Tulip Festival & Tulip Stamping Craft

After a long, dreary stretch of rainfall last month, the sun finally reappeared in Portland. Hooray! We celebrated with a trip to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival, and it was absolutely gorgeous! Row after row of brilliant blooms stretched to the horizon. Nana, Auntie Leah, Cali and baby Selah joined us for few hours of exploring, and we had such a fantastic time together.

We love to think up art projects that correspond with our adventures, and had such a great time creating tulip stamps out of potatoes! Instructions for this project are at the end of this post.

A dedicated collector everywhere we go, Isla picked up just about every fallen tulip petal she saw.

After spending time in the flower fields, Isla had so much fun running around the kids area. She scaled the rock wall countless times and then tried out this crazy bouncer. She had a ball!

Inspired by the gorgeous blooms at the tulip festival, we made tulip stamps using potatoes! Isla stamped the sweetest cards and then gifted them to her nanas for Mother’s Day.

To make stamped tulip cards of your own you’ll need:

• at least two sturdy potatoes (1 for the flowers and 1 for the stems)
• a sharp pairing knife
• a few sheets of paper (to draw the tulip outlines and test the stamps)
• pencil
• scissors
• paper towels
• small art sponge
• acrylic paint (green for stems and any color(s) you’d like for the petals)
• nice, thick greeting card (these are similar to what we used)

First, Isla practiced sketching some tulips on a piece of the scratch paper. We chose two of her favorites to use as templates for the stamps and loosely cut around the chosen tulip designs with scissors.

Next, cut one potato in half with the pairing knife. Lay the designs against the flat, cut side of potato and then carefully trace around the design with the tip of the knife (so you are actually cutting through the paper). This will make a faint outline on the potato. You can then pull the paper off and trace the design with the knife to make a deeper cut. Finally, remove the excess potato around the design to a depth of about 1/4″.

Pat the stamp dry on some paper towels. Use the sponge to apply the paint to the tulip stamp. We blended a peach and an orangy-red color for added interest.

Practice a few stamps on a page of the scratch paper to ensure you are using the right amount of paint and applying the appropriate level of pressure. It takes a little practice to get them just right.

That sweet smile of success!

When you feel confident in your practice stamping, start stamping flowers on the cards. We made cards with single tulips and clusters of 3 tulips.

In addition to the cards, Isla made a picture of a row of tulips, “just like at the tulip festival.” We loved how it turned out so much that we are framing it and will use it in our yearly spring decor.

To make the stems, I cut a longer potato lengthwise and followed the same process outlined above to cut a stem shape. We added the green stem stamps once the flowers were dry (we did this the next day and forgot to take photos).

Here’s a finished card! We just love how they turned out, and are already brainstorming some other potato stamps to try out. Let us know if you try some potato stamps of your own. We’d love to see what you create!