And So It Begins

I've thought about it for years and I guess with the big surge lately I am finally taking the plunge and starting an art journal!!  This is my first spread in it.  Dylusions sprays and stamps... Stencils... Some Studio 490 stamps... The scripture is computer generated.  I really had a good time and have another set of pages started.  There's some watercolor paper flowers again (I actually made these ones first).

Rock Out

This is the other card I mentioned in my last post.  I made this for our son and mailed it to him while he was at camp last week.  He's 15... yes, pink is his favorite color... and, yes, he plays guitar - both acoustic and electric.  It was when I made this card that I learned what a cool pattern it makes to spray Dylusions onto Ranger's Specialty Stamping paper and dry it.  There is not any added flicking of water or anything with this piece.  All the variation in the pink color is just from how the color lays on the paper.  I stamped with Archival Ink jet black.  The guitar and amp are from I Brake For Stamps.  I drew the cord with a black pen.  I used alphabet stamps for the writing.  I haven't had my alphabet stamps out in forever but have been inspired lately by how much Tammy Tutterow uses alphabet stamps.  I originally didn't plan to add the black ink around the edges but while I was stamping the letters I somehow got some ink on my finger and smudged it in the bottom right corner.  I thought about leaving it thinking Tim probably wouldn't care anyway but it really bugged me so then I added the black in using the ink blending tool and it actually looked really good. Added white dots along the top and bottom... perfect.  The piece is attached to a folded glossy black cardstock card.  

Very Awesome

Check out the background.... isn't if fabulous!!!  And oh so easy!!  I started with Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper... sprayed it with Dylusions Spray pure sunshine and dried it - No blotting, No pressing, No manipulating the color at all... leave it along and just dry it with your heat tool.  On the specialty paper is makes the most wonderful design if you just let it be... somewhat pooling and giving you lighter and darker areas all by itself... now for this one (I have a card doing this that I haven't shared yet, maybe tomorrow) I wanted even more "spots" than you get just spraying and drying so I also flicked on some water, blotted it and dried it again... this gave it some even lighter areas and more variation... for the most part the spots you see that are more round are from the flicking.  I then added mowed lawn Distress Ink around the edges using a blending tool.  For the flowers I used a really inexpensive watercolor paper from Michael's... an Artist's Loft value pack... you get 100 sheets in the pack... it's not that great of watercolor paper but it works great for flowers (and I'm sure I'll find other uses for it).  I die cut 6 flowers (Tim's tattered floral die)... sprayed the center of each flower with Dylusions pure sunshine and the petals with Dylusions london blue and also sprayed on some water... mostly, but not all the way, dried the flowers, crumpled each one up and finished drying them.  Stamped each with the Studio 490 dots background using Archival aquamarine... stacked up 3 flowers and stapled them in the center with Tim's tiny attacher.  Stamped the scripture (Our Daily Bread Designs) on the card with Archival ink.   Added the crystals to the card, glued on the flowers and then glued chunky silver glass glitter to the centers using Glossy Accents and let it dry.  The leaves are die cut from grungepaper (larger leaves are Spellbinders and smaller are Sizzix)... colored them with Distress Ink mowed lawn... tucked and glued them in as shown.  Dyed some seam binding with dylusions pure sunshine and added as shown.

I'm entering this in the Frilly and Funkie Inspiration Photo Challenge.

Journal Tag Swap

I recently participated in a Journal Tag Swap with a small group of online buds!!  This fabulous tag is the one I got from Lori!!!  That lady image is now on my want list!!!  If you're wondering, it's a dylusions stamp.    

And this is the tag I sent Michael.  I used dylusions sprays... TCW stencils... dylusions and  Studio 490 stamps.  The circles in the bottom right are done with light modeling paste through sequin waste.  There is doodling with both white and black pens.

