Tuesday Tips & Techniques: Make Your Own Styrofoam Stamps

Making your own stamps is both easy and economical.  You know how I love to re-use and re-purpose, so it was only a matter of time before I figured out what to do with the Styrofoam in which meats are packaged.   I was going to show you the second "Playing with Paper" technique that I did with Barb, but that requires using stamps and stencils, and I don't have very many of either.

All you need to make your stamps are clean Styrofoam containers (mine had chicken in them so I washed them thoroughly), a ball point pen, a pair of scissors (to cut off the sides of the container), and your imagination.  The Styrofoam is sturdy enough to use many times, but it is also soft enough to scribe into quite easily.  Remember to save the sides - you can make smaller stamps with them.

I thought about some of Barb's stamps and stencils that we used that I absolutely loved.  One of them was a stencil full of numbers.  (When making number and/or alphabet stamps, remember to draw the characters backwards because you'll get a mirror image.)  It turned out to be one of my favorites.  

I created lots of different looks with these stamps and a few craft acrylic washes.  I put light washes of paint on white card stock for some of them.. Others, I printed on white card stock and after the prints had dried, I applied a light wash of craft acrylic.

I added white glitter paint to some of my washes.  Ooooooooo....shiny, sparkly, glittery - I'm there!  I printed this floral design in light blue and applied a black, glittery wash after the stamped print dried.  It reminds me of an old tin ceiling.  Beneath - the same stamp, different paint applications.

Here I used a light wash of orange tones on the paper.  After it dried, I applied a couple different shades of blue to the stamp.  I applied paint to the stamps with a paintbrush.

 Ah.....one Styrofoam container left.  What to do, what to do?  Barb also had another stencil that I really liked.  It was full of gears.  I could order one but, hmmmmmm.........I wonder if I can pull that off without using precise circles?

Well, they certainly aren't perfect circles, but I love the interesting background the stamp makes and it doesn't bother me at all that they aren't precise.  The effect is the same and the stamp will make for some really interesting background effects.

I hope this gives you some ideas for your own Styrofoam stamps.  Do you have other uses for those Styrofoam containers?  Let me know!  Meanwhile, I have to chuckle to myself....."Geeze, Louise....is there nothing I won't throw out?

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