UM storage Fairy!

[TimeforT]

;) Where oh where is the Good Fairy of UM storage? My new stamps are still in baggies and in a pile on the floor! I can't seem to get these going anywhere. should I just play in among the mess?:cry:
Seriously I need any ideas to jump start me into action!!!!1

[stmpstone]

When I go anyplace, where I have to wait, I generally take some rubber to cut. The TAC stamps come in boxes and they come without wood so they are lightweight enough to take along. I'm sure to take a grocery bag for scraps which I put into my lap and cut over it so I don't leave a mess. I might get it all caught up some day if I quit buying the unmounted rubber.

I hope you are using a good pair of KAI scissors. I think they are the best. I just cut the rubber then I use a Hot Knife to cut away the cushion. I like my stamps and cushion cut close as I hate picking that little bit of rubber that wasn't trimmed and mark a card....generally when I've just about finished.

This system works for me.
hugs
Claudia

[piecesandpom]

I'm right there with you! I finally succumbed to getting the stamp storage boards for notebooks but last night by the time I finished moving my older stamps to the boards no room for my new rubber! And no room for my other three bags of rubber that have no home. . .guess I'm going to have to order some more! :lol:

While I'm waiting for that I have many small stamps that need new cling mount - didn't move them off the transparencies quickly enough. What a sticky mess. . .

[Fliss]

Hello Teresa:wave: Check out these new 'Stamp Keeper Pages' @ www.goinque.com......Go into New Products and at the bottom of that page you will see 50615 8.5"x11" and 12"x12", they are a 3 page type of folder. I have just checked if I can get them in the U.K. but had no such luck! I feel sure that they would house ez mount stamps and they certainly look an ideal option for storage.

[andreasscraps]

Yes, I have those Stamp Keepers and they hold EZ Mount stamps no problem on the inside of one of the covers (1 layer basically). If you have acrylic stamps or cling rubber like Inque Boutique that are thinner, you can put a layer of stamps on the inside of both covers to get double the storage. I love them so far. My lss carries them, but sold out in record time. They have online shopping, but only ships to US and Canada, sorry!

[stampin stacy]

Purnima had recommended that I get a bottle of Aleene's Tack It Over and Over instead of E Z Mount. A thin coat on the back side, let dry completely and you have repositionable stamps like the Sugarloaf Morsels. Some stamps definitely do better cushion mounted but this seems to workfor many, especially for those small images that were hard to mount on the E Z Mount.

As far as storage I still like CD cases, notebooks got to heavy for me.

If it makes you feel any better I have trimmed my rubber but have not mounted any of it or used the Aleenes'. I've just been playing with them using washable glue stick, still my temporary go system when I can't wait :noway: .

[purple onion]

Andrea,

How long ago did you get the Stamp Keepers? I recently got samples from them and the 8 1/2" x 11" did not fit a stamp with cushion. The 12" x 12" did. I was told they had old stock and now new stock. The new stock is obviously not the same depth as the older ones. I was dissapointed because I wanted these to work.

[Inky Whiskers]

One of the reasons I like loop tape (HALOS) for my UMs is that I can store them in baggies then toss the bags into drawers. Having started with the drawers to store mounteds, it was easier to switch to a UM system that didn't require binders, special containers or shelving.

I get my baggies at Costco and my rolls of loop tape here:

http://www.buyhookandloop.com/All.asp

I buy the 25 yard 4" wide black adhesive backed loop (#43) for way less than I used to spend for 25 feet of the same stuff elsewhere!

I keep my clear sets on the indexing sheet they come with & put those into a SU! stamp box that goes in the drawers. I try to avoid EZ mount because there's too much wasted space if I use the SU! boxes and if I toss them in with the looped stamps, they collect fuzzies something fierce. If I do have something on EZ & I don't feel like remounting it, I stick it to the face of a mounted stamp from the same bag it goes in.

Don't get me started on my index binders for keeping track of my stamps! :))

[andreasscraps]

I've maybe had them a little over a month I think. That stinks that they didn't fit. Won't they replace them?

[purple onion]

Andrea,

You probably got old stock. The one they sent me was about a month ago and they said they had just gotten a shipment in. I had a long talk with them and was asked to send an email with my findings. I just followed up on Friday and they said they were "redesigned". I questioned if they were made deeper and I was told no. I don't know what the re-design was exactly. I never got an answer to that. I wish they would of decided to make them deeper. I really thought they would get alot of unhappy people down the line who think their stamps are going to fit. The video they have on the site talks about putting stamps on both inside covers. You can only do that with a rubber die or clear stamp. I am even questioning if that will work with the sample I received.

[andreasscraps]

To my understanding the redesign was to eliminate the flexible plastic piece with the holes in it and to make holes in the hard extended flaps. Doing that would enable the user to put it in a regular binder. My lss owner talked to Stephanie Barnard and she said she punched holes in the hard flaps with her Crop-a-dile and those are the ones she showed in the video. Since that worked better, they initiated the design change. I'll definitely follow-up because I need to know if the newer ones will fit or not. I'm doing the Great American Scrapbook Show in TX next month and will be selling those, so I need to know the right answer. Thanks Michele!!!

