Stamping Bella Shadow Box by Nancy Sheads for The Queen's Ink

I’ve got quite a long blog post for you today so you better pull up a chair and grab a cup of your beverage of choice. I don’t often write tutorials, but today’s project was worth the extra effort.

Saturday was the first day in quite awhile that I didn’t have anything planned, so I spent the day on a project that I’ve been mulling about over the past few days. I’ve been inspired lately by the work of my student Jill Killeen who has been creating fun shadow boxes with Stamping Bella stamps.

As you know, I’ll be teaching a class at The Queen’s Ink on Tuesday, June 25th featuring the Oddball Queens from Stamping Bella. After I prepared the class samples, I realized that The Queen’s Ink now has its own exclusive line of washi tape which would have been perfect for the class cards. So I wanted to put together another project featuring the Oddball Queen of Hearts by Stamping Bella and the new washi tapes from The Queen’s Ink. I happened to have a RIBBA 9×9 frame from IKEA which is perfect for shadow boxes so my idea for this project started coming together. It was also the perfect opportunity try out some new crafting tools and products that I had recently purchased.

So here it is! I was going to apologize for the shadows, but after all, it IS a shadow box!

The full supply is shown below. I’ll tell you up front that the design evolved along the way with a lot of experimentation. As a result, I threw a lot of different products at it. But don’t let the extensive supply list scare you. We all know that the ancillary hobby to papercrafting is collecting papercraft supplies. So you probably already have a lot of the supplies in your stash or have products that you could easily substitute.

Before Starting

Before I started, I cut my card stock and foam sheets (see supply list) as follows:

• One 9 x 9 inch square from a 12 x 12 sheet of Graphic 45 Loveliest of Them All
• One 6 x 6 inch square from a sheet of Bazzill Black Licorice card stock
• One 5.75 x 5.75 inch square from a sheet of Neenah 80# card stock
• One 5.75 x 5.75 inch square from a sheet of Darice White Foam Sheet
• One 5.5 x 5.5 inch square from a sheet of Darice White Foam Sheet

	I wanted to create the background by building up layers of colors and textures. I recently purchased some of the Picket Fence Studios Life Changing Blender Brushes so this seemed like a great opportunity to try them out. On a 5.75 x 5.75 inch sheet of white card stock, I started blending Distress Inks in Tea Dye, Tattered Rose, and Antique Linen. After the ink dried, I splattered the background with Nuvo Mica Mist in Nebula Blue, Fresh Pear, Antique Gold and Violet Lustra.
	One of the new crafting tools in my stash is the Wendy Vecchi Make Art Stay-tion. I thought this would be perfect for stenciling since the magnets would hold the stencil in place without tape. I spread a thin layer of Tacky-When-Dry Gel Medium from The Crafters Workshop on portions the Tim Holtz Gradient Square Layering Stencil with a palette knife. Afterwards, I immediately cleaned the stencil and palette knife with water and set the background aside to dry.
	In the meantime, I covered a couple of scraps of white card stock with the new washi tapes exclusive to the Queen’s Ink — Crowns, Let Them Eat Cake, Lavender Baroque, Queen of Hearts, and Harlequin. I used the Hearts die and the Small Stitched Circle Stackable die from Lawn Fawn to cut the cardstock into shapes. Later on, I only used the die cut circles so I’ll save the hearts for another project.
	And now – the fun part! True to it’s name, the gel medium is tacky when dry so I started to lay down gold, silver, and copper gilding flakes on the stenciled area. Once the stenciled area was covered, I rubbed lightly to adhere the flakes to the gel medium and remove any excess. I was going to take a photo midway, but to be honest I was up to my elbows in gilding flakes so I can only show the end result. Difficult to photograph, but lots of texture and shine.

Putting It Together

I was running out of room in my work space so I started arranging and adhering all of the layers for the full background. I decided that the lower right corner of the background needed something extra so I stamped an image from Carabelle Studios’ Stains & Seams stamp set with Archival Ink in Jet Black.

Next:

• I glued the pre-cut 5.5 inch square foam sheets to the back of the white cardstock (top layer).
• I glued the pre-cut 5.75 inch square foam sheet to the back of the black cardstock (middle layer).
• I stamped the sentiment in Versafine along the bottom of the 9 x 9 design paper square. I covered the ink with clear embossing powder and heat set the image (bottom layer).

