This is Artsy Transfers month in the aA store! Great deals announced here: http://www.annaaspnesdesigns.com/easy-photo-blending-with-artsytransfers/

Products:
Remarkable Artsy Transfers: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtsyTransfers-Remarkable.html
Papers blended for background: Glacial http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Glacial.html, Home http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Home.html, Aspera http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Aspera.html, Gather in Peace http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Gather-In-Peace.html
Framed Masks No. 1: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/FramedMasks-No.-1.html
VineArtplay Palette Canyon http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Canyon.html
Snaps--Roots Artplay Palette: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Roots.html
Blue buttonNight Before Christmas Artplay Palette: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Night-Before-Christmas.html
LaceLove Letters Artplay Palette:
Turquoise buttonAspera Artplay Palette: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Aspera.html
Urban Threads No. 4: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/UrbanThreadz-No.-4.html
Urban Stitchez No. 9: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/UrbanStitchez-No.-9.html
Clouds No. 1: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/Clouds-No.-1.html
Birds--bird brush from Take Flight Artplay Palette http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Take-Flight.html, bird layer and stain layers from Take Flight Artsy Transfers http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtsyTransfers-Take-Flight.html
Numeral Brush--Wanderlust Artplay Palette: http://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Wanderlust.html
White Stitching: 12x12 Stitched Artist Overlay (retired)
Paper Textures No. 1 and No. 2: (retired)

Process:
I prepared the photo, which is a copyright-free archival image, by altering it with artsy transfers, something I'll be talking about in a tutorial on the annaBlog at the end of the month.

I moved the photo onto the background and clipped it to a framed mask. I then built the background from a series of papers blended on different modes; on top of that I dragged paper textures which I then used as clipping masks for old sheets of the New York Times newspaperI used the same newspaper sheets to clip to the title and to portions of two of the girls' dresses.

I used a variety of brushes to create the shapes in the back, using fill layers to tweak the color, and also blended brushwork over the photo. I positioned the embellishments, clouds, birds, and threads, then wrote the journaling. Since the journaling was hard to read (and I wanted black text), I lightened the background a little, and then distressed the layout with a brown paper on multiply mode at low opacity, scratching away random parts where lightness was needed. As a last step, I tinted a few of the clouds blue.