How nice would that be to receive a lovely peppermint- or cinnamon-scented holiday card in the mail? In recent years, I’ve received several handmade cards from friends made using hand-carved woodblock stamps. This year I decided to try making stamped aromatherapy greeting cards to send to friends and family. I infused stationary with essential oils and instead of carved wooden blocks, I went the simple route and used veggie and fruit stamps.

DIY Aromatherapy Holiday Cards

Supplies needed

blank cards and envelopes
acrylic craft paint
pieces of vegetables and fruit
water, for thinning paint
essential oils
resealable bags
cotton balls

HOW TO INFUSE PAPER WITH ESSENTIAL OILS

Place the cards into a large resealable plastic bag. Add a 10-15 drops of the desired essential oils to a cotton ball and place it into the bag. Seal tightly and let stand for one to two days. Remove from the bag and they are ready to be stamped.

I mixed and matched different essential oils – clove and frankincense, peppermint and balsam fir were two of my favorite blends. Other wintery oils that work well – citrus, juniper, and cinnamon.

HOW TO MAKE VEGGIE + FRUIT STAMPS

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been great at carving potato stamps, so I decided to go a different route for these cards. The cut-end of a bunch of celery looks like a rose. I used pineapple to make a Christmas tree. The orange worked well for a wreath.

Quick tips – let the cut fruit and veggies sit out for a bit to dry out on the surface. When I didn’t do that, the natural fruit juices made the paint a little too watery and the stamp smeared. Also, it’s best to have a piece of scratch paper on hand to stamp a few times to remove excess paint before stamping the cards.

Let the cards dry completely. To add extra details like snow, tree trunk, and candy cane stripes, I used white and brown Sharpies.

And that’s it!

They were really fun to make. And I’m already thinking about other fruits and veggies I can use. Besides the infusing and drying time, it took me about 15 minutes to create some fun new aromatherapy cards to send for the holidays.