Happy In Her Heart...

Hello friends...

Hope you've all had a good week and the sun has shone wherever you are! As the new week begins, it's time for the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week our theme is all about Mixed Media! The DT are also showcasing Dina Wakley products within their projects, something that you don't necessarily have to do to play along with us but if you are a fan, then this is your chance to put those amazing products to great use!

For my project, I was inspired by my Grandmother Ethel ~ she was such a wonderful woman, anyone who knew her, loved her and I have so many fond memories of the time we spent together. But the one thing I will always remember is her beautiful garden, which was the pride and joy of both my grandparents and I spent many happy summer holidays playing in that garden, which is why I chose to create this page....

....and with this in mind, I used Dina's Media Journal for my vintage style layout and combined Dina's products with a few of Tim Holtz's, including a vintage photo, Distress Paint, collage paper and some ephemera pieces.

So let's get started ~ it's time for this week's challenge!

 

To begin with I cut a strip of the Botanical Collage Paper and flipped it over so that the printed side is facing down. You'll probably have seen Tim demo the next stage where you use Distress Paints to paint on the reverse of the tissue paper to add colour to the images and if you want to check it out again, then click HERE. 

The colours I chose to use on my flowers were a combination of Picked Raspberry, Crackling Campfire, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint and Candied Apple and below are close ups of each of the individual painted images once I've adhered them onto the pages of the layout. 

When the paint has thoroughly dried on the reverse of the collage tissue, I flipped it back over to the right side and used a water brush to apply a very narrow line of water around the areas that I wanted to remove and use on my pages. By doing this it will create a much smoother outline to your image when you finally adhere it onto the page. Also, if you choose, you could use the whole sheet if you want to, but I just wanted certain placement flowers to pop off the page. Set these to one side whilst moving onto the next stage...

With the journal open in front of me, the watercolour paper on the left hand side, the canvas page on the right, I began to prep my pages. I wanted to create several layers of different textures to this layout...so, I began by cutting the left hand watercolour page in half, which then revealed the burlap page underneath. To create the next layer, I cut the burlap so that it was slightly wider than the watercolour paper and would show underneath.

These cuts mean that I now have three separate, layered pages on the left hand side that overlap one another.

Now to adhere the painted Collage Paper flowers and leaves.

I used Matte Collage Medium and applied this with the Distress Collage Brush before carefully adhering each of the tissue flowers and leaves into place. You can see that I arranged these to run along the bottom of both pages.

I also added one flower to come in from the central spine of the journal and added the fern leaves in the corner of the left hand page.

Down the spine of the journal, I added some strips of Design Tape. I randomly tore these strips and layered them side by side across both pages. I then scraped some gesso over the top of the tape strips, allowed for this to dry and added some Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over the top, blending out the harsh lines with my finger.

I finished the pages with a splatter of Black Soot Distress Paint, allowing the splatters to fall across all the sections.

Before I move onto the photo, there is one last layer to create and this is the crochet embellishment down the left hand side. for this I used the Sizzix Crochet Thinlits die to cut Mixed Media Heavystock card and after inking the crochet strip with Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap Distress Inks, I attached the strip to the burlap page, using Matte Collage Medium. I then attached my watercolour page over the top, sandwiching the crochet die cut between the layers and just allowed for the pages to dry thoroughly....

...and whilst that's doing it's thing, I moved onto the photo.

The photo of this beautiful lady taken from Tim Holtz's Found Relatives Photos is going to be the centre piece, I have so much love for this photo ~ she is gorgeous and reminds me of my Grandma Ethel, which is why I've added the name in the top left of the photo, using Clippings Stickers and outlining the stickers with a black pen.

I used this image as the main focal point and after applying a coat of Dina's clear gesso over the image, allowing for this to dry ~ I then colour tinted the image with Distress Crayons and a water brush.

Colours used: Picked Raspberry, Peeled Paint, Spun Sugar, Gathered Twigs, Broken China, and Faded Jeans

I creased the corners and edges of the photo to create more of a vintage feel and then added some stitching around the edges.

I mounted my photo onto a piece of linen that I have in my stash. For this layout I wanted a very natural, organic look to the overall project and cut the linen to create raggedy edges, nothing too uniform or straight edged.

I then added some machine stitching to the linen...

...before I attached the photograph in the centre.

Now to mount the photo onto my journal page and if you're really clever I'm sure that you can hand stitch this onto the page, attach it with fabric glue or some other sort of fusible bonding but because I don't have any of those things to hand I have actually pinned the panel using safety pins and decorative pearl headed pins.

This actually holds everything in place, and I even overlapped the corners of the photo with the pins so that is also really secure and doesn't lift.

I placed the photo in the centre of the linen canvas page, arranging it to sit in the centre of the flowers in the top left and right hand corners.

I completed this section by adding some ephermera pieces from the Field Notes Ephemera set, that I tucked underneath and around the photo and also added a Salvaged Tag, slightly scrunched for more of a vintage feel and inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I also threaded some twine through the hole, leaving this to hang down loosely.

Finally, I threaded some buttons with cotton and attached these to my layout with Matte Collage Medium.

To complete this page, I stitched a Stitched Scrap to the top right hand corner...

So, that's my journal layout complete and I hope you've enjoyed the process of how I created these pages, all inspired by a very special lady!

As always, if you make anything, or been inspired by anything that you've seen here on my blog ~ then please, let me know by tagging me on social media or leaving a comment here and I will be right over to take a look!

Don't forget that every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $25 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to win. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today ~ stay safe and keep well.

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Dina Wakley products: Media Journal, Clear Gesso, White Gesso

Sizzix/Tim Holtz: Crochet

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Picked Raspberry, Crackling Campfire, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint and Candied Apple

Distress Crayons: Picked Raspberry, Peeled Paint, Spun Sugar, Gathered Twigs, Broken China, and Faded Jeans

Distress Inks: Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain

Tim Holtz Idea-ology:Clippings Sticker, Field Notes Ephemera, Mini Pins, Stitched Scraps, Botanical Collage Paper, Design Tape, Found Relatives, Salvaged Tags

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock

Prima Marketing My Sweet Buttons

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium,

Glass Media Mat

Distress Collage Brush

Heat Gun

Sizzix Big Shot

Linen and pins from my own stash