Create meaningful connections with my handmade easel card tutorial for unforgettable moments of friendship.

Hello everyone! Today, I want to share the art of card-making with you. Have you ever received a handmade card that made you feel incredibly special? That’s the kind of heartfelt connection we are creating today with this unique handmade easel card, perfect for celebrating unforgettable friendship moments.

I created this card as inspiration for the new challenge on the Polkadoodles Challenge blog. The theme to participate is “Anything goes”. Our design team was asked to make a card with the theme of animals and a shaped card. Making a donkey card is not only fun but also a fantastic way to expand your creative skills. And who can resist a cute dog holding heart-shaped cookies?

In this tutorial, I will guide you step-by-step through the process of crafting this charming card. The goal is to make a beautiful card and infuse it with personal touches that convey your love and friendship.

So, gather your crafting supplies and let’s dive into this creative project. The true beauty of a handmade card lies not in its perfection, but in the love and care that goes into making it. Let’s create meaningful connections with this handmade easel card and spread some joy to those we cherish!

Let’s first gather all the materials before we begin. 

1. Digital Stamp: Cruff Dog with Heart Cookies: This delightful stamp showcases an adorable dog standing on its hind legs, holding a plate of heart-shaped cookies in one paw and a single cookie in the other, ready to enjoy. The dog represents friendship and love, making it a perfect fit for our friendship-themed card. 
2. Patterned Paper: Paper Heaven 1 – Horace & Boo: A collection of digital patterned papers featuring playful and colourful designs, including paw prints and stripes. The paper adds a playful and vibrant touch to the card, enhancing the animal and friendship theme. 
3. Sentiment Set: Noodle Panda-Themed Messages: A set of digital sentiments with friendly and encouraging messages. The sentiments reinforce the message of friendship and love that the card conveys. 

In addition to the wonderful Polkadoodles products, you’ll need the following materials and tools to bring your card to life:

• Craft Paper: To provide a sturdy base for your card.
• Heart-shaped Dies: For creating the unique-shaped edge for the easel card.
• Alcohol Markers: For colouring the digital stamp.
• Distress Ink (Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo): To add depth and interest to the paper edges.
• Blending Brushes: TFor smoothly applying the distress ink.
• Die-cutting Machine: For cutting out the heart shapes.
• Paper Trimmer: For precisely cutting paper layers.
• Glue: or adhering all the elements together.
• Scissors: For fussy cutting the digital stamp and other elements.
• Ribbon: For adding an extra decorative touch.

Now that we have collected all the materials, we can start making our cards.

Creating a handmade easel card is a wonderful way to express your creativity and make something special for a friend. In this tutorial, I will guide you through each step, ensuring that even beginners can follow along and create a beautiful, heartfelt card. We will use Polkadoodles products and various crafting techniques to achieve a unique and charming design. Let’s get started and bring your handmade easel card to life!

First, we need to print out the Polkadoodles products. I recommend using DCP paper for printing as it brings out the colours beautifully and is suitable for colouring with alcohol markers. If you use other colour mediums, a different paper may be better suited. Depending on the size of the die you are using, determine the size of the dog image to fit the heart shape you will be using. I also print the patterned paper and sentiments.

It’s time to add colour to our adorable dog using alcohol markers. Here’s a suggested colour combination:

• Dog: Pale Cream, Sand, Rose Beige
• Scarf: Bright Mint, Cool Mint, Mint Macaron
• Hearts: Pale Pink, Rose Pink
• Dog’s Nose: Black, Cool Grey 9, Cool Grey 7, Cool Grey 5
• Inside Ears: Blush
• Cookies: Sand, Rose Beige

Feel free to adjust the colours to your liking or to match the recipient’s favourite team colours. Take your time and enjoy the colouring process, adding depth and dimension to the digital stamp to bring it to life! 

After colouring the dog, carefully cut it out with scissors.

Now it’s time to make our base for the easel card.

The size will depend on the size of your dies or your own template. I don’t have very large heart dies, so the card is relatively small.

To die-cut my heart card base, I used a Kraft square card base measuring 13 centimetres by 13 centimetres.

1. Create the Card Base: Place the heart die in the centre of the card base. Ensure the top curves of the heart slightly overlap the fold line to maintain the card’s fold. Keep the base card closed, secure the die with tape, and run it through your die-cutting machine. You now have the base for the easel card.
2. Score the Bottom Heart: Score the bottom heart about halfway and fold it in a mountain fold. This will act as the easel mechanism.
3. Prepare the Top Heart: Trace the outside of the heart die onto kraft paper with a pencil and cut it out. This slightly larger heart will be placed on the easel mechanism.

Now that we have the base of the card ready, we can start creating the background of this card.

Now that we have the loose heart ready, we can create our background. We’re going to add some depth and shading to the heart by following these steps:

1. Apply Distress Ink: Use Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo distress inks along the edges of the loose heart, making it darker towards the edges and lighter in the centre.
2. Die Cut Patterned Paper: Die cut another heart from the blue paw print paper and process the edges in the same way with the distress inks.
3. Layer the Hearts: Stick the two hearts together, with the blue paw print heart on top of the kraft heart.
4. Prepare the Bottom Heart: Die-cut another heart from the patterned paper and adhere this to the bottom heart of the easel card.

After processing all the patterned paper and adhering it to our base, we can now attach various elements to the card.

Now that we have the background ready, let’s proceed with attaching the dog, sentiments, and ribbon to the heart:

1. Place the Coloured Dog: Position the coloured dog onto the heart with the patterned paper featuring dog paw prints. Ensure it is slightly towards the bottom of the heart.
2. Cut the Sentiment: Divide the text “You’re a very special friend” into two pieces: “You’re a beary” and “special friend.”
3. Ink the Edges of the Sentiment Strips: Apply ink to the edges of the sentiment strips using the same ink used for the patterned paper.
4. Position the Sentiment Strips: Place the text above the dog. Position “you’re a beary” diagonally above the dog on the left side, and “special friend” diagonally above the dog on the right side.
5. Add the Ribbon: Complete the look by adding a pink bow to the top left corner of the heart.
6. Attach the Heart to the Easel: With all the elements in place, attach the heart to the easel by applying glue only to the bottom and pressing it down securely.

Now that this heart is ready, we can proceed to work on the elements for the bottom heart.

We have reached the final step. In this step, we will create the stopper and place text. Follow these steps:

1. Create the stopper: To create the stopper that will hold the easel in place, die-cut two hearts, one larger and one smaller. The larger heart is made from kraft paper, distressed with brown ink, and the smaller heart is coloured pink with alcohol markers. Adhere the smaller heart on top of the larger heart and place this stopper where you want the easel to stand.
2. Add the sentiments: For the final text placement, cut the remaining sentiment into three parts: “in love,” “hanging out,” and “with you.” Distress these pieces and adhere “love” to the left side, “hanging out” in the centre, and “with you” on the right side of the heart. 

Now that we have created these last two elements, the card is ready.

As we come to the end of this tutorial, let’s take a moment to reflect on the journey we’ve embarked on and the skills we’ve acquired together. We explored the realm of creating a handmade easel card in a heart shape using Polkadoodles products and learned various techniques such as creating a heart-shaped easel, layering with digital papers, and adding a vintage charm with distress ink.

Now it’s your turn to unleash your creativity! Participate in the Polkadoodles challenge and showcase your talents with the theme “Anything Goes.” If my handmade easel card inspires you, I’d love to see your creation. Share your artwork with our vibrant crafting community and become part of the creative excitement.

Sandy Beach easel card| All dressed-up digital stamps

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