Four Leaf Clover Potato Prints

It’s hard to find a more appropriate tool than a potato for a St. Patrick’s Day craft, am I right?!

Isla and I had a grand time creating and stamping this sweet little four-leaf clover design! There were lots of happy squeals of excitement when the print came out just right, and lots of giggles when our stamp looked more like a green blob. Potato stamping isn’t the most precise art project, but it really is fun and the results can be super cute!

We attempted to make a few really clean prints of a single four-leaf clover that we could frame (got two!), and if the print didn’t work out, we’d just stamp a whole bunch more around it and cut out the best clovers for card making. It would also be so cute to string a bunch of these together in a little garland, turn them into magnets, or add them onto bookmarks. The possibilities are endless!

6 Tips for Making Your Own Potato Stamps

• Use a large kitchen knife to cut 1/3 of the potato off in a very straight line (otherwise parts of your stamp won’t touch the paper.
• Carefully use exact-o knives for the carving– slow and steady wins the race… and ensures you keep your fingers
• If you have a small cookie cutter in the shape you want to stamp, it is super helpful to press the cutter into the cut end of your potato and then trace those lines with the exact-o blade (we did not, so I just free carved ours and embraced the quirks as charming)
• Dry your potato stamp thoroughly with paper towels before pressing it into paint (we used acrylic paint)
• The edges of your stamp can start to wear down a bit, so if this happens you may have the best results if you press it straight down and then gently roll it in a circular motion to ensure all the edges touch the paper
• Be patient, have fun, and don’t expect perfection– it is a stamp made from a potato after all!

And as perfect as a potato stamp is for St. Patrick’s day, it certainly doesn’t have to be limited to that. A potato stamp can be used for all sorts of projects! A few years ago we made the cutest tulips using the same stamping technique and we absolutely love them.