Organize Your Stamps: Evernote

It took awhile but I got my craft space picked up. I still have a few piles here and there but hopefully some of that will be remedied in the coming weeks.

This week I am going to organize my stamps. Honestly, I started this project months ago. I was at a CTMH event last year and I met a lot of great consultants there, including my upline, Heather Hicks. Her and another girl told me about Evernote. I could not wait to implement it. I have a lot of stamps and even though I had organized my stamps into categories, it still could take a serious amount of time to find a particular set I needed.

Evernote has revolutionized the way I use my stamps. Not only can I find the stamp set I need. I am finding and using stamp sets I forgot I had. You can download Evernote to your smart phone or pc from the App Store. Once you download it you will set up your account with a user name and password.

Evernote has a Basic plan that is free to use. With the basic plan you can download 60 mb of new uploads every month and sync across two devices. This was enough for me. And, what this meant was, I could only add so many stamp sets a month before I reached my limit. So, I would just wait until the next month and then continue to upload more sets. I also had only 2 devices to sync, my iPhone and laptop so I was good. If you want to sync more devices and/or want to get all your sets uploaded immediately then you can pay for the plus or premium plans. I have 269 stamp sets uploaded to the app right now. It probably took me 3 months to get them all uploaded using Evernote’s Basic Plan. I still have some more stamps to upload and that is what I will work on this week.

So here is how to upload your stamps.

First Create a Notebook.

Tap on Notebook and you will see a plus sign with the words New Notebook next to it. Tap on this and give your New Notebook a name.

Once you create your Notebook, it will ask you to add Notes. Each stamp set you upload is a note in your Notebook. And in my case my Notebook is called CTMH Stamps.

Click on the plus sign and then choose “TEXT” to add a stamp set.

At the top it says “Notes from (my address)”

In this spot I am going to type the Stamp # and Name. The number is important because you will store your stamps in alpha numerical order.

I am going to add a new set I haven’t uploaded yet, C1645 Day for Dad.

Now, tap in the blank space below the stamp name and start typing in every sentiment on the set or if you have a voice option you can speak them in which is easier and  if your child is in the room with you; it will make them roll their eyes at you. Annoying your child is always a bonus!

So here is what it looks like with the stamp title and sentiments typed in.

Next, remove the set from the envelope. Tap the camera icon.  Hold your phone above the set and snap a picture. Or on my phone the camera will automatically focus in on the set and capture the picture. I like to save these pictures as document. Sometimes my camera will save it as a post-it and it is yellow. If that happens just tap your picture and tap the arrow next to post-it and choose Document. I don’t choose “Picture” because it gives you a whole picture. So if the stamp set is on your lap when you take the picture you will see your lap as well. Saving it as a document gives you just the stamp set image.

Here is what it looks like after I save my picture. But we aren’t finished yet.

Next, we are going to tag this set with words that will describe what stamps are on it. So, see that little i in a circle? Tap on that. You will see the words “Add Tag”. Tap on that and start typing in your tags. Type them in one at a time hitting the return button after each tag.  I tagged this stamp with mustache, bow tie, hat, bottle, soda, card, sentiment. You don’t have to tag it with Dad or Father’s Day because we already have those words when we typed in all the sentiments. I also tagged it with cricut and Artistry since this is a set that has images that can be cut out on the cricut.

After you have your tags typed in tap on Close, then tap on Save in the upper right-hand corner.

That’s it!

Now, if I want to find a mustache stamp; I can search the word mustache and all my stamp sets that contain a mustache or the word mustache can be found!

Here is why I love this:

1. I don’t have to rely on my memory to find a stamp. I can find the perfect image or sentiment every time.
2. It saves me time. Yes, it takes awhile to get your collection uploaded but once it is done you can quickly locate.the stamp you need.
3. It saves me money. If I am out shopping and I see a cute stamp. I can quickly check my phone and see that I already have 5 other images of a bear and I don’t need another one.
4. And, this needs to be repeated: IT SAVES ME TIME!

Think of the possibilities! You could use this for your cricut cartridges, embossing folders, punches, ink pads and marker colors.

Right now I have all my stamps in plastic drawers I purchased at Walmart. They are in order so once I decide on the stamp I need, I go to my drawers and easily pull it out. No more flipping endlessly through stamp set after stamp set looking for what I need.

This weeks assignment: Finish putting my stamp sets on Evernote. If you are playing along then start to get yours uploaded. If you have a bunch of sets this will take awhile but will be well worth it.

Note: I have not received any compensation for recommending Evernote.