So Sweet

A quick tag.  The background was mostly greens picked up after another project... laid on a stencil and used Dylusions spray... stamped in white with bubble wrap.  The image is from Retro Cafe Art.   Some meshy ribbon, a grungeboard flourish coated with picket fence Distress crackle paint, a Prima flower, sprayed seam binding, Ideaology chit chat sticker, and some sticky back pearls.  (ps... the colors match better in person than in the picture, just couldn't get them to look right on my screen.. if they're good on yours, great!!)

Making Art Challenge 43 and 44

New challenges on the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group are issued on Wednesdays and run usually either 1 or 2 weeks.  

We are up to Challenge 44 as of this last Wednesday but first I'm sharing my tag from Challenge 43... I managed to get it done just in time on Tuesday night but haven't had time to blog it yet.  The challenge was to use 2 hearts and 3 circles in our project (and as always we need to use at least one Studio 490 stamp - all the stamps I used are Studio 490) and Lori took the inspiration for the challenge from Wendy's Book 3, page 28.  I made a very quick tag.  I started with a 'I have lots of color left on my craft sheet that I don't want to waste' tag from my pile of these tags.  I stamped the 2 hearts on white cardstock and cut them out.  Stamped the saying onto the tag with Snow Cap paint dabber and added the 3 dabber circles under it.. decided I didn't really like the saying in white and thought I'd attempt to stamp it again with Archival Ink jet black... so holding my breath, hoping it would line up well, I stamped it, and it worked... yay!!!  Stamped the hand with jet black, cut around the fingers, added the heart.  Stamped the weed image with snow cap.  Attached the other heart.  The came the hole... I didn't want to just leave and I kept laying on things to tie through it but nothing said yet... then I noticed a scrap piece of Ideaology composer tissue paper and thought "hmmmm"... yep, I like that... glued it on and trimmed it.  

Now onto Challenge 44 which is to use Wendy stamps and products but use bright colors!!!  Now I'm not completely sure I totally like what I've made and as it sits around I might do a little more to it... but it's done for now.... I like all the individual pieces, just not sure I'm thrilled with them together.  The circle base, flourishes and flowers are all Studio 490 Art Parts.  I covered the circle with a piece of paper I had after working on a card yesterday.  It uses Dylusions sprays for the background and this piece that I used is the extra piece I got while working... on the card (which I'll share sometime this week) I layed on the flower stencil and sprayed and then on this piece of paper I pressed the stencil that had spray all over it.  The paper I used is Ranger's Specialty paper.  I glued it onto the circle with Ranger's Glue 'n Seal matte, let it dry, cut around the circle, sanded the edges to be sure they were smooth, and then painted the edge of the art part with Pearl Paint Dabber also getting a small line of pearl on the front.  Next I stamped the splatter stamp (all stamps are Studio 490) using Archival deep purple.  Then moved onto working with the flourishes and flowers... I painted them all with Pearl Paint Dabber, both sides, just dabbing it on rather than wiping leaving fantastic texture.  Next I used alcohol ink on the pieces.. the shimmer from the pearl paint shows through the alcohol inks.  I inked both sides.  Then I stamped the flourishes with the screen image using Archival emerald and the flowers with the large alphabet background stamp using Archival manganese blue.  Lightly brushed white paint dabber on the edges of the petals.  The went to work on placement... I knew what words I wanted to stamp and first stamped them right on the circle but they just didn't show up as much as I wanted so I took a scrap of the original paper that didn't have the flowers on it and stamped the words with jet black, tore it out and glued it on.  Stamped a small week image around the edges of the circle with pearl paint dabber... glued on the flourishes and flowers... decided to stamped some weeds with color, Archival magenta hue.  The white centers on the flowers are part of a berry bead... when we (mostly my hubby) use to make beaded animals, berry beads were used for several things but we made these owl magnets that only used part of the bead and I've kept the left overs for years... the piece has a whole in the center that I didn't want so I used liquid pearls to fill it in which went very well with the bead.  Added white dots on the saying and white stitching around the circle with a pen.

