Heart and Hearth Crafts

Make vintage style Christmas cards with this step by step tutorial using the Winnie North Pole range of digital stamps from Polkadoodles. Learn how to colour your digital stamps with alcohol markers and make your own rustic embellishments.

Digital stamping is a great way to save money on your Christmas card making. Buy a digital stamp once and you can use it to make as many cards as you like.

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Step 1 – Choose Your Digital Stamp

The digital stamp I have used is from Polkadoodles, from their Winnie North Pole Collection. Isn’t she just the cutest!?

Click on the image to get her for yourself. The images are availible individually or you can save money by buying the whole set like I did – I can never choose just one!!

There are thousands of different digital stamps availible online. Click here to take a look at my favourites.

I get most of my digital stamps from Polkadoodles. I fell in love with their designs many, many years ago. They are a joy to colour and I always really enjoy card making with them. Sign up for their newsletter for weekly deals and money off new releases.

If you’ve not used digital stamps before take a look at this step by step guide to using digital stamps in your card making.

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Step 2 – Print Your Digital Stamp

I print my digital stamps onto Ultimate Graphic 160gsm paper. It’s bright white so my colours really pop and it’s super smooth surface makes blending easier.

You don’t need a fancy or expensive printer to print digital stamps. I use a Canon Pixma, any inkjet printer will do.

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Step 3 – Choose Your Designer Papers

It’s usually a good idea to choose your designer papers before you colour your digital stamp this way you can use the colours of the paper to choose your markers.

I’m using this stunning Winter Rose paper pack from First Edition.

I also like to choose some co-ordinating plain paper or card. I use this as a mat to frame my designer papers, it gives my cards a cohesive look.

For this card I’m using kraft card. It looks great on vintage style cards.

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Step 4 – Colour Your Digital Stamp

I’ve coloured these digital stamps with my Winsor & Newton BrushMarkers. They are much more affordable than other brands of alcohol markers but are still of excellent quality. I prefer the brush nib as it allows me more control over my pen strokes and makes it easier to blend.

I use Winsor & Newton Promarker Brush pens to colour most of my digital stamp card making projects and I highly recommend them.

I tend to choose three shades of each colour, a dark, mid tone and a lighter shade for highlights. I often include a grey or a pale brown shade to deepen a colour and create a shade that I don’t have.

You need to work quite quickly with alcohol markers. So It’s best to tackle one area at a time. I tend to leave each area to dry and work on a different part of the image to avoid the colours mixing.

I usually start with the darkest shade and colour where there would be a shadow or the part furthest from an imaginary light source. Then I go over this with the mid tone, flicking the pen to add more colour into the centre of the shape I’m colouring. Finally I go over the whole area with the lightest tone.

After my image has dried a bit I often find I’ve blended too well and I go over the darkest areas again to deepen the shadow.

You really don’t need a lot of markers. I think I have about 60 different colours. However I would advise you not to skrimp on the greys and muted shades, they are so useful for adjusting other colours. If you click on the image above you can see all of the colours I have in my collection. These are the shades I would recommend investing in to get a good range of colours without buying the full set.

Here’s the shade’s I’ve used:

Promarker Brush Colours – Skin

Promarker Brush Colours – Hair

Promarker Brush Colours – Gold

Promarker Brush Colours – Browns

Promarker Brush Colours – Greys

Promarker Brush Colours – Reds

Promarker Brush Colours – Greens

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Step 5 – Choose a Card Blank

I’ve gone for a scalloped edged card for these Christmas cards. I love the interest that the scallops add to my cards.

The card blanks come scored but unfolded. It’s simple to fold them along the crease line and press the crease really sharp with a bone folder.

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Step 6 – Assemble The Layers

This card is made up of four layers of mounted papers plus the digital stamp and a Kraft tag. I always start by cutting the largest layer first and then work my way down to the smallest. This way I can make use of the scraps leftover from cutting the bigger pieces of paper and card.

Each layer of paper is mounted onto a piece of Kraft cardstock that measures 3mm larger than the paper. This gives a lovely little border around the papers. Kraft card is great for this because it subtly goes with everything leaving the lovely designer papers to take centre stage.

For this card the layers measure:
Base Layer: 14cm square
Squares: 9cm square
Strip: 13cm x 5cm

The card blanks come scored but unfolded. It’s simple to fold them along the crease line and press the crease really sharp with a bone folder.

I use double sided tape to stick my designer papers onto their backing mount. I cut the double sided tape to length and lay it onto the back of my paper. One strip at the top and another at the bottom is usually plenty for a card making project.

Then I use a pokey tool to lift up a corner of the double sided tape and remove the rest of the backing strip.

Next I place my paper onto the backing mount, starting with one corner and then I gently lower it into place so that the visible border of the backing mount is nice and even.

The two square panels are prepared in exactly the same way.

The pokey tool makes it so easy to remove the backing from the double sided tape. You can use your finger nail of course but that can get fiddley.

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Step 7 – Applying the Ribbon

Ribbon can be tricky to stick onto cards. This is my favourite technique for neatly hiding the raw ends and stopping them from fraying.

I start by sticking the strip of paper to the Kraft card mount using double sided tape. It’s quick and easy to use and it always leaves a neat finish.

For this card I’m making my ribbon stand out by adding an extra strip of Kraft card behind it.

Once that’s stuck in place, I lay my strip of mounted paper flat on my craft mat and stick a length of double sided tape where I want my ribbon. I make sure that the ends of the tape extend over the ends of the paper and let them stick lightly to the mat.

Then I place my length of ribbon to the exposed tape and press it onto the paper.

I gently lift the paper off the craft mat and turn it over. It’s easy to press the ribbon and the extra tape to the back of the paper so that the ends are neatly hidden from the front of the card.

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Step 8 – Covering the Wooden Heart

I’ve got these cute little wooden hearts. To make the match the rest of my project perfectly I’m covering them with some scraps of my designer papers. I start by covering the heart in PVA glue (which I totally nicked from my kid’s craft box!).

Then I pop the heart onto a scrap of paper that co-ordinates with my card making project. Then I set it to one side to dry overnight.

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Step 9 – Assemble Your Card

I start by sticking the base layer to the card blank with double sided tape.

I love adding dimension to my cards with 3D foam pads. They make it so quick and easy. You don’t need a lot of them, just one in each corner and one along each edge if it’s a bigger piece of card.

Bent tweezers are fantastic for perfectly positioning all the layers.

The ribbon panel comes next.

And then the second square panel.

Sometimes I want to add an element that needs to stick to the base of the card and also to the raised panels. I’ve found it both sticks and looks better if I use 3D foam pads on the part that will stick to the base of the card and double sided tape on the part of the element that sticks to the raised panels.

Then the tag can be carefully positioned and securely stuck in place without bending.

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Step 10 – Adding Embellishments

I love adding these little gems to the corners of my cards.

When my little wooden hearts are dry I cut away the excess backing paper with a craft knife.

And then stick the heart onto my card using 3D foam pads.

I typically use silicone glue for bulkier embellishments like this bow that I’ve tied from the ribbon.

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Step 11 – Decorate the Inside Too

I think it’s such a shame to receive a beautifully decorated card only to open it and be faced with a blank page. So I use more of my designer papers to decorate the insides of my cards. I mostly use scraps leftover from the main design and a 10cm square of plain paper to write a nice message onto.

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Follow me on your favourite social media channel for more card making ideas and inspiration.

• Facebook
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• Etsy

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Pin it Now, Craft it Later

I do hope you have enjoyed having a peak at my latest card making project. Please feel free to use my handmade cards to inspire your own creations, pin it to your Pinterest for later.

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