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Spotlight On Tiny Townies Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella

Hey folks, Elaineabella here! It’s Tuesday again, so I’m back with my giant spotlight ready to shine it on some of my favourite stamps in the Stamping Bella collection. We have a fantastic range of images, old and new, and they all deserve a lot of love and attention! Hopefully today I can either inspire you to pull out some of the stamps in your collection and get them inked up, or to add some new to you stamps that you may have previously missed! Where possible I’ve also added links to useful content to help you colour and create with the stamps.

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

Spotlight On The Tiny Townies:

The Uptown Girls range has been a favourite at Stamping Bella for quite some time now, and those leggy lovelies have found their way into many stamp collections across the globe. In 2015 we introduced you to their little sisters – The Tiny Townies. I think it’s safe to say they found a place in all of our stamping hearts too! It’s no secret, I am a sucker for cute, so I absolutely love the Tiny Townies. I also have four young nieces so the Tiny Townies are definitely earning their place in my stamp collection. 😉

Let’s take a look at some of my favourites so far.

First up is Petunia Gets a PiggyBack:

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

This one puts a gorgeous little Tiny Townie with our lovely Petunia Pig from The Woodsies collection.  Such a fun image, and as usual Em put a lovely sentiment in the set with it. Use the image with the included sentiment for a great friendship card or a cute and sentimental card for a young relative. Or pair the image with another sentiment for a fun any occasion card or birthday card. You can see more of Petunia the Pig in my Spotlight On The Woodsies post!

Here’s a gorgeous card from Stephabella!

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

Watch me colour Petunia gets a Piggy Back below or in HD over on YouTube.

Our adorable little bookworm Tiny Townie Dorothy the Dreamer is definitely one of my personal favourites.

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

Simple reason – she reminds me of me! I’ve been a bookworm since I can remember. Substitute the cuddly monster for a dog and this could almost be a photo. 😉

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

The quote stamp on this card comes with our little bookworm’s big sister – Uptown Girl Rebecca Loves to Read.

I think Tiny Townie Bree Loves Buttercream might be one of my favourite images to colour.

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

It’s that giant cake. Love it. No. Wait. It’s the big ruffled skirt. It may also be those pigeon toes. Can’t resist.

Check out Fayeabella’s fabulous card. Love that all that yellow. So bright and happy!

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

Watch me colour Tiny Townie Bree Loves Buttercream in the video below or in HD over on YouTube.

Also for a step by step guide to colouring those big puffy ruffled skirts, click through and check out my recent Marker Geek Monday post: Marker Geek Monday Copic Colouring a Ruffled Skirt Step by Step and Colouring Video.

Feisty little Tiny Townie Hayley the Hero is another firm favourite.

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

So cute and so determined. She’s going to take on the world, she’s going to succeed. Or she’s going to give her brother a super wedgie. Maybe both, not necessarily in that order.

Michelleabella made a fantastic card featuring little Hayley.

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

Next up, our festive Tiny Townie Jenny Feels Joyful!

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

I feel Christmassy just looking at her. Notice those Cool Chicks have managed to insert themselves into the picture again. There’s no shaking those guys. Seriously, they just fly right back. I say fly, I mean flap their little wings ineffectually and bump into things.

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

Love Michelleabella’s beautiful card.

Adorable little Tiny Townie Blossom loves Balloons is utterly squishable.

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

That dress can be a fun challenge to colour if you want to add the folds and colour the pattern. Might have to include it in a Marker Geek Monday sometime soon!

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

If you want to see how I created the cloudy sky background for Blossom on this card, pop on over to my blog post for the step by step guide: Simple Cloudy Sky Background with Stamping Bella.

Finally, a particularly adorable stamp set – Tiny Townie Melissa Loves Movies.

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

Yep. There they are again, all over the place. Can’t even watch a movie in peace. So cute though. Must be a scary movie, look at them all peeking from behind their wings. Well, I think one of the ones under the chair is actually hoovering up popcorn with his beak. Judging by the one under the chair with his face fully covered it HAS to be a horror movie, or an Adam Sandler flick. 😉

This one comes with the fab “best friend” sentiment as pictured, but I think it would make a fun card for anyone. It would be fantastic on a card for a young family member who loves movies – maybe with some tickets or a cinema gift card inside!

Spotlight On Tiny Townie Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through to read the post for card making inspiration!

Love the way Paulabella coloured this one in her soft, cozy style. *happy sigh*

NOTE: Our fabulous Kerribella shared a helpful colouring tutorial in the last DT Thursday post, featuring another fantastic Tiny Townie – Sally Rides Her Snail. Click through to check it out: DT Thursday Colouring Skin Tones with Derwent Inktense Pencils. Of course the tutorial would apply to any character image, so give it a go with some of the other Tiny Townies!

Over To You!

Hopefully I’ve inspired you to add some Tiny Townies to your collection, or if you already have to get them stamped up!

Share your personal favourite Stamping Bella creations with us. We LOVE to see what you’ve been creating with Stamping Bella stamps. Share a link to your latest Stamping Bella card in the comments below, or an old favourite you made a while ago. Tell us what your favourite stamps are. Are there any additions you would like to see to the range? Let us know!

Another way to connect is by joining us in the Stamping Bella Sistahood Facebook Group and share your pictures.

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!

Until next time, HAPPY STAMPING!

MWAH

Elaineabella

Marker Geek Monday: Paper Choices for Coloured Pencil feat. Manly Chicks

Hey folks! Elaineabella here with another Marker Geek Monday post to kick off a week of colouring fun.

If you missed last week’s post you may want to click through and check it out – Marker Geek Monday: Give Your Cards the WOW Factor with a Galaxy Background. In the post I shared my step by step technique for colouring a night sky or galaxy effect background using Copic markers, along with a video that includes audio commentary. I also shared some card samples and suggestions for other images in the Stamping Bella range that would look amazing with a similar background.

Today I’m taking a break from my markers and sharing some inspiration and tips for working with coloured pencils. Because it is so important in the colouring process, I’m focusing on PAPER CHOICE.

Marker Geek Monday - Choosing Paper for Coloured Pencils feat. Stamping Bella Manly Chicks. Click through to read the blog post and grab some colour combos!

Choosing Paper for Coloured Pencil Work:

As with most mediums, when working with coloured pencils the paper you use will make a huge difference to the results you can achieve. Choose a paper suited to the medium you have chosen, and you will more than likely see an immediate difference in how well you are able to work with it.

If you usually colour with alcohol based markers like Copics and are now branching out into colouring with pencils, you will almost certainly want to choose a different paper to work with. The smooth papers that work so beautifully with markers are not ideal for pencil work, as they don’t have much for the pencils to grip on to. Laying down colour and blending will be tough.  This doesn’t mean you can’t use pencils in conjunction with your markers – if you are enhancing your marker work and adding finer details on top, the paper shouldn’t present a real problem, but for colouring an entire image, you would do better to select a more pencil friendly paper.

Papers which are suitable for coloured pencil work will have some “tooth”.

What is “Tooth”?

When referring to paper, “tooth” means that the paper surface has some texture. The texture gives something for the pigment to catch on and allows you to build up a nice rich coverage of colour. The paper has tiny hills and valleys on the surface. As the pencil hits the hills or ridges in the surface, they catch the pigment.

A rough texture will allow for more layering, but will also require more layering to ensure an even coverage. A very smooth paper will take less layers before the pencil has nothing to hold on to. Something in between is ideal, allowing for layering but not having a visible texture that will be hard to cover.

TOP TIP: Don’t forget to keep your pencils sharp – this will help greatly with laying down colour, especially on a paper with some texture as it will allow the pigment to get into the valleys.

The paper that actually works for you will depend greatly on your colouring style, and what you are colouring. Papers with more texture will allow for more layering of colour, but may not be good for colouring details.

Different types of coloured pencil will also be best suited by different papers. Wax based pencils like the Prismacolor brand may be better suited to a softer textured paper, whereas oil based pencils like the Faber-Castell Polychromos brand may work better on a harder surface. Whether this difference will be greatly noticeable when colouring stamped images is debatable.

Marker Geek Monday - Choosing Paper for Coloured Pencils feat. Stamping Bella Manly Chicks. Click through to read the blog post and grab some colour combos!

Paper Recommendations:

As always, I recommend testing as many papers as you can, in order to find the one that works best for you. The suggestions here include only papers which I have tried personally. Try papers you already have, inexpensive options and those readily available to you before going on a spending spree!

  • Smooth surface cartridge paper – here in the UK I use the Winsor & Newton brand. In the US I believe Strathmore produce a similar paper. These are available in different weights. Personally I prefer to use a heavier weight. The Winsor & Newton pad I have is 100 lb/220gsm. This paper has a fine tooth. I like using it and have achieved some nice results, but find that I can’t layer quite as much as I would like.
  • Bristol Board – Strathmore produce both Smooth and Vellum surfaces of Bristol Board. “Smooth surface” as the name suggests has a very smooth surface. This is not ideal for layering lots of colour, but is great for fine detail (this one also works quite nicely with alcohol based markers). “Vellum surface” has more texture and I far prefer it for use with coloured pencil.
  • Hot Pressed (HP) Watercolour Paper – this can be a nice choice for working with coloured pencil, as it is smooth but has some tooth. I like the Daler Rowney Langton paper and Fabriano Classico 5. Both papers provide a nice surface for working with coloured pencil and are heavy weight. The Fabriano paper is a brighter white than the Daler Rowney.
  • Toned Tan paper – this is a nice choice for colouring on a non-white surface, which can give stunning effects. I have also achieved some nice results with coloured pencil on Bazzill kraft cardstock, so if you have some available to you give that a try first!

If using a blending solution with a paper stump or brush to blend your pencils on the paper, you may find that you can happily use a smoother surface than if you use just the pencils to blend on the paper.

If you also have some favourite papers for coloured pencil work, please do share them in the comments section below!

Pencil Colouring Inspiration:

I had some fun colouring up a favourite stamp from this year so far – Stamping Bella Manly Chicks – using three different brands of coloured pencil, including one budget friendly option – Staedtler Ergosoft Coloured Pencils, to show that with decent paper you can achieve nice results even with inexpensive pencils.

TOP TIP: If you’re not satisfied with the results you’re getting in your coloured pencil work, rather than giving up or rushing to blow your budget upgrading your coloured pencils to a more expensive range, try evaluating and changing your paper first.

All three versions of the image were coloured on Daler Rowney “The Langton” hot pressed watercolour paper. No solvent/blending solution was used, just coloured pencils working from dark to light.

Stamping Bella Manly Chicks in Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencil:

Marker Geek Monday - Choosing Paper for Coloured Pencils feat. Stamping Bella Manly Chicks. Click through to read the blog post and grab some colour combos! Marker Geek Monday - Choosing Paper for Coloured Pencils feat. Stamping Bella Manly Chicks. Click through to read the blog post and grab some colour combos!

Stamping Bella Manly Chicks in Prismacolor Pencil:

Marker Geek Monday - Choosing Paper for Coloured Pencils feat. Stamping Bella Manly Chicks. Click through to read the blog post and grab some colour combos! Marker Geek Monday - Choosing Paper for Coloured Pencils feat. Stamping Bella Manly Chicks. Click through to read the blog post and grab some colour combos!

Stamping Bella Manly Chicks in Staedtler Ergosoft Pencil:

Marker Geek Monday - Choosing Paper for Coloured Pencils feat. Stamping Bella Manly Chicks. Click through to read the blog post and grab some colour combos! Marker Geek Monday - Choosing Paper for Coloured Pencils feat. Stamping Bella Manly Chicks. Click through to read the blog post and grab some colour combos!

More Discussion on Colouring with Coloured Pencils:

For more information and inspiration regarding working with coloured pencils, please see these earlier Marker Geek Monday posts:

Over on my own blog – Marker Geek – I also have a recent post discussing some of the differences between Prismacolor pencils and Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, and my personal preference. The post includes a pencil coloured version of Flowersbehindmybackabella along with a full colour map showing the pencil colours used. Click through to read: Flowersbehindmybackabella Colouring with Polychromos Pencils vs Prismacolor.

You can also watch me colouring Flowersbehindmybackabella using Polychromos pencils in the video below or in HD over on YouTube.

Over To You!

If you try out the techniques shown in this post with your Stamping Bella stamps, be sure to share! Take a look through your collection, or add some more from the website and see what you can come with! 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!

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

it’s BELLARIFIC FRIDAY!- AN INSPIRATION PHOTO!

Hiya sistahs!

Hope you had a great week 🙂

Our posts this week, in my humble opinion, were so inspiring weren’t they?

Our challenge this week was an inspiration photo

Bellarific Friday for Stamping Bella-Inspiration PHOTO

so pretty!

Some sad news today, Our TRACYBELLA has stepped down from our design team.. She has such a busy life raising two teens, floating in her pool.. eating DELICIOUS pizza (you should follow her on FB LOL).. and taking classes and work!  I don’t know how she does it.  She was an amazing and integral part of our team and we love her dearly.  I’m hoping if I beg long enough for her to ignore her children, her husband and her home that she will come back fast *hint *hint…

MWAH tracybella for all you have done for da team.. and for your CONTAGIOUS sense of humour and passion for so many things. MWAH MWAH MWAH

Now let’s see what the baberoonis came up with for our PHOTO INSPIRATION

Dana used our MASON JAR OF HEARTS stamp and CUT IT OUT DIE bundle

Bellarific Friday for Stamping Bella-Inspiration PHOTO

Faye-W-J-ABELLA used HONEYBEAR STUFFIES

Bellarific Friday for Stamping Bella-Inspiration PHOTO

Kerribella used FLOWER FOR A TRUE FRIEND

Bellarific Friday for Stamping Bella-Inspiration PHOTO

Sandiebella used uptown girl BRIGITTE the BRIDE

Bellarific Friday for Stamping Bella-Inspiration PHOTO

Shelabella used Uptown couple EMILY and RYAN under the UMBRELLA

Bellarific Friday for Stamping Bella-Inspiration PHOTO

Stephabella used MASON JAR OF FLOWERS

Bellarific Friday for Stamping Bella-Inspiration PHOTO

These are so so inspiring!

Now for our INLINKZ contributions.. click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the post to see all the wonderful contributions!

and now for the emailed contributions!

Fay used RAMONA and her WAGON

fay

Maria used DAISY BASE for Edna Blows a KISS

mariaL

Nancee used GIGI the giraffe stuffie

nanceeP

 

Amazing contributions!

now for next week’s theme?

a MOJOBELLA SKETCH!

all you have to do is follow the sketch and use a CURRENT Stamping Bella stamp and POOF you can send it over 🙂

MojoBella_17

Can’t wait to see what you all create!

 

 

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We hope you’ve enjoyed checking out this Bellarific Friday post  and are feeling inspired to try out our challenges!. 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!

it’s DESIGN TEAM THURSDAY with KERRIBELLA- COLORING TUTORIAL USING DERWENT INKTENSE PENCILS!

Time for another Design Team Thursday! This week we’ve got a fabulous colouring tutorial for you, from our lovely Kerribella, showing you how to colour Stamping Bella images using Derwent Inktense Pencils. There aren’t any obvious skin tone shades in the pencil range, so if you’ve been struggling to choose colours to use and how to blend them to create a natural skin tone this may help!

Stamping Bella Colouring Skin with Derwent Inktense Pencils Tutorial. Click through for the step by step guide!

Hi, it’s Kerribella, and for DT Thursday today I am sharing my technique for watercolouring skintones with Derwent Inktense Pencils.

Supply List:

Inktense Colors:

  • Saddle Brown ( first and second coat )
  • Baked Earth ( third coat)
  • Madder Brown ( shadow Enhancer)
  • Carmine Pink or Crimson ( cheeks)
Stamping Bella Colouring Skin with Derwent Inktense Pencils Tutorial. Click through for the step by step guide!

After stamping your image using Staz On ink on watercolour paper, leave it to dry. Ensure that the ink is fully dry before colouring.
Take your Derwent Inktense pencils and starting with the Saddle Brown pencil draw a thin line of colour where you would find a shadow.

Wet your brush, making sure it is not dripping with water but just slightly wet. Work the line of colour out towards the center of the face. You may have to rinse your brush periodically as the center of the face should remain light. Before moving on let this dry. For this technique it is important to let the colour dry between each layer as you build up the colour.

Repeat this process for the rest of the skin areas.

You may wish to repeat the process twice to achieve the desired level of colour. I did, but try it and see what you prefer.

Stamping Bella Colouring Skin with Derwent Inktense Pencils Tutorial. Click through for the step by step guide!

Take your Baked Earth pencil and after making sure your layers are dry apply a thin line and work the colour into the center of the face.

Stamping Bella Colouring Skin with Derwent Inktense Pencils Tutorial. Click through for the step by step guide!

In the same way use a little Madder Brown to deepen your shadows, remembering to first ensure the previous layer is dry.

Stamping Bella Colouring Skin with Derwent Inktense Pencils Tutorial. Click through for the step by step guide!

Using either Crimson or Carmine Pink apply a very small amount for the cheeks and blend out.

Stamping Bella Colouring Skin with Derwent Inktense Pencils Tutorial. Click through for the step by step guide!
Here’s the completed image on a card!

Stamping Bella Colouring Skin with Derwent Inktense Pencils Tutorial. Click through for the step by step guide!

TOP TIPS:

  • Always remember to let each layer completely dry before continuing. This will allow you to build up colour without it becoming a mess, as Derwent Inktense Pencils are permanent when dry.

  • It is easier to add colour than to remove it, so use colour sparingly and build up slowly.

Kerribella

Over To You!

We hope you’ve enjoyed checking out Kerribella’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!

it’s WONDERFUL WEDNESDAYS WITH… JENNY from OWL BE CRAFTY-NO LINE COPIC COLORING

Hello Sistahs and Happy Wednesday! For this week’s card, I decided to use a couple of fun techniques but I kept the design clean and simple so the adorable Uptown Girl Monique Loves Macarons was the focus. The first technique I used was no-line Copic coloring. I stamped the image in a Copic friendly light brown ink. I then carefully colored it in with my markers. I’m always a bit skeptical of how it will turn out at the beginning but by the end the results are so satisfying. It makes the image look more like a sketch. A little time consuming, but so worth it!

no line copic coloring by OWL BE CRAFTY- MONIQUE LOVES MACARONSno

I searched for some patterned paper to compliment the image and just couldn’t find the right one so I grabbed my watercolors and made my own. I used a small square brush and carefully brushed lines across the paper. I didn’t mind if they weren’t entirely straight because it added to the whimsy of the image. I’m a big fan of this technique because it makes it a one of a kind piece of art. Here’s a close up of some of the details:

no line copic coloring by OWL BE CRAFTY- MONIQUE LOVES MACARONS

Lastly, I love the sentiment that comes with this set but I just couldn’t figure out a way to make it work on the front. I had some cute little teal doilies in my stash and thought they would be the perfect mat for the sentiment. So I stamped it up and adhered it to the inside of the card. I try to make the inside of my cards just as special as the outside. It’s like a bonus for the recipient!

no line copic coloring by OWL BE CRAFTY- MONIQUE LOVES MACARONS

Hope you all have a great week and I’ll see you next Wednesday Sistahs!!

 

Jenny

Owl Be Crafty Signature

 

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Spotlight On Christine Grove Rubber Stamps at Stamping Bella

Hey all! Elaineabella here today to shine that spotlight on some of the wonderful stamps in the Stamping Bella collection. There are some many fantastic images we don’t want you to miss any, and they all deserve another turn in the spotlight. We love sharing all the new releases, but the oldies definitely deserve some love too!

Spotlight on Christine Grove Stamps at Stamping Bella. Click through for card making inspiration!

Spotlight On Christine Grove

Today I’d like to shine the spotlight on one of our awesome artists – Christine Grove. Christine has illustrated some wonderful and warmly humorous stamps for Stamping Bella, each with their own special charm. Let’s take a look at some of them.

One of my very favourites is the amazing Nacho.

stamping-bella-nacho-rubber-stamp

This little dog is just…well, words fail me. That expressive face. He’s a popular little guy, and I’m not surprised. One of those stamps that just never fails to make me smile.

Marker Geek Monday Copic Galaxy or Night Sky Background. Click through to read the post and watch the video!

If you love our little Nacho, there’s also a festive option! Nachodeer, because well, obviously!

stamping-bella-nachodeer-rubber-stamp

Isn’t he ridiculous? Look at him trying to work out what on earth he has come as. 😉 Nachodeer also has a coordinating CUT IT OUT die available to make creating those Christmas cards easy, and let’s face it we all need all the help we can get with the festive workload right?

stamping-bella-nachodeer-rubber-stamp

While we’re talking festive images, here are a couple more holiday favourites of mine:

Buddy and Jolly

stamping-bella-buddy-and-jolly-rubber-stamp

This pair of Christmas elves could not be cuter. This image has a warm, quirky yet cosy style that just makes me feel Christmassy. It’s hard to explain, but they do! Also, look at those reindeer slippers and their pigeon toed stance. I simply cannot. Can you? 😉

stamping-bella-buddy-and-jolly-rubber-stamp

Christmas Mouse

Stamping Bella Christmas Mouse rubber stamp

For goodness sake! You cannot leave anything unattended without some little weirdo shoving it in their mouth. Candy cane? Christmas mouse has no idea what you’re talking about. Nope.

Love the humour in Christine’s images, and this is a perfect example. Ideal for creating cards for friends and family that prefer humour to sentimentality.  I think I need to colour this little fellow again soon – I’ve got the perfect recipient in mind.

Stamping Bella Christmas Mouse rubber stamp

Moving away from the festive stamps, although you really should take a closer look at the whole range if you haven’t already… On to some more of my everyday favourites.

Milton

stamping-bella-milton-rubber-stamp

I love this little guy with the heart shaped balloon. He’s just so happy and chubby, and the little heart shape at the end of his tail? Just too much. Definitely a fun image to colour, with some opportunity for really emphasising those creases in his outfit with your shading. That sentiment is perfect too, and goes well with many other stamps across the Stamping Bella range.

Here’s a gorgeous card from our beloved Paulabella, showing that Milton looks equally wonderful in softer tones and that you can play with the sentiment by chopping it up to create your own (love doing this).

stamping-bella-milton-rubber-stamp-paulacard

Owliver

stamping-bella-owliver-rubber-stamp

Another ridiculous little creature! Absolutely in love with him. Cutest chubby little owl ever. Who does he think he is with those glasses? Elton John?

Doesn’t he look perfect on Aliceabella’s beautiful card? Love her layered yet still clean and simple style.

stamping-bella-owliver-rubber-stamp

Finally, let’s take a peek at the Seniorita line by Christine Grove. Personally, I rather enjoy the warmth and humour in this range of stamps.

Seniorita Magda is beyond fabulous.

stamping-bella-seniorita-magda-rubber-stamp

No one is stopping that diva from strutting her stuff. Not you, not me, not Old Father Time. She’s amazing, she knows it and everyone else is going to know it. Getting old? Whatever. She’s not putting that boa away for anyone.

stamping-bella-seniorita-magda-rubber-stamp

Over To You!

Hopefully I’ve inspired you to add some of the Christine Grove stamps to your own stamp collection, or to stamp up any that you already have!

Share your personal favourite Christine Grove creations with us. We LOVE to see what you’ve been creating with Stamping Bella stamps. Share a link to your latest Stamping Bella card in the comments below, or an old favourite you made a while ago. Tell us what your favourite Christine Grove stamps are. Are there any additions you would like to see to the Christine Grove collection? Let us know!

Another way to connect is by joining us in the Stamping Bella Sistahood Facebook Group and share your pictures.

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!

Until next time, HAPPY STAMPING!

MWAH

Elaineabella

Marker Geek Monday: Give Your Cards the WOW Factor with a Galaxy Background

Hey folks! Elaineabella here with another Marker Geek Monday post to kick off a week of colouring fun.

If you missed last week’s post, make sure you check it out: Marker Geek Monday Copic Colouring Easy Curly Hair feat. Edna. Perfect if you’re looking for some tips in tackling the curly hair on our Edna stamps and others like some of the Uptown Girls, Tiny Townies and Bellas!

In today’s post I’d like to revisit a technique I shared last year on my Marker Geek blog – colouring a night sky or galaxy background with Copic markers. This technique would also work with other brands of alcohol based marker, just substitute the colours for similar ones!

Marker Geek Monday Copic Galaxy or Night Sky Background. Click through to read the post and watch the video!

Colouring a Night Sky or Galaxy Background with Copics:

Here’s the step by step colouring guide for my night sky or galaxy background technique. Further on you will find a video (with audio commentary), so you can really get to grips with how I approach this technique!

Marker Geek Monday Copic Galaxy or Night Sky Background. Click through to read the post and watch the video!

 

TOP TIP: When colouring a background for a stamped image, colour the background first. If you colour the image first you may spoil your work when flicking the colourless blender.

Copic Galaxy Background Colouring Video:

Watch the video below or in HD over on Youtube.

Copic Marker Colour Palette:

Here’s a list of the colours I used to create the background as shown in the video and step by step guide above. However these are not the only colours you could use! Search for some reference images online and get inspiration for colourful galaxies to emulate using this technique.

Marker Geek Monday Copic Galaxy or Night Sky Background. Click through to read the post and watch the video!

Copic Night Sky or Galaxy Background Inspiration:

This technique creates beautiful backgrounds that can be used to enhance your images and give a real *wow* factor.

TOP TIP: Use vibrant colour on your image to make it really stand out against the coloured background.

On this card I popped our wonderful NACHO in front of a circle I die cut from my previously coloured galaxy background. I thought his expression and the die cut sentiment I had chosen went perfectly with the WOW background. He honestly cannot believe what he’s seeing. 😉 I think this might just be one of my favourite cards, ever, because I love how the background turned out but mostly because I LOVE that ridiculous little dog.

Marker Geek Monday Copic Galaxy or Night Sky Background. Click through to read the post and watch the video!

On my next card I took our lovely little Tiny Townie Hayley the Hero, and coloured the background around her. I took a little extra time with the colourless blender around the sentiment to help it stand out against the dark background.

Marker Geek Monday Copic Galaxy or Night Sky Background. Click through to read the post and watch the video!

I created a more subtle version of this background for my Superbella V2.0 card recently, to show her hovering outside the window ready to save the day!

Marker Geek Monday Copic Galaxy or Night Sky Background. Click through to read the post and watch the video!

Other Suggestions:

Let’s take a look at some other stamps in the Stamping Bella collection that I think would be perfect for setting against this background.

One that immediately springs to mind is little Tiny Townie Amanda is Awesome. How beautiful and sentimental would this image be with Amanda looking out at a beautiful starry night sky?

Stamping Bella Amanda is Awesome rubber stamp.

A couple of obvious choices are our other superhero stamps:

Parker the Pig from our Christine Grove line. Love that little guy.

Stamping Bella Parker the Pig

Another heroic Christine Grove stamp – Seniorita Gladys the SuperHero.

Stamping Bella Gladys the Superhero rubber stamp.

Wouldn’t Edna the Diva look FABULOUS set against this background, as if she’s fluttering off for a night on the town?

Stamping Bella Edna the Diva Rubber stamp.

You could make this technique work for so many images, to give them an extra twist. It would work beautifully with many of our festive HOLIDAYS stamp releases (hint, hint there may be some more appearing soon 😉 ). How beautiful would a snowman like FROSTIER look set against a night sky? The contrast would make for a card with super visual impact!

TOP TIP: Many of the newer Stamping Bella releases now come with matching CUT IT OUT DIES. It really couldn’t be any easier to cut out a character to pop in front of a fun background.

Over To You!

If you try out the techniques shown in this post with your Stamping Bella stamps, be sure to share! Take a look through your collection, or add some more from the website and see what you can come with! 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!

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

 

its Bellarific FRIDAY sistahs!- featuring a MOJOBELLA CARD SKETCH!

Hope you all had a great week and enjoyed our daily posts!

We have some catching up to do!  I just realized I haven’t announced any $25 Contributin’ winnahs since MARCH.. OMG  So without further HUMILIATING ado.. let’s  discuss some winnahs.

April Winnah-Georgia used CHERRY CHICKS on her card.  Georgia, please email me (emily@stampingbella.com) so that I can send you your vouchah!

Cherry Chicks by Stamping Bella

May Winnah-Nancee used HONEYBEAR STUFFIES on her card.  Nancee, please email me so that I can send you your vouchah!

honeybear stuffies by Stamping Bella

June Winnah- NG cards  used UPTOWN GIRL MELANIE the MODERN BRIDE for her card in June.  please email me so I can send you your vouchah!

Melanie the modern bride by Stamping Bella

July Winnah – ASHLEE used UPTOWN GIRLS SAMANTHA and SIERRA take a SELFIE on her card in July  .. Ashlee please email me so I can send you your vouchah!

Samantha and Sierra by Stampingbella

Congrats to da Winnahs!

For this week’s Bellarific Friday we had a MOJOBELLA SKETCH

stamping bella Bellarific Friday Aug 12th 2016- mojobella CARD SKETCH challenge

 

lets see what our baberoonis came up with shall we?

Danabella used TINY TOWNIE MELISSA loves MOVIES stamp and cut it out die

stamping bella Bellarific Friday Aug 12th 2016- mojobella CARD SKETCH challenge

and the inside

stamping bella Bellarific Friday Aug 12th 2016- mojobella CARD SKETCH challenge

FAYE-WJ-abella used HARRY loves HAPPY MAIL stuffie

stamping bella Bellarific Friday Aug 12th 2016- mojobella CARD SKETCH challenge

Kerribella used SENIOR-ita Beverly

stamping bella Bellarific Friday Aug 12th 2016- mojobella CARD SKETCH challenge

Sandiebella used PENGUIdeer

stamping bella Bellarific Friday Aug 12th 2016- mojobella CARD SKETCH challenge

Shelabella used YOGABELLA

stamping bella Bellarific Friday Aug 12th 2016- mojobella CARD SKETCH challenge

Stephabella used EDNA loves ICE CREAM

stamping bella Bellarific Friday Aug 12th 2016- mojobella CARD SKETCH challenge

Tracybella used COSMOBELLA

stamping bella Bellarific Friday Aug 12th 2016- mojobella CARD SKETCH challenge

I love these cards!!  TODAY I WILL CREATE.  that’s gonna be my mantra today..you in with me?

and now for da sistahood!

take a look at the BOTTOM OF THIS POST for our INLINKZ contributahs!

and for our EMAIL CONTRIBUTAH:

now for next week’s theme?

an inspiration photo!  Use this as a creative starting point to make your creation for next week!  Use the flower theme, composition color.. whatever strikes your fancy!  Can’t wait to see what you come up with!  If this is your first time contributing, take a look HERE on how to enter!

Inspiration 5 - Aug 19

 

 


It’s DESIGN TEAM THURSDAY with SANDIE!- how to make a DRAWER BOOK BOX and MATCHING NOTEBOOKS!

Time for another Design Team Thursday! This week we’ve got a fantastic tutorial for you from our fantastic Sandiebella, sharing how she creates a lovely Drawer Book Box project and uses Stamping Bella stamps to decorate it to make the perfect handmade gift.
The best thing? This project does not require any fancy or expensive equipment – just a scoring board and paper trimmer!
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial. Click through for a step by step guide with scoring info!
As the school holidays are fast coming to an end here I decided to try my hand at designing a Drawer Book Box and matching notebooks. This is all cut and scored by hand so there is no need for a cutting machine.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella - Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Book Box – what you need:
Kraft card
Cream card
Authentique patterned papers
Drawer knob
Small pencil
Scoring Board & Tool
Paper Trimmer or Craft Knife and Ruler
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
The How To…

Cut the kraft card – 1 piece 10.25″ x 5.5″ and 2 pieces 6.75″ x 4.5″
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Score the largest piece, on the long side, at 4.5″ and 5.75″.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Fold and crease the scorelines, Curve the centre piece slightly to create the book spine. Set this aside for now.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Score the two smaller pieces, on the long side, at 5.5″ and 6.5″.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Cut another piece of kraft measuring 9.5″ x 8.5″ and score, on all four sides,at 1″ and 2″.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
On all four sides, cut away  the 3 outside squares as marked here.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Cut the remaining square up the inside score line and taper in the edges on all tabs, as shown
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Fold all the scorelines and crease with a bone folder.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
With the outside facing up, apply score tape or wet glue to the 4 small tabs.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Turn the kraft over and apply score tape to the top inside of the longer tabs.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Remove the backing from the tape and adhere the small tabs to the inside of the adjacent panel. Repeat for all 4 tabs.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Fold the larger tabs down and adhere to the inside of the box. Set this aside for now.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Taking the 6.75″ pieces, fold and crease the scorelines. Taper the edges of the 0.25″ tabs
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Apply a strip of score tape along the 0.25″ tabs on both pieces.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Adhere the tab to the inside of the other piece
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Ahere the other 0.25″ tab to the end of the first piece, to make a drawer wrap.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Take the drawer your had put aside, and ensure it fits in the wrap.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Cut  some cream card – 2 pieces 5.25″  x 4.25″  and 1 piece 1 1/8″ x 4.25″
Cut some patterned papers – 1 piece 51/8″ x 4 1/8″ and 1 piece 1″ x 4 1/8″
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Layer the cream card and then the patterned papers, to the front, back and side of the book box.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Apply score tape to both sides of the drawer wrap.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Remove the top line of score tape and line the wrap exactly to the end of the inside of the book cover. It should go right up to the first scoreline and be the full length of the cover. Once you are happy that it’s lined up, remove the other 2 strips of score tape and burnish well.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
This is how the cover should look from the front.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Next cut a piece of card and patterned paper for the front of the drawer.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Using a crop-a-dile, punch a hole in the centre of the drawer front and attach a drawer knob.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Stamp and colour the image, matting it with kraft and cream card.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Cut the sign and stamp the Hi sentiment. This sentiment comes with Penelope.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Design the front of the box as desired. I added a little pencil, which is rolled in matching patterened paper and adhered under the image.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Cover 3 small notebooks with coordinating patterned paper.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
This is the whole project completed.
Design Team Thursday with Stamping Bella- Drawer Box and matching Notebook tutorial!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and you are inspired to make your own.
Thanks for dropping by
Sandie

Over To You!

We hope you’ve enjoyed checking out Sandiebella’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!

it’s WONDERFUL WEDNESDAYS WITH OWL BE CRAFTY- Making your own fun embellishment!

Hello Sistahs! I hope you are all having a wonderful week! This week I wanted to highlight one of my favorite times of the year, American football season! Pre-season games start this week and with that in mind, I knew I needed to use one of the new Bella 2.0 stamps, POMPOMABELLA.

Wonderful Wednesdays with featuring how to make your own POMPOMS for cards!

I started by modifying her cheerleading outfit a bit with a Copic multiliner to better match my favorite team’s uniforms. I colored her up with Copics and then decided to make some fun 3-D pom-poms for her. If you’d like to know how to make them yourself, I’ll have a quick and easy tutorial up on my blog along with all of the supplies I used to create the card. You can hop on over here: www.owlbecrafty.blogspot.com

Looking forward to three more lovely weeks with the Sistahs! Have a great day and I’ll see you next Wednesday!

Jenny

Owl Be Crafty Signature