Save your money and make your own craft stamps!

They are easy to make and affordable for use in a variety of crafts and scrapbooking.

If you use pre-cut shapes of craft foam you will find this instructable that much easier, but you can make custom shapes too!

Lets get started!

Step 1: Materials

Styrofoam (Used in packages to protect items).
Craft Foam: Pre-cut shapes, or a full sheet (for custom shapes)
Glue (That will adhere to foam. This is important.)
Box cutter or a sharp knife

That's all you need. Really!

Step 2: Making the Stamp Base

If you are making custom stamp shapes, you will need to cut them out from a sheet of craft foam. For this instructable I am using pre-cut foam shapes. You can find them by the bag at dollar discount stores as well as many major retailers.

You will need a piece of styrofoam that is about 1/2" larger, on all sides than your craft foam shape. The styrofoam is important, but not essential. The purpose of the styrofoam is to give you something to hold onto when you are using your new stamps. Nowadays packages come with styrofoam in them as a protective layer for our purchases, so they are usually discarded afterwards. For that reason, they are perfect for reusing in this instructable. If you don't have styrofoam, you can opt for another material that will give you a "handle" for using your stamps. That material can be plastic, wood or any other material that will not be damaged by water, paint and/or ink (depending on how you use your new stamps).

Using a box cutter or a sharp knife, carefully cut the styrofoam to size. Ensure that the side the foam shape will be on is completely flat.

Step 3: Making the Stamps

From the block of styrofoam, I was able to get 4 smaller squares (see photo 1).

After cutting out the styrofoam, apply a generous coat of glue to the styrofoam and then position the craft foam in place. Press down slightly and then allow time to dry (see photo 2).

Once your new stamps have dried you are ready to use them in all your crafts and scrapbooking! (See photo 3).

I hope you enjoyed this instructable.

- canucksgirl