Stamping Bella Release Preview - Day 5!

Hello Crafters! Today is the last day of the Stamping Bella summer release sneak peeks! All of these gorgeous stamps will be available tomorrow, Friday, June 30th! Did you see those amazing mermaids in yesterday's sneak peek? Or how about the adorable cave girl and boy today? If you didn't be sure to check out the Stamping Bella blog for more details. As you know I just love the Chicks line and today I get to share a precious card showing off a new stamp called BUBBLE CHICKS.

I wanted to make this a clean and simple card so I started by coloring the image with Copics. My inspiration for the bubbles came from a great tutorial from My Creative Scoop. Her technique makes such beautiful bubbles! After coloring, I used a stitched die cut to trim the piece into a square. I mounted it with a piece of holographic foil and a great matching plaid pattern paper. The foil picks up the colors in the bubbles. It looks so cool in real life! 

Next, I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of teal cardstock and cut a slanted edge. I matted this with another piece of the holographic foil paper and popped it up with foam tape. To finish off the card, I grabbed several matching colors of Nuvo Jewel drops which are translucent with a hint of color. Perfect for bubbles! Lastly, I applied a double coat of Spectrum Noir clear sparkle over each of the bubbles. Here's a closer look at the sparkle and shine:

I just absolutely love how this card turned out. I think it may be my favorite peek! Now, get your lists ready for tomorrow and make sure you get your hands on your favorite new sets. Click the link below to see the last of the sneak peeks and also to enter for a chance to win a $25.00 gift certificate to the shop! I'll be back tomorrow to share a bonus card from the release!

Supplies Used:

Stamping Bella Release Preview - Day 3!

Are you loving the Stamping Bella summer release as much as I am? There are so many items on my list and we aren't even half way through the peeks! All of the new stamps and dies will be available on Friday, June 30th. Today I get to share one of my favorites called TINY TOWNIE FRANCES LOVES TO FLOAT. The Uptown Girl & Tiny Townie lines were the reason I fell in love with Stamping Bella so it's always such an honor to get to share new ones with all of you!

I decided once again to break out my Copics for this adorable image. After coloring, I grabbed my scissors and fussy cut around her leaving a small white border. Good news is on Friday when the release comes out you can pick up the coordinating Cut It Out die so you won't have to fussy cut! I wanted to add a bit of dimension to her float so I grabbed my glossy accents and added some to each little dot and set it aside to fully dry. 

Next I worked on the background. I cut a top folding A2 size card base from a piece of heavyweight white cardstock. I took out a cloud stencil and some Distress Ink to create a soft sky that faded into white. I used a wave die to cut out three waves in different colors and then layered them onto the card base. The lower layer is vellum and because adhesive shows through, I decided to grab a coordinating blue striped paper to add a bit more of a nautical feel.

I really wanted to do something special for the sentiment from the new SUMMER SENTIMENTS set so I stamped it onto a piece of white cardstock and used a cloud die to cut it out. I went ahead and cut out another cloud and then pulled out a sun die. I used Distress ink to give a little color to the edges of the clouds and the center of the sun. I popped up the clouds using foam tape and then slid the sun into place behind them securing it with a bit of tape runner. 

Here's a closer look at the dimension and details:

Click below to check out the Stamping Bella blog where everyday this week there will be more sneak peeks leading up to the big release on Friday, June 30th! I'll be back on Thursday with one final sneak peek! Have a great day!

Supplies Used:

Stamping Bella Release Preview - Day 2!

Hello Crafters! Welcome to Day 2 of the Stamping Bella Release Week! Today I have more cards to share that use images from the new Littles line. Remember all of these stamps will be available for purchase on Friday, June 30 over on the Stamping Bella online shop. The first card I’m sharing is a slider card that uses images from the SNORKEL LITTLE SET.

I stamped all of the images from the set onto a piece of X-Press It blending card in Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink so that I could color them with my Copic markers. Since the images are fairly small, coloring is a breeze! That’s another great thing about these “Little” sets. They make putting together a card super simple and quick!

Next I focused on creating the scene. I die cut three hills from kraft cardstock using a hillside border die and for the sky I choose a fun and bright cartoony cloud paper. I lined up these pieces on a standard A2 size top folding card base but didn’t adhere them down. The critters looked like they could be hitting the beach ball back and forth so I decided to create a slider card to portray this idea. I lined the critters up on the background to provide enough room for the slider channel to go. I then used a circle slider die from My Favorite Things to die cut the slider channel in the cloud paper.

