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
(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!
