I can’t tell you enough how much I love this system and how much time it has ultimately saved me. This is the main reason I take the extra time to fuss with all this computer stuff. (You’ll also notice in the image below, there are also references to blog posts and online tutorials relating to sympathy cards. I choose the set(s) I want, write down the catalogue number so I know which drawer in my studio to find them in, and voila! No endless hours aimlessly sifting through stamp sets looking for “just the right one”. Slowly pick away at it, and it will get done.Ĭan you see where I’m going with this? *drum roll please* Excited? Now that I’ve got all my stamps tagged, when I want to make a sympathy card all I have to do is type “sympathy” into my search box, and *poof* through the magic of technology every single stamp set I own and could possibly use on a sympathy card pops right up at my fingertips. If your stack is huge like mine was, don’t try and do it all at once. Do this brain-crunching exercise for every stamp set you have. You can make your tags as broad or specific as you want. Since I scrapbook, I've also have added camping to the list. To go back to Lovely as a Tree, I’ve used the tags trees (obviously),leaves, nature, backgrounds, fall, winter, masculine, sympathy, Christmas. Now create a tag for absolutely every possible thing you think you can use that stamp set for. Have a good, hard look at your stamp set. This step is where Evernote really shines and makes all your work worth it. So just to be certain my searches pick up everything, I re-enter my stamp catalogue information right above the image using the “edit” button. I find it works much better when searching actual type (like words in a picture of a sign) than it is recognizing handwriting and hand printing. Unfortunately, as with all technology, it’s not foolproof. So in this example, since you can see my handwritten “Lovely as a Tree” when I type that into the search box this photo will come up. One of the super-cool things about Evernote is that it can search for text that is in your uploaded photos or images. (Click on the screenshots to get a bigger view.) The idea is to have an image of all the stamps in the set so you can see it easily on the screen.
You could also scan the stamp case itself, or even take a photograph of it if that’s easier for you. When I’m stamping my index sheets, I take a moment to scan it into my computer. Step 1: Scan or photograph your image, and upload it to Evernote You can use it to store recipes you’ve found on the web, as a spot for your to-do list, or a place to keep all those cool scrapbook layouts you’ve seen. You can create “notes” using text, photos, web pages, video or audio clips which you then file into folders or “notebooks” as they call them.
You can download it for free to use on your computer, or just create an account and use it online. The program I use is a wonderful little tool called Evernote. In my last post on organizing your stamp sets, I had mentioned that in addition to using a binder to hold the index sheets I create, I also store all my stamp sets electronically.