Be You

Totally loved making this!!!!  I mentioned a very cool project I was working on using the Stamping Gear System when I posted This card and I've had it done for several days but didn't manage the time to take pics and post it here.  I started with a piece of Ranger's Specialty Stamping paper and after stamping the bees trimmed it to 8 1/2" square so, yes, this is large.  I colored the paper with scattered straw Distress Stain, dried it, and then began stamping the bees using Ranger's Archival Ink jet black.  After they were all stamped and dried (you do have to be careful while stamping as the ink doesn't dry as quickly on the specialty stamping paper as on just plain old cardstock), I colored in each bee with Dylusions spray ink using a water brush and dried them.  The honeycomb image (Studio 490) was roll-stamped randomly. Distress ink was added around the edges using a blending tool.  Water was flicked, blotted, and dried.  With a water brush I added water to the inside of each bee wing and then blotted it up so the wing areas would be lighter. I used Wendy's Dots & Stripes borders stencil and black Distress Ink to add the lines around the edge.  I attached this to a piece of black chipboard and also spray sealed it with Krylon satin finish spray.  I want to be able to hang it up and not worry that something will happen that messes with the ink.  

The bee in the top left corner is Wendy's Art Part bee (2 parts - one is the whole bee and the other is just the top part of the body with antennae) that matches the stamp.  I sponged Adirondack snow cap pigment ink on both parts of  the bee and dried it, stamped the bee image in black and embossed it with clear powder, added "stripes" of Dylusions ink on the bottom part and just one color on the top part and dried it.  The snow cap ink while making the colors truer also mutes it somewhat so I added another layer of dylusions and dried it to deepen the color.  Over the wings I added rock candy Distress Stickles, 2 layers allowing it to dry between layers.  Over the legs and antennae I added gold Paint Dabber using a small paintbrush.