Red gingham Studio 490 style

It was a bit fiddly but I made a red gingham border for a journal page.  And because I used several Studio 490 stamps and stencils, this journal page will be entered in the first challenge of the year for the EverythingWendyVecchi Yahoo group. 

First I placed the heart stencil on my page and taped it down with washi tape.  Using a blending tool I smudged red ink from the outside in, leaving the center lighter.  I stamped the large weedy spray in distress ink with the stencil still in place.  Around the edge of the heart I traced the outline using a water-soluble graphite pencil and smudged the line to soften the look.  The text inside the heart was stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink.

After the outer part of the stencil was removed I taped the heart itself over the image so I could work around it.  The honeycomb was inked with Black Soot distress ink and rolled around the page...in hit or miss fashion. 

I took the Dots & Stripes Borders stencil and rubbed more red distress ink over it then turned the stencil a quarter of a turn to create the look of gingham.  I placed the dot stencil down the centers and smushed Black Soot Distress Ink through a single row of dots.

With the Classic Words stencil I applied Wendy's new black embossing paste through 'always' and heat set it.  I moved the stencil and inked 'remember' in red distress ink.  I heat set the ink then repositioned the stencil so I could smear more black embossing paste and use the red version as a shadow.

The page seemed a bit empty so I recreated the heart, taping the heart in place then moving the outline stencil so the 2nd heart would appear to be in back of the first one.  I followed the steps as above.  Of course, you just can't use the honeycomb without the bee!  It was stamped on white Clearly For Art and cut out.  The wings were spritzed with Pearl Perfect Pearls Mist (only visible in person and at a certain angle - sorry!).

Studio 490 stamp sets:  Original Art (LCS091, Art For You LCS093
Studio 490 stencils:  Classic Words, Large Heart, Dots & Stripes Borders

So I leave you with the text...Always remember...great art often begins as creative chaos.  Yep, that about sums it up!