Time for another Design Team Thursday! This week we’ve got a fantastic tutorial for you from our wonderful Micheleabella, sharing how she creates a beautiful brick background for her stamped images.

Hi everyone! It’s Michele here today. I had quite a few questions regarding how I created a brick background on a recent Stamping Bella card so I thought I’d share with you how I created that background.

I used new flowersbehindmybackABELLA from the new Bella 2.0 line (LOVE), a couple Post It notes and removable tape, brick stencil, two inks and a blending tool.

Stamp the image and color with desired medium.  (I used Copic markers.)  Adhere two Post It Notes together then stamp the image to use as a mask.

Carefully cut out the image, cutting directly on the stamped outline. In the areas such as the flower bouquet, it is not necessary to cut in between each flower. (I’ll address that issue in a bit.)..

Using removable tape, securely adhere the masked image to scrap paper. Align the stencil over the image and adhere securely with additional removable tape.

Using the desired base ink color (I used Natural), begin blending ink over the stencil. I achieved the best results by beginning the blending motion over the mask and moving onto the surrounding area using circular motions. As I moved further away from the image, I applied less ink to create the faded edges.

With just a bit of a second color of ink applied to the blending tool (I used a light pink), lightly sweep the blending tool from right to left, applying more ink close to the image. The goal is to apply color to the left side only of each open area to create depth.  Additional colors can be applied if desired.

Remove the stencil and mask. There were a few areas where my mask wasn’t exactly aligned but that’s ok. (See the left edge of the dress and left edges of flowers.) I had planned to add shadow around the image anyway to create depth.
In the areas between the flowers where it was too difficult to cut the mask, I used a Copic marker, matched to the brick color, to fill in those white areas. No one will ever know.

To create additional depth, I decided to stamp the skirt a second time. I colored, added some dots then adhered the top edge directly to the full image and placed thin, clear foam squares beneath the bottom edge.

Over To You!

We hope you’ve enjoyed checking out Shelabella’s tutorial and are feeling inspired to try it out yourselves. If you do, make sure you drop by and share with us! You can get in touch in all the following ways:

• On our Facebook page – tag us, post your Stamping Bella creations on the page.
• In our Facebook Group Stamping Bella Sistahood – share your creations, chat with other sistahs!
• On Instagram – tag @stampingbella and view our feed HERE.
• Here on the blog – share your thoughts and links to your Stamping Bella creations down in the comments section!

Happy Stamping!Save

Time for another dose of inspiration from one of the Bellarific Babes. It’s Design Team Thursday and this week Faye-WJ-abella has a fun technique to share.

Hey Peeps, it’s Faye here today 🙂

Sponge. Perhaps I’m being a little presumptuous here. But. Sponge. Not just for washing baby arm pits. I know, it’s an overwhelming thought. So, while you let that sink in for a moment, let’s talk about backgrounds.

My style is very clean and simple. But every once in a while, I fancy a little ‘pop’ of colour behind an image. Sometimes, if I feel like getting ink all over my hands, nails and desk, (that’s with scrap paper in place, by the way. If I didn’t have the paper, well. Nuff said.) I’ll get the Air Brush out. And sometimes, I like to get a different fix of Messy. I know, the shocks just keep coming, don’t they?

So, let’s take Thinkingofyouabella, who, is perfect for a little Arty Farty Background Moosh. Now, before I tell you that I am going to colour around the edge of the image with RV91 and R81, as rough and messy as I like… You want to do this part first. Trust me, colouring the background first is a must.

You’ll notice I have already decided my Light Source will be Top Right, which is why I have more of the R81 on the left hand side.

Now, you’ll want a plate, or a Craft Mat, or something you can squirt some Colourless Blender on. Dip your piece of Sponge, (or in fact any fabric with some texture to it, (Put the Bath Towel back please!)) in the Colourless Blender and then apply your Sponge, to the background ink. One pink elephant. Two pink elephants. Three pink elephants. Stop. Move around your image until you have Mooshed the whole lot with the Sponge. You may need to re-dip your sponge as you go.

It’s worth noting that you get different effects by:

• Using different fabrics.
• Varying the amount of pink elephants you count.
• Changing how much Colourless Blender you start with.

I used a lot of wet as that was the effect I wanted, but if you use less, the texture of whatever you are pressing against the paper shows more. So play around.

Now the Mooshing is done, we can colour the image.

Finally, I doodled some and called her done. But that’s only because I chickened out of doing the thing I had planned to do. Maybe I’ll show you that another time 😉

Have a great day.

Faye x

Over To You!

We hope you’ve enjoyed checking out Faye-WJ-abella’s tutorial and are feeling inspired to try it out yourselves. If you do, make sure you drop by and share with us! You can get in touch in all the following ways:

• On our Facebook page – tag us, post your Stamping Bella creations on the page.
• In our Facebook Group Stamping Bella Sistahood – share your creations, chat with other sistahs!
• On Instagram – tag @stampingbella and view our feed HERE.
• Here on the blog – share your thoughts and links to your Stamping Bella creations down in the comments section!

Happy Stamping!