Tag: Evernote

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Using Evernote to organize your stamp collection…plus a free Stamptacular Notebook!

Yesterday, I posted about the amazing Stamptacular Sale that is happening on my Close To My Heart website. With all of our stamp sets currently on sale, it is a good time to talk about organizing our stamp sets. If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I use Evernote and in this post, I’ll give you some tips for getting started and also give you a free notebook to get started!

What is Evernote?

Evernote is an app you can use to create libraries of information. Within Evernote, you can create notebooks which are made up of a collection of notes. Each note has a) a title, b) a body where you can add text, images and links and c) tags.

To show you how it works, I created a notebook with a note for each of the stamp sets that was brought out of retirement for the Stamptacular Sale. You can view and copy it by clicking on the link below. When you open the notebook, you will be prompted to create an account or log into Evernote. Go ahead and click the link now….I’ll wait for you!

Open Stamptacular Notebook>>

Once you click on the link and sign into your Evernote account, you will be asked how you want to view the notebook. You should click “Join Notebook”. This will allow you to view and copy my notebook. Continue reading to understand how the notebook is organized and then I’ll tell you how to create your personal notebook so you can customize it to meet your needs.

Closer look at a Stamp Notebook

When you open a stamp’s note, you’ll find several pieces of information including:

A – Item number and name

B – Tags of keywords (shapes, design elements, themes, holidays, Cricut or Thin Cut images, …)

C – Link to the stamp image

D – Text that appears on the stamp set

The data listed above and circled in red help you explore a stamp set without having to locate the physical stamp set. You can look at the tags to get an idea of the theme and features of the stamp set on your phone or other device!  You can even search for specific words in the sentiments or type in a tag to see all sets with a specific theme or image. Finally, click on the link to see the actual set. This is all on your screen without having to actually locate the physical stamp set.

However, when you are ready to use the stamp set, the item number is the key. Since I started using Evernote to organize my stamps, all of my actual physical stamp sets are stored alpha-numerically by Item number. I actually still had Hooray Bouquet from when it was live many, many years ago. I was easily able to locate it when it was announce it was coming back by going to my box that has my D stamp sets! Easy Peasy!

Organizing physical stamp sets

The magic of this organization system is that you can now store your stamps simply in alpha-numeric order by item number. One common method to organize stamps is to sorted by “theme”. You could have sections in your stamp boxes for Christmas, Easter, Birthday and other special days. Then there could be separate files for animals, outdoor, floral, etc.

Let’s take a look at Hooray Bouquet stamp set. If you are organizing your stamps by theme, you may put this with “nature” since it has flowers. Or maybe you’d put it with your other stamp sets that coordinate with the Art Philosophy Cricut collection. Or maybe you group it with other card-making stamp sets (although this one is also great for layouts). My point is that every stamp set could fit several themes.

Let’s say that you put this in your box with other Cricut stamp sets. If you are looking for floral stamp sets, will you find it? Only if you look in every box! You will also miss out of the opportunity to use these great words of encouragement on your next card.

With Evernote, you don’t have to decide which category the stamp set falls under. Instead, you can add a tag for each theme, category and images in the set. When you use Evernote, all of your stamp sets are in the same organizational system. So the stamp set above will not be lost. You will find it if you are looking for Art Philosophy stamps. You’ll also find it if you are looking for flowers or backgrounds or the word “smile”!

Create Your Own Evernote Notebook

Now that you have seen how powerful a stamps notebook can be, you may be ready to create your own. Although Evernote has apps for your phone, computer and on the internet, to create your notebook, you will need to download and open the COMPUTER (PC or Mac) app from Evernote.com. Once you open the app, you should see the Stamptacular notebook if you joined it earlier.

Your next step is to create a new notebook and then you’ll be able to copy these five notes into your own. This video gives more detail on these steps:

Make it Personal

Once you create your own personal stamps notebook (either by creating notes yourself or copying mine), you are ready to personalize it to suit your needs. This is where the magic happens! You can add information to a stamp’s note by typing text, adding photos or adding tags. 

