Crochet a postage stamp!

Hello! How are you going?  

I have been busy, want to see what I have been hooking up over the weekend? 

I have been making some little crochet stamps.  You know, like postage stamps but woolly!

I know that this is a totally impractical and whimsical thing to make, not really useful, but I think they are really cute and would be a lovely thing to receive stuck on a bit of snail mail. (Maybe somewhere inside the envelope not actually on the outside of the mail!) 

And that is why I decided to have a go at making a crochet postage stamp, I like to add a postcard with a thank you message to all yarn orders that go out of my shop, and I like to stick a little decorative bit of crochet, like a flower or heart or whatever I have been making.  

One of the ladies who did the Blog with Pip course, Yvette of Bear Loves Dove, has started a little linky thing called 'Smile Inducers', and that is what I was trying to create when people open up there postcard, a little smile inducing moment.  I was thinking it would be nice to make an actual stamp out of yarn to go on the postcard. So this is what I came up with!

I thought I'd make a little tutorial so you can make your own crochet stamps too, to pretty up your mail or gifts.  So get out your small hooks and fine thread and lets make a stamp !

Ok, firstly crochet up some little squares, mine where 12 stitches by 12 rows, I used a 4ply cotton and a 2mm hook.  Make 2 of each colour, 1 for the front and 1 for the back.

Next, get your embroidery cottons out and have a bit of a play embroidering on patterns of your own choice to personalise your stamps, you can do anything you like!  Some suggestions - words, flowers, hearts, geometric patterns, smiley faces, etc. Embroider onto one piece of your crochet that will become the front of your stamp.

I have embroidered some flowers on mine.

Next, get your back and front and crochet them together using a slip stitch through both layers, with picots every second stitch to create a kind of 'stampy' edge all the way around your stamp. This means that all the messy back bits of the embroidery are hidden inside the two layers.

 I used a 1.5mm hook for the edge.

Sew in your ends and there you have it, a crochet stamp!

What do you think?  I am really happy how this little project turned out.  I know these are purely decorative, but sometimes it is nice to make something just for the fun of it, to create something to put a smile on your face. 

I might hook up some more of these for a wooly stamp collection, or just to add something whimsical to my thank you postcards.  It was nice to do some embroidery for a change too.

......this is what the backs look like, quite neat and tidy........

......so that is what I have been up to, have you been making anything fun?
Are you someone who makes practical things, or are you more into the cute little useless fun make?
I think I do a bit of both.  Or course it is great if you can make something practical that is cute and fun as well!

I just had a thought that they would make nice brooches if you sewed a pin to the back,
 so quite multi functional after all!

Have a great happy day.

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