Being an avid stamper, one of my biggest fears is to buy the same stamp twice! As my collection grew, I knew that I needed a way to keep track of them all. It was not only to make sure that I didn't buy the same stamp again, but a way for me to quickly find an image without shuffling through all of my stamps.

The answer to my dilemma was a "Stamp-A-Log" by Artfully Scribed, Inc. They also offer a "Scrap-A-Log" and a "Stitch-A-Log" with special sections just for those hobbies. This system is a 1 1/2 inch 3-ring small binder that fits 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch pages (a regular sheet of paper in half). There are dividers for a Master Stamp Listing and Stamp Pages and many other sections. I've outgrown all the "other sections", so my binder holds the Listing, Pages and Embossing Powders only.

It would be very easy to make your own "Stamp-A-Log" by getting a similar sized binder and using half size paper punched with 3 holes. Artfully Scribed sells the binder and refills if you would like to go that route too. I make my own refills now since I've been using this system for at least the last 6 years.

I found the most difficult part was to determine how to classify my stamps which would in turn determine how I stored them. Here are the categories that I came up with: alphabets, animals, all occasion, all season, autumn, borders/corners/backgrounds , celebration, contempo, Christmas/winter, florals, from the heart, nature, personalized, spring/easter, sports/hobbies, travel, warm & wonderful and Rollagraph wheels.

Once I determined those categories, I went to work on the stamps. I used the Master Stamp Listing to record the page #, description of stamp and category. There is one Master Stamp Listing page per category so that I can easily add stamps without corrupting my file system! There is one Stamp page per category too, again to easily add more images. The page number is written at the top of the Stamp page, like AL-1 for the first alphabet stamp page. The Master Stamp Listing pages are kept under that tab in the binder, then the Stamp pages are added under the Stamp Page tab in the same order. Here are two samples of the pages.

Here is a sample of the pages in the actual binder. I found that some companies may provide you with a sample of the stamp images, so I just punched that sheet and put it in the binder. The right side is one such sample. I wrote my page number on the top in permanent marker so that it would fit my system.

I have also catalogued my embossing powders in a similar manner. By just stamping a solid image and embossing with the color then attaching it to the page, I captured the color and manufacturer.

When I'm going shopping online or at a store, I bring my "Stamp-A-Log" along! It's a great resource for finding the manufacturer of your stamp in an instant. It's also wonderful for being able to quickly find the stamp in your personal stamp storage. My stamp storage is in Iris Carts (clear drawer, rolling kind) and follows the same category structure as my stamp binder.

I hope that you find this article useful! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to PM me from the forum.

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