Here’s a few ideas:

  • Create a tag “OWN” for all the stamps in your collection
  • Create a tag “WISH” for stamps on your wish list
  • Add notes about projects you are planning to make with the stamp sets
  • Add photos inspiring projects you find on CTMH website and elsewhere. (Include notes about who made it so you can give credit if you scraplift)
  • Add a “RETIRED” tag to stamps as they go away
  • Consultants: Add “inventory” tag for stamps you have purchased to sell*

*I tag my stamps in inventory. Using the app on my phone, I have sold stamps at an event that are buried at home in my inventory closet! If someone asks if I have a stamp with koala, I don’t have to say “I’ll have to check later” and then spend an evening digging through my boxes. I can search on the phone app and know what I have and where it is!

Adding Stamps to your Notebook

You can add more stamps to your personal notebook by creating a new note for each stamp you want to include. You can even expand to include non-Close To My Heart stamps or other products like Thin Cuts, Cricut Collections, etc. (You can also use it for non-crafty collections like DVDs, Books,.etc.)

To add a stamp set, click on “New Note”. Type the item number and stamp name in the Title box, add a link (or copy image) and type sentiments in the body, and add tags. Do this for each stamp that you want to include.

If you’d like a shortcut, subscribe to get my stamp notebooks! I send a new notebook out for each catalog. The cost is a $60 order from my Close To My Heart website each year. If you are not a consultant, join my team to get the notebooks for free! Then click the button below to order.

Subscribe

Retired Stamp Archive

If you’d like to have older stamps in your collection, I have notebooks with all stamps dating back to Sept 2015. You can get the entire archive by placing an order of $120 (or joining my team).

Order Archive

Want another free Notebook?

In 2018, we had a another huge stamp sale called “Stampaganza” and I created a notebook with just the special stamps from that sale. You can access this free notebook on my blog.

I hope this was helpful and you have some new ideas for how to use Evernote to organize your stamps and maybe other things as well. Please let me know if you have questions. I’d love to help you get started!

Rebecca

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8 Steps to Update Your Stamps in Evernote with the New Idea Book

Last week, I posted informationabout how I use Evernote to keep my stamp sets organized. If you waste time looking for your stamp sets or forego stamping all together because they are in too much of a chaos, I’d encourage you to check it out. This post is for those who use this system and update with my populated notebooks. For more information, go to my Evernote Resource Page.

As we retire an Idea Book and have a brand new one come on the scene, there are a few steps that I do to make sure my Evernote notebook matches my stamps and the physical stamps are stored nice and tidy. Start this season organized and everything else will be easier!

Step #1 

If you have not already, copy the stamps from the prior Idea Books shared notebooks (from me) to your personal notebook. If you have not already created a personal notebook, watch this video to learn how.

Step #2

Use the links embedded in the notes to access the stamp images online. Copy and paste these images into your personal copy of the notebook before they retire because the links may no longer work after July 31!  (CTMH has requested that I not include images in my shared notebook, but you can copy them into your notes for personal use.) 

Step #3

Review the retiring stamp sets from the 2016 Annual Inspirations Idea Book and order any “must haves” (shop now) before August 1.  Remember stamp sets are currently buy 2 get 1 free! To maximize your savings check out the stamps in the Seasonal Expressions 2 Idea Book which will retire on August 31. Get them while they are on sale!

Step #3

Add a tag to the notes in your personal notebook for all the stamp sets you own. My tag for this is simply “OWN”.  I also tag them based on what box they are stored in “Box 1, Box 2,…”

Step #4

Tag the retiring stamp sets in your personal notebook. I also make “retired” labels for the envelope of my physical stamp sets. As a consultant, I try to use current stamp sets for blog projects so this helps remind me which stamp sets are still available.

Step #5

If you are not a subscriber, order the updated Evernote notebook! Consider the new Annual Subscription to receive timely updates for a full 12 month Idea Book cycle.

