I’m thrilled to introduce our guest blogger, the incomparable Dina Wakley! Dina shares a terrific tutorial for making artful tags using supplies included in the Courageous Art Journaling kit: stamps, a stencil, paint, brushes, and more. The kit also features four of Dina’s videos featuring amazing color techniques, plus ideas for mark making, patterning and layering, and using stencils and masks. I’ve been fortunate enough to see Dina teach, and she’s a fantastic and inspiring instructor, making it easy for you to follow along and achieve great results. Enjoy, and have fun creating! ~ Jeannine
One of my favorite methods to get colors to pop is to use complementary colors. Complementary colors are opposite on the color wheel. If you mix complementary colors in the same wet layer, they may turn muddy and icky. I avoid this by layering my complementary colors. Here’s a fun, easy tag using my favorite color techniques. The colors I’m using—Magenta and Lime—are opposite on the color wheel, so by using both colors in my project, I get maximum pop and impact.
Materials:
- Several manila tags (or one manila tag and a sheet of cardstock)
- Ranger Archival Ink Pad in Jet Black
- Ranger Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paint in Lime, Magenta, and Turquoise
- Ranger Dina Wakley Media stencil: Affirmations
- Ranger Dina Wakley Media Stamps: Scribbly Birds
- Ranger Dina Wakley Media Brushes
- Ranger Dina Wakley Media Fine Tip Applicator (to use on the Magenta paint)
- Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool and Foam
- Scissors
- Acrylic stamping block
- Adhesive
1. With a wet paintbrush, paint a small amount of Lime paint on a manila tag.
2. Using the Mini Ink Blending Tool and Turquoise paint, add stenciling to the tag with the Affirmations stencil. I used parts of the stencil words.
3. Add water to some Turquoise paint, load a paintbrush with the paint, and splatter it over the tag. Let dry.
4. Stamp several birds from the Scribbly Birds set onto the extra tags or cardstock with the Jet Blank ink. Stamp one of the sentiments as well.
5. Add water to some Magenta paint and color the birds with a loose, watercolor style. I left some white space in the birds.
6. Mix a bit of Turquoise and Magenta paint to create a lavender color. Add some of this color to the birds. Then, splatter them with the watered-down Turquoise paint.
7. Fussy-cut the birds and the sentiment and layer them on your tag as desired. I separated one sentiment into two parts. Edge the sentiments and the tag with Jet Black Ink.
8. Place the Fine Tip Applicator on the Magenta paint tube and add small dots and designs to the background.
Isn’t this tag fantastic? You’ll discover additional color techniques and other ideas for art journaling, tags, cards, and collage in Dina’s Courageous Art Journaling kit to use in your art journal pages, cards, tags, collage, and more. With the supplies included in the kit, you’ll be able to start creating right away. Don’t miss this incredible collection that’s sure to inspire you.
Dina Wakley is a mixed-media artist and teacher who loves everything about art: creating it, thinking about it, looking at it, and teaching it. She teaches both in-person and online workshops. Dina believes in writing yourself down, expressing yourself, and making your mark on the world. She is a Ranger signature designer, the author of Art Journal Freedom and Art Journal Courage from North Light Books, and the host of several videos with ArtistsNetworkTV. Discover more about Dina at dinawakley.com.
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