Valentine’s Day is coming up fast, and making your own stamps is a super sweet and simple way to customize your Valentine’s gift bags, gift wrapping, and even Valentine’s Day cards. It’s a great activity for adults and kids…with adult supervision that is. Kids and hot glue guns don’t mix.

You will need:

• Wooden cube – from any craft store
• Thick craft foam sheet
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Hot glue gun
• Ink pad
• Gift wrapping materials – gift bags, kraft paper, etc

First trace out your designs with a pencil, then cut with scissors. Thick foam sheets are a bit trickier to cut so keep to basic shapes. Small, sharp scissors work best.
Place a bead of hot glue on the back of your foam cut out then firmly press onto one side of your wooden cube. Repeat with each shape on each side of the cube.
If you want to make a stamp with letters, you need to cut the letters backwards and glue them on the stamp backwards (from right to left) in order for the message to stamp properly. Also if you want to add a bit of detail to a stamp, like I did with the lips, use a needle to etch the design into the surface.Now you can go ahead and start stamping your gift bags and gift wrap! Stick to just one stamp or fill the entire space with all the stamps in all sorts of colours! Keep in mind however, since it is a 6 sided stamp, your hands mind get covered in ink. Gloves optional. One key thing to remember if you’re using different stamp colours however is to clean your stamp between each colour, otherwise your stamp pad will get mucky. To properly clean your stamp, wipe it with a damp cloth or paper towel. Do not submerge the stamp in water as over time this will cause the glue to loosen and the stamp to fall off. Always clean your stamp after each use to avoid ink build up.
There you have it! A great way to add a personal touch to your valentine’s gifts this year. To make valentines for your child’s classmates, simply cut rectangles out of card stock and stamp away!
Side note: as a teacher I encourage you to give valentines to every child in the class so no one feels left out. Spread the love!

Wishing you all a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

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