This post was originally published on DIY Network’s blog Made + Remade in February 2013.
Potato stamping projects have held my interest since probably age 3. I haven’t yet graduated to creating anything more advanced (I so want to), but the vegetable DIY interpretation still lends me to flex my creative muscles and make something unique for almost $0. I love almost $0 projects, we have almost no good excuse to follow through on them.
Packaging is important, but often a last-minute thought as your rush out the door to a birthday party or hurriedly wrap your love’s Valentine’s Day present on the night of 2/13.
This year, I’m ahead of the game.
Keep on reading to see how this my DIY heart wrapping came to be!
1. With a sharp knife, I cut a simple potato in half, and into one of the halves, carve a heart. It’s easiest to create lines by slicing into the cut end from above, like I am here, and then slide the knife from the side to clear the pieces of potato you don’t want used in your stamp. Remember, if you mess up you can always turn to the other half of the potato for a second attempt, assuming you haven’t already prepped it for a dinner side.
2. I assembled my paint pick, and spread a length of white craft paper that I have on a spool. I picked gold paint, the same gold paint that I used on this carpet. With the paint spread thin onto a plate, it becomes an insta-palette.
3. Play. It will take a few tries to figure out how much paint to use (you might have luck dabbing a little off onto a paper towel and then applying to the paper). Some paper surfaces will accept the paints differently than others, so give yourself some room and work to achieve consistency.
It becomes something pretty really quick. This means to say that your almost $0 project can be an <15-minute project.
4. Once it’s dry, it’s yours to do with what you want. Mine, as I already professed, would make for charming wrapping paper for Valentine’s Day (could there be anything cuter to house rainbow Tattly tattoos and melted crayon hearts?)
The hearts, if you’re curious, were a result of an iffy tutorial I found on Pinterest. They were made by melting all of the broken crayons in our collection and letting the crayon re-solidify while cookie cutters sat in the mix. Can’t help now that most of our colors were brown, black and green, learn from my test and go with brighter colors.
5. Wrap it up good. I added a sparkly ribbon and clean-lined bow to my gift. I also used the molded heart crayon to write directly on the paper and attached one right to the front of the package.
It’s pretty cute. Kids like it, and kids would like doing it too, so consider it next time they need to wrap a gift for someone special.
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