This fun digital stamp collection is from Polkadoodles. I think they’re fabulous, although I’m sure that my mother in law would disagree. They make fantastically unique cards for someone with the right sense of humour!! Or maybe just for annoying your mother in law . . . but I didn’t suggest that . . . I wouldn’t, but imagining her face is great fun.
Making handmade cards with these fun digitals stamps is simple follow the steps below and make your own.
Step 1 – Get Your Digital Stamp
The Digi image is from Polkadoodles, part of their Old Bags range.
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 very old HP Officejet, any inkjet printer will do.
Step 3 – Choose Your Designer Papers
It’s usually a good idea to choose your designer papers before you colour your digital stamp. Use the colours of the paper to choose your markers.
I also like to choose some co-ordinating plain paper. I use this as a mat to frame my designer papers.
I chose First Edition’s Let’s Celebrate papers for this card making project.
The designs are fun but also have a slightly vintage feeling colour scheme that I felt was a good fit for the fun designs.
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 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 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 for this card making project:
Promarker Brush Colours – Skin
Promarker Brush Colours – Hair
Promarker Brush Colours – Mint Green
Promarker Brush Colours – Vintage Pink
Promarker Brush Colours – Yellow and Orange
Step 5 – Choose Your Greeting
The greetings are included with the Old Bags digital stamps. I love it when Polkadoodles include a few greetings with each stamp, it makes it so nice and easy to perfectly co-ordinate an appropriate greeting.
Step 6 – Choose a Card Blank
I tend to use Craft UK Card blanks. They’re great quality for everyday card making. I usually get the big value 50 packs which include envelopes.
I love using these kraft card blanks. They add a vintage vibe to my cards.
Step 7 – Design Your Card
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 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.
Step 8 – Distress 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 tool 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.
To give my card a vintage vibe I’ve inked the edges of each layer with Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink.
Step 9 – Choose Your Embellishments
I’ve kept the embellishments really simple on these card making projects. The papers are quite fussy so I wanted to let them and the digital images be the focus of the card.
I’m using some washi tape from the Range and some little gems in pale blue.
Step 10 – Assemble Your Card
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 use a pokey tool to remove the backing from the tape. It’s nice and easy and saves my finger nails from getting split.
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.
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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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.
A Little Bit About Me . . .
Hi there! Thank you so much for stopping by my little corner of the interweb. I’m Bridie.
I’ve been crafting since I was toddling around craft shows while my mum sold knitting yarn. She used to buy me a new craft kit to keep me busy. When I grew up I set up my own online craft shop and loved every minute of it. There’s is nothing like the thrill of getting to be one of the first people to see new craft collections. I sold my business to focus on raising my two children. They’re still young so for now I’m blogging my craft projects and sharing tutorials to inspire you.
I love creating handmade cards with digital stamps and alcohol markers. Colouring gives me a quick and simple way to relax and get creative during those rare moments when the kids are occupied. Designing handmade cards gives me the freedom to be really creative with all of my crafting supplies. And when I’m done I have a stunning handmade card to give to someone I care about.
Like all my crafting endeavours I make my cards on a teeny tiny budget. I use very basic tools and affordable materials to make my cards and you can too.
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.
Aran Knitting Baby Baby Scrapbooking Batch Cooking Beginner Scrapbooking Beginner Sewing Pattern Birthday Cards Budget Recipes Cards for Children Cards for Girls Chicken Recipes Christmas Christmas Cards Craft Sensations Dovecraft Easy Sewing Pattern Elasticated Channel First Edition Free Knitting Pattern Free Sewing Pattern Healthy Eating Healthy Recipe My Minds Eye Papermania Peek-a-Boo Patterns Polkadoodles ProMarkers Scrapbooking Sewing Sewing for Kids Sewing Pants Sewing Tops Sewing with Jersey Sewing with Wovens Simply Creative Sizzix Slow Cooker Recipes Soup Recipes Spellbinders Stitch Upon a Time Tim Holtz Top Stitching Vegetable Gardening Winsor Newton XCut
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