Aloha, all!
In a few of my latest articles, I’ve mentioned my “stamp collection” or my “stamp cache.” Today I thought I’d digress from talking about my cards to talking about my stamps.
Scanning My Stamp Sets Doesn’t Take Long
As you might observe from looking at the picture of my Stampin’ Up! Stamp Collection, it doesn’t take much time at all to look through my stamps to figure out what I might use for a project. Yep. Those 54 stamp sets that you see are it when it comes to making my projects. Not only is it a relatively small collection (yes, I’ve seen the collections of several of my compatriots, so I know what ‘big’ is), it’s also easy to scan. That DVD unit in which I store them sits on my desk just to the right of my laptop. So I can sit right here typing and glance up to get the correct name for the stamp set about which I’m currently writing.
What Are All Those Stickers?
There are always 4 or 5 stickers on my stamp set collection. At different times, those that are a color other than green indicate which catalog introduced the stamp set. Sometimes I remember to put that sticker on and sometimes I don’t. A couple of times a year, and definitely when a new Annual Catalog appears, I stop and take the time to get them all right.
The key sticker, that remains the same throughout any catalog period, is the green sticker. That indicates that the stamp set in the box also has a coordinating die set, also stored in the box. The dies are on 5″ x 7″ magnetic sheets, and fit in the boxes perfectly.
Can the Stickers Make a Difference?
You bet they can. Remember when I said we lost our house? That was back in 2018 when the Kilauea Volcano erupted and took our home and hundreds of others and buried them under lava. There was a short period of time when we could go back to our homes to retrieve some possessions. I have to tell you that my stamping supplies were not high on the list until the 3rd and last time we were able to go back. After retrieving the items on our list that day, we still had room in the car. Stamp supplies suddenly were at the top of the list.
The first things that I wanted were my stamp sets. Several weeks before the volcanic eruption, before we even knew it was imminent, the 2018 Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog was released. I stopped making paper-crafting projects, and proceeded to remove all the stickers from my stamp sets (except the green ones, of course). Then I marked those that were going to continue into the new catalog. All the rest were going to retire. As I stood there looking at my stamp sets, I knew exactly which ones to take. I didn’t lose one current stamp set to the volcano.
Stickers Are on Other Stuff, Too – the Punch Story
Not only did my stamps get new stickers when the new catalog was released, but my punches and dies and embossing folders got them, too. It didn’t much matter for the dies and folders. Those were all in a box, and I just took the whole box – not that big. The punches, however, took another turn.
We did have room for some punches, so I started packing those punches with the sticker that indicated they were going to continue to be current. But at that time, I was not as strict with myself at getting rid of retired punches. And I knew I was going to miss a lot of the retired punches. That was probably just as well because, as you all know, punches are heavy. I just had light cardboard boxes for packing stuff, and they weren’t going to hold anything more than the current punches.
As I packed the last of the punches and prepared to say, “goodbye,” to the others, I spotted a waste basket next to my work table. It was filled to the brim with, well, trash. But it was a good, sturdy, office-style waste basket. That waste basket was perfect for my punches. And who was ever going to see all that trash on my craft room floor? Nobody.
I dumped the trash and took all the punches.
Boy, did that feel good!
Happy stamping!