Beautiful Day ATC and a Winner

I started with a piece of Authentique paper from the Splendid 6x6 pad and glued a piece of old book text across it.  The girl image is from Collage Stuff - Crazy For Kids collage sheet.  I cut out the image, brushed white paint around the edges and then edged it with green paint.  I also edged the background with green paint.  The leaves are cut from grungepaper using a Sizzix die, colored and also embossed.  The flowers are prima, some I've inked around the edges and stacked holding them together with a yellow brad.  On top of the brads, in the smaller flowers, and in lines on the right and left edges are drops of Liquid Pearls.  Beautiful day are Ideaology chitchat stickers; after sticking them on I added black dots and black lines around the stickers.  s

 

And now onto the winner of the tag in the previous post.  Random Number Generator chose the number 3 which is

Ally White Cat said...

Everyone is so cute of course we all love your art..who could chose they are both beautiful.
hugs,
susan s.

Congratulations, Susan!!!!  Send me your address and I'll 


get your tag in the mail!!!

Would You Like A Tag?

I took a little play time last night and thought I'd make a tag for the current Frilly and Funkie Challenge which is Kraft and Twine.  I also just got all the Dylusions sprays this past week and had to have a go with them.  I started with a Ranger #8 manila tag, sprayed it with water and 3 colors of Dylusions spray - squeezed orange, bubblegum pink, and melted chocolate, layed another tag on top to pick up excess liquid, pulled them apart and dried them.  So now I had two tags started and normally I would have thrown one off to the side for later use but decided I'd just go ahead and make two tags.  I continued to layer using stencils, sprays, inks, water, and then added some stamping... decided I'd like a lighter area for the quote and used Jenni Bowlin malted milk paint dabber to lighten an area large enough for it, dried it and stamped the quote (Tim Holtz) using Archival jet black.  Added a piece of old lace, a torn piece of corrugated (a free gift from Linda with an order from the Funkie Junkie's Boutique) with a little paint rubbed on, burlap string (another free gift from Linda), a metal filigree also from the Funkie Junkie, and a flower.  The flower is die cut (Tim's tattered floral die) from kraft glassine... I stacked 3 together - 2 are sprayed with squeezed orange and 1 with bubblegum pink - after sprayed I did NOT blot off any extra, I just dried them with a heat tool... Love the speckled color!!  Stapled the flowers together and then glued an Ideaology button on the top (shank cut off).  Tied a piece of jute (from my stash) at the top.

Since I now have two tags I thought I would give one away... just leave me a comment before I check the computer early Monday morning and I will randomly pick a winner... oh, and if you like one better just let me know which one in the comment.   

I Wouldn't Have Missed Being Your Friend

Isn't this quote just an awesome stamp!!!  It's part of the newest release from Quietfire Design that I hadn't used yet (there are still a few more to use).  I have several friends that are going to be getting this on a card sometime!!

The folded base here is Distress Core'dinations... sanded around the edges after it was folded.  The main piece is Ranger's Specialty stamping paper... first inked with all the newest colors (Spring Set) of Distress Inks (Totally LOVE these colors!!!)... then I stuck on some Heidi Swap leaf masks and inked again with the same colors... stamped with a Studio 490 text image (Live and Make Art set) in peacock feathers (I had started taking the masks off but not all of them, so some leaves are stamped over with the text and some not), removed the rest of the masks, dried it, flicked with water, blotted, dried, and the quote stamped with Archival Ink jet black.  It's layered on a piece of medium purple cardstock leaving a small border.  The Tim Holtz butterfly border die is cut from the Specialty stamping paper, inked with shaded lilac, doodled on with a black pen and a white pen and then yellow sharpie over the white pen, black gems on the bodies, and glued to the bottom of the card.  A scrap strip of the same Distress Core'dinations sanded and layered on top of the white edge.  Tim's Ideaology roses trim added on top... the roses are inked with squeezed lemonade, sprayed with water, dried, and the top rubbed over with peacock feathers.

