How to Make a Christmas Montage Card

Adding a personalized touch for the holidays by making your own Christmas cards.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 8 ½ x 11 in green handmade paper
• 8 ½ x 11in red handmade paper with gold thread
• 8 ½ x 11in white cardstock
• Rubber stamps
• Black embossing ink pad (green color optional)
• Black embossing powder (green color optional)
• Double-sided adhesive foam dots
• Black dye ink pad
• Cork-backed ruler
• Scissors or paper trimmer
• Bone folder
• Glue stick
• Embossing or heat gun
• Decorative scissors (Fiskars Colonial pattern)

1. Trim and fold your paper; trim the green paper to 10” x 7” using a paper trimmer or scissors. Fold the paper in half to create a 5” x 7” card

2. Smooth the folds; use a bone folder to smooth the folded edge of the card. If you don’t have a bone folder, you can use any smooth, hard item such as the side of a pen, credit card or cd case.

3. Tear the red paper; trace a 6” x 4” rectangle on the red paper with a pencil. Place a cork-backed ruler along each line and tear the excess paper away. This will create a soft, feathered edge that mimics the deckled edge of handmade paper

4. Apply glue to the paper; with a glue stick, apply an even amount of glue to the entire back of the red paper. Pay close attention to the edges while applying the glue. If you tend to be messy, you can place scrap or wax paper under the piece so that you don’t get glue on your work surface.

5. Glue the paper to the card; apply the red paper to the center of the front of the card. Smooth the paper down with your hands or bone folder, taking care to remove any air bubbles and to make sure the edges adhere to the surface.

6. Apply embossing ink to the stamp; apply black embossing ink to the Christmas montage stamp. If you hold in one hand and apply the ink with the other hand, you may have better control over the application of the ink.

7. Stamp the image onto cardstock; press your stamp onto a sheet of white cardstock. Use both hands to apply even downward pressure without rocking the stamp onto its edges.

8. Pour on the embossing powder; apply a generous amount of black embossing powder directly over the stamped image. You will recycle the powder, so don’t be afraid to put too much powder on the image. Gently shake the card to spread the powder evenly over the wet ink.

9. Brush off the excess powder; over a clean sheet of scrap paper, tip the stamped sheet up on an angle and gently tap the sides. The powder should easily tap away from areas without embossing ink. Use the scrap paper like a funnel to transfer any unused powder back into its container.

10. Heat the image with an embossing gun; with a heat gun, heat the ink and powder. Continuously move the heat gun in small circles so as not to burn the paper. As the powder heats, you will see it melt together and form a satiny sheen. As each area hardens, move to another area until the entire image is set.

11. Cut out the embossed image; trim around the embossed image, leaving about a 1/8” border. Peel five double -sided adhesive foam dots and apply them a the corners and center of the back of the embossed cardstock.

12. Attach the image to the card; affix the cardstock in place on an angle over the red paper. Press down lightly to secure.

13. Stamp a holiday quote dye ink; with black dye ink, stamp the “holiday quote” on the white cardstock, then trim around it with decorative scissors.

14. Glue the quote onto the card; apply glue with a glue stick to the back of the white cardstock and apply it to the inside of the green card. Press down firmly with both hands to secure the image to the paper.

Tips & Warnings

• When cutting paper, follow the old adage to measure twice and cut one
• You may find that slightly dampening the paper with a cotton swab along the line will make tearing easier
• If you find that you cannot get the powder off the unlinked portions of the card, wipe a used static-cling dryer sheet over the paper before stamping
• Clean your stamps in between uses especially if using embossing ink, as this type of ink doesn’t dry on the rubber
• Try variations of this card such as using a Christmas tree cookie cutter

[ShellieP]

on 11/30/2008 what a great idea, thanks for the info