Getting Organized

Getting Organized

It's great fun to spend time crafting and creating.  Every once in awhile, though, I have to take a deep breath and re-organize things in my craft room.

After two years as a CTMH consultant, I have collected almost 200 stamp sets.  It was becoming nearly impossible to locate "that stamp with the wedding bells" or "lighthouses" or "Sorry for your loss" sentiments or... you name it.  I spent more time pawing through my large organizers looking for things than I spent making things!  SO, I took several days and organized my STAMPS.

Excel Spreadsheet

This Excel spreadsheet catalogues stamps by number, title, description of each stamp, how many (yes, maybe I'm the only one who does it, but I wind up with duplicates because I forget what I have and buy another one) and whether there is a complimentary Cricut cartridge.  Using the spreadsheet, I can search by item or phrase ("Christmas", "Congratulations", "Happy Birthday", "cake", heart") to locate the stamps that most closely match what I want to portray.

Stamp set with project example

 Next, I went through old catalogues and found examples of how the stamp set can be used.  Having a picture on the FRONT of the stamp envelope allows me to file the stamps by catalogue number, rather than by event, season, holiday or other designation which might not come to mind when searching for a specific stamp.

Large Organizer with stamp sets

As I catalogued the stamp sets, I filled CTMH large organizers (Z1834) with them.  A and B sets in one, C and D sets in one, 2012-2013 Stamp of the Month (SOTM) in one, 2014-15 SOTM and Cricut cartridge stamps in the last 2 organizers.  I didn't label the organizers since I may have to change them out later.

Slide out cabinet drawer with organizers

Finally, I put 4 of the 5 organizers in the slide out drawer of my lower cabinet - they fit perfectly!  Since the lower slide out drawer holds my Cricut machine and cartridges, there is no room for the fifth organizer - it's on the floor.  One step at a time, right?

Perhaps this will energize you to get organized with your stamps.  It certainly makes it easier to find what I need without going through all my stamps.

Thanks for looking and keep enjoying summer!

Blessings,

II Corinthians 4:15-18