Hand Stamped Clothespins--Impatient Craftaholic Series

I've fully accepted it, I'm an impatient craftaholic. I used to say I'm a lazy craftaholic, but that's not really accurate. I don't lack excitement, drive, or desire....what I do lack is TIME. I have two young children, multiple Etsy/Artfire shops and several other engagements. Then there's that husband, house, cleaning thing...

So I've decided to accept my Impatient Craftaholic status. I will never be a quilter, knitter, or any other craft that takes too much time. As it is, I'm impatient when waiting for glaze to dry on glass tile pendants or what not. I like sewing projects with minimal materials, speedy process and still looks good!

I'm also on a mission to use up some of these SUPPLIES I have laying around! One of my current obsessions is clothespins! Without further adieu, here's the Hand Stamped Clothespin Tutorial. Watch how easy this is!

Gather your Materials:
*Clothespins (any wooden variety will do)
*Stamp, rubber or clear acrylic. Make sure the design is small, like a font is helpful.
*Archival Ink--NOT pigment
*Mod Podge or your glaze of choice
*Paintbrush of some sort for the Mod Podge
*Frosty cold beverage

***Optional Materials to turn clothespins into Magnets:
*Magnet Strips, or circle magnets
*Exacto Knife/Paper Cutter
*Gorilla Glue, E6000 or another strong adhesive


1. Press the stamp into the ink.

2. Do my favorite part of stamping...when inking a large space you often have to 'huff' the stamp pad...just breathe on the stamp pad, kind of like a HUFF, and the ink sort of rewets itself. (Special Thanks to Merry for this tip!) No, I'm not showing you me breathing on the stamp.

3. Grab your clothespin and press it down on your rubber stamp if it's a large stamp pad. You can sand your clothespin first if you are so inclined...I wasn't.

4. Admire your handiwork!

5. Now if you have a smaller stamp you can just press the stamp to the clothespin, just as you would stamp to paper.

6. Again, admire your handiwork!

7. Now let the ink dry, according to the directions on your ink pad. I waited about 20 minutes...hence, the Impatient Craftaholic Series.

8. Then bust out my other fave tool...Mod Podge. Whatever type you like, I used traditional Matte finish.

9. Brush on Mod Podge, you can follow the directions on the bottle,or, if you're like me, just get to brushing, because well, um..Impatient, remember?

10. Let the Mod Podge set, roughly 15-20 minutes and repeat with a few more coats if you'd like. For this set I did both sides of the clothespins for altered clothespins.

If you'd like to make these clothespin magnets, just cut a small strip of magnet, adhere to the non stamped side of the clothespin with Gorilla Super Glue, let dry and viola---Clothespin magnets!

If you'd like to jazz these up a little, you can use various inks, add distressed ink, or even paint the clothespins a neutral paint color and then stamp. You could also stamp the clothespins after you add paper to them as with other altered clothespins (Tutorial for that coming soon!)

Feel free to comment with any questions, tips or helpful ideas. Feel free to share this tutorial also, and let us know if you do so we can take a peek at your blog!

~~Happy Stamping!~~~Amy

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