There is lots of love in the air, with Valentine’s Day here, so I wanted to create a craft with simple items we had on hand. Naturally, a classic potato print project came to mind. After all aren’t potato prints a right of passage? This craft entertained my nearly two year old and almost five year old, as well as my mother in law. So great for all ages! And you can choose how much time and concentration you have — the first bunting consisted of 5 pages of paper, and the next one we made with 13 pages  — both looked super cute, so you modify this craft to suit you.

The origin of this idea was from the talented Artbarblog— an artist and Babyccino friend, with an endless wealth of knowledge and a pocketful of creative tricks. Her ideas are so inspiring, and she aspires to raise creative thinkers (yes!). I fell in love with this potato print garland idea (thank you Bar!), then I modified it to fit our needs — fewer steps, simplified, quick to make, toddler approved, and very last minute friendly!

Materials :

• Paper — we used what we had on hand which were pages from a recycled restaurant guide. But newsprint, graph paper, old maps, or even newspaper could all work nicely. Think texture from type, it adds a really lovely dimension.
• Potatoes — we got ‘slightly imperfect ones’ so they cost less and were funny looking! I would suggest one potato heart per colour.
• Heart shaped cookie cutter
• Paint, brush, and tray or plate for paint
• Hole puncher and / or washi tape
• Red & white striped twine

Steps :

1. Lay out the paper in a row — doing a few pages at the same time is more efficient so you can use one stamp numerous times.
2. Mix the paint to your preferred colours — we loved orange, salmon pink, red, white, and fuchsia.
3. Cut the potatoes in half, then press the heart cookie cutter into the cut half about a 1/4 inch deep. Then with a pairing knife, cut away the potato around the heart, and you have a perfect love heart! I love this trick. So simple and quick.
4. Use a brush to apply the paint to the heart stamp — it is much more even and less blotchy this way. Then stamp away.
5. Let each individual experiment with the colours, patterns, and direction of their hearts. And fill in the heart with paint from the brush if the heart isn’t totally clear.
6. After everything has dried, punch holes at the top corners or tape the twine on. We loved the finished look of the punched holes.
7. Thread thru the twine, hang up, and add a few hand drawn outlines and a pop of colour to really bring out a few of the hearts!

Yes! A homemade Valentine’s bunting for all to enjoy. Colourful, cute, hand made. It will add happiness to any home. And save it for future Valentine’s Days by simply storing it in a cardboard envelope and saving it for future Valentine’s Day — maybe even add to it each year?

Last but not least, we also wanted to share some other inspiring craft ideas using some of the same materials with potatoes and cookie cutters and bunting.

Thank you again Bar! And happy potato love heart day.

Lara x