Stamp storage - clip it up versus a4 binder

[Nerlly]

I have tried the cd storage in a drawer and flick through them, but I have too many stamps and it is taking up too much space.

I also like the original packing sometimes, so possibly laminate, then glue dot on back of original and stick it down a possibility.

It depends, as I think you said earlier, where you're going to put your stamps. Drawers tend not to be big enough, unless you've got a filing cabinet, lol.

I use A4 ring binders which works for me because I have an Expedit unit and so access is from the front. Baskets or boxes wouldn't work because I would have to pull them out, take the lid off, blah blah blah. But if you have top access then boxes, preferably not stacked, would be fine.

Like you, I keep the original packaging. I don't stamp my own index sheet because it takes forever and doesn't really help if you're putting the stamps on top of it. I have plastic sleeves from Ryman's - they do stronger ones, and come to think of it I bought some recently and have no idea what I've done with them! I laminate loads of A4 copy paper, trim a little off the long edge to make more room, and stick the stamps to them in their original sets. Then I slip the index sheet in front. If it's a small A5 index sheet I staple it to the laminated A4, at the side or the bottom so it doesn't interfere with removal of the sheet from the pocket.

My stamps are stored by manufacturer, which makes it very easy to start up a new file if the others gets full. Originally I started with 'rubber', 'clear' and 'words', but have now added individual files for PaperArtsy, Crafty Individuals, and some mixed files for other manufacturers. I can see my Artistic Outpost stamps getting their own file soon, too!

I also started - but haven't really kept up with - a recipe-box with index sheets for all the stamps in it, filed under image type. This is very time consuming but does become more useful as your stamp collection grows. So, for example, if I wanted a swirl, I would look under the 'decorative elements' section at the 'swirls' sheet and pick the one I wanted. You have to put the name of the manufacturer/set on there, obviously.

I store my papers by manufacturer as well. It works for me because I can usually recall a particular design I want to use, and if I can't go straight to it then by having to flip through other papers I often find a better option.

[Weaselwise]

This problem grows like topsy - everybody has their own way of storing their stamps and they are all different - it's hard to know which one to go for. The box my clear stamps is in is groaning at the seams so I really need to do something about it, but have yet to pick one of the methods that appeals to my haphazard way of thinking.

So far I'm using A5 acetate sheets, stamping on the front and clinging them on the back, then slipping them into an A5 polypocket, 'cos the only spare shelf I have available is a little over A5 height... however that could all change... I do rather like Really Useful Boxes (I have enough of them!)

However, methinks this is going to take forever, cos its not just the stamping on the acetates (thats the easy bit!), its the cataloguing of them afterwards that I'm trying to fathom out. I've seen manual methods and computerised ones, and that is what is putting me off doing much more at the moment.