The Mayor's Love for Postage Ephemera

The Mayor's Love for Letters and Stamps: A Project Gallery

My husband collected stamps while I collected vintage postcards, as well as family letters and autograph books. Since all items were of some value - monetary or nostalgic - I created my own collages first from some of these items and then scanned them for projects.

I still have that French love for decoupage (and that 1970s love affair with it), so most of my projects are "decoupages" from those scanned collages that I print on card stock from my computer. Remember that United States postage stamps are in the public domain if issued before December 31, 1978. You can also use original ephemera or scrapbook paper; however, the weight of these items may not survive the decoupage process well.

Here are a few of my projects with postage stamps.

Paper Mache Houses with Vintage Photos, Stamps, Postcards, and Pharmacy Labels




Vintage Stamps Made into a Collage for a Handbag

Antique Hawaiian Postcards with Stamps

Purchasing Stamps for Projects?

bornatthewrongtime.etsy.com

Unless you are investing in creating a work of art or a commemorative piece, I would use cancelled stamps that you have collected over the years. Is that not possible? Here are examples of sources for purchasing cancelled stamps online:

Try Western New York Book Arts Collaborative at wnybac.etsy.com

For large amounts of stamps try stampsandmore.etsy.com. This site offers a large variety of quality vintage postage stamps, available in mixed lots or selected themes.

stampsandmore.etsy.com

See how you can create a monochromatic look as in this mini art print in blues by Packandpost via society6.com? You could design personal stationery from a jpeg of your scanned creation.

If you wish to sell your work, then check about a country’s public domain for stamps at Stamps and the Public Domain.

 

society6.com

In the next post I’ll share these tiny stamp houses being created.

Pinned from twokitties.typepad.com

Tiny Stamp Houses, from heatherdonohue.wordpress.com

The Mayor Visits the Post Office

"But here I am, and here I'll stay. I want the world to know I'm happy.” [Stella-Rondo in Eudora Welty’s wonderful short story "Why I Live at the Post Office"]

Eudora Welty

No, I do not live at the Little Town Post Office, but I do have a small connection. When my mother finished high school in 1940, she moved to a “small” Little Town and began working at the post office. Although my mother was not the Stella-Ronda character in the Welty story, I can hear her also saying, "But here I am, and here I'll stay. I want the world to know I'm happy."

With the next few posts, I will spend time at the Little Town Post Office sharing step-by-step DIY gifts, jewelry, art, and home projects that use vintage stamps and stamp scrap sheets. 

For now you might enjoy reading the funny and poignant short story "Why I Live at the Post Office." (You can read it online, but I have not linked to it for copyright reasons.)