Finishing Projects...of all sorts!

One of my goals for 2011 is to finish up the projects I started last year...all those that just seemed to loose steam.

I have dutifully made my list...(which I think I make every January.)



I left room at the bottom for anything else I come across that is unfinished...

The first UFO I tackled (over the last week) was to finish the reorganization of my stamps.

Last year I decided to un-mount all my wood stamps, and adhere them to EZ Mount. I stored the newly slimmed down stamps in page protectors in binders...

I got most of that accomplished, but never kept up with it...and when I moved my studio from the in-law unit into the main house this past November...I realized I had scattered stamps everywhere.

The binders I was using where two large zip-around types...but it was always a chore to find the stamp I wanted. Inevitably I would grab the wrong binder...then I would flip through the pages...looking...looking...looking, finally locating, removing the stamp to use, but rarely putting it back ('cause that required getting the binder out again, un-zipping, looking...you get the picture...)

So last Sunday I gathered up all the loose stamps that needed to be put away...threw them in a box and took them into the kitchen to sort through.

I bought ten inexpensive 1 1/2" black binders to store the page protectors in...thinking each binder would be labeled and put on a shelf for easy access...

In the process of getting everything sorted out, I took all the already filled page protectors out of the old binders and stacked them on the kitchen table...

Within seconds Rooster came tromping across the table sending plastic page protectors and stamps shooting everywhere!

As a temporary solution, until I could get the pages into the new binders, I set them in an unused basket that had been slated for the Goodwill...



As I was flipping through the basket of pages, looking for where each stamp belonged, a light bulb went off in my head! The basket was the perfect solution for storage!

It is relatively small, easy to move to my work space, easy to flip through!

I just needed to add some section dividers (cut from 12X12 colored cardstock that I really didn't like too much) with labels to the top. Easy-peasy!

Here are a couple of pictures of how the stamps are stored...



Each page protector has an index on top (plain white copy paper, nothing fancy). The cling mounted and/or clear stamps are sticking to a clear sheet of plastic (report covers I bought at the office supply store), with another plain sheet of white paper behind.



For the red rubber stamps that I unmounted from wood (by zapping them in the microwave for 20 seconds and peeling them off of the wood), I used EZ Mount from Sunday International.



I still have about 10-20 stamps that need to be mounted on the EZ Mount (it's on order...) and for now they are just sticking on the plastic sheets using repositionable double-sided tape.

And here it is the final result...drum-roll please...



Each section is divided and labeled for easy location...



The basket is long enough (room to grow) leaving room at the back for my extra page protectors and plastic sheets...



And a bit of room at the front for a few wood-mounted alphabet sets (that I didn't think would be any easier to use by re-mounting), my stamping pad (actually a cheap mouse pad from the computer store) and my stamp cleaner (hopefully I will actually clean my stamps more regularly now that the cleaner is stored here instead of a drawer in my desk...).



Done with that UFO...moving onto the next!