hand stamped jam knives

I shared on Monday about my jam making adventure. I also left you with a preview of a small project I did as an accompaniment to my gifting jars of peach jam to friends and family. Im sure we've all seen the hammered flat spoons with stamped lettering, right? Here's another spin on silverware stamping, butter/jam knives.

I made a stop by the thrift store and picked up a variety of spreader knives for $.10 each. Then using the metal stamping kit I already had I picked a phrase and steadied my hand. One good whack of the hammer on the end of the stamp was all it took. The hardest part is lining up the letters straight and getting a good impression on the silverware. Hit it too hard and you'll double up the letter, too soft and you wont get the full letter stamped into the knife.

After the knives were stamped I used a permanent sharpie and filled the letters in. Then I used a magic eraser to wipe off the excess sharpie, leaving the letters darkened. Then to make sure the knife is food safe I ran them through the dishwasher. Easy peasy!

Don't they make the most darling accessory? And they were easy! I'm going to help a friend stamp names into spoons as favors for the kiddos at her daughters ice cream themed 3rd birthday party. How cute is that idea?!

{"e is for ella"- making my own jewelry}

So at my weekly MOPS {"mothers of preschoolers"} group we do a craft and this week we made necklaces. We also had the option of buying our own metal stamping kit, and we all know I couldn't pass that offer up! We stamped metal washers from the hardware store and while that was fun, it wasn't enough for me. I swung by my local bead shop and got a few metal stamping rounds made for jewelry {I rarely wear jewelry from the hardware store these days :) }.

I already had a small "E" charm necklace that I wear representing Ella, and decided to marry the two together. So, I went stamping away with Ella June's name. {*Stamping on metal takes a little practice, so if you do try it make sure you do a few trial runs before stamping on your good charms and disks.} Then I attached the stamped round and "E" charm to a jump ring and the chain.

It turned out so well that as soon as I shared it among friends I had several requests for other personalized ones. Metal stamping is really great fun, not to mention a good stress reliever.

If you're interested in metal stamping check out the Beaducation website. They have video tutorials that are really helpful, and an amazing selection of metal stamping tools.