Today I would like to share a fabulous storage idea for your sweetpea stamps. I have a loooot of the stamps and tried to keep them in order, but it's been hard. They have been standing up in a box with the platenumbers sorted, but it's hard to look through what I have and in the end I just take out the thing that was on top. Not the best way to use your stamps. So here's my new idea and I'm superexcited about it. Just took two days to sort through ;)
I got myself a bunch of plastic protectors in standard size that are divided in 4 pockets and open at the top. I think they are originally used for photos or postcards. I think the ones for postcards are clear all the way through (without the white) but these work better as you can focus better on each page without distraction. The pages are perfect for most of the full plates from sweetpea as they come in four or two. They look the same on the back so you will actually store eight stamps/page. Isn't it great?
The stamps that are small can be put in plastic sheets that are divided in nine. They are used for collector's cards and such. This idea I actually found on someone else's blog, but realized it wouldn't work with the sweetpeas. So I got thinking and when I came up with the four divided ones I thought it would be brilliant. Especially with each page holding a full sheet! The small stamps work great with the nine pocket pages.
I always write up the name, platenumber and artist on the back of each stamp. I will also put little labels on each page with the plate number and artist's name. Just need to get myself some selfadheisive labels. If you get repositionable ones you will be able to move the stamps around and relabel the pages.
As I mostly have ching chou kuik stamps I now have a slightly overfull binder (actually think I'll have to divide them up into two). If you have a hard time seeing what the stamps are you could stamp up the image on paper and put it in each pocket. The stamp can then slide behind the image. I think I will do this, but it will have to be done in small steps...Next I will do the same with the sentimentstamps, but those I really have to stamp up on paper first so I can divide them in themes or such. Right now I barely use them because I can't find anything or see what it says.
Oh, I'm so excited about this idea and think it will make my life so much better. And my poor craftingcorner will thank me for getting rid of all the boxes. Now the only question is what to do with all the new space :D
Let me know if you get to use this idea. I'd love to know if I've made anyone's life any easier.
Keep crafting.
1 comment:
I understand your frustration trying to store all of your Sweet Pea Stamps! This addiction piles up quickly with all of their great sales, so I'm facing the same problem since most of my stamps are stored in CD cases. Since I can only fit one stamp in most of the cases, I need a new idea quickly since I have over 50 of them now. The problem with this storage method is that I use Plaid Stikit Again & Again on the backs of the stamps. I could probably cut out some lightweight cardboard & cover it with clear Contact paper or even cut up old magnetic photo albums to place the stamps on before I put them in the pockets. I could then use the clear page protectors to put the pictures of the images in between each page.
I live in a very small one-bedroom apt., so storage is always a problem for me. I'll give this method a little try before I completely change over. Thanks for the idea, and I'm also looking forward to what other Sweet Pea Stamp collectors use as their storage method. Maybe Lynette could do a blog hop with a storage theme. =)
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