Wednesday Extra: Desktop Stamp Storer by Nic

I *heart* stamps and more often than not include stamping of some form on my projects.  I tend to find I have some stamp sets I will use over and over, and decided I'd like to try and make something I could keep on my desktop to store the sets I use the most.  I wanted a storage system where my favourite sets are visible and easily accessible, but also portable, and this is what I came up with:

A desktop stamp storer.

To make this project you will need the following supplies: 
2 pieces of chipboard sized 6.75" square
Patterned paper - you will need 2 pieces of the same pattern.  I used papers from Cosmo Cricket - Delovely and Magenta.
Matching shades of Cardstock, I used a number of cardstock scraps
Variety of Stamps - I used sets from Inkadinkado, stampin up, HOTP, Prima, Basic Grey, Paperartsy and Technique Tuesday
Co-ordinating coloured Inks
2 book rings
ribbon and jems to decorate

Tools:
Cropadile and eyelets
laminator and laminating pouches
tab punch
Double sided tape

Step one:

I began by making the page inserts which will store my stamps using a laminator.  I cut a piece of white cardstock and stamped the image from each stamp on the page in black ink.  I then used a tab punch to make a tab, stuck this to the edge of my page, placed in a laminating pouch and ran it through the laminator. 
   

The stamps then adhere to the laminated surface on the other side of the page.

Step two:

I then made the covers, you can adapt the size of your stamp holder as you wish, my covers are 6.75" square as I wanted to leave enough room to make different sized inserts, some of which will be larger than the ones shown.  I used two pages from a board book for my covers, but you could also use thick cardboard as an alternative.

To cover, I used double sided tape and placed my chipboard on the reverse side of the paper, mitring the corners for a neat finish.  In order to get a neat finish, I folded the paper around the chipboard, using a bone folder to ensure sharp creases.  Once this has been done on all four sides, it leaves you with clear fold marks - I then cut along the outside edge of the folds as shown on the picture below:

and attached each fold with double sided tape. 

Step three:

Once covered comes the fun part - decorating the cover!  I used some of my favourite stamps to embellish the cover.  I began by creating the heart shape, I stamped a canvas patterned onto a scrap of blue cardstock and cut a heart out of the inside.  I then attached a ruffled ribbon to the inside reverse.

I repeated this process with a darker shade of cardstock stamping with a lace stamp from Prima, which I then cut out and used as a frame.  I cut out the inside of my heart from a piece of patterned paper from Magenta and stamped one side using a basic grey swirl stamp.  

Step four:

I created the frame and letters for my cover using a scrap of blue cardstock.  I covered the cardstock with a flower stamp from Prima, then made the frame using a scallop stamp from HOTP.

I then stamped my title letters by stamping a harlequin pattern image from Paperartsy and stamping the letters over the top.

Step five:

I stamped the bird shape from an image by Inkadinkado and pieced the cover all together.  I then used my cropadile to make holes in the cover and inserts and set the eyelets to secure and bound together using two large book rings. 

The beauty of this storage method is that I can add and remove inserts as I wish in line with my favourite sets, it takes up very little space and is portable to wherever I am working -very easy to take along to crops :-)

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial, thanks for reading!