Postage Stamp ATC

Postage stamps are fun to use in mixed media creations.  I joined a postage stamp ATC swap and struggled to figure out what to do at first.  Then it dawned on me to use the postage stamps as a background. 

Here's what I came up with...

I hope it makes you grin.

Cheers!

Postage Stamp ATCs

 People are so creative with the ways they incorporate used postage stamp into their art.  In the past I've joined a few ATC swaps with this theme.  Earlier this month I jumped in and hosted one over in the Artist Trading Card Community Group on FB.  I made two.

I try to keep my eyes peeled for interesting stamps on incoming mail.  I think this stamp was from the UK.  Cool stamps are a bonus of trading internationally!  Media used on this included: acrylic paint, metallic paint pen, gel pen, archival ink, dye ink, alcohol markers, and Distress ink.

I had a lot of poinsettia stamps that have been in my stash for a long time.  I think I had a hard time getting away from doing something Christmas-y with them.  Love how this one turned out.

It's going to be cool seeing what the other swappers come up with.  Cheers and happy arting!

The 100 Days Project - Days 11-20: Postage Stamps

I don't want to break my arm by patting myself on the back, but feeling pretty good about myself - haven't missed a day yet!  The theme for Days 11-20 was Postage Stamps.

I thought this would be pretty simple; stamps are fun to use on my ATCs.  HOWEVER there was one little obstacle that didn't occur to me until...well...Day 11.  Postage stamps are small but not THAT small.  They pretty much take up the whole 1"x1" block.  Some days were really a struggle.  I liked it though.  It forced me to get out of a rut and insist on some help from The Muse.

Here we go...

Days 11-20: Postage Stamps glued, weaved, cut up, embellished...

Day 11:  I couldn't just slap the stamp on the background and call it day.  I added some washi tape, patterned paper, ripped book page and gold embossing powder (this ended up being a 'thing' with the postage stamps.  I've rediscovered my embossing powders!).  In retrospect I kind of wish I had nixed the cherries in the corner, but it is part of the GW lore...)

Day 12: I had a mosaic idea in mind for this.  I first laid down some modeling paste and then stuck the cut up bits on top of it while it was wet.  I wanted it to look a little rough and ready.  Added a little color on the dried paste to make it look more...rustic?

Day 13: I had no idea what I was going to do when I sat down at my desk this day.  I dumped out a bunch of stamps and inspiration hit.  Love it when that happens.  Two stamps used on this one. 

Day 14:  Before I lumbered out of bed this day I was laying there thinking about what I could do with a stamp this day.  Wham-o!  I decided it would be fun to weave two stamps together.  (That ended up being quite a task with my pudgy little fingers, but persistence paid off.)

Day 15:  Another "What am I going to do??" day.  Dumped the stamps out to see what would strike my fancy. This stamp was released at the same time as the mosaic Tiffany Lamp one above (Day 12).  Initially I thought 'tea' - hence the lace and button. I envisioned Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry sipping some Earl Grey while noshing on freshly baked scones. A little research enlightened me that this was indeed a coffee pot.  That's okay...still works.  

Day 16: Happy Earth Day!  I saw this stamp on Day 11 and was eagerly awaiting this day so I could use it.  There were several different manifestations of this inchie before I arrived at this one.

Day 17: This stamp kept catching my eye; it was inevitable that I would use it somehow.  After trimming it to fit a 1"x1" square I dug in my stash for colored bits that matched the butterfly's colors.  I haven't dug into my bead box in years - cool to rediscover my seed bead stash.  The number is washi tape. 

Day 18: Every day after I dumped my stamps onto the desk to see which one I'd use this stamp would catch my eye.  I kept thinking to myself that I should save it and not 'waste' it on such a small project. But no, The Muse just wasn't sure what she wanted to do with it yet.  She knew this day though.  Finding a teeny little face to perch atop the body was a bit of a task...

Day 18:  Lots of ideas floating around in the ol' noggin this morning.  I ended up using two stamps (background strips and birds) as well as some random scraps of book page.  It's hard to see from this angle, but the birds are raised off the base of the inchie using multiple layers of cardstock.

Day 20: This seems to be a theme, but I had no clue what to do this day. I dumped out the prepared stamps in my mini stash on the desk..nothing.  I ended up digging through the unprepped stash and after seeing a bunch of stamps with faces on them the idea for this emerged.

And that's that for the second batch of inchies.  One thing I love about these types of challenges - the kind that goes for an extended period of time - is that it really starts the creative juices flowing.  Nine times out of ten it also leads to me digging through my stash to use things that have just been sitting around neglected.

How is your creativity exerting itself these days?  I'd love to hear about it!

Postage Stamp People ATCs

One of my art trading groups has a postage stamp people theme for this month.  It's been quite a while since I've done any art with postage stamps so this sounded like fun. (HERE, HERE and HERE are ones I did before.)

Ever since my first attempt at art using postage stamps I've been a bit of a stamp hoarder.  When I see one on an envie that strikes my fancy I cut it off and stash it for future use.  Since my creative space is a bit of a disaster right now I have no idea where my stamp collecting envie is.  However, I was lucky enough to stumble upon my dad's collection (which I never knew he had) when we were going through his things a few years ago and I used some of his collection on these ATCs. (Thanks, Dad!)

Title: Abe Likes Big Books

Title: Daddy's Little Princess

Title: Bored

Thanks to Smithsonian magazine for providing supporting images and backgrounds.  :)

ATCs, ATCs, ATCs...

Yep.  I've been making them this morning.

This batch is for a Wings & Flying Things Postage Stamp swap.

I got hooked on saving pretty postage stamps a couple of years ago thanks to several swaps on ATCsForAll.  ;)

The next one is the second to last ATC in the Village series I'm doing on SwapBot.

It's a beautiful sunny day (thank you from all of us Seattle-ites, oh, weather gods!) so I'm off to enjoy.  Cheers!

Postage Stamp ATCs

I've been frantically catching up with swaps while on spring break.  (It's a good thing I have teenagers who like to sleep late!)  I always cut the cool-looking stamps off envelopes I receive with the knowledge that somehow they will be reborn on some project or another.  Today they're being reborn onto some ATCs.

Back to the grind of normal schedules tomorrow.  It's been a great break.