Next, I adhered the sand mounds down to the cloud paper based on the layout I had selected earlier. I applied a layer of foam tape over the back of this entire piece making sure to leave enough room for the slider to slide. I grabbed the little beach ball image, lined it up on the front of the card and placed a small piece of foam tape on the back so that it fit into the slider channel. I then attached a penny to the back of the foam tape to create the slider mechanism. To keep the foam tape from sticking around the exposed edges, I used a powder tool to take the stickiness away. I cut another piece of the cloud paper to go over the back of the slider so that the slider channel would disappear into the background. All of this then was adhered to my card base.

Once the background was attached, I moved onto adding some details to the scene. I applied Sprinkled Sugar Stickles to the edges of each of the sand mounds. I love these Stickles because they provide a gritty look that enhances sand or sugar. The dog and cat images were popped up on either side of the slider channel so that when the beach ball slides from side to side it would appear as if the animals were volleying it. I then added a crab and some shells tucked into one of the sand mounds. I stamped a sentiment from the SUMMER SENTIMENTS set and cut a slanted end. I then matted this with some yellow cardstock and adhered it to the edge on the card. Lastly, I added a few coordinating enamel dots to highlight the sentiment and that finished off the card.

Here’s a closer look at the card and also a little shot of it in action.

I liked the SNORKEL LITTLE SET so much that I decided to make a second card using images that I didn't use on the first one.

I die cut a circle from a piece of white heavyweight cardstock. Next I used a wave die to cut out a stencil from piece of masking paper so that I could do a little ink blending. I applied two different blues to the ocean area and a bit of yellow haze to the mimic the sun. I knew I wanted the little girl to be floating in the duck floaty so I grabbed a small wave die that cuts out a wave slit that I could tuck in the girl and her float.

For the background, I used two different pattern papers, cut them down to size and adhered them to the card base. I wrapped a piece of white twine around the panel a few times and tied a double bow. I popped up the circle and placed it in the middle of the panel, adjusting the bow to fit nicely on the side of the circle. I then stamped  a sentiment from the new SUMMER SENTIMENTS set and choose some coordinating enamel dots to highlight it. I felt like I needed to bring in  little sparkle, so I grabbed some blue Stickles for the waves and some gorgeous green Stickles for her suit.  You'll see in the picture below that it looked a little plain so I went back and added a few fluffy clouds and I think that really helped balance the card. Here's a closer look:

Click below to check out the Stamping Bella blog where everyday this week there will be more sneak peeks leading up to the big release on Friday, June 30th! I'll be back tomorrow with another sneak peek for you! Have you made your list yet?? :)

Supplies for Card #1

Supplies for Card #2

Stamping Bella Release Preview - Day 1!

Hello Crafters! Guess what time it is...It's Stamping Bella New Release Week! All week the Design Team will be counting down and sharing inspiration for the new release images. This release is full of incredible summer stamps that will all be available for purchase on Friday, June 30th in the Stamping Bella online store.  I'm so excited to be able to share TWO sneaky peeks with you today. Let's dive right in! 

For this release, Emily is releasing a few backdrop stamps that are absolutely perfect for scene building. I like that you can use these both horizontally or vertically depending on how you crop your card. In case you are wondering, it is smaller than an A2 size card. Another line of stamps that are being released are called "Littles." These are interactive, exchangeable and all have matching dies to make creating a scene super easy. Here's my first card for today. It incorporates both the BEACH BACKDROP stamp as well as the SANDCASTLE LITTLE SET. 

I first stamped the BEACH BACKDROP onto a piece of Bristol Smooth White Cardstock. I then grabbed a few different colors of Distress Oxide Inks to do a little ink blending. I masked off the beach, water, and sky separately and removed the masks as I ink blended each section. Once the initial layer was complete, I grabbed a wave stencil and laid it across the card. I then used a slightly damp paper towel to activate the Distress Oxide ink in just the ocean section. If you're not familiar with this inks they don't react like regular Distress inks. The wet spots turn a little chalky and I love the look of it. They also blend amazingly! I did this same process again but with a cloud stencil on the sky portion. I laid this portion aside and got to work on my images.

I stamped all ten images in the SANDCASTLE LITTLE SET and colored them with my Copic Markers. I then fussy cut each image and started to put them together on the backdrop to see what worked best with each other. I ended up only using 7 images but as you can see this set really makes scene building easy! Once I had the images in place, I adhered everything down to the stamped backdrop panel. I then chose a piece of stripey cardstock that had fun summery colors and cut it to the size of a A2 card base. Because the BEACH BACKDROP is slightly smaller than a A2 card, I adhered this panel on top of the card base and had a nice little border around it.

