DINA WAKLEY STAMPS and STENCILS

WOOHOO! Have I got a fabutastic project to share with you today! I recently received some of Dina Wakley's NEW stamps and stencils and they are divine. D-I-V-I-N-E. (You can check out all her products here.)

TAGS! I love using them as mini canvases and I know that Dina uses them to do quick art muscle warm-ups. Then you can use them as gift tags, make a book, or slap them in your art journal and holler "Ephemera!". Here is a step-by-step of some delicious tags I made with Dina's stencils.

I am using the Stenciled Ladies, Stenciled Maggie and Mosaic Swirl stencils with gesso as my first layer.

I applied it with a Dina Wakley paintbrush with loose strokes and cheered when the gesso was a bit gloopy in places. Let it dry completely.

Pull out a nonstick craft mat spritz a few colors of Dylusions ink right next to each other. Now do as Tim Holtz does and place your tag face down, give it a little twist and lift up. Cue the oooing and ahhing now. The gesso just soaks up the ink and acts as a resist. Brilliant!

There is still ink left on the mat so give it a spritz or two of water and repeat with another tag. Repeat above steps with other colors and let your inky tags dry.

Holy inky goodness, Batman! I could do this all day. The colors! The texture! FYI: The colors of Dylusions I used are London Blue, Postbox Red, Fresh Lime and Pure Sunshine.

When dry I added another layer with the Plastic Canvas Stars stencil and Dina's Turquoise and Lime Heavy Body Acrylic Paints.

I pulled out my vintage typewriter and typed out some journaling inspired by the phrases on the You Can stencil on some notebook paper. After tearing them out I auditioned them on the tags to see where they fit the best and glued them down. In the end I went with the ladies. 

Then came some ink splatters and drips of white acrylic mixed with ink.

I pulled out my Fude Ball pen for the doodles and journaling. (Seriously the BEST pen. Thank you Dina and Ranger!) I used the You Can stencil to add a few phrases too.

I decided to use a few of the tags in my art journal. Here is a background in my Dylusions Art Journal that was created awhile ago and it's just waiting for a focal point. (By the way, that stencil pattern is Dina's and it's called Tracks. Isn't it awesome? I was able to borrow it for this background and I loved it so much I added it to my ever growing wish list.)

And here is the finished page! Yay! I was tempted to add more to it but the simplicity and textures are so very nice so I stopped. Will is stay that way? Who knows!? It's a working journal and sometimes I like adding bits and bobs gradually to pages. What do you think?

Thanks for joining me and check back as I have a few more projects up my sleeve to share using some of Dina's new products. Be patient, though, as my family and I are in the middle of a big move and the boxes won't pack themselves!