Learning new stamping techniques is always on my To Do list. I’m always searching for something easy and innovative that looks good! While searching the Internet one day, I found cards made with mailing labels. So, off to the office supply store I went! I picked up a variety of shaped labels, some with spaces between them, and some without. I couldn’t wait to try the technique, but it somehow got put on the back burner! I finally got the chance to try it about 3 months ago. I love the results and would have never imagined that stamping on mailing labels could be so much fun, and so easy!

The basic instructions for this technique are to stamp on labels, and mount them onto your card. But some more descriptive instructions will probably help you more, so here goes:

· Start with a sheet of self-adhesive labels (any size, shape or color will do). Labels with spaces between them will give you a window frame type look, while labels without spaces will give you a more "complete" image.

· Stamp your design on the labels using any kind of ink pad. (If you use pigment pads, be sure to heat set or emboss the ink so that it’s dry.)

· If you use labels with a space between them, you may want to clean the spaces with cotton swabs to keep the ink from smearing to your cardstock when you adhere the labels to it.

· To adhere your labels to cardstock, start by folding the backing paper half way down on the first row (to keep the labels in line). Adhere the top half of the row of labels, and then slowly peel the rest of the backing paper away while holding the labels in place.

· Continue doing this with each row, making sure to space them evenly so that the images are not distorted.

· When all of your labels have been adhered, you can do anything you’d like with it. Some scenes look good matted with another color cardstock, and some look perfect over a stamped or sponged background.

Any stamped image works well with this technique, but more finely detailed stamps will loose some of their detail if the labels have spaces between them. Large bold images work best with spaced labels.

I’ve designed several cards and a tag for this article, and I’ve used a variety of label sizes, and stamps.



Some of the other Design Team members have also submitted Label Cards for you to see. Enjoy!



I hope that I have inspired you to try using mailing labels to make cards. Good luck and have fun!