To order, do ONE Of the following:

  • Join my Close To My Heart team
  • Place an order of $25 or more on my Close To My Heart website ($60 to get a year long subscription)
  • Place an order of $50 or more in Consultant-only Workshop Samples ($120 to get a year long subscription)
  • Make a donation of $25 toward a CTMH order ($60 to get a year long subsciption). I use these funds to purchase CTMH products for local not-for-profit entities. (This option is great if you live outside of the US.)

Then fill outthis form. 

Step #6

Once you get the email from me with links to the update, copy these new stamps into your personal notebook.

Step #7

Add any new stamp  you have purchased to your large organizers in alpha-numeric order by item number. In Evernote, add a “OWN” tag to any new stamps and “WISH” to any still on your personal wish list. 

Step #8

Tell your friends and team members who have Close To My Heart stamps about my Evernote stamps notebook! Sending them a link tolast week’s blog post is a great place for them to start. (THANKS!)

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Using Evernote to organize your stamps (and anything else) plus download a FREE Notebook!

Does this sound like you:

  • Hunting through multiple boxes to find a stamp set you want to use?
  • Re-purchase a set because you can’t find yours? 
  • Use the same sentiment over and over because it is available even though you have gobs of stamps that may be better for your project?
  • Have stamp sets that never see the light of day because they are in storage and long forgotten?
  • Find alternatives to stamping because it is just too much trouble to get them out.

My Stamp Organization Story

Once I had more than a couple dozen stamp sets, I really stuggled with how to organize and store them. I tried several methods to get the chaos under control. I created an huge, elaborate binder with paper print outs of each stamp set that I owned. This allowed me to thumb through them and see all the images, but it was heavy and cumbersome.

At that time, my physical stamp setswere organized by categories like animals, outdoor, sentiments, everyday, holiday, etc. Sounds good, right? However, most stamp sets fall into several categories. For example, if the stamp set below was in my “Christmas box”, I would totally miss out on using these cute animals the rest of the year — what a shame! Plus, once I choose a stamp set from my fancy binder, I had to figure out which category it fell under and actually locate it before I could start my project!

Then I started hearing about this application called Evernote. People were using it to keep track of all kinds of things: recipes, DVDs, notes, and even stamps! I decided to give it a try and spent several weeks getting all of my stamp sets into Evernote. It completely changed how I use my stamps! I can now quickly choose a stamp set I am looking for or discover one that I had forgotten. Once I pick out a stamp set, I can easily locate the physical stamp set which are now stored simply in alpha-numeric order….but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s look at how it works. 

Try it with this FREE Sample Notebook

To help explain how I use Evernote for my Stamp Sets, I’ve created a sample stamps notebook for the bonus stamps that are avaialble only in July 2017 for the Stampaganza special. To open this free notebook, click on the link below and continue reading to learn how to use this notebook.

Link to Stampaganza Notebook


Click HERE to learn more about the July Stamp Special!





(For purposes of this post, I’m including screen shots from the internet version of Evernote in Chrome. Depending on what devise and browser you are using, your display may be a little different, but I believe the function will be similar.)

This link should open the notebook and give you the option to Join or View the notebook. To get the most out of this experiment, I’d suggest that you go ahead and click “Join Notebook”. 

To do this, you will be asked to either log into your Evernote account or create one. The Basic (free) version of Evernote should be sufficent at this point. 

If you’d like to learn more about Evernote in general, I’d suggest reviewing the information available on the Evernote website.

What does a Stamp “Note” Look Like?

Once you are signed into your account, the Stampaganza notebook should appear in your list of notebooks. If the Stampaganza notebook is not already highlighted, click to select it. This should open a list of the stamp sets (“notes”) in this set. When you click on the name of a stamp set, you will see the details of that stamp set in a window on the right. (Note there are various view options, so if your screen looks different than this play around with the settings. If you do not see the Stampaganza notebook, try clicking on the link above again.)

