These custom Settlers of Catan game piece bags were fun to make, and would be a great homemade gift for Dad! We ‘discovered’ Settlers Of Catan a couple years ago, and REALLY enjoyed learning the game and playing together. It’s a strategy game with enough chance in it that your strategy skills don’t matter that much. Which is the ONLY type of strategy game that I’ll play with my husband. He is ruthless and much smarter than I am, which is why I threw the Monopoly game away years ago. The kids and I bought the anniversary edition as a gift for Dad that the whole family would enjoy. It’s a gorgeous set, but the game pieces came in cheap plastic baggies that ended up being difficult to close, and one even split open.
Argh. This will never do. So I gathered together some supplies, and created these cute little Catan game piece bags: I wanted them to be kinda’ ‘settler-ish rustic.’
This is what I used: craft paint in Catan colors, unbleached muslin bags (I should have bought something like these Drawstring Cotton Muslin Bags.), a printing block and knife.
You can find a Speedball Block Printing Starter Kit here on Amazon, or at a local craft store for pretty cheap. I’ve had this set for years. Or, you can get REALLY shoestring with it and try this great Pinterest printing trick or this one
The knife has a V shaped blade that makes it easy to carve on the linoleum blocks.
I really enjoy block printing, which is kind of exactly like carving and stamping all rolled into one cool little art form. One handy tip…draw your design backwards from how you want it to print. I cut away square chunks off the big block, and drew my design on in pencil. Your goal is to cut away any of the design that you don’t want printed. I wanted a white number 6 on a black coin. 
And then I made this one, which I can use with each color of paint to hold the road and house game pieces. 
I spread the paint out thinly on a tray, and made sure I got a good layer on the stamp…I mean “custom printing block”. 
Bam!
It may be a wise idea to slide some wax paper in there if your bags are on the thin side.
Now rinse, dry, and repeat!
We’ve all enjoyed these cool little game piece bags, and they were a practical and unique gift for a Dad who is hard to buy or make things for.
Here’s a Pinnable image:
It’s always fun to hear that other people actually play Catan! Our family used to play the Cities and Knights version far too often. We even made a trophy and would stick our name on it each time we won a game! A little obsessed don’t you think?? LOL
Oh, that’s SO fun! Love the trophy idea. 🙂