my book ie: "people" stamps, Floral stamps, juvenile stamps, House Mouse stamps etc. and near the back of my index I have sentiment only stamps.  This works for me : )

Now that Digi images are becoming a big part of my card making I have now added digis to my index.  Under each digi image is the location on my computer where they are stored. : )  So when I’m looking for a butterfly, for instance, I can easily see all the stamps and digis I own that include a butterfly by paging through my index.  

 ** just a note**  I know un-mounting is not for everyone and that un-mounting ALL my stamps worked because I started doing it when I didn’t have very many stamps.  I still do it because I simply do not buy that many wood mounted stamps anymore.  But just in case anyone is interested  I would like to share here that although The Angel Company is no longer in business you can still get the cling foam for unmounting your stamps from Red Rubber Designs.

I hope this long post has been helpful!  Please let  me know if you have any questions.  I’d love to help.  Please join the fun that Julia at Stamping Ground is serving up with her WOYWW challenges. It is really fun looking at where our friends in the blogging world get inky! : )  

Have a great day!

Patti