We are so excited to have Sally sharing a fun craft with us today. We will let her introduce herself....
My name is Sally, and I am a sucker for a great infomercial or flashy advertisements. When it comes to dieting and fitness, I spend way too much money each month on massages, hair products, diets, food, fitness equipment, personal trainers, and gym memberships. Read my musings on active lifestyles, parenting, and green living on EatBreatheBlog.com.
Making Mother’s Day cards with potato stamps
When you were a kid – or, you know, in your early 30s – you might’ve experienced the joy that is creating art with potato stamps. Yep – a raw potato cut into a design and then dipped in color. A simple, cheap, and easy craft that generates delightful results, especially considering Mother’s Day is rapidly approaching and we’re in a recession. To make your stamps, you’ll need:
Enough potatoes to accommodate your designs. If you purchase more than a truckload, you might want to let Hallmark know they have competition.
A knife that can cut through a raw potato. You can probably use a plastic knife from a fast food restaurant but… don’t.
A pen or marker to sketch out your masterpiece. It’s tempting to get all Picasso with your spud but keep in mind that you need to carefully cut out your design, so start simple. If you end up with a design you didn’t intend, just call it abstract art.
Paint (poster, acrylic, or fabric), ink, or food coloring.
Construction paper, blank notecards, grocery sacks, the backs of window envelopes – whatever you want to stamp your design upon
Ok, let’s do this:
Wash your potato to keep dirt out of your artwork.
Cut the potato in half and blot away the resulting potato juice. (Don’t worry – the potato isn’t crying. It wants to be a part of your opus.)
Sketch out your design on each potato half. Get creative! It’s a little labor intensive, but consider cutting out an “M” and an “O” so you can spell out “MOM” in semi-ransom-note style. You can also sketch flowers, a jesus fish, geometric shapes, or something that will result in a Rorschach print. The world is your…okay, let’s move on.
Cut around the shape you created, no more than ½” into the potato, so that your design is raised from the rest of the potato surface. If you mess up, put your starchy buddy aside and make soup later.
Dip your tater into your color and then get stamp happy. Rinse with water and dry thoroughly when switching colors. Or, again, don’t – it’s your artwork and “abstract” is a nice, broad definition.
This craft will obviously work well for any occasion. Try your hand at birthday cards, design the border of a handwritten letter (another lost art), or create a piece of art to hang in your home. I recommend making the fridge your personal art gallery.
Thanks for sharing such a cute idea and fun craft Sally! Be sure to check out her blog, I love it! I have found tons of great tips to incorporate in my daily life.
Would you like to do a guest post on A lil bird? We would love to have you feature a project, your blog, or anything that strikes your fancy. Email us at bagsnrags3 (at) gmail (dot) com, we look forward to hearing from you!
