Organizing My Rubber Stamps

whenever i get stamps out for a project, it always seems like i'm reacquainting myself with my stamps.  i always forget which sets i own.  i store my stamps on their sides in large rubbermaid drawers, so it's difficult to take one look and see its contents.

i've been wanting to take inventory of my stamps for quite awhile now, but knew that it would take a couple of days to complete.  so here it is! the big reveal!  LOL  seriously though, i'm really loving it.  i created this binder as a quick reference to what stamps i have and which drawer they're located in.

i used my rub on letters to write on the cover... have a mentioned lately how much i LOVE rub on letter?? ;o)

when i open it up, it's broken down into the categories and drawers the stamps are located in:

• tags & greetings
• nature & elements
• holidays & occasions
• backgrounds, borders, & shapes

here's the 1st page of my tags & greeting stamps. i stamped all the images on a blank piece of paper,  and circled and labeled each set so i can quickly find the stamp set.

here's the 1st page of the nature & elements stamps.

here's the first page of the holiday & occasions stamps.

here's the first page of the backgrounds, borders, & shapes stamps.

behind all of these pages are my clear stamps. i love how they store flat and all in one place!  clear stamps are so fun to work with... you know EXACTLY where they're going (which is nice for a perfectionist like me).  :o)

most of the clear stamp sets have an additional piece of plastic that shows the image.  for those that don't, i saved the sheet that came with them or i stamped the images and stored them in the page in front of the set.

these next 2 sets are from PAPERTREYink.  i love their stamps and they have some TALENTED designers and bloggers who inspire me.  i love how these sets fit perfectly into this divided sleeve. my sis gave me a couple different sets of divided sleeves and they were perfect for this project and for storing recipes in a cookbook binder... i'm not sure where she picked them up.

and in the back are all of my clear alphabet sets. 

hope i didn't bore you with all of the pictures. i really love my stamps organized this way.  now when i need a butterfly stamp i can flip through all of the pages of nature & elements and look at my options.  it's so much easier, quicker, and neater than going to the drawer, flipping through all of the boxes of stamps, pulling them out, and comparing all my options.  also, now when i'm tempted to buy new sets, i browse through this to see if i really need a new set.  by the time i've flipped through the binder, i know i don't really need another set. :o)