Wednesday 25 September 2013

Going Postal 2013: Postage stamp flower gift tag


Hi hi hi.

If you've been following  the Going Postal series so far ... no ... actually, if you're familiar with my blog at all, or my shop, or even my wardrobe ... basically me in general ...  then you might have realised by now that I'm pretty fond of putting things into colour themes.

And, needless to say, this has extended into my stamp collection! Of course it has!

I find that whenever I can't think of a theme for something [eg. my Fabricky Bits kits], or I'm sitting there faced with a lot of supplies and I can't think of an interesting way to pull them all together [as in my 30 Postcards minibook] ... I turn to arranging things into colour families ... and I take it from there!

Here I wanted to make a flower design with some stamps and, to make sure that idea was nice and clear ... I selected ones in similar shades:

And, because of the similar colours, they hang together nicely and make sense as a flower rather than looking simply like randomly placed stamps.

More ideas:
  • Stamps can add a quick extra level of interest to any project where you might otherwise use small pieces of patterned paper;
  • You could make pretty postal petal embellishments like these in advance, mounted on to a disc of cardstock and decorated in the centre with buttons, gems etc. Then they're always on hand to add them to all kinds of paper crafting projects [cards, tags, gift-wrap; scrapbooking];
  • Sort and store a bundle of stamps in colour order [in clear bags or in a divided storage box] to speed up choosing which ones to use.  Otherwise you may just find yourself browsing your entire collection every time. [Ask me how I know ... !]
One additional thing I like about storing stamps in a rainbow spectrum is ...
  • you begin to see how many pretty, bright and unexpected colours they come in!
  • I was surprised to see so many oranges, pinks and purples amongst my collection;
this allows you to easily add a vintage-yet-bright touch to more modern paper-crafting styles. I think the 'vintage postage' theme is often used in dark, grungy, aged-effect type projects ... but, as I hope this tag display, they really can be combined with pastels too!
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I'll have more of my '30 Postcards' pages to share later in the week, until then ...
 
  • Do you sort and store your supplies in colour families?
  • Just certain ones? Or everything?
  • Or nothing?! Is colour not as big a creative influence on you as it is for me?
Julie :-)

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If you join in with a posty post of your own:
  • let your readers know you're Going Postal [a few words of introduction is fine];
  • link up to my blog or the Going Postal Pinterest board
  • then - if you use Pinterest please consider pinning it to one of your own boards, link me up, and I'll 're-pin' it.
  • but - if you DON'T use Pinterest drop by here or my Facebook page and leave a link to your postal-themed project or story before Oct 27th and I'll add you to the board for all to share your contribution.
Any problems or questions - just get in touch. :-)

5 comments:

  1. There's definitely a bit of the librarian in you :) I have just started sorting all my embellishments into colour groups because I've finally realised that's how I choose them. I do like your stamp-flower

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  2. I'd love to have enough stamps to sort them anyway. Love the flower.

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  3. I just found your blog today courtesy of your post at Shimelle's blog. I've been collecting stamps since I was a kid -- not as a "Collector" but just because I love looking at them. I also use them in my card-making and I'm thrilled to find somebody else who loves the colors, too. Thank you so much for sharing!

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  4. That is such a pretty idea, Julie, and so original!

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