How a organize pt 1

ok, i know i have done a couple of these, but this is how i am currently organizing my craft room. i will do this in a couple of parts, just focusing on a key part each post.

This is how i organize my stamps. i use to do the little crate boxes you get for a dollar but my collection was adding up quick. (i have no idea how that happpended :) ) One day i found these plastic crates outside. my neighbor was throwing them away. i have no idea what they are really for, but they were big and sturdy so i knew i could use them. Happy accident, i found they fit my stamps. WOOHOO. out went the plastic crates. Another happy accident is that they fit side by side perfectly in my bookcase under my desk. again, WOOHOO.

How i have them is far left, retired ; middle left , last idea book and old sotm; middle right, current wotg and sotm, old wotg; far right, current idea book.

I have a stamp catologe, where i stamp every stamp i own and place them into catagories. this took forever because i did not start when i started ctmh. i already had about 100 stamps. it took me two days. but it was worth it. now when i get new stamps, i just add it to my catalog. This has helped me out a lot.

Also, so i put my stamps in the right place, i color code my stamps. only current and last idea book. I also just started numbering them. Current stamps are number by the idea book (i.e. first stamp is 1, second stamp is 2. there are over 80 stamps in the new idea book, not counting wotg and sotm) Last idea book is just numbered by how many i have. ( i think i have 20) I go by where the show up in the idea book.

This i know i have shown but i am showing it again. this is the only thing that hasn't changed since i started it as an ink organizer. Its past life was a wooden cassette box. Got it for $2 and a garage sale. Love me some bargins. I used to use it for my acrylic paint and wooden stamps. I now have my paints in a clear box. i use cardboard to make little cubbies so i can take out my ink pads on at a time. on the other side i have jars and my blocks. i dont think i will ever be using this for something else. just works too good.

so that was part one of my tour. come back next week where i will show you how i organize my paper and scraps, for at least this month