A House on a Tag

The current Making Art Challenge on the Everything Wendy Vecchi yahoo group is to make a tag with a house on it.  I started with a #8 manila tag... actually an extra tag I had here that I'd used to pick up extra ink from another project. All stamps used are Wendy Vecchi Studio 490.  The background (Be Inspired...Make Art set) is stamped with Archival manganese blue.  The vine image (same set) at the top is stamped with Archival emerald green and also a couple times with russet.  The leafy image stamped along the bottom is actually the top part of the tree from the Mail Art set also stamped with emerald green.  Scallops around the edge are done with a white pen.  The house is Wendy's Art Parts... I'm using the medium sized house - just the part with the cut out, the roof line, and the door.  I colored all pieces first with snow cap Pigment ink and dried them.  The house is inked with Distress Ink barn door, rusty hinge, and fired brick and stamped with the background from the set Art Colors Life in russet.  The roof line and door are inked with picket fence Distress Stain, dried, stamped with the background from Celestial Art using russet, dried, inked with some tea dye and rusty hinge, dried, scallops and dashes made with a black pen.  Be inspired (Be Inspired...Make Art set) was inked with jet black separately and stamped on scraps of manila... Be is cut to fit behind the opening in the house... inspired torn out... inked around the edges of both with scattered straw and mustard seed with a little rusty hinge on the inspired piece.  A gold heart button with the shank cut off is colored with rust alcohol ink and attached to the door.  Hand is stamped on manila with jet black and inked with rusty hinge, fired brick and tea dye.  Die cut leaves (Sizzix branch w/leaves) from manila, inked with peeled paint stain and sprayed with Color Wash meadow, stamped with the background from Celestial Art using emerald green, cut apart and added as shown.

CC2C #6

This weeks Compendium of Curiosities 2 Challenge is Tissue Wrap Collage found on page 38.  Get all the details on Linda's blog Studio L3.  The Funkie Junkie Boutique is this weeks sponsor and they are giving away a gift certificate for $25.

I don't have much time so I'm not going to include all the details of this tag.  If there is something about you'd like to know about the tag, just ask!!

Live The Moment

When I'm playing with inks or sprays (or even actually making something with a purpose) many times I get extra pieces because I blot up extra ink either from the craft sheet or from the paper I'm working on and I save these papers for future project... I know the beginning of this background is from that.  I stamped the leaves along the bottom.  Then thought I needed more "something" in the background and so I took a plastic canvas circle, layed it on and sprayed a corner and then sprayed another corner.  I love how that turned out... it's like movement radiating from the fish swimming through the water.  Now the fish... when Suzanne mailed me the new Quietfire Design stamps she put an outline fish sticker on the back of the envelope... I carefully peeled it off and then used it on this atc.  After sticking it down I colored in the fish using first Tombow marker and then either Glaze (red and orange) or Souffle pens (yellow).  I also added light grey marker around the outside edge of the fish.  I made air bubbles using Ranger's Glossy Accents and then decided I didn't want them to just be clear and so I used white Enamel Accents over each one.  Black pen squiggles and dots around the edges.  Live the moment words are cut from Tim's Words to Say.

I am also entering this in the current Frilly and Funky challenge which is Stencils and Masks.

A Mother's Love Grows

This atc starts with a background swap piece (for those who don't know... at our in-person atc swaps in Des Moines we have an on-going background swap... you put an atc background, or a few, into the bucket and take out however many you put in and then create with it to make a finished atc).  The background was two printed papers, one torn and layers over half of the other.  I stitched around the edge and inked.  I stitched a "stem" for the flower.  The leaves are a Wendy Vecchi image (the image is actually 3 leaves on a stem) stamped onto grungepaper that has music paper glued to it, cut out, colored, I cut off two leaves and sewed them onto the atc.  There is doodling/dots along the right side in both black and white pen.  The mother/daughter image is from dezinaworld... I punched it out and inked the edges.  I punched a second flower from cardstock... inked it and added details with a white pen.  A Mother's Love Grows is computer generated.  The "A Mother's Love" banner is left over from a swap (I haven't shared those atcs yet) and then I added the word Grows.

