DIY: Stamp Thank You Cards

You know that Christmas wedding shower where we illustrated our love story? I mentioned it in a post yesterday, if you missed it. Well, that reminded me that we needed some thank you cards for all the swell gifts we received. 

I had already bought all the supplies to make some DIY stamped thank you cards but just hadn't carved out the time to make them. Thank YOU blog world for the motivation! 

I just wasn't content with the idea of going to the store to buy some thank you cards. I can't think of many things that express appreciation quite like something handmade. 

So here's my little DIY stamp project, that could really become any type of card you wanted it to if you changed the letters. 

Supplies:

• 1 sheet of foam
• A block of wood (Or some hard surface to glue letters to)
• Scissors
• Super glue
• Acrylic Paint
• Paintbrush
• Blank note cards

The project itself was really simple. I drew an outline of the block size in pencil on the foam, since the sheet is clearly much larger than my notecard. Then I freehand sketched letters and cut them.

Then I glued them BACKWARDS on my block. I emphasize that because I may or may not have fluid them regularly the first time and had to redo them. Oops!

Then I just mixed my paint colors and painted the letters on the stamp. It took me a few tries to get the groove of actually getting all the letters to read on the card. I pushed them all down then gradually lifted the left side, then the right side and then I went back and lifted from the middle down. (I hope that makes some sense!) 

Regardless, put a bunch of paint on there, push the stamp on the card and then find your groove! 

The great thing about acrylic is that it makes it really simple to switch colors in between. I just washed it in the sink with soapy water.

I'm pretty happy with the final product, and I hope it will really help get the message of gratitude across!

Happy creating!

—Holli Anne

DIY: Handmade Stamps

I am just tickled at how easy, personal, and cheap it is to make your own stamps. I've been on a stamp-making kick recently and decided I wanted try using everyday items to create my own.

So, what was around the house? Wine corks and pencils! Easy enough!

What you need:


I've been wanting to make some new coasters for my office so this DIY project couldn't have come at a better time. Since coasters are small I wanted a small design on them. The corks and pencil's eraser came in handy for a smaller scale stamp.

What you do first is draw a design on the end of your cork. I attempted a mustache.

Then use your Xacto knife to cut the cork away from the design so that it is raised by itself. (Be CAREFUL though! Xacto knives are definitely sharp and hurt like the dickens!)

After you are done with that you can dip the end in ink or paint and stamp away!

Next, I made an even smaller stamp from a pencil's eraser. You use the same process as the cork.

I ended up using a tiny bit of black paint to put my stamps in and covered my coasters with them!

I'm so happy with the triangle stamped coaster but I'd like to do another mustache one! To me they don't look quite like mustaches but maybe fat bats!

Either way, this DIY project is a very fast and easy way to make personal, fun stamps at home. Definitely a DIY worth trying.

If you do this DIY, link in comments!

*Behind the scenes! My awkward smile while making stamps in the back yard! And, yes, to answer your question... I am wearing those intense tights. You can find more at Target!

-Chick Tyler (aka Tyler Anne)