Six Ways to Use Stamp Cutouts to Embellish Your Paper Crafts

If you are looking for an inexpensive way to add a little charm to your paper crafts, a stamp cutout instantly adds depth and interest to your project. Stamp cutouts are similar to die cuts, but with the extra appeal of a hand-made appliqué.

Grab your favorite stamp, ink pad, scissors, double-sided tape, and a sheet of heavy weight paper - with a little imagination, you'll discover plenty of ways to use stamp cutouts.

Start with these six ideas and then create some new ideas of your own!

Create a card background with stamps and add a single stamp cutout (pictured.) Create a card pattern using one or more stamps. Then, use one of the stamps to create a single impression on your heavy card stock paper.

Tape the impression near the center or in an off-set position, whatever design works the best with your pattern. To give a little more depth to the stamp cutout, use two or more layers of double-sided tape.

Use stamp cutouts to decorate gift bags. Purchase solid color gift bags and use stamp cutouts to create patterns or use just a single (large) stamp cutout shape to create a super-simple, attractive gift bag.

Apply a stamp cutout to an envelope to add interest (pictured.) Give the recipient a tease to the beautiful hand-crafted stamped card they'll find inside the envelope by using a single stamp cutout to embellish the outside of the envelope.

Use the same technique to dress up store-bought card envelopes, too. Why should the card get all the attention? Let the gift recipient know you thought of every detail!

Use a stamp cutout to jazz up a store bought card (pictured.) As with envelopes, stamp cutouts can add a special touch to plain (or patterned) cards.

Add a special touch to your scrapbook pages with stamp cutouts. Stamp cutouts are great for adding a vintage or rustic touch to scrapbook pages. Perfect for when you want to use a stamp for impression and not have it fade into the background.

You can also use stamp cutouts to test drive a scrapbook page layout look before committing to stamping the impressions directly on your scrapbook page.

Place stamp cutouts on the corner of a picture frame matting. To add a whimsical or vintage touch to hand matted pictures, use stamp cutouts. They are easy to position and can be placed to overlap the edge of the picture, to add depth or even be use to creatively cover up cover a flaw in design!