"Stamp Art"

My uncle is a stamp collector. He's collected stamps for years. He collected postage stamps and made them into stamp art. He had a great business selling stamp art for years. I think they even sold some stamp art in the Smithsonian museum. He made stamp art with lots of different topics. My aunt and uncle retired a few years ago, but some of their stamp art can be found online, especially on eBay. I have several pieces of their artwork in my home, that are beautifully framed. This one is my favorite, because it is about Teachers,  I received it as a gift from them when I graduated college.

It's not the best picture...

I collect stamps too, of a different kind. I "collect" rubber stamps. I say collect loosely, because it is not so much a collection to show off. It is something I use often. I enjoy using it to make cards and scrapbook pages. Most of my stamps are from a company called Stampin' Up! where I was a demonstrator for over ten years (over 1/4 of my life!). For whatever reason, my business was not growing. I resigned about a year ago and gave up the business portion, so it is now just a hobby. I make stamp art too, but it is a different kind of stamp art. Most of my art is in the form of scrapbook pages and cards. I like the creative outlet, even though I don't have as much time for it as I used to. It was a fun "job", I met lots of wonderful people, that are still some of my friends. You can find the Stampin' Up! website here.

My stamp collection...

Here is some of my "stamp art"...

One of my favorites... artsy!

 A favorite web site of mine to gather ideas from can be found here. I use their website a lot when I need something specific, or when I want to use a certain stamp set, and want new ideas for it.

Made with the Big Shot... see how it's a purse?

A pretty butterfly "buckle" card...another favorite!

A Valentine's Day scrapbook page- "Love is a New addition to the family!!"
I love the wheeled on hearts!

A scrapbook page that I stamped for one of my babies- Duckies & bath-time!

I don't think of myself as an artist, and I never have. Stamps are such a great medium to use, because you can color the images with a marker before you stamp them, or you can stamp the image with a darker ink and color it in. Or you can leave the image alone, and just show the color that you stamped from the stamp pad, as I did above in the ducky scrapbook page and in the butterfly card. It is nice to have all of the supplies on hand to be able to send out a card at any time, should I forget. I don't need to run to the store, I just grab a card from my stash and imitate it, voila! A birthday card! ;-D It makes my frugal loving heart happy to be able to reuse stamps too.

Another piece of stamp art in our home- Baseball,
given to my son by my brother.

Here is a related Bible verse that I like:

"...and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze,  to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts."  Exodus 31:3-5

This passage is talking about the creation of the tabernacle, and all the people involved in the work that was done to create it. I like the idea that I may be able to make artistic designs and engage in all kinds of crafts, to the glory of God!