Gather your favorite vegetables along with your art supplies and celebrate the coming of spring.

You Will Need:

• Acorn squash
• Potato
• Carrot
• Cutting board
• Kitchen knife
• Paper towels
• White, pink, and black acrylic paint
• Paintbrushes
• Construction paper
• Scissors

Instructions for Lambs:

1. Cut off the top (stem end) of the acorn squash and scrape out the seeds. Using a paper towel, blot dry the cut end of the acorn squash.

   

2. Apply a layer of white paint to the squash and press onto the paper, stamping a cloud-like shape for the lamb’s head. Let dry. Tip: Experiment with this stamping technique on scrap paper first. Depending on how evenly you’ve cut your squash, you may need to go back to smooth it out. We also found that pressing the paper onto the squash and rubbing the paper from the back made the clearest imprint.

   

   3. Cut the potato in half. (Be sure the cut end fits within the center of the lamb’s head you’ve already stamped on your paper.) Dry the cut edge of the potato with a paper towel; apply a coat of pink paint to the cut end and press it into the center of the white lamb face.

   

   4. Cut an edge of the leftover acorn squash with three little bumps and use it to stamp white paint around, and slightly overlapping, the pink face—this will create a wool effect around the face. Let dry.

   

   5. To add ears, cut two small triangle-like shapes from the unused portion of the potato, embracing the curved edge of the spud to make the ear curvy. Apply pink paint and stamp each one above the lamb’s face.

   

   6. For the lamb’s eyes, cut the tip off of a carrot, apply a coat of black paint, and stamp two dots. For the nose, cut a triangle shape out of a carrot to use as a stamp. For the mouth, use a fine paintbrush to draw the curved marks by hand.
   7. Let dry completely and cut out the shape. Use as a place setting decoration, a gift tag, or to write a little note on the back for friends and family.

Did You See a Flower?

While stamping your lamb, you may have noticed that, at first, it looked a lot like a flower. Embrace this, and play around with different colors of paint to make bright spring florals.

Use the acorn squash to stamp the petals and the potato round to stamp the center; or, cut the acorn squash in half for a more cup-like flower, and use the carrot stamps to add detail to the center. When the paint is dry, cut out the shapes and hot glue them onto green paper drinking straws. (You may also recycle plastic straws you already have on hand, just give them a quick coat of green paint.) Add hand cut green paper leaves. Arrange as a bouquet on your table or give out to friends as a fun Easter surprise.

Crafts by Handmade Charlotte
Photos by Kathleen Ballos