I lined up the bottom layer on my Wendy Vecchi Make Art Stay-tion and held the paper in place with the magnets. Using the magnetic ruler, I lined up and centered the three layers. Once they were in place, I glued the layers together. I placed foam adhesive squares on the back of the die cut washi tape circles and arranged them on the top layer.

At this point, the background is complete as shown below. Time to start the Copic coloring!

Copic Coloring

To start, stamp the image on Hammermill Digital Color Copy (or any Copic compatible paper) with Amalgam Ink in Jet Black by Gina K. Designs. I’m providing only basic instructions here for coloring, but if you need additional help, take a look at the video by Elaine Hughes (AKA Marker Geek) for coloring this stamp. I was guided in part by her color selection so you will see many of the same markers.

SKIN Working from dark to light, add depth and shading to the face (E04, E11, E01, E000) Base coat the eye lids with BV31. Deepen the corners with BV34. With BV31, draw a line under the lid to create a shadow across the eye. Use BV31 to deepen the shadows around the eyes and the hairline.

HAIR & CROWN

• For the hair, start with C7 to color the shadows at the base of the curls.
• Work from dark to light (C5, C3, C1) to blend out each section of hair. Be sure that you do not lose the highlights.
• For the crown, work from dark to light (Y19, Y15, Y02)
• Base coat the heart with R24. Add R46 if you want to deepen the color.

CLOTHING

• Starting with the folds in the dress, work from dark to light (R59, R46, R24) concentrating the R59 in the shadows and folds in the dress. Blend out with R46 and R24.
• If you want additional depth, add C5 to the deepest areas and blend out from dark to light as necessary with the R markers.
• For the center of the dress, work dark to light (Y19, Y15, Y02). Do the same with the binding (C7, C5, C3).
• Base coat the hearts with R24. Add R46 if you want to deepend the color.

Bringing It On Home!

Once the coloring was complete, I used my Brother Scan N Cut to cut out the image. If you prefer, you could fussy cut the image. As an alternative, coordinating dies are available from Stamping Bella (see links below). Once the image was cut, I added foam adhesive squares to the back and adhered it to the background. After adding some sequins and jewels for extra bling, I framed the finished piece.

That’s it for today – hope you found a some inspiration. And be sure you check out Jill’s blog and send her a little love!

SUPPLIES

Paper: Hammermill Digital Color Copy 100#; Bazzill Cardstock in Licorice Twist; Princess Collection Loveliest of All by Graphic 45
Stamps: Oddball Queen of Hearts by Stamping Bella; Stains & Seams by Carabelle Studios
Inks: Amalgam Ink in Jet Black by Gina K. Designs; Archival Ink in Jet Black by Ranger; Versafine in Onyx Black by Tsukineko; Distress Inks in Tea Dye, Antique Linen, and Tattered Rose
Stencil: Gradient Square Layering Stencil by Stampers Anonymous / Tim Holtz
Washi Tapes: Washi tape in Crowns, Let Them Eat Cake, Lavender Baroque, Queen of Hearts, and Harlequin by The Queen’s Ink
Dies: Small Stitched Circle Stackables by Lawn Fawn
Embellishments: Nuvo Mica Mist by Tonic Studios in Fresh Pear, Nebula Blue, Violet Lustra, and Antique Gold; Nuvo Gilding Flakes by Tonic Studios in Radiant Gold, Silver Bullion, and Sunkissed Copper; Nuvo Fine Detail Embossing Powder in Clear by Tonic Studios; Sequins in Not So Heavy Metal by 28 Lilac Lane; Wink of Stella in Clear by Zig; miscellaneous enamel dots.
Adhesives: Tacky-When-Dry Gel Medium by The Crafters Workshop; Therm O Web White Adhesive Foam Squares by Gina K. Designs; 3-in-1 Craft Glue by Beacon
Frame: RIBBA 9 x 9 frame available from IKEA
Tools: Life Changing Blending Brushes by Picket Fence Studios; Wendy Vecchi Make Art Stay-tion by Ranger; Misti Stamping Tool by My Sweet Petunia; Brother Scan N Cut
Copics: E000, E01, E04, BV31, BV34 (skin); C1, C3, C5, C7 (hair); Y02, Y15, Y19, R24, R46 (crown); R24, R46, R59 C5, Y02, Y15, Y19 (dress)