Potato Stamping Gift Cards

Recently I was talking to a lovely customer about an upcoming project she was working on and how she was using cookie cutters to make potato stamps.  What a fantastic idea I thought.  My little girl absolutely loves anything to do with paints so I knew this would be a fun thing to try when I was in a patient mood.

I decided I would have a go at making unique Christmas gift tags by stamping some mini Christmas shapes onto the front of the cards.  You can get the cards I used from most stationery stores or newsagents.  They often sell them as price tickets.

I totally winged this one so there is probably much better ways of attempting this than how we went about it.  I chose 4 mini cookie cutters that would fit within the gift cards that I had.  I then chopped a potato in half (small potato) and pressed the cutter into it.  I found it worked best if I cut the excess potato off while the cutter was still in place as it prevented me from cutting too far.  This left me with the "stamp" and also a handle (the remainder of the potato) still attached.  Repeated with remaining cookie cutters.

It's a good idea at this point to blot off or allow the potatos to dry out a bit before starting.  All we did then was paint on a bit of paint and press the stamp onto some paper until we got the hang of getting the right amount of paint and pressure with the stamping.  Then stamped onto the gift cards.

The cookie cutters I used were:

I recommend using stainless steel cutters for this job as you can't damage them when cutting the excess potato off and also they can be rinsed quickly and air dried straight away without fear of them rusting. 

An action shot along the way, Emmy was way far too busy to smile for the camera!

And below is the finished product!  I love that you can make whatever stamps you like and stamp them in whatever colour you like.  I matched mine with my wrapping paper theme for this year.  Next project might be custom wrapping paper!  Cookie cutters aren't just for cookies!