How to Make Photo Stamps

• by Tracy C.

Introduction

• Making your own USPS-authorized postage stamps using digital images of your family, pet, or favorite football team is a way to personalize your cards and letters and send an extra treat to everyone on your mailing list.

Step 1: Choose Your Photo

Choose the perfect photo. (Creative commons photo by Charles)

• Use all the great digital photos you've taken this year to create photo stamps. Or, scan in an old favorite.

1. Decide who or what should be on the stamp: your dog, your new baby, an old photo of your grandfather in his Air Force uniform.
2. You can also scan in drawings your kids have made and turn those into stamps.
3. Close-up shots are generally better. Because the stamp is small, any shot taken from far away or with too many people in it will be hard to appreciate.
4. Make sure the resolution on your photo is good. Most sites recommend images with 200 pixels per inch. Size varies, but stamp sites quote a range of approximately 250 pixels by 350 pixels, either measured horizontally or vertically.
5. If you'd rather not put you or your family on a stamp, there are other customized choices available, such as football team stamps or college logo stamps.

Step 2: Use a Stamp-Making Site

• A few websites specializing in photo stamps make creating your own postage quick and easy. Beware of imitators; always look for the USPS symbol to be sure the stamps you have chosen are authorized to mail. Three popular vendors are:

1. Photo Stamps
2. Zazzle
3. Picture it Postage

Upload Your Photo

1. You'll need a digital photo to make your stamps. If you have a printed photo you wish to use, you can scan it into your computer and edit it to meet the necessary specifications.
2. Note there are some restrictions based on content, or if a photo is too dark to print, but there appears to be a real freedom of choice.
3. The upload process should take no more than a few minutes.

Make Final Touches

1. You can zoom, rotate your image, create borders, or make other changes to your photo.
2. Choose a horizontal or vertical orientation. Depending on the original image and your composition, one way will likely look much better.
3. You can choose the color of your postage.
4. Sites may offer advice on what looks good—if a font you've chosen is too dark to show up, for example.

Customize your photo stamp.

Preview Carefully

1. Make sure your stamp looks just how you want it to look before placing your order!
2. A couple of the sites we experimented with allowed users to cancel an order if they did so very soon after placing it.
3. You can also save your design and come back to it later, or email it to friends for advice.
4. You will have to choose a size of stamp (most sites offer small, medium, and large with each size appropriate for different envelope sizes).
5. It's not a bad idea to get out a ruler and sample envelope to see exactly what size your stamp will be and how it will look before you mail it.

Place Your Order

1. Make sure you've chosen the correct postage, depending on if you plan to send postcards ($0.26), regular mail ($0.41), or something heavier.
2. Choose a shipping method depending on how fast you want your stamps to arrive. Don't forget it will generally take up to a few days to process your stamps before they can ship.
3. Most online photo stamp sites sell stamps in sheets of 20.
4. Usually, the more stamps you order, the cheaper they become.

Step 3: Mail Away!

Time to send! (Creative commons photo by Pete Hopkins)

• Now for the hardest part—parting with your beautiful stamps!

1. Note that most photo stamps are larger than the average postage stamp, so leave enough room on your envelopes.
2. Now that you've stored your information with one of the photo stamp sites, you can easily re-order or create new stamps for another occasion.

Get Creative

1. Many people have enjoyed using their photo stamps on wedding invitations, birth announcements, or store grand openings (with an image of the company logo, for example).
2. You can also make stamps that will correspond to birthday party invitations, graduation announcements, or other seasonal themes.
3. Try using photo stamps on your Christmas cards. If you've made a photo card for the holidays that features only the children, you might use a photo stamp to include the family pet.
4. Finding an old photo of your grandparents on the their wedding day might be perfect to scan and create a stamp to use on their 60th anniversary party invites.

Resources for How to Make Photo Stamps

• The New York Times: "When a Greeting Card Becomes a Photo Album" (October 14, 2007)
• eHow: How to Make Photo Stamps
• GearLog: Cheerlog: Create Your Own Photo Stamps
• Stamps.com: PhotoStamps
• Stamps.com: PhotoStamps: How it Works
• Zazzle: Custom Postage
• YourStamps: Photo Stamps
• PictureitPostage: Personalized Stamps

Related Searches