Our Heart Captures Memories

I have a box of atc sized backgrounds just filed away for use... some of these came are from left over pieces of playing that I cut to size and filed and some were given to me.  I started with a background pulled from that file.  I glued a piece of book page along the bottom.  Stamped one of Dyan Reaveley's leafy vine images three times along the top (once just on the atc a little, then a little more, and then a lot more) with Archival Ink jet black, colored in the leaves and added highlights with a white pen.  Glued a piece of burlap as shown.  Die cut some leaves (Sizzix Branch w/Leaves thin die) from cardstock, added color - probably sprayed, dried them, added details with a black pen and highlights with a white pen, attached them as shown.  Tied string and ribbon around the bottom.  The butterfly is die cut from Wendy Vecchi's Clearly for Art.  I glued a piece of book page to one side using Ranger's glue 'n seal matte.  After it was dry, I tore of the excess book page along the edges.  I have the butterfly so the paper is in the back... I inked the front with Alcohol ink also tapping the ink along the edges which caused it to bleed into the paper giving a darker edge... at first it was an accident but it looked very cool so I did it all around.  The butterfly was heated and shaped, glued to the atc, and a piece of string folded and glued to the center make the body and antenni.  Our heart captures memories are again words cut from my scraps of Tim's word stamp.

Birds That Imagine, Create, Live

I glued a piece of book page to a white atc blank.  Along each edge I pulled the book page back tearing it along the edge of the cardstock.  Sprayed the piece with Stamp Zia color wash.  Stamped a Dylusions border image along each side.  Added white pen marks in with the stamping.  Brushed white paint along the edges.  The bird image (Hampton Art) is stamped with Archival Ink jet black onto a leftover scrap of a piece of sprayed/stenciled paper.  After gluing it onto the atc I used a white pen around the edge so I'm actually writing onto the background and a black pen for stitching up on the bird piece.  A piece of yellow string tied around the bottom.  Glitter gems in the center of the flowers.  image, create, and live are all cut from the Tim's Words to Say.

Award

This week I received the Liebster Blog award from Evethmoon Crafty Creations.  This reminded me that I had received this award before and not followed through so I went searching and back in February Art By Wendy also left me this award.  I am so sorry Wendy that I didn't follow through... it was a crazy time with my mom going into the hospital and then passing away.

Thank you to both of you for this award!!!  

The origins of the Liebster Award are somewhat unclear, but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany.  Liebster, meaning favorite or dearest, is to showcase bloggers with less then 200 followers. Upon accepting the award the recipient must then pass it on to five more blogs of their choice.

Here are the rules of the award...

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog. 3 to choose from : )
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Here are the 5 blogs I have chosen....

Angie at Art Frees the Soul
Susan at Nimble Fingers
Nancy at What's Next
Angie at Meanderings of a Mommy's Mind
Kathy at Inkin' It Up

Julie at Julie Bagamary

Oops, that's 6 but I'll just leave them all.  Enjoy!!!

Create ATC

I made several atcs last month that I haven't blogged yet and am hoping to get them all shared this week.  It wasn't all that long ago but I'm having a little trouble remembering exactly what products I used on all of them.  I'm going to have to start making lists so I don't disappoint anyone!!!  I'll tell you what I do remember about this atc.  I stamped create (Quietfire Design) on a scrap of cardstock... placed an Idea-ology ornate plate over it for placement, cut it out and glued it into the plate.  I'm pretty sure the background is with Distress Color and I think it's on Ranger's Specialty stamping paper.  A Dyan Reavely image stamped along the right side.  There is a piece of Idea-ology tissue wrap glued to the bottom half with Ranger's Glue 'n Seal matte.  A scrap from a piece of border punched cardstock is along the bottom... colored with Distress... details added with a black pen... glitter gems added to the center of the flowers.  Trim colored with Distress, tied in a bow and glued on.

