My favourite Orla Kiely print is stem print. I recently bought myself a new stem print handbag for work, I just love it! The print is a classic and I wanted to use this print around the home, so tried my hand at cutting my own Orla Kiely inspired stamp.

DIY Orla Kiely inspired stamp

I already had a DIY stamp craft kit from Flying Tiger which contained the rubber sheet and carving tool. I photocopied a sheet of stem print paper which I then cut out to make my template. I placed this over the top of the stamp and drew round it with permanent pen. I was then ready to start removing the blue to make my raised Orla Kiely inspired stamp.

The tool was quite strange to use. It had a sharp V shaped point which I used to gouge away the blue rubber.

It took me a while to get used to it but it was pretty satisfying gouging out long strips at a time. I had to go over it several times to make sure there were no cheeky blue bits left.

Finally my stamp was ready to use! It was quite a large stamp so I thought we would use it to make our own wrapping paper.

DIY Orla Kiely inspired wrapping paper

A few weeks ago we got talking to some people at Ruislip Duck Pond market who were suggesting ways of being more sustainable at Christmas. The children loved the idea of making their own wrapping paper. Over the last few weeks we’ve been collecting the packaging material from Amazon parcels to use our homemade stamp on.

We rolled the paper out along the table, chose the paint and used a sponge to cover the stamp.

Then the children took it in turns to stamp their paper, each doing it a completely different way. Little Sis stamped her paper completely randomly. Her older brother made a careful pattern, like wallpaper, he said.

When they had finished we left the paper out to dry before using it to wrap some of our presents. Hopefully everyone will love their homemade gift wrap.

You might also be interested in my other Orla Kiely inspired posts:

Orla Kiely inspired suitcase

Orla Kiely biscuits

Orla Kiely upcycled mini chest of drawers

Upcycled Orla Kiely flower vase

Orla Kiely inspired stool