I have to admit that I have totally swiped this idea from my friend Sally.  She gave us our holiday gifts this week with the sweetest penguin card attached (see the photo), and I thought it was such a cute idea — so festive but in a really original, playful way.

My boys and I gave it a go yesterday, and it was a really fun project.  And super easy too! (BTW — potato stamping is SO easy. I can’t believe I have never done this before!)

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own penguins:
-2 potatoes
-paint and paintbrush
-paper
-stamps (optional)

And here’s a little how-to:

Cut a large potato in half length-wise (for the body of the penguin). Paint it black and stamp it.  Let the black paint dry.

Cut another potato in half width-wise to create a smaller circle for the penguin’s belly.  Paint it white and stamp it on top of the black circle.

Using a paintbrush, paint the feet and the beak red. Paint the wings black.  Paint a white circle for the eye.  When the white circle is dry, paint a smaller black circle on top (for the eyeball).

You can add stamps to decorate the card. We used a snowflake stamp to add snow, and we stamped “Happy Holidays” on the back side.  Each penguin is different, and all of them are slightly wonky… but SO cute! (Oh, and we also carved out a Christmas tree from the left-over potato, and stamped with that too.)

-Courtney