Let’s take a closer look at an individual note. Here’s a blow up of the panel on the right of the screen showing the details of one stamp set. 

You may notice that I name each note with the item number followed by the stamp name. Why? So once I find a stamp set I want to use, I can find it easily in my stamp boxes which are organized in alpha-numeric order by item number. Simple!!! When I sort the notes alphabetically, they are in the exact order they are in my boxes. 

In the body of the note there is a link to the stamp images so you can click to see exactly what the stamp set looks like. Next, any text that appears on the stamp set is entered into the body of the note. This makes all of the words on the stamp sets searchable which is very helpful when you are searching for the perfect sentiment for your project.

Now the real magic begins…

What really makes this system work is that I add tags for EVERYTHING I can think of related to the stamp set. In this example, you’ll see tags for the actual images that appear on the stamps: heart, holly and snow. You’ll also see that I’ve tagged this as a Christmas stamp set. In addition, if this was a stamp set with coordinating Cricut cuts or Thin Cuts, I would have tagged that as well.

Searching for the Perfect Stamp Set

These tags allow you to search for exactly what you are looking for. Ready to make Christmas cards? You can see all your Christmas stamps at once. Looking for an image of a bird? You can easily find all the stamps that include an image of a bird!

Let’s give it a try…click on one of the tags on the left side of the screen. Here’s the resulting list of notes when I click on the Christmas tag.

You can type directly in the search box to filter the stamps by the text on the stamps!

Your Turn

If you like this system, you can create your own notebooks similar to what I’ve done. Although the internet version of Evernote is handy for viewing, to really create you’ll want to install the application for your device by visiting the download section of theEvernote website. Once you are in an actual app, you will need to create a notebook then start adding notes. You can start by copying the notes in this shared notebook. 

We’ve only touched the surface of how to get started in Evernote, but I hope this gives you a taste of how it can work.  If you’d like to learn more about copying this notebook, adding your own notes, accessing the notebooks on other devices or perhaps purchasing notebooks already populated with CTMH stamp sets, visit my Evernote Stamps page. Still have questions? Feel free to email me. 

Have you used Evernote to organize other areas of your life? If not, are there some places you’d like to give a try?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section!. At the end of the month, I’ll draw one name to win this stamp set from our brand new Annual Inspirations Idea Book on August 1.



UPDATE: Congratulations to Jane for winning the stamp set! 

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Get organized with my {updated} Evernote stamp notebook!

Do you ever feel like you spend more time organizing your creative space more than actually creating? Do you struggle to find ways to store your stamp sets (and other products) in a way that allows you to locate the right one quickly?

Whether you are a consultant or customer, I’d love to help you get organized so you can focus on more important things — like getting creative! I’ve been using Evernote to keep track of all of my stamp sets for a couple years and am excited to share it with you.

In this post, I address a few questions I get about my Evernote stamp notebook.

Get the notebook now>>

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE STAMP NOTEBOOK?

The current version of my notebook includes all of the stamp sets available as of September 1, 2015 from Close To My Heart. This includes all the sets that were just released in the new Annual Inspirationsand Holiday Expression Idea Books. As of September 1, 2015, there are 374 sets! Many of these stamp sets are not in the current Idea Books, but you can see them all when you use the Evernote notebook.

Within the notebook, there is a note for each of the stamp sets, including consultant-only business builder stamps, hostess-only stamps, workshops on the go stamps and stamps of the month. 

WHAT INFORMATION IS INCLUDED?

The name of the note includes both the item number and the name. This allows you to store you physical stamps alpha-numerically by item number. 

The body of the note includes any sentiments on the stamp set and a link to the image on the Close To My Heart website. Tags include all of the images on the set plus any themes or holidays represented.

WHAT ABOUT PHYSICAL STORAGE?

This database has completely revolutionized how I store my stamp sets and saves me ton of time hunting for stamp sets. I used to try to store my stamp sets by theme or holiday. It was a very cumbersome system for many reasons. For example, there were a lot of sets that didn’t fall clearly into one category and others included stamps from more than one category. 

