When I was younger, my father always used to tell me about how his father collected stamps as a kid. He said that people would mail stamps from all around the world to him, as they were quite the Boston socialites back in the day. Since I first started hearing these stories, I would have bitten off my left arm to see these stamps but they were never found. Even when we sold my grandparents house, I remember my father looking for them but no luck.

Fast forward many years… about a year ago my father was rummaging through some of my grandparents old materials in our basement. We have some really cool stuff down there, like WW1 memorabilia and vintage highchairs etc etc. And wouldn’t you know, we found the STAMPS! I was just in awe at all of them. There were thousands. From every country you could imagine. They were amazing. I wanted to turn some of them into art for my office (Brett’s office, really) since we have an old world traveler theme going on in there. I decided that if I made some of them into art, it was a sentimental thing to me. And being the biggest sap on earth… it was perfect. However, we decided that we should probably have a stamp collector look at the collection and make sure none of them are worth millions before I slap them on a canvas and ruin them.

So I found an alternate plan… I found a shop online {Angela Ligiori} that sells real vintage stamps. Just like my grandfathers! Seriously! And at only $6 for 50 of them, I really couldn’t pass them up. I have dreams of buying hundreds of these and using them as confetti on the tables at my hypothetical wedding one day. But anyways… back to topic…

So I bought these….

It was so fun going through all of them and finding where they came from. Brett wasn’t as thrilled when I would shriek in delight that there was one from Greece or Morocco or another unexpected country. To say I was thrilled was an understatement. I had initially planned on framing some of the stamps and hanging them on the wall. But I didn’t have a nice frame on hand and I decided I would save the frame idea for my Grandfathers stamps when I get them one day. Instead I opted for a canvas!

Here is what you need:

-stamps (you can find them here)

-canvas (pick any size that works for you)

-Modge Podge (I used matte but I am sure glossy would work just fine as well)

-1inch foam brush

-clear finish gloss spray (I use Krylon and am really happy with it)

First I picked the stamps I wanted to use for this particular canvas. I made sure to have a variety of colors and countries. Then I mapped out (ha ha) exactly where I would put them. I wanted to make sure they would fit perfectly.

I went about this by brushing on a thin layer of Modge Podge in a small portion of the canvas and then placed the stamps down. I did it section by section so that the Modge Podge wouldn’t dry before I got to that section. Makes sense, right? (p.s. ignore the spray adhesive in the background…I was experimenting with other ways to do this)

I just kept going with this until the canvas was completely covered. Then I brushed an additional layer or two of modge podge on top. Note, be careful with some of the stamps when you are brushing the modge podge on. Sometimes if it isn’t stuck underneath perfectly the edges will curl up. As long as you brush the edges down with the layer on top you should be fine. Hopefully my giberish makes sense…

After I let this dry for about 2 hours, I brought it outside and sprayed it with my gloss spray. This just helps to seal the whole thing and gives it a nice finish. I let that set for about another two hours and this is what I ended up with…

I left the canvas white because I wanted the colors of the stamps to pop. But, you could always paint the canvas and then follow the same process! I bet it would look cool that way, too! I made two of these and they both live on our bookcase in the office.

I think it came out just great! While they aren’t my grandfathers stamps… they have the same sentimental tie to me. Let me know if you try any fun art projects with vintage stamps!