For this week’s Stamp It Saturday post I thought I would share some more of the cards I created for the recent Holiday 2017 release and talk about how I created the backgrounds for them.

For the backgrounds on all of these cards I used the snowflake stamps from the new Little Bits Snowman Set – they are so pretty, and oh so handy. I love to create inked and stamped background pieces for cards, as while I do love designer papers, I never seem to have quite the right colours, or enough of my favourite ones, and something about my brain seems to get a little stuck when working with them. I can sit for hours staring at a pile of printed papers, deliberating over which to use, so creating my own often works out much faster!

Stamp & Die Sets Used: Polar Bear & Mousie Stuffies, Little Bits Snowman Set, Holiday Sentiment Set

To create the background I used a few different shades of Distress Oxide inks on Strathmore Bristol Vellum Surface paper. The Distress Oxides have become my personal favourites because they go on so smoothly – the pigment ink content makes them so creamy to use. You could however, achieve a similar look using regular Distress Inks, or just try something similar with inks you have on hand (bear in mind, other inks may not react with water like the Distress range to create the splotchy textured effects).

Instead of spritzing the background pieces with water I used a Glimmer Mist spray, which works in the same way but of course adds a gorgeous shimmer to the paper which you can’t quite see in the photos. This is perfect for festive cards. You could use a pre-mixed spray like Glimmer Mist, or create your own using a spray bottle, some water and some Perfect Pearls powder or similar products.

I then stamped the snowflakes randomly using one of my favourite inks – Delicata – I love the Delicata metallic pigment inks, the gold has been my favourite for quite some time. On these cards I used Delicata White Shimmer. Because these inks are pigment based, you will need to allow longer for them to dry, or heat set them (which I did, because I am impatient!).

Stamp & Die Sets Used: Little Bits Skating Quartet Set, Little Bits Snowman Set, Holiday Sentiment Set

Stamp & Die Sets Used: Littles Elf with a Reindeer on Top, Little Bits Snowman Set, Holiday Sentiment Set

Creating your own inked and stamped backgrounds is a great way to create perfectly coordinating cards and projects. It’s also excellent for Christmas cards or other occasions when you need to create multiples of similar designs – simply create all your backgrounds in one sitting using a batch processing approach!

Over To You!

If you try out the techniques shown in any of the posts with your Stamping Bella stamps, be sure to share! We would love to see the results and hear how you feel about them. Show off your creations in the comments below and even better, share your own favourite tips with us. Let’s talk stamping!

If you are posting your images online, we would love to see them on Instagram and all the platforms mentioned above.  To make it easier for us to find you just use #markergeekmonday and/or #stampingbella as a hashtag. Even better tag me @markergeek and @stampingbella . We love it when you connect, so don’t be shy!

If you’re on Facebook join us in our private chat group Stamping Bella Sistahood to share your creations there and chat all things Stamping Bella related!

Until next time, HAPPY STAMPING!

MWAH

Elaineabella

For this week’s Stamp It Saturday post I thought I would share a few tips to help you get creating fun scenes with the Little Bits and their coordinating dies.

Here are a couple of cards I created for the Holiday 2017 release, featuring some of the new Little Bits stamps and one of the backdrops. On both cards I used the die cut images to assemble cute scenes.

Stamp & Die Sets Used: Little Bits Winter Tree & Deer Ball, Little Bits Set of Elves, Little Bits Santa’s Gifts, Holiday Sentiment Set

Stamp & Die Sets Used: Winter Backdrop, Little Bits Sledding, Little Bits Snowman Set, Holiday Sentiment Set

Tips:

• Since the dies cut the images with a narrow white border all around, I tend to find that I prefer them popped up against lighter backgrounds. This is a personal preference, but I find they look less stark. Another option of course is that you could fussy cut right up to the stamped outline (if you do this, I recommend colouring the cut edges with a black pen so everything looks neat).
• Try it out first! I like to play around with the arrangement for a little while, and see how things look in different positions. This is a lot easier to do with die cut pieces than masking and stamping, so that’s a real plus. A little tweaking to the positioning can make a world of difference to the final result. Once I find a layout I’m happy with, I take a quick photo with my smart phone that I can refer to when doing the final assembly.
• Create dimension! I like to create dimension by having some elements adhered flat to the background, and others that would be further forward in the scene popped up on foam pads, or double layers of foam pads.
• Keep it simple! Don’t go too crazy with the elements – use enough to tell a little story, but not so many that you overwhelm the eye.

This approach is a lot simpler to replicate than masking and stamping, as you could easily stamp a number of each element, colour them in batches, die cut and then assemble in the same way.

Useful Links:

Using Cut it Out Dies – tips for using the coordinating cut it out die sets to get great results.

Over To You!

If you try out the techniques shown in any of the posts with your Stamping Bella stamps, be sure to share! We would love to see the results and hear how you feel about them. Show off your creations in the comments below and even better, share your own favourite tips with us. Let’s talk stamping!

If you are posting your images online, we would love to see them on Instagram and all the platforms mentioned above.  To make it easier for us to find you just use #markergeekmonday and/or #stampingbella as a hashtag. Even better tag me @markergeek and @stampingbella . We love it when you connect, so don’t be shy!

If you’re on Facebook join us in our private chat group Stamping Bella Sistahood to share your creations there and chat all things Stamping Bella related!

Until next time, HAPPY STAMPING!

MWAH

Elaineabella