How to Categorize your Rubber and Acrylic Stamps

This week for my Tuesday Tutorial I thought I'd show you how I categorize my craft stamps. You may have noticed in the post (above), that I was carrying a folder with me the whole time. I brought this with me to make sure I did not buy a stamp similar or duplicate of what I already owned.

Start with a good quality 3 ring binder, and sheet protectors. Save a little money by going to walmart instead of the office supply store. While there, buy paper to print on.
I bought white 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock, but when returning home, realized it might make the folder a tad heavy with the amount of stamps I had. So I used just plain printer paper.

I used a black ink stamp pad that came with a kit and a (black soot) distress re-inker.
Don't be a stickler when it comes to the ink pad. Just use something that will clean off the stamps easily.
~ and your hands unless you opt to wear painters gloves.
Have a deep tupperware container ready to hold a old wet wash cloth. Place these on a equally old - folded hand towel. - This will be your stamp cleaning station.
(you may need to rinse the wash cloth in the sink through out your stamping session)

Figure out how you want to organize your stamps. I organized mine by theme. This makes it easier for when buying and can be shown when someone wants to borrow a stamp. I separated each section with purple paper. Later I'll go in and add tabs. In the front of my book I plan to create a glossary for the stamps. I'll have the names of the manufacturer and initials, which I'll later add to certain stamps in the book.

Here are just a few pages to show you. The lighter images were acrylic stamps I've never used. I was not able to condition the stamp before using. For the acrylic stamps, I placed some on blocks to stamp, others I inked the whole set, gently placed on the paper and went over the top with a large block for a even print.
Here are my sentiments and words.

These are my Character Construction stamps. Even though there were different themes in each set, I kept them together for the purpose they were intended for.

Besure you are stamping your acrylic with a pad or layer of thin foam, so you can get a even image.

I think I have enough cupcakes!

I recently found in my stash more sewing themed stamps, so I may re-do this page.

This is only a peek of the pages and pages of my Halloween stamps!

So that was just a bit to get you motivated. I still have hundred of stamps to add to my book. It took me one weekend day to do this and more, (pages not shown).
I had the help of watching TV episodes on the computer :)
Not only can this help you from over buying, but just by leafing through it, might re inspire you as you see all your stamps at a glance!
Thanks for coming by and I'll see you again soon!