From the Penny Black blog . . .

A Merry Christmas Tag by Elizabeth

October 19, 2011

by Jenyfur

In keeping with this week’s gift tag theme, Elizabeth Allan created a gift tag that can also serve as a beautiful ornament. To make “wool” mittens, she covered them with red crushed velvet flock.

FRONT VIEW

BACK VIEW

SUPPLIES: Penny Black Stamps – Air Mail 30-072 (to and from), Let It Snow 30-086 (snowflake, present and circular sentiment), Warm Wishes (mittens) 40-074. Penny Black Mix & Match Cardstock: Forest Glen 07-003.

Penny Black is one of the open catalog companies at the Annual Christmas Party this Sunday, Oct. 23, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. And there will be sample cards made with Penny Black stamps displayed at the Party

 

From Cheiron's Crafty Life blog, I read how she organizes her cling-mount stamps. I asked if I could share this with you since so many of us are buying cling-mount stamps due to limited storage. I recognized Cheiron's name because she teaches frequently at The Ink Pad, 'the' stamping store in New York City that I frequent the few times I find myself back there.

organize & store: cling & clear stamps (click on line on left; it will take you to Cheiron's blog)

I remember when I was not really into buying clear or cling stamps. I loved the look and feel of wood mounted stamps and that is all I was going to buy. There are so many great cling and clear stamps now that I seem to have quite a collection. At first I was putting them into small binders by company, but the collection became too big. Then I started putting them into some plastic sleeves, and putting those sleeves in 6 x 6 paper holders, and they stopped making those plastic sleeves. I think I have finally found a solution, at least one that works for me. I thought I would share it with you.

This is what the stamps look like on my shelf:

I like to keep my sets (especially my Hero Arts sets) out where I can see them with the original carboard packaging (but not the plastic bag) that has the name of the set on it. I found that these sets fit perfectly in half sheet page protectors that I picked up from Staples. It also gives me comfort knowing that if a stamp loses its "stick" (since I don't always clean them that well) and falls of the sheet, it's not going anywhere but inside the little sheet protector. For my cling and clear sets that come with an image detail on the outside, I just cut it out and glue it onto a piece of cardstock.

Once I got all my stamp sets in their protective sheets, I found that they fit perfectly in the ITSO plastic storage bins that are available in the home storage section at Target stores (but not online). I then made little dividers for them out of chipboard, and put them into categories. For me, these are easy to find, they fit perfectly on my shelves and I can "shop" through them whenever I need to look for something. It reminds me of going to the fabric store with my mom as a girl and looking through the patterns.

Here's a closer look:

Hope you enjoyed this tip on storing clear and cling stamps. Are there any other supplies that you are having a hard time storing? Just let me know, maybe I can help!

 

Cheiron's blog can be found at http://cheironbrandon.typepad.com

If you have a way of organizing and storing your cling-mount stamps, please let us know if you'd like to share your method.