Postage Stamp

This tutorial shows how to turn an image into a postage stamp using Paint Shop Pro.

Supplies:

Victorian Clipart

1.  Open clipart in Paint Shop Pro.  I am using a vintage Victorian calling card.

2.  The average postage stamp is about an inch to 1.5 inches in length and 3/4 of an inch to 1 inch wide.  Therefore, resize the clipart to 450 pixels on one side (assuming 300 dpi).

3.  Add 20 pixel borders to the image (Image > Add Borders).  I chose a border color from my image (#f2e1c7)

Top = 20
Left = 20
Right = 20
Bottom = 20
Symmetric = Checked
Color = #f2e1c7

4.  Go to the Layers menu and select Promote Background Layer.  Add borders automatically flattens the image to the background.

5.  Select the eraser tool.  Select the round 25 shape click the upper left corner.  Change the hardness to 95 and the step to 140.

Size = 25
Hardness = 95
Step = 140
Density = 100
Thickness = 100
Rotation = 0
Opacity = 100

6.  Click the image in the upper left-hand corner.

7.  Press the Shift key and click the image in the upper right-hand corner.

8.  Keep the Shift key depressed and click in the lower right-hand corner.

9.  Keep the Shift key depressed and click the lower left-hand corner.

10.  Keep the Shift key depressed and click in the upper left-hand corner.

11.  The basic stamp is now complete if you do not wish to add a denomination to the stamp.  If you want to add a denomination, the cents sign can be difficult to add.  I open the Character Map tool in Windows and select the cents sign (Unicode 00A2), then copy and paste it into my open Text window to get it in the correct font.

Here is the final stamp.