My acrylic stamp storage has long been a thorn in my side. I had them in plastic sleeves in an extra large 3 ring binder that was bulky to store and took up far to much room. Not to mention that when it feel over, all the stamps spilled out the top of the sleeves and I was forced to shove them back in. The ability to turn pages didn’t play out like I thought it would – the stamps slipped around inside the sleeves, were hard to see and putting them away was tedious.
I began looking around on Pinterest and thought about buying some acrylic sheets to store and then filing them in my desk. I found some dollar store frames I thought might work, but these too were bulky. While looking for a place to store these frames I came across this 8×8 acrylic album with 8 blank acrylic sheets that I had been intending to use for scrapbooking and never had been inspired enough to do so. I believe I’ve had it for at least 15 years and it’s probably moved to at least 4 houses. I decided to go for it! I removed all my stamps from their sheets and arranged them on the pages of the acrylic album so that they would stay together and also take up the least amount of space possible. I started with my favourites and worked my way down to the ones I use least. I was completely shocked by what I was able to fit on 8 – 8×8 pages! Nearly my whole collection and I had decreased the space it took up by 3/4! Not only that, but now they are easy to flip through and pull off only what I need, then clean and replace. The album sits neatly on my desk within easy reach – meaning I’m far more likely to use it.
I am a big fan of trying to repurpose things I have rather than purchasing new items. Was I realistically going to use this album for scrapping? Probably not. Even if I DO decide to use it someday it’s just a matter of removing the stamps, but I am so thrilled with this setup that I’ll likely keep it and maybe use my other ideas for future storage. It did take me a hour or so to tediously remove the stamps from their acetate sheets and arrange on the album sheets but I was kept company by Luna the studio cat and an audio book, (The Dragon Reborn from the Wheel Of Time by Robert Jordon. A childhood favourite brought into the present by the release of the TV series).
Do you have a unique way that you’ve repurposed an item for storage? Let us know in the comments below!
