Our latest holiday craft is another throw back: potato stamps!

What you need: potatoes, a sharp knife, paint, a roll of kraft paper. I don’t know how to make those four things pretty in a picture.

First off, cut the potatoes in half or in thirds (depending on how big you’d like the stamps to be). You can draw the shapes on beforehand if you dry the potato a bit or go free style (which I did). You can also press the shape of a metal cookie cutter into the potato and then carve it out.

I chose to carve the potatoes while Leni slept, because toddler. Anything involving sharp objects is best avoided around my curious kid. I opted for some simple shapes: a snowflake, Christmas trees, a star, a heart, a leaf. After I was finished, I would recommend putting the stamps face down on some paper towel to dry out a bit.

You could use them for cards or accents on a letter or just about anything really. My plan: Christmas wrapping paper!

I made some after Leni went to bed. Again, most craft prep requires my child to be sleeping or otherwise occupied. I figured it was worth testing it out first to see how easy the stamps were to use. Truthfully, I also just wanted to make some on my own before the stamps became caked in paint and potentially unusable. I decided on using some kraft paper. It’s already so beautiful on it’s own for wrapping! Add a little twine and a branch and voila! Bonus: it’s very inexpensive and you can buy it in huge rolls.

I started off very simple and symmetrical and loved the way it looked. I mistakenly labelled this the “good” wrapping paper not realizing just how gorgeous Leni’s creations would turn out.

The next day, Leni and I pulled out the stamps and rolled some kraft paper on her table over a plastic sheet, securing it with painters tape to keep it from curling. We went with some festive red, green and white paint. Obviously.

She got into it immediately and actually made 4 full sheets of paper. She even used the stamps right up until the last sheet where she felt it necessary to get her hands right in the paint instead. This meant we got some equally lovely handprint paper (although not going to lie, her hands caked in paint gave me stress palpitations). This might sound awful, but it hadn’t occurred to me just how beautiful it would be. I love how all the colours looked blended and marbled together. I did some of the stamping too, but it was totally driven by her and the result is pretty special!

We hung them up along the wall in the kitchen to dry. Leni was so proud of her masterpieces! And she totally inspired me to branch out the next time. I’ll definitely try blending colours more and maybe even throw caution to wind and go pattern-free. Will be sure to update with a picture of a wrapped gift!

Happy crafting!