It’s as easy as putting a stamp on a letter!

*******************************************************************************

Hi everyone!  First of all let me say how honored and over the top excited I am to be guest hosting for Kim!!!  My name is Jillian and I recently started Design Dreams so when I saw that Kim needed some guest hosts I jumped at the chance.  I have been reading Design Thoughts and following Kim on Twitter for a while and I am just tickled that she accepted my offer. 

Now down to business….

My father was a huge collector.  He collected nothing in particular, he just enjoyed collecting things.  On thing he had was a large collection of was stamps.  Stamps from all over the world, new, used, historical or run of the mill.  When he passed I was left with a giant stamp collection and not the foggiest idea of what to do with them all.

 

When I saw the above picture on Pinterest, the wheels started turning.  I wasn’t quite sure how to make a clean cut letter like this, ya know how sometimes you see something and know you can do it it’s just a matter of time before you figure out how to go about it?  Well this has taken about six months :/  In the meantime I made a monochromatic collage for my living room to satisfy my need to so SOMETHING with these stamps.  

I absolutely loved it, but that image from Pinterest was still floating around in my head.

I don’t know where you do your best thinking, but I do mine in the shower.  And that is where this idea finally came to me.  All I needed was a wooden initial, the stamps and some Mod Podge and I could replicate the look fairly simply.

I rummaged through the giant box of stamps and once I piled up a bunch of different color themes I decided that blue was the best choice for this project.  So, with a small paint brush (so I don’t get overzealous with the Mod Podge) I worked on the edges first.  I didn’t want the black edges of the original G to be be visible from the side so I left a great deal of overhang on the sides so I could wrap the stamps around to the back. 

With the edges done it was just a matter of piecing a puzzle together.  I used the bigger stamps first and then filled in the gaps with the smaller ones.  If you have a large collection of stamps look through for the ones you really think are pretty and make sure those are showcased in the piece so you always notice them. 
 
After a few hours of dry time, I covered the entire letter with a layer of Mod Podge and it was as simple as that. 

I just love the finished product.  I haven’t decided whether to put it in a frame or let it hang out by itself but one way or another this bad boy will be a main attraction on a new collage wall in a very boring stairwell.  I am a bit of a collage addict 🙂  Maybe Kim will leave you an update when I finish the wall eventually soon.  

It has been so much fun subbing in for Kim.  Thanks for reading and I can’t wait to hear what all of you think about this project! 

-Jillian

You can find Jillian at:

Design Dreams ( Her Blog)

Twitter (@jillianagr)

Pinterest (jilianagr)