Stamp and Create with Beth: Christmas "postage stamp" card #2

Are you inspired by beautiful postage stamps? I love getting the pretty stamps all year long but winter stamps seem to be my favorite. There's just something about glistening snow. Beautiful winter and holiday stamps have inspired this technique of creating a layer that looks like a postage stamp. It's simple really. All I did was alter my postage die cut with a pencil, ruler and a marker. The Perennial Postage dies have several sizes. My favorite sizes are the largest and second largest.

To create this look, you trace a line about 1/4" from the edge of the die cut. I like to use my grid paper and a ruler to help make my lines straight. I use pencil first to draw in the lines. Once I have my pencil lines drawn, I stamp inside the border. When you're done stamping, you use your ruler again and a marker to trace the lines, stopping where they intersect. This creates a dark border around the stamped images.

*Note: If you're images go beyond the pencil marks, use a post-it note or masking paper to protect the edge of your die cut. You don't want to stamp outside the pencil marks.

You can create a scene like I did on this card or you can stamp whatever Christmas, holiday or winter images you want. I used some of my retired favorites- Spirited Snowmen and Coming Home. The greeting is from an older paper pumpkin stamp set- November 2015. So grab your favorite winter stamps and enjoy the creative process. Mix and Match sets to create beautiful layers for your "postage stamps".

My snowman and trees are stamped in Basic Gray classic ink. I colored my images, snow drifts, and frozen pond with Stampin' Blends markers. You can pick any color combo. I used a classic Christmas combo of Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Old Olive and Mossy Meadow. Then I added in a few other colors to help complete my scene. For the snow and shadows I used Gray Granite. I found I liked this gray the best for my snow. I used light Balmy Blue for my frozen pond and as a little pop of color for my snow. I used the color lifter to soften edges and help smooth out areas. The color lifter moves the ink around and pushes it through your paper. Once I was done coloring, I stamped the greeting in Smoky Slate classic ink.

For this card, I decided to get a bit creative and only make my lines about an inch long from each corner. Then I added in dots. I used a ruler to get them even. To trace over the pencil marks, I recommend a Stampin' Write marker. These are the same formula as the classic inks and work well with Stampin' Blends markers. After I finished and let it sit for just a few minutes to make sure my marks were dry, I used an eraser to remove any leftover pencil marks.

Up-close of the lines drawn in to create a border around my winter scene.

After I finished coloring and drawing in my lines, I added some white dots. I used an Artistro white paint marker pen. You can also use a white colored pencil, watercolor pencil or gel pen. The paint pen needs a little time to dry. Once it's dry, adhere it to your card base. My layer is adhered to a Real Red card base. I just love this festive color combo. You can stamp a little tree or add some fun patterned paper on the inside to finish off your card.

I've really enjoyed creating many cards with this technique. It's simple but it gives my die cut definition and helps step-up a one layer card. The possibilities are endless.

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