Postcrossing

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Paper Quilts and Purple Hearts: Creating Cards With Postage

The cards featured in today’s post are the last in a series of greeting cards I designed using postage stamps. I’ll definitely make more in the future. You can read the first two posts here and here.

While most of my cards feature postage from several countries, this quilt-inspired card features sixteen flower stamps from Germany (Deutschland). I wanted to create a paper quilt, so I spaced the stamps symmetrically, with each color following a diagonal pattern. I used my quilt embossing folder to add to the effect and added a green border.

This card feels unfinished, but I’ve yet to figure out why. I love the stamps. It needs something to break up the symmetry, but what? Creative input is welcome.

The following two cards use a simple collage technique with a monochromatic theme. I had an extensive collection of blue stamps to begin with, so it allowed me to pick and choose. I went with the brightest blues, using sizes that allowed edge-to-edge contact.

Here is the finished card. I mounted the blue collage on a white background, then wrapped some vellum with a birthday sentiment so you can see all the images. I used fifteen stamps from eight countries: Austria, China, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the US.

Purple stamps are uncommon, so I needed a die to feature the few that I had. I went with a heart.

In some cases I used the corner of a multi-colored stamp, saving the five prominent purple ones for the center. There is a bit of luck at play here, too. As I pulled together this card for my sister, I found one purple stamp from Canada, where we’re from. Sharon loves music, so finding the Charlie Parker stamp with the beautiful background seemed equally fortuitous.

I assembled the purple heart from twelve stamps representing Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, The Philippines, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the US.

This last card is my favorite. I used three stamps for the greenery, five for the flower, and four for the vase. I like its simplicity.

I assembled this card using white textured card stock, giving the top third a wash of aqua ink. I stamped the image of the jar on vellum in black ink, then tucked a few blue stamps behind it. Postage used for this card came from China, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, and Poland.

This is also a card that I can see myself replicating.

Before tidying my desk, I made a handful of bookmarks for our Little Free Library.

Playing with postage has been a lot of fun. Thank you for following along.

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Flowers and Cats, Wild and Domestic: Creating Cards with Postage

Today I’m sharing three of the cards I created using my postage stamp stash. The cards run the gamut from pedestrian to quirky. You can read more about the start of this process here.

Along the way, I tried keeping track of the countries represented as I created the cards. I had so much fun.

This first card took a bit of planning. I used a beautiful new floral die by Hero Arts and 15 stamps from nine countries. I had to cut two stamps to get the colors in the right place, but for the most part, I enjoyed the challenge of placing the whole stamp for maximum color effect.

Here’s how it looked just before running it through my die-cutting machine. Countries represented in this card include China, Germany, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, New Zealand, The Philipines, ROC-Taiwan, Russia, and the US.

Here is the finished card. I placed the floral postage wreath on velum, then added a hand-stamped sentiment to a pink paper scrap.

The next card falls into the quirky category. When sorting my stamps, I set aside images of cats, hoping for inspiration.

I have a set of Sizzix dies featuring cats, something I hoped to use at Halloween. It occurred to me that I could try using the cat dies with the images of the postage cats facing forward. It worked for two of the three cats. Before I knew it, I had “constructed” a cat condo using textured woodgrain paper, various inks, and a sanding block to emulate a well-loved cat tree.

I still needed a face for the middle cat, but the remaining cat postage didn’t work. After pawing through several more stamps and some trial and error, cat number three got a pair of cool glasses courtesy of this stamp from China.

I used coordinating colors for the body of each cat. I finished the card by adding floral paper to the background, reminiscent of kitschy wallpaper. Now that’s quirky. Countries represented in this card include China, Korea, Lithuania or Lietuva, Malaysia, The Netherlands, and the US.

Today’s final card uses a single postage stamp from Russia. My sister loves wildcats, and her favorite color is purple. This over-sized stamp combines both. I used a stitching die to cut two rectangles, added the wild cat stamp to the smaller one, and stamped “thinking of you” in the upper corner. I know she’ll enjoy it.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more cards.

Here is a helpful link if you are new to card making. It’s called The Ultimate Card Making Techniques Glossary

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Card-making With My Postcrossing Stash

One of my current stress-busters is creating cards from postage stamps. I’ve written about the fun of sending and receiving postcards worldwide via the Postcrossing project. I joined in 2016, and in those eight years, I’ve sent and received over 300 postcards. I have stamps from 41 countries.

What is Postcrossing?

  • The goal of this project is to allow anyone to send and receive postcards from all over the world!
  • The idea is simple: for each postcard you send, you will receive one back from a random postcrosser from somewhere in the world.

Over the years, I’ve thought about alternate ways to use my beautiful stash. With few exceptions, postage stamps are works of art.

A few weeks ago, I took the plunge and removed the postage from my Postcrossing cards by soaking them in warm water. I watched my dad do the same in his basement den in the early sixties. I’m amazed that those memories are so vivid.

It took a few days to complete, and not all stamps were salvageable due to the newer adhesive; however, I ended up with over 600 postage stamps. What a haul!

Sorting is relaxing, too. I initially sorted by color and theme, depending on the volume. There were more blue stamps than any other color, with orange and purple being the most scarce. I had a handful of cartoon stamps, four or five cat stamps, and many flowers.

Once I started making cards, I ended up with stamps everywhere: stuck to my sweater, on the floor, under the cat, and so on. I ended each crafting session by gathering my stash back together for the next time.

It’s interesting that creative pull once you’ve come up with an idea. I looked forward to those hours of crafting time.

Here is a sneak peek of a few of the cards I made.

I’ll share more tomorrow.

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Repurposing My Postcrossing Postcards

A Postcrossing postcard

Several years back, I discovered Postcrossing while researching vintage postage. I’ve always loved snail mail and for years kept up a correspondence with friends worldwide.

Postcrossing is the creation of Paulo Magalhães. Simply put, he started the project so he would receive more postcards in his mailbox. To date, 68 million postcards are in circulation.

“The goal of this project is to allow anyone to send and receive postcards from all over the world! For each postcard you send, you will receive one back from a random postcrosser.”

Paulo Maglhaes

I set up a Postcrossing profile in March of 2016. Over the years, I’ve sent and received 257 postcards from 40 countries.

Postcrossing profile

The organizer in me enjoyed sorting the cards by country, but as my collection grew, I started sorting by subject. As a result, my collection includes gorgeous cat photos and illustrations, botanical drawings, and clever garden illustrations.

Gorgeous cat postcard
This is one of my all-time favorite cards

It seemed a shame to keep these miniature works of art in a box, so I came up with the idea of laminating several cards to use as a cover for my garden bench.

First, I created a template using a piece of thick gift wrap, then arranged the cards within the parameters of the bench’s surface.

Our local teacher’s supply store has an oversized laminator. They charge by the inch, so it’s a bargain. I used the laminator to fuse the cards to the gift wrap, returning home with what looked like a large placemat.

I slid the sheet of laminated postcards below the clear acrylic top.

Garden bench with postcard topper

I’m pleased with the final results and reminded once again how a bit of creativity soothes the soul. It’s fun remembering when each of these cards arrived in the mail, and what a joy it is to send and receive cards around the world.

Postscript: May I send you a postcard? If you would like a card in your mailbox, please send me your name and address via my contact form. I’m happy to post your card anywhere in the world.