Time for the latest Marker Geek Monday. Today I’ve got some fun to share combining background stencils and Distress Oxides with Stamping Bella stamps and both coloured pencil and Copic marker colouring.

Easy & Stunning Stencil Backgrounds:

If you love the look of all those impressive backgrounds on people’s cards, but aren’t sure where to get started, this is the post for you! These couldn’t be easier to do, and they look so awesome when they are done. I’m sharing two cards in slightly different styles. The first one is the simplest and shows a stencilled background with a die cut image popped up in front. The second card is a little more involved and shows a scene created by stamping, masking and then stencilling.

NOTE: for the backgrounds on both cards I have used Distress Oxide inks on Strathmore Bristol Vellum Surface paper. I encourage you to work with what you have – try the inks you have and the paper you like to use with them. My personal preference is currently for the Distress Oxides because they blend so easily and smoothly, especially on this paper. Distress Inks will work beautifully as well, as will other ink types (other inks may not react with water to create the effects, but you can still create great ink blended backgrounds).

Squidgy Witch Halloween Card:

Stamps Used: Squidgy Witch Trick or Treater PLUS Coordinating Die, Fall Sentiment Set

I do love this little witchy. She’s just so sweet, and she’s lovely to colour (I coloured her with Copics again for this card). Here’s a look at how I created the background.

I used a Memory Box Co stencil with my Distress Oxides in the colours shown.

I taped the stencil and paper down so neither would move while I was blending the ink.

Hey presto! Those colours… *happy sigh* It’s always so fun to remove the stencil and see the results. Not finished yet though!

Distress Oxides react with water, so I spritzed the background lightly and dried with a paper towel then my heat tool. This created those little water droplets on the background, which gives a fun magical feel. With Distress Oxides this step also gives that soft chalky look, which I think looks really awesome on this background.

The final step before creating my card was to add some simple shading to the trees using some of the Copic Cool Gray markers. This really helps to bring the background to life. You could skip this step and still have a fantastic card, but I love to fuss with details.

Little Bits Little Witchies Card:

Stamps Used: Little Bits Little Witchies stamp set (coordinating die set also available)

As I mentioned above, this card is a little more involved because I wanted a one layer look, achieved by stamping and masking before doing the stencilling. I also used Prismacolor coloured pencils rather than Copics to colour the image (except for the ground), which takes so much longer. Let’s take a look at how this one came together.

Again, I used Distress Oxide inks and Strathmore Bristol Vellum Surface paper together with a Memory Box Co stencil. This stencil is a different size and scale to the previous one, which worked perfectly with the Little Bits image sizes. As well as masking the stamped images, I also tore some masking tape to give it a rough edge and placed it to create an area of ground.

On this piece, I masked the edges to leave a white border before stencilling.

I again used some water in a mini mister spray bottle to create the background effect and bring out that chalky look to the Distress Oxides.

I then coloured the ground using Copics in BG93,BG96,BG99. I masked the edges again to keep them clean.

Finally, I coloured the stencilled trees and the characters using Prismacolor coloured pencils. After colouring I went over the eyes and other facial details using a Copic multi-liner to bring them out – the coloured pencil covers and dulls the stamped details.

These cards make me so happy! If you don’t do Halloween, I would totally use them for fun, magical birthday or “just because” cards, especially at this time of year.

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 colour!

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! Make sure you use the #SpotThisStampingBella hashtag on social media if you’re happy for me to feature your work in my Spotted On Sunday posts!

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 COLOURING!

MWAH

Elaineabella