What's a summer card without fun SUMMER SENTIMENTS? Emily thought about that too and there's a great new set filled with gorgeous sentiments just ready for summer cards. I stamped a sentiment in black ink onto a piece of white cardstock. I used a cross stitched border die to give it some interest and then matted it on the top and the bottom with some pink patterned paper.   For the finishing touches, I added a bunch of little dots in several different shades of brown Copics to the sand to give it a more textured look. Then I pulled out my Stickles and Glossy Accents to give some shimmer and shine to the shell, her sunglasses and the sun. I also decided to give her a "yellow polka dot bikini" so I grabbed my white gel pen and added some tiny little dots to her suit. And lastly, the duck was just begging for googly eyes!!

Here's a closer look at the little details:

For my second card, I used the BEACH BACKDROP vertically and the new ICE CREAM AND LEMONADE LITTLE SET. This time I decided to use my Copics to color in the backdrop. I stamped the image onto a piece of X-Press It blending paper and used Simon Says Stamp Intense black ink to ensure the lines wouldn't bleed since I was using a ton of marker. Once that was complete, I stamped and colored all of the images from the ICE CREAM AND LEMONADE LITTLE SET and spent a few minutes rearranging and figuring out which ones I wanted to use.

I wanted to create a place to tuck in a shell so I took a exacto knife and cut a slit in the top of one of the beach mounds. I then arranged my images and adhered them to the background. For the sentiment, I used a Fishtail Flag Frames die from MFT to create the strip for the sentiment and border around it. I adhered the border down and popped up the sentiment strip to give it a little more dimension. For the sun, I didn't want to just stamp it onto the backdrop so I stamped it onto a piece of vellum and then fussy cut around it. I popped this up but only put the foam in the center of the sun so the edges naturally curled up a bit. It gives a really neat look and makes it look like the sun is floating a bit.

Once I had finished this panel, I matted it with a piece of teal cardstock and adhered it to a top folding A2 sized purple polka dot card base. For the final touches, I applied Glossy Accents to the little girl's sunglasses and I added Stickles to the center of the, the tops of the waves, and to some of the accents on the girls' swimsuits. Here's a closer look at the card:

Click below to check out the Stamping Bella blog where everyday this week there will be more sneak peeks leading up to the big release on Friday, June 30th! I'll be back tomorrow with more sneak peeks for you! So excited so share!

Supplies for Sandcastle Card:



Supplies for Ice Cream & Lemonade Card:

Bellarific Friday - Photo Inspiration

Happy Friday! Today I'm sharing a card that I made for the Bellarific Friday photo inspiration Challenge which was the gorgeous marbled cake below. I'm loving the marble trend that's going around and I couldn't wait to incorporate it into my design. 

I was feeling adventurous and decided to try a technique that I'm fairly new at - No Line Copic Coloring. This style is definitely a challenge for me but I'm enjoying practicing it. To begin, I stamped CAKEABELLA V.2.0 in a Copic friendly beige ink onto a piece of X-Press It paper. I used my MISTI and stamped it a few times to make the lines more visible. Let me tell you, the light ink does it's job as it's nearly invisible, lol!

I used the dark to light method of coloring to help me see the image better. I feel that I nailed this on her clothes and the cakes. Where I struggled was with her face. I used a Copic mulitliner to try and trace her eyes. I wish I would have had a brown one because I think this would have made it less contrasting and blended better with the image.

Overall I wouldn't say it was too bad for my second attempt at No-Line Coloring. I just need to keep practicing and playing around. I think a critter image may be a bit easier. After I was finished coloring, I fussy cut the image. On a side note, there is a coordinating “CUT IT OUT” die available for this stamp. You get a great deal if you bundle them.

Next I turned my focus to the background. I had this gorgeous marble paper in my stash and it matched closely to the inspiration image. I also had some corresponding paper that was spotted with rose gold accents similar to the gold accents on the cake. I decided to combine the two to create the background for the image. The marble paper was a bit too bright and it drowned out the image. To tone it down, I grabbed a piece of vellum, wrapped it around the marble piece and secured to the back with some scotch tape. This also added an additional element of  matte texture that I really liked.

The image then looked a bit plain adhered to the background so I grabbed some rose gold thread and created a little messy nest. I use to use this technique quite a bit and really like the look it provides. I popped the image up using some foam tape and adhered it to the little thread circles. Lastly, I added a few rose gold sequins to try everything in and give it some bling.

Here's a closer look at the coloring and the little details:

Hop over to the Stamping Bella blog and see what the rest of the Design Team created using this fabulous image as inspiration.  Also, if you would like to participate in Bellarific Fridays for a chance to be entered into a monthly drawing to win some Bella Bucks click on the link below for more details.

I'm so excited for next week's challenge!! It's a shaker or spinner card! I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. Hope you join along and create something with us! Have a wonderful day and I'll be back soon!

