Creating a Digital Inventory of your Stamp Collection using Evernote

(This is an updated post in reference to my previous posts regarding this project.)

For several years I kept an inventory of my stamps in binders and while it works, it’s pretty cumbersome to pull these huge, heavy binders out every time I want to find a specific type of stamp. When my stamp collection grew to fill two 4 inch binders filled the max, I knew I needed a new way to inventory my stamps if I was ever going to use them again.

My solution?  To create a stamp inventory that is electronic and can be accessed from my computer as well as my iPhone.  I recently found a free program called Evernote which does all of this and more.

About Evernote

Evernote makes it easy to remember things big and small from your everyday life using your computer, phone, tablet and the web.  There are a series of videos on the evernote website that explain exactly what you can do with this program. Click here to view them.

To download Evernote for your computer, click here.

Don’t Get Overwhelmed

I knew that it was going to take a long time to get all of these stamps switched over to a digital version so to keep from getting overwhelmed, I told myself that I would only spend 15-30 minutes each night transferring them over to the new system.  Then I ended up getting sick and while I was stuck in bed, I actually finished it quicker than I thought.

Whether you have 20 stamps or 2000, don’t let the idea of starting from scratch overwhelm you.  Depending on your lifestyle and schedule, set aside a specific time each day/week to enter your stamps into your Evernote Inventory and believe it or not, it WILL get done.  Sooner or later. (LOL)

Getting Started

First of all, each “inventory” is called a “notebook” in Evernote.  Each entry in your inventory/notebook is called a “note”.  Below are step by step instructions for how I’m use Evernote to create my stamp inventory binder:

Step One:

Open Evernote, Choose “File”, “New Notebook” and then name your notebook whatever you’d like.  I named mine “Stamp Inventory Notebook”.  If you wanted, you could separate your stamps by category or by manufacturer, but I find it easier for me to keep them all in one notebook.

Step Two:

Click on “New Note”, where it says “Click to set title”, click there and enter the title of your stamp set.  I always put the manufacturer in front of the name if I know it.  For example:  “Paper Smooches – A Little Lovin’” is the title of one of my stamp sets.

Step Three:

Where it says “Click to add tag”, click there and start typing your tags with a comma in between words.  Here is an example of tags that I used for the “A Little Lovin’” stamp set:

• “announcement, baby, carrot, crown, elephant, frog, heart, i love you, kangaroo, lips, kiss me, new baby, mom and baby, paper smooches, welcome baby, thump I’m in love”

I put both tags for the images and the sentiments so that when I’m searching for something, it will be easier to find it.

Step Four:

Next, I find an image of my stamp set on the web, and use my “snippet” tool to copy and paste the image of the stamp set into Evernote.  If you don’t know how to use the snippet tool, click here for a tutorial.  You’ll be amazed at how much easier this little tool will make your life!  (online anyway LOL)

So I go into the text portion of the note and either right click and choose “paste” or I just use ctrl-v to paste the image I snipped. (See image below)

If you do not have the name of your stamp or the manufacturer, you can just take a photograph and copy and paste it into your inventory notebook.  I have some that I stamped out and photographed because I bought the stamps at a thrift store or just forgot to write down who made the stamp and what it was called.  Here is a sample:

That’s it!  Your first note is complete.  Now, just start all over and click on “New Note” again.  Easy right?  Time consuming, yes but in the end I you will have a searchable database of all of your stamps which will make you more likely to use them more!

Here is a copy of my finished (but always ongoing) digital stamp inventory using Evernote:  Kat’s Evernote Stamp Inventory

If you have any questions about this project, please feel free to contact me via email or on my blog.