Make Your Own Buffalo Plaid Stamp Set

I love the simple and graphic style of buffalo plaid, and judging from its popularity, odds are you love it too! Wouldn't you love to be able to add the simple plaid pattern to any of your crafts? Gift bags? Scrapbook paper? Cards? Even textiles?

Are you nodding your head yes? Well then you'll love this simple technique to make your own buffalo plaid stamp set. Now that my little infomercial is complete, check out how simple these stamps are to make.

Supplies:
-wooden block (in size of your choice) or acrylic stamp block (if using this stamp mounting foam)
-stamp carving kit
-static cling mounting foam (for acrylic stamp blocks only) or foam tape (if using wooden blocks)
-craft blade
-cutting mat
-steel ruler (optional)

Step One: Use the diagonal lines on your cutting mat as a guide to cut diagonal grooves in the rubber from your stamp making kit. The kit comes with two tips for the cutting tool— it's up to your preference to find which one you like best.

To keep the width of the groove even, keep the pressure uniform across the length of your cut. Try to keep the grooves the same width as the space between them.

Step Two: Cut out your rubber design to be a bit larger than the wooden block. Cut out a piece of mounting foam the same size, peel back the adhesive side, and press the rubber onto the adhesive. If you aren't using the static cling mounting foam made to work with acrylic blocks for easy storage, then you can use foam mounting tape instead.

Step Three: Use a craft blade to cut grooves into the rubber, tracing the outline of your wooden block. It'll be tricky to cut all the way through while the block rests on top of the rubber, so remove the block and finish cutting out the rubber using a steel ruler as your guide.

Step Four: Peel off the back of the static cling mounting foam, and your stamp is ready to mount onto an acrylic block. If you aren't using the static cling mounting foam, peel off the back of your foam mounting tape and stick the rubber onto one side of a wooden block.

Repeat this process with an uncarved piece of rubber for your solid square stamp.

For a true buffalo plaid design, follow the above pattern with your stamping. When beginning your first row, you might find it helpful to cut out a square piece of paper (the same size as your rubber square) to use as a spacer. Make sure you keep all of the diagonal squares going the same direction. You can see I messed up on one square in the image above.

You can also leave out the solid square stamp to make a simpler plaid design as can be seen in the pink gift bag below.

This is a great technique for dressing up plain gift bags and creating backgrounds for your scrapbook pages or even album covers. I'm dying to try out these stamps with fabric paint to make a table runner too! -Mandi

Credits // Author and Photography: Mandi Johnson. Photos edited with Stella from the Signature Collection.