Stamping on Snow

Last Updated on July 3, 2022 by Nancie Waterman

(Snowman Family – Quick Art)

Brrrr! It’s cold outside! Is the cold, ice and snow outside your window showing up in your stamping? After Maryland’s recent snowfall, I took some pictures of the snowy landscape to use as a background for stamped images.

Depending on the photo and the stamp you are using, you can sometimes stamp directly on a photo and color it in. Because my snowman family are mostly white, it was easier to stamp them on a separate piece of paper, color their details and then cut them out and layer them onto the photo. The text is simply printed using my computer printer, cut out and layered onto the background. (I used Xyron adhesive for both the snowman family and text.)

Do you remember when stamping on photos was really popular years ago? It was a time before most people had digital cameras, back when you shot a roll of film and took it somewhere to be developed. Back then, we stampers were aiming our cameras at the sky to take pictures of sky, clouds, tree branches, etc. (Who knows what the photo lab people were thinking when they developed them.) Then when we got the prints back, we would stamp things like flying birds or rocket ships on the glossy picture.

These days, with a digital camera, a computer, photo editing software and a printer, you can adjust the picture size, colors, etc. to fit the needed size and colors for your background. You can print as many copies as you like and print on whatever paper works in your printer.

This particular picture is printed 8″ wide — larger than the typical card, but I’m not using it for a card am I? And that is something to think about too. The ultimate goal of your stamping doesn’t have to be paper. You could create something with stamps and other supplies, take a picture of it or scan it and then post your artwork to share with friends and family. It doesn’t matter if it is a weird size that won’t fit easily into an envelope. You could also begin the art with stamped and embellished images, scan it and add to it using photo editing software to complete the piece. I especially like adding text in this way.

Want more ideas for creating the look of snow and ice on your stamped artwork? Check out VSN’s free “Snow & Ice Techniques For Stampers” eArticle. Want ideas for working with stamps in photo editing software? If you have issues of VSN from July 2010 through May 2012 on your shelves, each issue had a 2-3 page Digital Corner article on related topics.

So how is the weather where you are and is it showing up in your stamping?

Nancie, VSN