Mixed media card tutorial {feat. Dina Wakely stamps}

I wanted to share with you a card I made recently using mostly Dina Wakely stamps. I havent been purposely trying to use Dina products on everything lately. I have just been drawn towards her style. Its very free and flow-y and makes me think of summer.

So for this card I went for that feel and created different layers with contrasting colours.

The materials I used:

Stamps:

Script stamp from crafty individuals

Dina Wakely stamps : Scribbly birds, grunge circles from texture set ,star script, and tweet.chirp sentiment from the scribbly birds set.

Distress inks:

Antique linen, picked raspberry, old paper, broken china, and frayed burlap

Everything else:

Blue cobolt archival ink, grey archival, and purple archival

black onyx versafine ink

clear embossing powder, (its helpful to have a small pan for embossing)

 distressing tools and pads

Heat resistant craft mat

Heat tool

double sided tape

 Navy blue base card with envelope 6" x 6"

white top card for stamping 5 1/2" x 5 1/2"

colouring pens (I used grey and yellow copics)

scissors



Method:

1. First I used my distress tools to cover my white peice of paper with antique linen distress ink.

2. Then I went over the bottom half of the card with old paper distress ink and the crafty individuals script stamp.

3.Then I took the grunge circles stamp,used the broken china ink, and stamped it three times. I only inked it once though. The 2nd and 3rd stampings are a bit lighter and called ghost prints. This really helps give it dimension.

4. Now stamp a bird in black versafine ink, emboss, colour and cut out. set that aside

5. Now put down some picked raspberry distress ink on your craft mat, spritz with water and just run a little through on the other side of the card from the star.  This will add some compositional intrest to put the bird in front of. Now dry the card completely.

6.Stamp the script star in the upper right hand corner

7. Take a small bit of sheet music and rip a tiny bit to stand your bird on. Distress the edges with  frayed burlap ( you could use any brown or tan colour. i just had this handy) mount that where you plan to place the bird.

8. Now stamp your bird straight on the card (only his legs matter here). Take your cut out bird and cut off his feet (I promise it doesn't hurt him). Paste his body over the body of the one you stamped. Now  he has legs without having to fiddly cut all around the legs. Alternatively, use a craft blade to cut out feet. 

9. After that take the "tweet.chirp" sentiment and stamp somewhere on the card

10. Now just mount the white card to your navy blue base card and your all done.

Heres another look:

A sweet little bird card fit for any occasion, really. Really fun to make as well. No off to do the school run. We have rainbows tonight. Speak soon.

                                        Always,- Kass

5 steps to a summer ready garden

If your anything like me this is the time of year I start looking around the garden, panicked by what all needs to be done. Okay, so about six weeks ago I looked around and got that panicky feeling. As I mentioned earlier though, this has been a busy month and we have seriously had NO weekends to get out in the back garden and have a real proper tidy up. The garden illustrates this point with its overgrown shrubbery and dead branches and leaves everywhere.  Okay. Okay. Take a deep breath we can manage this. By "we" I mean the collective "we". You guys reading this, me,(and lets be honest) my husband Mr.Safety. ( I have decided to just call him that from now on. I feel weird always saying my husband and I . I'm not the queen. and "boo" "beau" and "hubby" aren't even an option.)

Lets get back to the garden. I know when you look at it as a big picture it seems overwhelming and you don't even know where to start. I find sitting down with pen and paper and actually writing a list helps me organise my thoughts and put together a game plan. I'm a "list person" big time. Sometimes I fall asleep with a pad of paper at night just writing a list of what to do the next day. Maybe your not though, so let me do that listing for you. I put together 5 steps to follow to get it ready to be the host of any summer BBQ.

MATERIALS:

Trowel- The small shovel to do potting with

Lawn mower- We have an electric kind you plug into mains and it works for us. We only have a small patch of grass to maintain.

clippers-  (or Sacatures if your nasty)

compost or potting soil

pencil/paper

Margarita

Gloves- For the larger weeding and cutting back a thick kind is recommended.  For potting I like the clear ,thin, plastic ones from the petrol station .I am by no means saying you should grab some the next time your there.

Step 1.

Grab all your pots and put them all somewhere you think is going to be your potting area. Big ones , small ones, medium size ones, and lawn ornaments as well. You need to see what your working with and you'll have to get around them to mow anyway. Count up how many pots you have of what sizes and jot that down on a piece of paper. Get plants to put into the pots. This year I went with whites and purples. So dianthus, lavender, white geraniums, and daisys are some of the flowers that are in my patio display and scattered through the lawn. Set those all to the side and get a cup of tea.

Step 2 .

 Mow your lawn. This is pretty self explanatory but don't do a rush job. Make sure its all cut even throughout. You will be happier with the finished result, I swear. Get all the weeding and cutting back out of the way. Go through your borders and throw out all the dead stuff. Cut large hedges like honeysuckle back. (Mine is already finished flowering.)

Step 3.

De clutter all the broken toys, old papers, labels, and crisp wrappers that the wind has blown on the floors of the decking and in the corners. Pick up the pieces of broken pots. Try to mend the ones that you can. I like the look it leaves with all the cracks. The ones that are broke beyond repair can be broken down and used for drainage in the bottoms of the plants you pot.

Step 4.

Now pot up your flowers. This is where the cheap petrol station gloves come in handy.Put your pots back arranged around the garden. I have them in little clusters. Always put them in odd number groups. Asymmetry is key here.

Step 5.

 Repaint or wax/varnish any furniture that needs a freshening up. Remember if you choose painting you will probably need to re paint it every year if you don't really weather proof it. We have an old patio set that is rather tired looking at the moment. I think we will give it a coat of wood stain and see how it goes. Ill keep you posted on that.

Yay your done! Doesn't that look 1000x better?! Sit back, put your feet in the paddling pool and have a your first summer Margarita. You have earned it!



                                                                Always, -Kass



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