That's Life: Dina Wakley

Showing posts with label Dina Wakley. Show all posts

Monday, 25 April 2022

Crazy In Love....

Hello friends and welcome to a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which this week is all about being Wild and Wonderful!

When I first thought about this theme, I instantly thought of the wonderful Harrison Colorize Sizzix die set by Tim Holtz, then I thought maybe I should do a project all about nature using wildflowers and birds but no, I wanted to try something slightly different this week and think outside the box. So this lead me to think about how I'm wild about all the wonderful new idea-ology products from Tim Holtz, and I chose to create a journal layout inspired by one of the brand new Snapshots photos. As soon as I saw this photo, I just thought that couple appear to be "wildly in love" with each other and therefore, that is my take on this week's challenge theme...

Click to enlarge

So let's get started, it's time to get creative!

BACKGROUND LAYERS

To begin with I used my Dina Wakley Media Journal to create my double page spread.

I worked mainly on the right hand side, but I have also continued over to the left hand page but we'll begin on the right...

I started by distressing, ripping and tearing the edges of a panel of Backdrops Vol 1 paper, slightly smaller in size than the journal page, and featuring the wildflowers design. Once I was happy I machine stitched a border around the outside and then inked the distressed edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

I adhered my panel onto the right hand side of the journal spread, adding some layers of paper underneath which were all from the Backdrops paper pack and were all offcuts from previous projects.

I added some Tim Holtz Design Tape from my own stash, together with some of the new Design Tape Trims and attached these strips to the paper layers before I added some more machine stitching and yes, I did actually machine stitch the book pages themselves, with some difficulty but got there in the end, lol!

The layers are now ready for some texture and I used Crackle Paste. I applied small amounts of the paste around the edges, I didn't want a lot, just a smear here and there.

Once the paste was dry and the crackles had appeared, I used Gathered Twigs Distress Crayon to accentuate the cracks, rubbing it directly over the top and blending it out with a paint brush dipped into water, but ensuring most of the water is removed before using it ~ you only want it slightly damp enough to move the medium around.

Finally, using a splatter brush, I added some tiny Black Soot Distress Paint splatters across the surface.

With all my layers in place, and thoroughly dry, I moved onto the main feature ~ this beautiful couple, wildly in love!

AGEING THE PHOTOGRAPH

I wanted to keep this image black and white, not add colour but I wanted to create more of a vintage feel to the Snapshots photograph, I began by adding some more rips and tears. I usually use the edge of my scissors for this, and then just tear of the corners of the photo or tear into the edge.

To create the aged look, I applied a layer of Matte Collage Medium over the surface of the photo, allowed to dry and then dragged Vintage Photo Distress Crayon around the edge, blending out the colour with my finger tip. To add more depth of colour, I scribbled Gathered Twigs Crayon onto my glass media mat and used a water brush to pick up the colours which I applied directly to the photos to create more ageing.

With the photo complete, I layered it onto a piece of calico which I dyed with Brushed Corduroy Distress Stain and cut with my grandmother's pinking shears. I machine stitched down the side of the photo, then attached to my journal layout, placing it over the top of a panel of paper, again ripped, torn and stitched and is taken from the idea-ology Pocket Cards set. This one shows the large numbers, white on black.

To complete this arrangement, I tucked a ticket underneath the right hand side of the photo, adding some twine.

As final little details to the photo, I added an idea-ology Mini Paper Clip...

...and then a clippings sticker, 'you and me".

So the main feature is ready for embellishments and those flowers are created using the beautiful Sizzix Modern Floristry Thinlits Die Set by Tim Holtz.

FLORAL ARRANGEMENT

After cutting my flower heads from watercolour card using the die set, I inked and watercolored them with a combination of Mustard Seed, Wild Honey and Speckled Egg Distress Inks for the various flowers, adding black centres to the flowers on the left. The foliage is inked with Peeled Paint and Bundled Sage. I assembled the flowers and then added tiny details of black and white dots before I layered them around my photograph, arranging them on both sides. The smaller flowers on the left...

...the larger flowers on the right.

To add more dimension to the flowers, I did place very thin foam pads behind. You don't want too much thickness as the book needs to close but this just lifts them slightly.

DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS

To complete the right hand page, I added the date, September the Fifteenth. This is from the Snippets Numbers Ephemera, a little pack of wonderful embellishments which can be used on every single make you will ever create!

I attached mine to another piece of calico and then adhered it into position using Collage Medium and placing it in the top left hand corner.

On the left hand side of the book, I added some little clusters of embellishments.

