Mother’s Day Gifts

Print Your Own Stationery

By June Masters Bacher

Design your own original animal stationery. First, choose any kind of white paper you want to use. You will also need a felt-tip pen and an ink pad. Your fingers are the printing press! Since there are no identical fingerprints, your design will be original. The next thing to do is to decide where you want you animal print to be on the paper.

Place your thumb or finger on the ink pad and press hard. Quickly lay the inked thumb on paper and press hard, rolling just a little from left to right without smudging. Then lift your hand quickly so the ink will not smear. Ink your thumb on the pad before making each print. Practice a few times on scrap paper to get the desired shape before printing on the actual stationery.

Outline the print with a fine felt-tip pen and draw in features such as eyes, legs, or ears. Add a little environment such as bubbles for a fish or limbs for a bird (see illustrations).

Inexpensive white envelopes can also be decorated to match stationery. But remember to always put the design on the left to save the right side of the envelope for the name and address.

Illustrated by Arlene Braithwaite