What a Deal!

I had been looking for a new way to store my wood mounted rubber stamps. I've shown you how I store my clear mounted stamps, here. But, I was never really happy with my wood mounted stamp storage. If you look at the first photo of the clear stamp storage post, shown here:
You can partially see my old wood stamp storage method, about halfway up the left hand bookshelf. I had simply stored them in plastic tubs. Which worked, but there were two problems. (1) I cannibalized those plastic storage tubs for another storage need and (2) look at how much wasted space there was between the tubs, they were simply the wrong size.

So, I've been looking for another method for a while now. Hopefully, a method that would fit that same space. I tried some of the ITSO containers from Target, wrong size. I look at baskets, just not my style. I've looked at other plastic tubs, same wasted space issue. I've looked at other repurposed containers, most were too tall. I've been browsing around for months.

Then, last Sunday, I was in Micheal's trying to buy the only Tim Holtz stamp set I was still missing. I wasn't looking for anything else. But I just happened by a center aisle product setup for clearanced paper board alphabet letters that were about 8 inches tall. Each individual letter was displayed in one of these: Picture a light bulb over my head.

I measured them and I would be able to fit 6 across on my shelf with little wasted space. They were not too tall. They tapered from front to back so my stamps would be visible from the front. They were just about a perfect length. They were also made of very sturdy paper board, which would be sturdy enough for long term storage, but also could be easily painted, stamped, or paper covered to make them look nice.

But they weren't for sale.

They were a display method for the paper board letters, they weren't product themselves. So my husband talked to the manager. Since they were just going to throw them away, she said we could have any of them that were empty for free. Well, we found six empty ones and took them home.

Here's what they look like. I'm still planning to paint them, and then probably stamp on them with the stamps that they are holding, as a kind of combination labeling-decorating technique: They're actaully long enough to hold my 12-inch stamps with room to spare: What a deal!