I began with a cluster in the top right corner, and used a Flash Card, xoxo and after distressing and inking the edges, I attached it to the page, adding some strips of design tape and a postal mark Remnant Rub from the Specimen Set. To complete this arrangement, I added some more crackle paste, applied with a palette knife and just lightly dragged onto the surface and once this was dry, I added more of the walnut satin crayon over the top.

With the flash card and tape in place, I wrapped some twine around the page, securing it with staples top and bottom.

We're nearly there and all that's left is the quote...

"He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same" - Emily Bronte

This is from Dina Wakley's Media Ledgers Set 2 and after I trimmed the quote down to size, I adhered it to my journal page with Matte Collage Medium and then ran a charcoal pencil around the outside, smudging it with my finger.

I then used the Stacked Hearts Thinlits Die set to cut two of the smallest sized hearts from red inky card, that I had in my stash and adhered these into place with the quote.

So, that's my layout complete and I hope you love what I've created and will be inspired by the techniques...

As always, if you make anything, or if you've 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 next Monday at 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:

Sizzix: Modern Floristry, Stacked Hearts, Tim Holtz Big Shot Foldaway Die Cutting Machine

Distress Spray Stains:

Distress Ink: Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey and Speckled Egg

Distress Paint: Black Soot

Distress Spray Stains: Brushed Corduroy

Distress Crayons

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Snapshots, Backdrops Vol 1, Design Tape Trims, Clippings Sticker Book, Flash Cards, Pocket Cards, Snippets Number Strips Ephemera, Specimen Remnant Rubs, Mini Paper Clip

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium

Dina Wakley Media Journal and Typed Media Ledgers Set 2

Tools: Glass Media Mat, Splatter Brush, Blending Tool, Tim Holtz Paper Trimmer, Heat Gun, Collage Brush, Crackle Paste, Waterbrush

Calico material from my own stash

Monday, 28 June 2021

Born In The USA

Hello there...

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Did you all watch Tim’s epic YouTube Live on Saturday? I hope you enjoyed the release of the brand new Stampers Anonymous stamps and stencils and the amazing new inks from Ranger Ink! It's definitely something we've all been waiting for and I can't wait to share my five samples, which actually includes a piece that I’m sharing with you all today. All the stamp sets are available to buy now at Simon Says Stamp, or if you need them all, then they have a special I WANT IT ALL bundle which includes FOUR free ink pads! Click HERE to buy.

But back to today, and this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which is all about Red, White and/or Blue! There are so many interpretations for this challenge, and whatever you choose, then we hope you'll join us and play along.

With the 4th of July just around the corner, I thought this was the perfect time to celebrate all my friends in the US and that's exactly what I did with my US themed project using my favourite set from the Stampers Anonymous release. A couple of years ago I created an Etcetera tag that you can see here, and on this tag I used the Stars and Stripes theme as the base of the tag. So with this in mind, I chose to create today’s tag using a similar backdrop to the previous one but this time it would showcase the stamp set!

So let's get the challenge started and here's how I made this tag...

To begin with I used a mini Etcetera Tag and primed the surface with a coat of white gesso.

Once the gesso was dry, I then applied masking tape to mask off my stripes. From the top of the tag, I measured placed the first line of tape at 6.8cm, and then placed the remaining tape at 3.2cm intervals.

This creates 5 separate sections on the tag and I started by painting each section above the tape line.

I then applied my paint, starting with blue at the top. For this I used Dina Wakley's Night Acrylic Paint. This is the perfect blue for the top section of my stars and stripes. Dry the paint before removing the tape and placing this along the bottom line of the blue section.

Moving down the tag, I painted the next section with PaperArtsy Heavy Cream Chalk Paint. Once the paint was dry, I then used the dry brush technique to add Frayed Burlap Distress Paint over the top. You only need a light brushing of this paint, you don't want to obliterate the colour that is beneath.

Dry this section thoroughly before moving onto the next section and paint this with a combination of Candied Apple and Black Soot Distress Paint. Repeat the Heavy Cream and the combo of Candied Apple and Black Soot until the tag is painted.

To add the distressed look to the tag, I sanded the edges with sandpaper before then adding a coat of Matte Collage Medium over the top to seal the paintwork.

After drying the medium, I used Walnut Stain Distress Crayon and ran this around the edges of the tag before blending the colour with my fingertip.

Along the bottom edge of the tag, I placed two Etcetera Trims, one slightly narrower than the other. I painted the wider trim using the Night Acrylic Paint and then added Crackle Paste to the second trim. Once the crackle paste was dry and the cracks had appeared, I then applied Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over the top, blended it out with a semi dry baby wipe which will help to accentuate the crackles.