For example this adorable set, Miracle of Christmas (D1656)has cute woodland animals that could be used year-round. It also has gifts that could be used for birthday or shower projects.

If your stamps are sorted by category, you will need to choose a single category for this set. When you are working on projects not related to that category, it will not be found as an option. Using Evernote to organize your stamps solves that issue since a set can have as many tags as are needed to completely describe what the stamp set is about. This stamp set will be included when you filter by any of these tags.

I now store my physical stamp sets in our large organizers by item number. When i need a stamp set — whether I have a particular one in mind or need to choose one — I always go to Evernote first.  Using the filters, I search the notes to find just the right stamp set.  Since the title of the note includes Item Number, I can quickly locate the chosen stamp set in my storage boxes.

HOW DO I ACCESS EVERNOTE?

According to the Evernote website, this program is “available on everything you use every day.” This means that you can access Evernote from your PC (on web or in a Windows app), iPad, iPhone and Android devices.  This means that the information you load into Evernote is available to view and search anytime, anywhere.

I love being able to pull up the stamp sets on my phone. As a consultant, this is really handy when I am at an event and am helping a customer find the perfect stamp set for their projects. To get started using this program, visit evernote.com and find the apps for your devices.

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

You canrequest access to my stamp notebook is available by making a purchase on my Close To My Heart websiteof $25 or more. Join my team to get access for FREE!

Before you place your order, I’d suggest you check out my other Evernote notebooks. I now have notebooks for the Close To My Heart Cricut cartridges and the papers in Studio J. You can receive access to these in addition to the stamps notebook with a larger purchase.

Click here to learn more about these notebooks>>

I am thrilled when I get comments like this back from happy stampers:

  • Your program CHANGED MY LIFE! …it was total chaos!
  • Now that I see how easy it is to use, I’ll do the same with my SU stamps as well.
  • Thank you for offering this organized data for our stamps! Much appreciated!
  • They are GREAT. Her directions are WONDERFUL!
  • I’m excited to begin using it.
  • Thanks again for the wonderful program. I will have fun getting organized.
  • I just watched your video…You have thought of everything 🙂

If you have any questions about the notebooks, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to help you get more organized.

Happy Day!

Rebecca

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Get Organized with Evernote: The Stamp Notebook is Back!!

Do you struggle with organizing your stamp sets? Do you wish there was a way to quickly find the set that you want to use? Do you want to be able to search your stamp sets for a theme, holiday or other information without rummaging through all your boxes?  Do you wish you could access all of this information on your tablet or phone?

A little over a year ago, I started using Evernote to organize my stamp sets. This database tool helped me with all of the issues listed above. It allows me easily find the sets I want while using a very simple physical storage system. 

Watch this video to see how you can use Evernote to organize your stamp sets.

As explained in the video,  with the Evernote notebook, I can quickly and easily determine the stamp set I want to use by searching on the sentiments, themes, and images on the stamps. I can also quickly locate the physical stamp set since the database includes the Item number and the physical stamp set since all of my stamp sets are stored alpha-numerically by Item Number in the Close To My Heart Large Organizers (Z1835). 

This simple storage system also makes it super easy to put my stamp sets away as soon as I’m done with them. I no longer have a stack of sets on my counter that need to be sorted and put back into the boxes. 

Once you have your Notebook set up, you can access it from your computer, tablet or phone. This means that your stamp sets are at your finger tips anywhere, anytime!

The wait is over! 

A preloaded Evernote Stamp Notebook is once again available to give you a jump start in your stamp organization. The new version has been updated to include the new Seasonal Expressions 2 stamp sets and has been reformatted to comply with copyrights on the stamp images.

Click here to learn how you can get your copy! >>

If you struggle with stamp organization, I urge you to give Evernote a try.  I love being organized and since I started using this system, my stamps are one area that always stays in order.

Now for the rest of my craft room…

Rebecca