Sketch Challenge for Bellarific Friday using Dragons!

Hello Crafters! It's time for another Bellarific Friday challenge on the Stamping Bella blog. This week's inspiration was the great Mojo Bella sketch below. I decided to pull out the SET OF DRAGONS stamps and the coordinating "CUT IT OUT" dies. These are some of the cutest images! (On a side note, you can bundle the Cut It Out dies and stamp set for a 15% savings! Awesome!) 

Here's what I came up with:

I wanted to create a masculine card this week so I chose my color scheme from the adorable Dragon Tails paper pack from Doodlebug. There are some precious patterns, perfect for a little boy's card. I stamped three different dragons with Simon Says Stamp Intense black ink onto a piece of X-Press It Copic blending paper. I used the Copic color match chart to pick my markers. I love how easy this chart makes picking markers to closely match cardstock. Check out a previous post I did that showed an example of this chart, here. I used a dot technique to give the dragons the look of texture and scales. This is any easy thing to do to bring creatures to life. After my images were colored, I used the coordinating "Cut It Out" dies to cut the images. 

Here's a look at the colors that I used:

I cut a piece of plaid paper from the Dragon Tails pack down to size matching the inspiration sketch. I adhered this in place on the card base. I then chose a coordinating piece of gray stock and used a MFT die called Stitched Triple Peek-a-Boo Window & Edge to cut out the circles. I applied foam tape to the back of the gray piece and adhered white cardstock behind the windows. This gave me a more neutral background for the dragons. I adhered each dragon to the windows using a mix of foam tape and tape runner. I wanted certain areas of them to be popped up and others to be flat. Once that piece was completed, I adhered it down to the plaid paper and card base. I grabbed a few different sizes and colors of enamel dots to accent the windows. 

I chose a sentiment from the DRAGON SENTIMENTS stamp set and heat embossed it onto a piece of orange cardstock. I wanted something a little more interesting than a standard banner so I grabbed another MFT die called Fishtail Flag Frames and cut the sentiment out. I like the little frame this die creates. It gives it a little more umpf. To complete the card, I grabbed my glossy accents and highlighted the dragons' little spikes and I also applied some Spectrum Noir clear sparkle to the wings. Here's a closer look at the dimension and details of my card:

Hop over to the Stamping Bella blog and see what the rest of the Design Team created using the MojoBella sketch. There are some amazing designs today! Also, if you would like to participate in Bellariffic Fridays for a chance to be entered into a monthly drawing to win some Bella Bucks click on the link below for more details.

Next week's Bellariffic Friday challenge is a LOVE/WEDDING/ANNIVERSARY card using a CURRENT Stamping Bella Stamp! Hope you join along and create something with us! Have a wonderful day and I'll be back soon!

Stamping Bella Stamp of the Month for June

Happy June! I can't believe we are in summer and almost half way through 2017. Good news is a new month brings a new Stamp of the Month over at Stamping Bella. This month's stamp is an adorable Stuffies stamp called ELLIE LOVES PHANT and it's 20% off all month long! I love these little critters and I'm sure you will too! Click the link below for more information. 

=

This week's challenge was "free form." I stamped the image onto a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper using versafine onyx black ink and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I decided to use my Tombow markers for a little bit of watercoloring. I applied the marker directly to the paper then used a slightly damp paintbrush to pull the color out. These markers are so blendable with water and I love the contrast you can get with just one color. Here's a closer look of the colored image along with the colors I used. 

I made a conscious decision to go masculine with this design. So I chose to focus on the image and keep everything else simple. I selected a piece of blue striped paper and I cut it down to slightly smaller than an A2 size card. I then pulled out a circle die and cut a window near the top. I applied foam tape to the back of the striped paper and adhered my elephants to the center of the window. This gave it a little more dimension. 

I pulled out a bit of natural twine and wrapped it around the patterned piece securing it with tape on the back. I tied a double bow onto the twine string for added interest and texture. All of this was then adhered to a A2 size card base that I created from a piece of Neenah Desert Storm cardstock. Lastly, for the sentiment I stamped it onto a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper in Versafine ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder so that it matched what I had done with the image. 

Here's a better look at the dimension and details on the card. 

Hop over to the Stamping Bella blog and see what the rest of the BellaBabes created with this month's Stamp of the Month. It's so fun to see what all of us come up with for the same stamp. Also, if you would like to participate in Bellariffic Fridays for a chance to be entered into a monthly drawing to win some Bella Bucks click on the link below for more details.

Next week's Bellariffic Friday challenge is the fabulous (MOJO)bella sketch below! Hope you join along and create something with us! Have a wonderful day and I'll be back soon!