Combining my love of vegetables and a homemade gift was a natural. These also make awesome teacher gifts, hostess gifts and are a fun eco-friendly way to wrap up some preserves or pickles!

This is a very simple process which is the only reason I do this!! I am the first person to admit I’m NOT crafty. Basically, if I can eat it, I’ll spend hours making it; but when it comes to a ‘craft’, well- my patience evaporates. But this is a project I keep coming back to, so I figured it was time to share!

Project Prep

Buy Towels

I can often find 100% cotton made in America towels for $1 a piece at places like Fleet Farm. You can also buy organic cotton towels online in bulk if you really want to go for it!

Buy Paints

Most craft stores will have a wide variety of fabric Paints, make sure you do buy FABRIC paint as the others will wash out. Grab some paint brushes while you’re in the aisle, I ran out of brushes for all the colors and using sponges got old towards the end

Buy Veggies

You want to buy firm veggies, slightly under-ripe is best. And think of all the different ways you can slice to get different shapes. I’ve got lots of examples here, but feel free to play around with other ideas- and if you come up with a cool print, please share!

I like to get a little funky with the cabbage – making Christmas tree shapes with the marbled effect is too fun to pass up.

*You can also use a cookie cutter and/or carve out any shaped stamp you’d like out of a potato. I did not highlight making potato stamps here, as I think nature has provided us with enough beautiful designs.

Set Up

You’ll want to do this on a table you can easily wipe down between each stamping or lay down a plastic tablecloth to wipe down. The paint will almost always soak through the towel. Get lots of separate paint containers, and trays on which to set the painted veggies.  You’ll also want to consider where you’ll dry these – I strung a clothesline in our basement to dry overnight.

Get Stamping!

Now for the fun part. Designing your towels – or not! I sometimes wing it, sometimes have a planned pattern or design. The best part is you get to decide! Another fun stamping tutorial is over on the Homestead and Chill website, a great all around website for all things homesteading.

Both turn out fun and whimsical because with vegetables, fruits and paint each piece, each stamp is different. And that, my friends, is what makes these so fun!

So stamp away – and remember to save any unused fruit and veggie halves for later. I also cut off the paint-soaked parts and added the limp bits to our compost.

Not my normal vegetable project – but these sure are fun, and are a craft my kids can join in on too. Playing with your food is fun for everyone! If you’re into a more natural DIY crafty projects, check out my recent Calendula Salve DIY article!

Dig In!
Michelle

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