I attached the trims along the bottom with Matte Collage Medium.

To create the stars at the top of the tag, I used the Stars Mini Layering Stencils, which is from Set 37 and applied Grit Paste through the stencil. You will need to do this in two separate applications as the stencil doesn't extend across the width of the tag.

Allow for the paste to dry and whilst that's happening, I moved onto the stamping...

For this I used one of the characters from the Inquisitive Stamp Set and stamped the image onto Watercolour card using Black Soot Archival Distress Ink. I coloured the image with Polychromos Pencils and then fussy cut around the outline.

I then stamped the image once more but this time I'll only be using the hat which I embossed with clear embossing powder.

After fussy cutting around the outline of the hat, I attached it to my main image using foam pads.

I then cut a small strip of red card to add the band across the hat before attaching a Mirrored Star from my stash, which I altered with a little Mushroom Alcohol Ink.

Moving on to the circles and the 'bunting' which I created using the Bullseye 🎯 from the stamp set. I stamped three separate targets in Barn Door Archival Ink onto card that I inked with Old Paper and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. I then stamped the next layer 3 separate times in Faded Jeans Archival Ink, again onto paper inked with Old Paper and Frayed Burlap DI. I repeated this a further couple of times.

You should now have 3 red bullseye and three blue.

Using a circle nesting die set from my stash, I cut the circles ~ all measurements are approximate and according which die set you use. Simon Says Stamp have a die set which would be perfect for this.

1 x red circle 7cm

1 x blue circle 6cm

2 x blue circles 5cm

2 x red circles 4cm

I then took the larger of the two circles and layered the blue circle over the top of the red using foam pads to form one circle. I matted the circles onto silver metallic kraft stash that I cut with the Sizzix Stitched Circle die by Tim Holtz that I again have in my stash.

With the remaining circles, I cut each of them in half to form four separate pieces and layered these with foam pads to create dimensional semi circles.

Using all the die cut circles, I arranged them onto my tag in a pyramid shape to form the look of bunting.

I mounted the large circle at the top and then adhered my Inquisitive gentleman in the centre of the red, white and blue circle.

Along the top of the semi circles, I added some fringe trim that I had in my stash. This trim was released by Tim about 3 or 4 years ago...I think!!! I still have some in my box of goodies and thought it would work really well on this piece. If you don't have any of this in your stash, you can use red and white tissue paper which you can cut with scissors to form the ruffled fringe. It's a bit more time consuming but quite easy.

I attached the fringe with Collage Medium and also added some Silver Metallic Droplets. Four around the edge of the large circle, two in the centres of the outer semi circles that form the bunting.

We're nearly there and all that's left is to die cut the wording USA from card using the Alphanumeric Stretch Lower Thinlits Die Set.

I used Mixed Media Heavystock card for this and cut each letter five times before layering them to form thick substantial letters. I painted each letter with more of the Night Acrylic Paint and then attached them to my tag. They are placed to carefully balance along the trim and just attach to the bottom edge of the semi circles.

For the final details, I added a Flair Button at the top, placing it over the hole of the tag and also added a Stitched Scrap which I folded in half to form a loop and just stuck with a small amount of medium.

Finally, I added some Hardware Heads down the side of the tag, and onto either side of the trim and finished with two Adornment stars placed just beneath the semi circle bunting. These metal additions are all painted with Candied Apple Distress Paint.

So that completes this week's project which I hope you love and 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:

Sizzix/Tim Holtz Dies: Alphanumeric Stretch Lower Letters and Numbers, Stitched Circles Thinlits Dies from my own stash

Stampers Anonymous: Inquisitive, Mini Etcetera Tag, Pinked Etcetera Trims, Mini Layering Stencil Shifter Set 37

Distress Paint: Candied Apple, Black Soot, Frayed Burlap

Distress Crayon: Walnut Stain

Distress Inks: Old Paper, Frayed Burlap

Mushroom Alcohol Ink

Polychromos Pencils

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Hardware Heads, Metallic Droplets, Vintage Flair Embellishments, Stitched Scraps, Star Adornments, Mirrored Stars

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Opaque Grit Paste, Crackle Paste, Black Soot Archival Ink, Barn Door Archival Ink, Faded Jeans Archival Ink, Night Acrylic Paint, Heavy Cream PaperArtsy Chalk Paint

Surfaces: Watercolor Card, Metallic Kraft Stash, Mixed Media Heavystock Card

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Fringe Trim from my own stash

Monday, 7 June 2021

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....