Foam sticker stamps: Two ways

A week or so ago, I grabbed a canister of foam stickers at the craft store and I have been semi-regretting it ever since. The stickers have a Noah's Ark theme, and these animal couples seem to be multiplying and being fruitful all over my house. There are at least 50% more now than were in the can when I bought them.

I thought we'd better find a way to use them up as quickly as possible. So we broke out the stamp pads yesterday and experimented and here's what we came up with.

Project #1: Foam sticker stamps. This one was super easy. Peel the back off the foam sticker, affix to wood block ("borrowed" from child's block box), et voila.

Project #2: Rolling pin printing. Also super easy. Arrange the foam stickers on the rolling pin in a pattern you like, coat stickers with stamp pad or paint, and roll on out on a big sheet of paper.



(We used kangaroo stamps. We have a thing for kangaroos in our house. If you have seen the movie Chocolat, you will know why. We also threw in a few polka dots for good measure because we have a thing for them, too.)

Both projects turned out pretty well and have given me tons of ideas for handmade Christmas presents this year. I would love to get some fabric paint and try to do some personalized T-shirts and tote bags, maybe a scarf or two. At the very least I am excited (YES, LEGITIMATELY EXCITED) to add to my stamp collection. I love stamps but it's time-consuming to make your own and the ready-made ones can be a little pricey. The foam stamps come in all sorts of holiday assortments and are pretty cheap, about $4 for 50 billion. You can't beat that for a deal.

What do you do with your foam stickers? Seriously, I could use the ideas. Because we still have about 49 billion left.


Wednesday links:

• The Scariest Little Corner of the World: "As I rounded the corner a man cried out: “Watch this guy! Get away from him! Watch out!” It was the second time in less than a week I was mistaken for a suicide attacker — a uniquely unpleasant sensation that I had not experienced anywhere else in Afghanistan."
• 19 Things You Should Stop Doing in Your 20s (I'm 30 and still working on most of these). 
• I try to shy away from politics in my online life, but I found this video of women singing along to Leslie Gore's "You Don't Own Me" in support of President Obama so inspiring that I had to make an exception. If you're voting for the other guy, you might want to skip this one. :)
• Movie Cat posters to make you smile.