Candy Cane Clothespins

Clothespins are so handy it’s ridiculous. We keep them in just about every room of our house and use them for all kinds of things – they keep bags of chips closed, mark our place in books, corral tomorrows outfits for the kids, mark whose napkin is whose at the dinner table, hold up artwork, and so much more. While we always keep a packet of plain ones around, there are many that have been decorated over time as well floating around. Just seeing them makes me smile! Starting this Christmas clothes pins have another job in our house – gift tag holder – now that I’ve got a set of these candy cane striped pins set and ready to go.

Things you need:
1 large (long) russet potato
Clothespins
Bright Red Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint
Craft Knife
Foam Brush
Pencil
Ruler
Paper plate

Things to do:
1. Slice the potato long ways and dry the cut side well.
2. Using your ruler and pencil, draw candy cane style stripes onto the surface of the potato.
3. Cut out every other stripe from the pattern down about 1/4″ to create a stamp.

4. Spread the paint onto the paper plate and stamp down with the potato, checking to see that the stripes are well covered, but not goopy, with paint. You can also just use a foam foam brush to gently paint the red onto the potatoes, assuring that you’re the stripes and not the rest of the potato.

5. Stamp the pattern onto clothespins; depending on the width of your potato, you may be able to do two or three at a time. Allow the paint to dry and store with your wrapping supplies for ready-made tag holder and gift decorations!