Blog Buzz Winner

Thank you for all the wonderful comments on my blog buzz project!!!  

I had a great time making the tag!!!  I was asked how long it took to make and I really don't know.... it actually takes me longer to decide what to do as I work along then it does to do the work and I rarely have time to just make something start to finish in one sitting... honestly, if you were going to make a tag like this, already knowing what you were going to do, it wouldn't really take all that terribly long.  I was also asked if it took longer to make the blog post then to make the tag... it can sure feel that way - LOL.  I get enough people telling me how much they appreciate the directions and sometimes tips, etc., that I'm happy to include them, even if it takes a long time to make the post... a labor of love some might call it!!  Someone else asked about my die cutting machine... I have a Vagabond and love it!!!

Now on to the winner on my blog.....  which is Daphne!!!!!

Daphne said...

Oh Wanda, exquisite artwork, as always! your bow has such an antique feeling.

May 16, 2012 7:05 AM 


Congratulations, Daphne!!!!  You need to email Suzanne with your mailing information... her email address can be found on her blog HERE.

a journey of creative dreams

This atc started with a background I got from our on going background swap at our in-person atc swap in Des Moines.  The background is cut from a real map and then had white crackle paint around the edges.  I used scraps to finish it up... you see, my pile of scrappy stuff is overtaking my work area, lol.  The piece laying across the bottom was torn from a tag a long time ago.. I stuck it on and then added stitching.  Stamped some flourishes (Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 stamp) and highlighted them with a white pen.  The circle with the eye is also a Wendy stamp that I had laying there, already colored, left over from a previous project... I attached it with foam tape.  The words are from the Tim Holtz stamp stuff to say... yes, I have several parts of this stamp laying there waiting to be used... I chose these words, cut them out, edged them with ink and added them.  It all made a very different for me atc but I quite like it!!!

Now a reminder... you have until midnight Friday (or really Saturday when I wake up) to leave a comment on the Blog Buzz post for your chance to win $50 worth of Quietfire Design Rubber.  

Blog Buzz

Welcome to the Quietfire Design Garden Delights Blog Buzz!

Quietfire Design would like to introduce you to their new Spring selection of rubber stamps!  Each day designers will be posting brand new artwork they have created using the new rubber stamps.  Visit each of their blogs on the day of their featured project, post a comment on their Blog Hop post and you will be eligible to win a grab bag of Quietfire Design rubber stamps valued at $50!   Each Designer will randomly choose a winner from the comments on their own Blog Hop post, so make sure you’ve commented by midnight Friday, May 18^th.  Tell your friends!

All winners will be posted on the Quietfire Style blog on Sunday May 20th. If you are one of our lucky winners, please contact Suzanne privately with your snail mail address.  (Her email address is in the sidebar of the Quietfire Style blog)

Here is our schedule:

Monday, May 14th: Yogi , Holly

Tuesday, May 15th: Robyn, Dawn 

Wednesday, May 16th: Wanda (that's me), Sherry

Thursday, May 17th: Monica, Terre

Friday, May 18th: Suzanne

The complete set of new rubber stamps will remain on special at 20% off throughout the Blog Buzz!

Happy Buzzing and good luck!!

*********************************************************************************

Now for my project!!!!  

