The Love Panel Project

OK, back to the ART!  I made this wall hanging (well, we are going to put it on a small easel - one of those little metal triangle thingies that are made to put pictures, etc. on, so you can put it on a table) for my mom for Mother's Day. This was the first time I has used Wendy Vecchi's Art Parts and I am IN LOVE! I urge you to try some of them!!

I used the following items to make it:

• Dick Blick 6 x 8 panel 
• Letters from & Gypsies Gypsy Market Collection
• Golden Gesso
• Golden Matte Gel
• Golden Quinacridone Red for the 2 hearts
• DoCrafts Papermania Urban Stamps Type Print for the brick
• 2 wooden hearts - the large one is about 3 1/2" wide, the small one about 1"
• Scrap paper for the sentiment
• Patterned paper with random text
• Ranger Products: Adirondack Espresso (stamped the sentiment), Adirondack Jet Black (for the brick), Distress Ink in Frayed Burlap & Distress Paint in Fire Brick Red.
• Wendy Vecchi, Studio 490 Products: Art Parts Residences (for the house) & Homemade Art Stamp Set (for the sentiment "Home is where love resides)
• Crafters' Pick glue (I use this glue for EVERYTHING - the only problem is that it dries glossy and sometimes I'd rather not have all my excess glue shinning for all to see, but that fact has made me a very careful gluer).

First, I covered everything with gesso except the letters. Once everything was dry (I leave everything overnight to dry - I have had a ton of experiences where I thought stuff was dry and nope) was dry I inked the panel, making sure I inked the edges (I personally hate white edges and have begun to be really cognizant of them). 

Then I painted the house with the Brick Red Distress Paint and the roof with more of the espresso ink.  Once the house was dry I stamped the brink stamp on the house (I sort of made a template to help me with making sure the stamp didn't overlap too badly) with the Jet Black ink.  While waiting for that to dry I painted the 2 hearts with the Quinacridone Red - they turned out really glossy so I used some Matte Gel to dull them.  I stamped the Wendy Vecchi sentiment on some scrap paper.  I ripped the text patterned paper for the background and adhered it.  Then I inked the panel again a bit to blend in the text paper.  I put everything on the panel for a dry run, positioned and fixed the items, then glued everything down.  Viola! A nice gift and my mom loved it (of course she did)!

I put the 2 pictures up so you can see what the panel looks like "flat" and then the second picture shows a bit of the 3D effect.  I didn't put any sealer on it (I probably should have at least sprayed some fixative on it) but I was a bit nervous that I would mess it up somehow.  Since if I am going to mess something up it is usually on one of the last steps - so better to be safe than sorry :)

I would LOVE to hear your comments on this - please let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading and looking,
Christi