Ahh - I can't believe its time for my favorite blog hop of the year already!
It's my favorite because it's my chance to thank you for supporting me this year. Thank you for your comments, your video views, for purchasing through my links, for sending me cards, and for encouraging me!
I'm very grateful to each and every one of you. I read every single comment on my blog, and it's so uplifting and inspiring, and keeps me feeling creative and energized, so thank you.
The way we give back to our readers for this event is through individual giveaways at each stop on the blog hop, and I have a really awesome one for one lucky commenter, and two other individual stamp set prizes! Details below!
You are going to see a lot of crafty inspiration on tonight's blog hop, so I thought I'd take a different approach and see if I could give you a gift that might help you with one of your New Year's Resolutions! Are you resolved to be more organized in this new year of a new decade?
Well I sat down and documented how I store and catalog my stamps, dies and stencils, which is something I finally crossed off my list in 2019 and I thought I'd share all that with you, with a video tutorial on how I use the software I use to store and retrieve my stamps while I'm designing.
I design cards by starting with a stamp image. I then search my entire inventory by keyword for the absolute perfect sentiment. Before I had this system, I was really under-utilizing all the diverse images and sentiments I have! This system absolutely increases the value of my crafty collection, because I have access to every sentiment, every image, every word die, every stencil pattern with just a few keystrokes. To find what I'm looking for by manually flipping through all my stamp sets would take HOURS, and now it just takes me seconds! The small amount of work on the front end is well worth the productivity gains.
First, I wanted something that matched the way I store my stamps completely. I store my stamps, dies and stencils in only three sizes of pockets, and two bins. I store the small stamps together, alphabetically by manufacturer, and within manufacturer, alphabetically.
Dies are stored in a medium pocket, alphabetically within manufacturer, in two rows in the top of a Raskog cart.
Here's what I use - it's pretty simple.
- Small stamp pockets and small stamp storage bins. Matching dies are stored in the back of the pocket, behind the insert. I get the cardstock inserts pre-cut at CutCardstock.com (5x7)
- Large stamp pockets - also used for all stencils - and large stamp storage bins. Inserts are pre-cut by CutCardstock.com. Matching dies are stored in the back of the pocket behind the insert.
- Standalone die pockets - inserts pre-cut by CutCardstock.com
- Labels - I used to use a label maker. But that's not only very time-consuming, the label refills are very expensive, and I find the soft keys on the keyboard of the label maker I have very hard to use and slow going. I now do the Microsoft Word template for these labels and print a whole page of labels all at once. Just a fraction of the price and time.
On to the online organization! I tried ALL the apps prior to this one and none were that Goldilocks "just right" like this one is.
I use the my beloved Airtable as a starting point. You can get a free Airtable account at this link. I customized it completely to my needs, so you'll see what I did in the video, but you can customize yours to your unique needs! Here's a screenshot. You'll see more in the video, but you can see I have a stamp set photo, link, all the sentiments in the set, themes and a link to the matching dies. I love it so much! It's available as a phone app and a desktop app - I type better on a real keyboard, so I put the stamp set names in on my phone and add the sentiments, etc. on my computer
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Fun, right? And easy once you see it all set up.
Before I go, I wanted to share a few of my life favorites I've added to My Favorite Things lists here.
- A nurse from Kaiser in California shared this lifechanging adhesive remover spray with us this year. If you have been in the hospital and had a lot of things stuck all over you and had the skin irritation that comes with removing them - this is a lifesaver, and can prevent infection by preserving your skin - you spray it on and it instantly releases adhesive.
- This amazing hair dryer/styling tool. I decided to treat myself with a more expensive (really expensive) version for my birthday. It worked for two seconds and died. The replacement they sent me worked for two seconds and died. I did not try for a third and just got my money back. This new one at 1/10th the price is FANTASTIC. There's also a travel case for it.
- I shared this earlier, but if there was a fan club for this ratcheting paper towel holder, I'd be the president. Truly a one-handed paper towel dispenser and heavy duty and awesome.
Be sure and check out my other lists, especially if you like true crime podcasts or food, or crafty things!
Want to know about my prize? I have a giant bundle of brand new stamps and dies for you! I have two stamp + die bundles, three standalone dies and NINE stamp sets - all from some of my favorite companies. But because I love surprises, I'm going to let my winner be surprised when it arrives. I'll only give you a peek at one of the stamp sets, which is one of my favorites. I brought this story over from the true crime community into the stamping community in 2018 with a little hashtag on myInstagram and this story on my blog (please read - it will touch your heart), and this year Unity brought it to life in a stamp set, and it makes me so happy. It's a story I think about daily. So this is one of the stamp sets I'm including.
So as you head into the next decade, enjoy some inspiration from my friends, and some awesome separate giveaways at each hop!
