Gel Printing Valentine’s Cards With DIY Foam Stamps by Marsha Valk

Hi there! It’s Marsha here today, sharing how you can create no-stress valentines with the help of a Gelli® plate and handmade foam stamps!

Have you ever tried making your own foam stamps? It’s super easy and a suitable project for all ages. And the fun thing is that you can make foam stamps to fit any occasion you can think of!

You can use regular or adhesive-backed craft foam to create your stamps.

Regular craft foam can be backed with double-sided adhesive tape, or you can use glue to adhere your foam pieces to a base.

I like to use a thicker craft foam for the base. However, any craft foam, cardboard or something repurposed like a discarded CD case will work perfectly, too.

It’s the most fun to come up with your own shapes and designs; however, you may also be able to find ready-made foam shapes or stickers you could use.

You can freehand cut shapes or draw outlines on the foam first.

Using a ballpoint pen, you can add finer details. Press the pen’s tip firmly into the foam to create visible indentations.

Try not to let acrylic paint dry on your foam stamp. You can keep a small bucket of water nearby to temporarily store your stamps until you have time to clean them.

Or you can do as I do in the video: keep a damp wipe on the table to scrub off most of the residual paint immediately.

Happy gel printing Valentine’s Day cards with foam stamps!

Marsha.

Materials:

Gelli Arts® Perfect Borders Set (4″x6″ gel printing plate and .5″ Mini Placement Tool)

Other:

Brayer

Craft foam (I use both adhesive-backed and regular craft foam)

Scissors

Ballpoint pen

Permanent marker

Acrylic paint (ARA Pink Medium, Liquitex Basics Brilliant Purple, Cadmium Red Deep Hue, Cadmium Red Light Hue, Pyrrole Red, Rose Pink, Liquitex Soft Body Transparent Mixing White, Pebeo Studio Opaque Vivid Pink)

Copy paper

Glue stick

White cardstock (4″x6″)

Optional:

Double-sided adhesive tape

Foam stickers

Alphabet stamps

Stamping ink