crafts: hand stamped pillow cases

handmade stamped pillow cases! yes, dreams can come true. i made these pillowcases for one of my sweetest friends and her sweet cat. i knew that i wanted to make something cat related for her and i know that their bed is one of their main cuddle spots, so pillow cases seemed like a no-brainer.

i have wanted to make my own stamps for a long time and it was so easy! i'm so glad that i was able to make these pillow cases myself. above are the supplies i used. i used some white pillow cases from target, old acrylic paints (which are wash-proof), speedball's speedy-cut carving block, speedball's linoleum cutter, a pencil and a paintbrush. 

i started by drawing my cat & heart outlines on the carving block. i am really glad that i started with simple shapes because cutting the blocks take a little getting used to. next time, maybe i'll go crazy and do something a little less simple! and let's do a big shout-out to leah goren for this-very-inspired-cat-head that i used. i just couldn't resist, she's a genius. 

i used the linoleum cutter as shown above, which worked great for the stamps. turns out, it's really fun carving stamps. it was pretty easy to get used to and reminded me of playing with play-doh when  i was a kid - the good old days. i tried to cut away as much as i could from the stamp outline, so there would be less of a chance of the non-outline stamp getting on the fabric.

i mixed the pink + white to get the shade that i wanted and then painted it on the stamp. you don't need to coat the stamp with that much paint for it to stamp well on the fabric. too much paint will bleed through to the other side (so you might want to put cardboard in between the case just to be careful). play around with it on any extra fabric you have to get a good feeling, but you probably don't need as much paint as you would think to make a great stamp. just make sure to press down evenly on your stamp!

and then go crazy with whatever pattern you decide on. it's so fun! for drying, i used clothespins to hang the pillow cases on a hanger. i only attached the clothespins to one side of the case, so the paint didn't cause the fabric to dry attached to itself.

here are the finished pillowcases on our bed! it's definitely an easy way to add a bright spot to your bedroom. i also stamped the case that the pillowcases came in, which you can see below. this makes such a fun gift for you or any dear friends!