Supply List --

• New Quietfire Design Rubber -  love lives here, largest bee from Garden Delights
• Quietfire Design Rubber - flourish from Flourishes 1 set, love from Words of Love set
• #8 Manila tag
• Manila cardstock (or you could use a manila tag)
• Natural cardstock
• Grungepaper
• Book cloth - maroon, hunter green
• Distress Ink - victorian velvet, dusty concord, antique linen, walnut stain, broken china, faded  jeans, peeled paint
• Ink blending tool
• Color Wash Spray -  sailboat blue, meadow
• Mister bottle with water in it
• Archival Ink - jet black, saffron
• Distress embossing powder - tea dye
• Acrylic paint - white
• Tim Holtz dies - artful dwellings, movers and shapers heart, on the fence, tattered florals, tattered leaves
• Tim Holtz embossing folder - bricked
• Ideology - memo pin, bird from adornments pack
• Pens - white, black
• 13mm White silk ribbon
• Tim Holtz paper distresser
• Craft sheet
• Scissors
• Heat tool
• Sponge

I'll start by explaining the flowers first.  If you search on YouTube you will find many videos on making your own roses so I won't explain all the details here.  I will show you pics of how the flowers were cut before making the roses.  The larger roses were each made from three 6-petal flowers.  The smaller rose was made from one 6-petal flower.  I used the smaller 6-petal flower from the tattered floral die and cut them from maroon book cloth.  I wasn't sure how the book cloth would work but it's fabulous for this - looks AND feels great!!!!  After cutting the flowers I lightly brushed white paint on the edges of the petals starting off the flower and brushing in over the edge.

The leaves were also die cut from book cloth using the tattered leaves die.  After cutting I folded down the center of the leaf, front out, and rubbed peeled paint on the fold... repeated folding and rubbing on ink to get all the lines on the leaf.  I then pinched and twisted the end of the leaf and trimmed off the stem.  

For the background of the tag I lightly sponged white paint on the tag and dried it.  Then working on a craft sheet I sprayed the tag well with water and then with both colors of Color Wash spray and dried the tag.  Next I rubbed the edges in the left over color on the craft sheet and if needed sprayed a little water along the edge of the tag for blending and dried the tag again.  (The white paint resists the color wash and peeks through adding wonderful texture to the background).  Stamped the flourish a few times with broken china and the word love with faded jeans.  Added squiggles around the edges first with a black pen and then with white.  The flourishes were pretty light and so I decided to add highlights with the white pen.  


The house with the heart die stuck inside was cut from manila cardstock and then embossed with the bricked folder.  Covered the front completely with victorian velvet using a blending tool... lightly went over it with dusty concord to pick up the pattern of the embossing and finally added a bit of walnut stain around the edges.  Stamped love lives here with jet black on a scrap of natural cardstock, attached it behind the house and used a black pen to add dots.  Cut the roof from the left over piece of manila cardstock that I cut the house from... just followed the roof line of the house on the left over piece.  Painted it white.  After it was dry I added a bit of walnut stain, dried it with a heat tool and added doodling with the black pen.  


The fence was cut from grungepaper.  I inked it with distress ink and embossed it with the tea dye powder.  After it was cool I rubbed it to remove all the release crystals and then painted it white.  This gave the fence great texture!!!  After it was dry (or use your heat tool) I very lightly rubbed the walnut stain over it (I used the blending foam without adding more ink), stamped a few flourishes along the bottom with peeled paint and dried it.  


For the "sign" I stamped love on a scrap of natural cardstock, cut it to size trimming the corners diagonal, inked the edges with victorian velvet, distressed the edges with the paper distresser, and inked them with dusty concord.  Put the sign in a memo pin and cut off the end so it wouldn't stick down past the bottom of the fence.  


The bee was stamped on a scrap of natural cardstock with saffron, dried, details added with the black pen, and then cut out.  


The silk ribbon was sprayed with water and then both colors of Color Wash spray, partly dried, and then scrunched as I finished drying it.  If you scrunch it up while it is very wet the colors blend together more and I wanted to be able to see both colors.


Everything was assembled as shown.  The bird has two layers of foam tape behind it for added dimension.


Here are some close up pics.