Winnie Penguin – A Handmade Christmas Card made with Digital Stamp and ProMarkers

I love these cute little digital stamps from the Winnie White Christmas collection from Polkadoodles. I’ve coloured them with ProMarkers and paired them with Christmas Night papers from Make and Create.

Digital Stamping

This Digital stamp is from Polkadoodles it’s part of their Winnie White Christmas range.

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.

How to Print Digital Stamps

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.

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 picked out these beautiful Christmas Night papers from the Works. They still have some in stock at just £1.50 a pack.

I love the dark fantasy vibe of these papers.

Christmas Night Design Pad: 6 x 6 Inches

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 the solid papers I’ve used one of my favourites, the Brights paper pack from Craft Sensations.

Colouring Digital Stamps

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 – Dark Blue

ProMarker Brush Colours – Blue

ProMarker Brush Colours – Gold

Die Cutting

I use dies to make frames around my digital stamps. I always colour my image first in case I make a mess of it.

Then I choose a die shape and size that suits my image and run it through my die cutting machine.

On this card I have used Oval and Scalloped Oval dies.

Greeting

The greeting is simply printed from the greetings included when you buy the full Winnie White Christmas collection.

Card Blanks

I like to buy packs of ready made card blanks. You can make your own from plain card but it’s generally cheaper to buy them ready cut and scored.

Your can also save money buy buying larger packs of plain coloured cards. I add a bit of colour to the edges to customise them to suit my card, instead of buying smaller more expensive packs of coloured card blanks.

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.

Card Design

Gather your supplies together and lay them out on your card blank. Move them around, twist and turn your papers. Swap out papers for different designs. Play with your design and have fun!

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.

I find that my designs are much more creative when I have scraps of papers. A scrap of the right paper is often a specific size or shape and the rest of the layout comes together around that one scrap.

Here are some of my designs to give you some inspiration:

Copy This Card Layout

A card sketch is like a blueprint or template that shows where the papers, images and embellishments are positioned on the card. Instead if designing your card from scratch you can use a sketch as a guide. Customise the design with your own stamps and patterned papers.

Here’s a sketch of my card if you’d like to copy it.

Distressing the Edges

I use the same colour of distress ink to shade the edges of my papers. It gives my cards a co-ordinated look.

I start by laying my paper onto a piece of acetate. You can buy acetate in sheets or you can cut it from packaging which is just as good. You do need a flat sheet ideally bigger than the edge of your paper or card.

After choosing my ink colour I dab the ink blending tool onto the ink pad and sweep it from the acetate onto the edge of my paper. I always use a smooth sweeping motion starting and finishing on the acetate sheet.

There are lots of blending tools availible. I have the Ranger one and I’ve been happy with it so I haven’t tried any of the other brands. I use one ink pad for each colour.

Embellishments

I’ve added a length of gold glitter washi tape to give this Christmas card a little bit of sparkle.

And of course no Christmas card could possibly be complete without a few gems. I’m using Gold 3mm gems.

For even more sparkle I’ve added some Stickles glitter glue to my card.

Ranger Ink - Stickles Glitter Glue - Crystal

Adhesives for Card Making

I like to use 6mm double sided tape for most of my cards. It’s cheaper than the usual 12mm tape but it sticks just as well.

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.

I use a pokey tool to remove the backing from the tape. It’s nice and easy and saves my finger nails from getting split.

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.

For teeny tiny little embellishments I generally use silicone glue. I use my pokey tool to roll a little blob of silicone from the end of the tubes and then roll it onto my page.

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 cardsin paper to write a nice message onto.

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

Shop this Card Making Project

More Card Making Projects

Making Christmas Cards with Polkadoodles Winnie White Digital Stamps

Watch Your Step – A Handmade Christmas Card made with Digital Stamp and ProMarkers

How to Make Your Own Christmas Card [A Time to Give]

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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.

A Little Bit About Me . . .

Hey there I’m Bridie, a busy mum to two amazing humans, a spirited border collie puppy and a pair of sweet guinea pigs. We homestead in a cherished Edwardian terrace in not so sunny Lancashire, England.

When I’m not spending time with my children and menagerie, I’m usually to be found in my craft room creating and blogging or in the kitchen cooking up a big batch of something tasty. I’m always looking for thrifty hacks to save money on my crafts and recipes. Crafting doesn’t have to cost a fortune!

I’m obsessed with card making with digital stamps and ProMarkers. On my blog you’ll learn how to use digital stamps, how to colour them and how to turn them into stunning hand made cards. I share all my best tips and tricks to cut the cost of your card making.

Digital stamps are one of the cheapest ways of making cards. They are cheap to buy (sometimes they’re even free) and endlessly reusable. With a small investment in quality markers you can make hundreds of cards. I’m aways on the look out for deals and thrifty hacks to cut the cost of card making. The further you can stretch your budget, the more craft supplies you can collect!

I’ve included links to my favourite retailers for the products I’ve used to make my crafts. Click on any of the product images and links for full details. If you decide to buy any of these products I may get a small percentage of what you spend. There’s no cost to you at all.

Card Making, Die Cutting, Digital Stamping

Christmas Cards, Craft Sensations, Polkadoodles, ProMarkers, Tim Holtz, Winsor Newton

Heart and Hearth Crafts