If you are my age or older, you have probably watched, with a mixture of horror and amusement, as styles from the 60’s and 70’s have reappeared in stores and fashion magazines. Who’d have thought that bellbottoms and miniskirts would be back in style!
There are a lot of fun elements from those funky decades we can draw on for use in our stamp art, and this idea has not been lost on stamp manufacturers and stores. More and more retro-inspired images and patterns are showing up on stamp shelves and paper racks.
I was delighted when my eyes caught sight of Clearsnap’s new Retro Ancient Page Petal Point pad at a recent convention. My thoughts immediately turned to the funky stamps from Paper Candy, a company that focuses entirely on images from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. "Groovy", I thought--"what a perfect match!"
Funky shapes and wild colors defined the retro era style. I had a lot of fun creating the colorful background for the Hip Cat card, using the Sorta Square Shadow Stamp and Doo Dad. The Stylish Dude is another example of using shapes and color combinations to make a card that pays homage to the 60’s.
Pop Art, of course, can’t be overlooked when talking about art from this era. The Cool Shades card, which has a realistic image stamped repeatedly, was inspired by Andi Warhol’s art.
Many scrapbooking and paper companies have also caught on to the retro trend. Take advantage of this by using those cool papers for backgrounds and accents on cards and other stamped projects. As you can see, going retro can be a fun change from your normal stamping routine!
