WOYWW 199 - warning, long post

After missing WOYWW for a few weeks I reckon I should have a note from my Mum :(

Still plodding on with organising my stamps - am onto the clear ones now and they're gonna take a lot of time I can see, you're likely to be finished way ahead of me Elizabeth!! This is what I was up to yesterday:

There's a reason I took the photo at 10:30 yesterday morning - Len was out and I was about to try something while he wasn't around that could potentially have meant running for the fire extinguisher :)

This was my first attempt at the storage for clear stamps. A piece of white card and the stamps from two different sets stamped before laminating the sheet. In truth, the stamps do all need to be stamped onto index cards as well 'cos, although I'm keeping them in sets within the binders, for example - images such as the bird will  sit better under the category 'birds' in the card index box.

BUT, the white card I'm trying to use up is not especially stamp ink friendly, it's OK. Plus, actually fitting the stamps onto my own stamped images wasn't really a walk in the park - and I thought it looked a bit messy.

And then - I suddenly wondered why on earth I was thinking of disposing of the acetate that comes with most stamp sets with the images already printed on!? Soooooooo, I waited until Len was out and the coast was clear, plugged in the laminator, said a quick prayer to St. Mytrimmer (Patron Saint of crafters) and had another play:

And it worked - so much neater!! No fires either :)) The main thing is to put some card in the laminate 'sandwich' behind the acetate to prevent buckling - and you need the card anyhow for the images behind the stamps to stand out well.

And here's the laminated article, trimmed and corners rounded to reduce finger slicing, with the stamps on and a piece of same sized clear acetate on top so the sandwich slides in and out easily. The stamps tend to adhere to the acetate better than to the shiny laminate anyhow but hey - am I bovvered so long as they don't fall off one side or the other?!

Then, the laminate, stamps and protective clear acetate all slide into a side opening clear file pocket - ready to be stored in lever arch files.

I know that everyone has their own way of storing non-wood mounted stamps, often driven by space, shelving etc. I've seen DVD cases and lots of other ideas - but this seems to be a solution that's gonna work for me. It all hinges on the A6 card file box where I have single stamped images in categories, with details and their location also written on.

In time, all of this shelf is likely to be taken up by files of actual stamps - at the moment I haven't labelled the files but from left to right they are:

- dies, on A4 magnetic sheets in file pockets

- three postcard albums for unmounted rubber stamps

- two lever arch files - ready for the clear stamps

- and the cream file is full of tips and techniques saved from magazines or sent to me by Sarn.......plus a lot of receipts so I know where I bought certain things from. As I've said previously, I'm dead meat if Len ever takes a look in there and tots up the evidence though :))

Sorry for rabbiting but without making a video (snort!) this is the best way I can explain what's going on right now.

So, do hop over to Julia's to check out what everyone else is up to - and have a lovely WOYWW!

Di
x