Eden Project

How to make Christmas cards

Make handmade Christmas cards using a homemade stamp and you can print as many as you like, with a design of your choice! It’s an easy Christmas craft activity for kids, too.

You can choose to make a stamp from a potato, which will last just one printing session, or a foam stamp that you can keep.

You could try the technique to make wrapping paper, too, printing brightly coloured patterns on a roll of brown paper (the sort you get from the Post Office).

What you need

For foam and potato stamps:

• Brightly coloured craft paint
• Paint brush
• Scissors
• Card
• A pen

For potato stamps only:

• A large potato (eg a baking potato)
• A sharp knife

For foam stamps only:

• Thin sheets of foam (craft suppliers sell coloured squares of this)
• A small block of wood
• Glue

Technique

1. First, come up with a simple shape for the stamp, for example a Christmas tree, a leaf, a star, a robin, a snowflake, or a nice shape to repeat.
2. For a potato stamp, cut your potato lengthways to produce a large, flat surface, and draw your design on there using a pen. Then carve away the surrounding area, leaving your shape as a raised pattern in the middle. Make sure you help children with this bit, so that they don’t cut themselves.
   For a foam stamp, draw your design onto a sheet of foam and cut around it. Kids may need help to cut any fine detail into the design. Now stick the shape on to a block of wood. The block will help you get a good grip on your stamp when printing.
3. Each time you want to print a card, cover your stamp with paint using a paint brush, then press it firmly to your prepared, blank card. Make sure you leave them to dry before putting them in envelopes! It’s best to rinse off your foam stamp when you’ve finished with it, so it doesn’t get clogged up with paint.

To add a little sparkle to the printed cards, you could stick sequins or ribbons on as well.

If you’re visiting Eden between now and 18 December 2011, pop into our Hive of Activity, where we’re running free craft sessions. Throughout the month on our online Advent calendar, we’ll be bringing you more ideas and tips on preparing for Christmas, plus the chance to win prizes.

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Category:

• A Time of Gifts Calendar

Tags:

Art, children, Christmas, Design