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.