[1hand1heart]

Hi Michele,
I used to get stamps form you a lot when I was a member of Self Addressed, in fact, if I remember correctly, yours was the very first UM I ever owned, and I remember thinking... "what the heck am I going to do with this?!?" LOL, now almost all the stamps I own are UMs.
I have tried every method available for mounting, including your red rubber foam with Aleenes Tack it over glue, and still have not found a system I I really like. (I still have one I need to try, that just keeps my rubber clean and UM and stores easily.
Anyway... are you still using your red rubber foaam and the aleenes?

(sorry that I went off topic, but I just had to pop in with my already mention stamp mounting and storage woes!)

[purple onion]

Andrea,

The new sample I got has the hard plastic tab with holes for binder storage down the left hand side. Maybe that is the re-design he meant and forgot that I would of already had that sample. He made it sound like since bringing certain things to his attention there had been a redesign. I didn't think it would of come into play that fast so maybe that is where the confusion is.

Susi...UM's can be addicting, huh? Lol. I started stamping with them and always preferred them. I am still sticking with the red sponge cushion and TIO&O. I just prefer it. The EZ Mount gunks up my scissors. I also can get a cleaner, closer cut with the the red cushion compared to the EZ Mount. I am not thrilled with double sided tape but do use it in a pinch.

[Stampo]

I HATE cutting with EzMount... I have to clean my scissors with GooGone about five times per stamp... I can cut with our black cushion all day long and hardly ever have to clean my scissors... and you can put Static Cling on the back of the cushion. Of course the EzMount sticks to those plastic storage sheets.

[stmpstone]

It's nice to use on thin or small stamps.

Claudia

[TimeforT]

:) Thanks to you all so much for all your tips and tricks. It's good to know we aren't alone in this 'rubber process'.
I've taken Jenna's (aka Inky Whiskers) bag storage system and am making it work for me. Bigger stamps or sets are bagged and put in drawers or boxes with others in the same category. Smaller stamps are bagged in 2x3 zip-lock bags that I've ATG glued to a page and stored in a notebook. A page can hold at least 9 bags. I have 3x4 bags to use too! Small stamps that have ATIOO instead of ezmount are stored on recycled clear packaging cut to fit in each bag.
I do have many CD holders full of stamps, but am outgrowing these.
Now don't get me wrong. Not alot of work has gotten done this weekend, but at least the system is in place.:clap: :clap:

[Inky Whiskers]

Good for you! :clap: Having a place to put your stuff & knowing you can find it again are both important. You only need to please yourself, it's your craft stuff. :D

[Vincentia]

I store most of my unmounteds in Spacemaker-type boxes by company. Some companies I have more than one box (VLVS, Enchanted Ink, GG Designs, Designs Ink'd). I just typed up labels for the outside using the computer. But I had some tiny stamps that would just get lost and that I wanted to use for inchies. I have See D's and liked that I could view the stamps inside the CD case. I was planning to see Aleene's Tack it Over & Over on the back of the stamps and a lightbulb went off at the last minute. Instead of putting the glue on each stamp, I coated the CD case with the tack it over & over and then when it dried and became tacky, just stuck the stamps to it as best as they could fit.

I also like the ReadySet stamps from The Stamping Studio. I store those in a 4x6 index card box. The box I got is so cool, was about $7 from Staples and just folds up, then snaps together at the corners. The ReadySet stamps come on EZ mount already cut with the image stamped onto the plastic storage sheet. They ordered and now offer clear storage sheets for the stamps that I already have on EZ Mount so I can take StazOn and do the same thing for those sets. I have black folders and the white and black 3-ring binder sheets for the EZ Mounted stamps. Those semi-work but the smaller stamps have a hard time staying on there. And my office is cold and dusty so a closed box system works better. I will eventually move my EZ Mounted stamps to clear storage sheets and will be ready to pass on the folders/pages I bought from Sunday International.

[Inky Whiskers]

Instead of putting the glue on each stamp, I coated the CD case with the tack it over & over and then when it dried and became tacky, just stuck the stamps to it as best as they could fit. How VERY clever!!!

I will eventually move my EZ Mounted stamps to clear storage sheets and will be ready to pass on the folders/pages I bought from Sunday International.

Don't mind me, I just got to thinking when I read your post and this is the question/suggestion I have for you: What about moving the ez mount pages to a storage box & stamping the images on those sheets with StazOn, rather than chucking them & then using the folders to hold your personal catalog of all your images? I don't know if this will work for you, but it might help somebody. :D

[stampin stacy]

I'm confused if you put the ATIOO on the cd case how do they stick to your acrylic mounts?

btw, I like the ATIOO acronym, much shorter to type ;)

[Nancy]

While I love using EZ mount - sometimes I just resort to using the Tack-It Over and a really cool thing I learned when I have a whole (or half ) sheet of rubber is to do this:
Put a thin coat of the TIO&O on the back of the sheet.
Allow to dry completely
Then when you are ready to cut them out put a piece of wax paper on the sticky side (crumple it up, then smooth so you have a "bumpy" paper) and proceed with cutting. It makes it super easy, scissors aren't so sticky and then the wax paper peels right off.

[1hand1heart]

good question!

[stampin stacy]

Glue first then wax paper before you cut, Now you tell me :p !!

Just kidding, I didn't get any full sheets this time but that is a great tip! Gotta remember that one thanks. :wave: