I'm back again today with another stamp from the latest Stampingbella release - there are 4 bee's to choose from and they are all super cute, but the tap dancing one really appealed to me.
As the images are a good size, they are perfect for colouring techniques, paper piecing, or decoupage - and for this one I went for "flat decoupage" so I have just glued layers on rather than using foam or pin flair gel for depth. This means this would still fit through the "letter" slot if you wanted to post it rather than having the extra costs once it gets too thick and jumps to large letter weight.
Step 1 - I stamped him directly onto my base card and coloured him with pencils - on this layer just the standing let, antenae, hat and wings.
Step 2 - I decided I wanted to add some honeycomb to the card so used an old stencil (sorry not even sure what brand it is as I've had it years, but we have lots of honeycomb products - stamps, dies and stencils you could get a similar effect with) to add a bit of pattern around the image using Altenew relief paste which is great on a one layer card as it dries fast and doesn't warp too much on 300gsm cards. I left it to dry for 30 mins whilst I continued with the other bits.
Step 3 -I stamped his wings onto blue pearlescent vellum and cut them out. I left them joined in the middle so I could glue it where it wouldn't show and the wings could flap a little (hence adding colour before in step 1)
Step 4 - I stamped him again on some more white card and coloured just his body and the edge of his glasses that overhang his body (the last bit is not essential but it helps if cutting isn't perfect. I cut him out with scissors and a craft knife for the insides of the glasses and used the knife to follow the curves around his arms and kicking leg to cut a slit.
Step 5 - I stamped the middle of his body onto a scrap of white, coloured the cane in silver, cut it out and set it aside.
Step 6 - I stamped the middle again and cut the arms and legs after colouring - allowing half a centre beyond the curved line where they come out on the bee so I could poke the arms through the slits I'd cut in step 3.
Step 7 - I cut his glasses from a scrap of green card, cut with scissors and a craft knife and stuck a layer of acetate behind (if you struggle to cut inside a curve, snip across the glasses to get "inside" as you can just glue it back together on the acetate and it's not noticable!)
Step 8 - Once the background was dry I simply layered up all the elements and glued each in place. I layered up the elements on the body before sticking it all on top in one go - so you can poke the arms and legs into the slots so he looks like he's holding the cane. The dimension is subtle in a photo but it shows better irl.
Step 9 - I die cut a sentiment from black card using the connected die I used on Friday to make a congrats card which I thought match his tap dancing celebration. If you prefer a stamped sentiment then there is a brilliant one in this release designed to match the stamps.
That's all for today. Enjoy the extra day to craft tomorrow.
Tara
