The super talented Mia Underwood has written another blog post for us – yay! How to make heart-shaped stamps. Great for Valentines day but also for decorating your own cards and wrapping paper throughout the year. The heart shape could be changed to any other shape or letter.

Here’s a very interesting fact about Mia’s dad, George Underwood. He was a lifelong friend of David Bowie and was, in fact, the person responsible for David Bowie’s distinctive eye. When they were 15 years old they fought over a girl and George punched him in the eye causing his pupil to be permanently dilated, a.k.a Aniscoria.

Take it away Mia…

Hearts are one of my favourite shapes which is used a lot in Scandinavian countries. For me it reminds me of Denmark. A cosy loving heart.

This is a fun project you can do with the kids. It can get a bit messy with the paints so don’t wear your best clothes, wear an apron and have wet wipes or a damp cloth to hand.

You can use this stamp to decorate paper or why not try fabric paints and decorate a t-shirt or create your own fabric design to make into a skirt or a painting smock as featured in my book ‘Nordic Crafts’.

YOU WILL NEED:

Paper for template
Pen
Sharp scissors
A sheet of thin craft foam
Large plastic bottle top
UHU all-purpose glue or Glue gun
Large sheet of paper to stamp onto (I used brown wrapping paper)
Acrylic paint
Thick paint brush
Old newspaper to cover your work area

METHOD:

Step 1

Draw a heart shape on your piece of paper to make your template. Cut your shape out and then trace around it with your pen on the thin craft foam.

Cut out the heart shape/s, using your sharp scissors ( adult to supervise).

Glue your foam cut-out onto a large plastic bottle top with some UHU glue or a glue gun, to make a stamp, and let it dry.

Mark on the inside of the bottle top to show where the top of the heart is, so you can align it when you are printing.

Step 2

Put a bit of your acrylic paint into a small container beside your sheet of paper you will be printing onto. You can mix a small amount of water to dilute it so you don’t use so much.

Now here is the fun bit for the kids. Get your paint brush and apply the paint to your stamp with long brush strokes, make sure it is evenly covered.

Press it straight down into position onto your sheet of paper, don’t push too hard, but make sure you apply a bit of pressure on the inside of the bottle top. Then lift straight up.

Apply paint each time with the brush to keep a consistent coverage.

You can apply the stamp in rows to make a repeat pattern or you can apply them any way you like, there are no rules.

Why not try making some other shapes like stars or crosses for kisses. Or write some lovely messages in-between the heart stamps.

Then, when your master pieces are dry you can use them to wrap-up some Valentines pressies, to make them look extra special.

Ta-da!

Check out Mia’s website.

You can buy her book Nordic Crafts here.

You can follow Mia on Instagram here , Facebook here , Pintrest here and Twitter here.