displaying a sticker collection

July 19, 2022 7:36 AM

I've started to collect stickers during my travels, and now the question becomes, what to do with them?

I travel a lot, and recently I've started to purchase little stickers from the places I've been. Like this, for example - most are round, roughly three inches in diameter, but there's some variation. Originally I was planning to just stick a couple on a laptop or a water bottle or something, but the increasing size and, especially, the thematic unity of the collection (they're all place names) made me think that a display would be better. I travel a lot, though, so scalability is my primary concern. I'd love it if there were something that could grow with my collection rather than just buying a new frame every time the collection outgrows the previous frame.

Note: Despite the geographical nature of the collection, I don't really want to display them on any sort of map.

posted by kevinbelt to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (19 answers total)

The traditional place to stick them I think is on your luggage! Otherwise, an old travelling trunk that you use for storage at home? Or - your bathroom walls (YMMV).
posted by london explorer girl at 7:44 AM on July 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure how this would be achieved but my inclination would be to have a large unframed canvas sort of thing with an evenly spaced grid of 3" circle outlines. I would place the stickers already owned starting in a corner and then slowly fill in the rest of the grid diagonally on further travels.

Alternatively if you are focused more on scalability and practicality than seeing all the stickers at the same time, you could have a large binder and get clear photo sleeve inserts so you could stick a sticker on each side of a blank index card and put it in one of the four pockets.
posted by donut_princess at 7:56 AM on July 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

A lot of this will boil down to aesthetic preferences but, you could put these on your fridge, make them into an accent wall (I wouldn't do bathroom just because I imagine the moisture would likely make the stickers peel), or:

I'd love it if there were something that could grow with my collection rather than just buying a new frame every time the collection outgrows the previous frame.

I think frames of different sizes artfully arranged on a wall could look good - so it's not about buying a new frame, but an additional frame.
posted by coffeecat at 7:58 AM on July 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

That is 100% the kind of thing I would be sticking in a travel journal. I have always kept a travel journal, and have gone from having it just be writing to having it be a journal with some scrapbook elements - like, I'll paste in a sticker, tape in the wristband from a museum I went to, stuff like that. If you're not writing-minded, you could just do the scrapbook idea - forget doing the whole thing with decorative paper backgrounds and stuff like that, just get a blank book and paste stuff in whenever you feel like it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:02 AM on July 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have a lot of mine on my fridge, using sticky magnets, because the arrangement will never be just right.
posted by sacrifix at 8:02 AM on July 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

I have a collection of stickers from breweries, and I started sticking them in a journal with a brief description of my experience, what I tasted, etc.
posted by heurtebise at 8:34 AM on July 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Water bottles are also a “classic” spot to put them.
posted by raccoon409 at 8:38 AM on July 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Both of my kids have designated sticker notebooks, and only the best and the coolest and the favoritest stickers go in there. So that's what I recommend.
posted by gakiko at 8:40 AM on July 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

You can get sheet magnetic plastic and stick them to it. They you can change up a display on the fridge or on a sheet of metal (rimless baking sheet).
posted by theora55 at 8:46 AM on July 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Where would it make you happy to see them? If you want to see them as you go about your day, then display them as wall art of some sort. If you want to be able to reminisce every once in a while, then maybe in a travel journal or scrapbook. Do you want them to be a conversation piece for guests? Have them in your living room or the guest room.

I love the trunk idea, though lining the back of a bookcase with them could also be fun. Every time you pull a book out you'd have the fun of finding a sticker of a place you hadn't thought of in a while.
posted by shesbookish at 8:47 AM on July 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Our kid has a 3' x 4' piece of plexiglass, mounted a few inches off the wall by four pegs. It allows a space to displace them that is sort of like sticking them on the wall, but a bit more dynamic, less damaging to the wall, and portable. It's fun to add to the display as new ones are acquired.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:00 AM on July 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have an ugly metal file cabinet in my office. I add stickers to it everytime I can. Mine are mostly beer stickers, but there are a variety that make it look a bit less ugly.
posted by hydra77 at 9:09 AM on July 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm the kind of person who wants to keep memorabilia forever, so I'd go for solutions that do not involve sticking the stickers on anything permanently.

Lowest-tech: pick a blank wall, get a pack or two of sticky putty (Blu Tack or whatever), use the teeniest bit of it to stick each sticker to the wall (leaving the backing of the sticker attached). Repositionable, removable, you can keep the stickers separate or overlap a bit as you desire, won't outgrow a frame (it may outgrow the wall itself, but that's a different issue).

Alternatively, assuming you'd like your collection displayed, I'd go with coffeecat's idea of multiple frames, adding one each time you run out of space in the previous one. If you're fine with your collection being something you pull out of a shelf and leaf through, a sticker book, a travel journal or a binder (using whatever specialist binder pouches match the size and shape of the stickers the best) would be the solution I'd use.
posted by sailoreagle at 10:04 AM on July 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

London explorer girl suggested putting them on a trunk. I immediately saw the back end of a car. If you go to a scrap yard you can probably get the tailgate off an old station wagon or hatchback torched off, or unbolted if they're more subtle, and lean it against a wall. It's kind of the traditional way to display stickers. (Except usually with the whole car.)
posted by AugustusCrunch at 10:19 AM on July 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

You could get some ideas by searching for Christmas card displays. Here are 34 DIY ideas, some could be adapted to stickers (you would leave the backing paper on the stickers.) Many make use of wire grids or strings and tiny clothes pins, and would be extremely flexible for adding and rearranging stickers.

I love the last one: sailoreagle's idea plus Washi tape "frames" around each one.
posted by evilmomlady at 10:36 AM on July 19, 2022

Any chance you could stick your existing stickers on a magnetic backing, and switch to purchasing magnets moving forward?

A friend of mine has an amazing travel magnet collection on their refrigerator!
posted by Juniper Toast at 12:11 PM on July 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

My two cents: Leave the backing on, as many have suggested, and get a fairly sizable (you will know what size works for your stickers and your space) sheet of 1/8” thick plexiglass, two of them in fact, and a box of binder clips. Put some kind of paper or poster board, hot or cold press board, whatever strikes you, cut to the same size or an appropriate border size smaller than the plexiglass, in between the two layers, with the stickers arranged how you like on it, and then use the binder clips around the edges, two or three to a side, to hold the whole thing together.
They might provide a way to hang it, maybe not, and if you want you can remove the levers from the binder clips to make the whole thing look more pleasant. Just don’t lose them or reopening and reclosing them when it’s time to add more stickers could be troublesome.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 1:12 PM on July 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

you could make them into glass magnets and get a magnetic board to display them.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:06 PM on July 19, 2022

Any chance you could stick your existing stickers on a magnetic backing, and switch to purchasing magnets moving forward?

you could make them into glass magnets and get a magnetic board to display them

This is what I do: I collect magnets from places I've been. I have a small magnetic board full of them. When it gets too full, I add another. They are more readily found around back to school/college days. I really enjoy looking at them and remembering each place.

I also like the sticker album idea. You could perhaps write a paragraph or two about each place next to each sticker.
posted by annieb at 4:45 PM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]