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    For as long as I can remember I have loved stamps.  Suddenly I feel like I am Andy Rooney.  I love stamps from every country!  I used to trade stamps with the neighbors when I was a child.  My English Aunt sent me some fresh, uncancelled stamps every time one came out that was pretty or meaningful.  She even sent me some first day of issue stamps commemorating a royal wedding (Charles and Di).  I LOVE STAMPS!  Now, in my Andy Rooney tone,  I shall complain.

    First of all, postage stamps are not terribly collectible anymore.  The ones with the self-adhesive are difficult to remove from an envelope and feel like plastic!  yech.  They don't even bother to put a denomination on them...just "forever."  Might as well say "Whatever," as far as I am concerned.  Are the "whatever" stamps really good forever??  What if Canada invades the United States and converts to their stamps...will the "whatever" stamp be useless?  Isn't it sort of egotistical of us Americans (no not us ;-)  to think that we will be around forever?  WHATEVER.  anyway, back to more complaints...

    Kids do not collect stamps anymore!  My 5 year old does...but then again he collects everything including dryer lint, so he doesn't count!  Kids in today's hi-tech world are too busy collecting electronic devices and cyber pals to consider something as "geeky" as stamp collecting.  SO, I must do the collecting and displaying for everyone. =)

    I do not collect expensive stamps and try to increase their value...blah blah all that.  I may have some in my collection that are worth a little, very little.  But that is not why I collect them.  I just simply love the little stamps for their artwork.  Cute little renderings of birds, butterflies, buiildings, ugly world leaders!  I love to put them together into collages (mostly digital, but some traditional) to include in my artwork offerings...
 

    This piece, for example is a digital collage of a moth.  The butterfly stamps represent a very serious mistake I made on ebay as a result of bidding on too many stamps at once.  I had no idea that absolutely nobody would bid against me!  That day I won every auction I entered (like 20 of them)  The stamps were a terrific deal, hardly cost me a dime...but the postage nearly killed me!
To all of that ebay nonsense and to peel and stick stamps; I say "Whatever!"

Thanks for reading, my friends.

Cathy
 


Comments

06/18/2012 10:28am

beautiful work Catherine! Just love how you use your stamps to create such fabulous art :D

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06/18/2012 1:26pm

They are art in miniature form and when I collected, I found stamps fascinating and informative. I'd look up flowers/birds/animals etc in my encyclopedia to learn more about them and spend hours trying to copy them in my sketchbook. Strange how those little things inspired me so much. I still collect things now, as does my 5-year-old, but having read your lovely post Catherine, I feel the urge to introduce her to the wonderful world of stamps!! Thanks!!! x

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06/18/2012 1:57pm

Many thanks Sharon and Angela for stopping by! I am so excited that you would like to bring the art of stamp collecting to your five-year-old! It is the perfect age, I think, because they can simply enjoy the stamps, and the time spent with you. Since Jacob likes to take them out to look at and he also likes to sort them into categories, I gave him a plastic container with compartments that I found at JoAnne's to keep his stamps in. This way, he is not tempted to rip them from the pages of a collecting book. when he is older, I may order one of my notebooks from zazzle that he can keep them in if he likes!
thanks again for your comment!

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06/18/2012 7:14pm

Loved this... being Canadian the "what if Canada invades the U.S." part made me laugh. Canadians really don't invade anywhere except your malls because the selection is far better. LOL

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