Instructions

Step 1: Today I’m working in the Dina Wakley Media Journal. I chose the watercolor paper today and started out thinking I would only do a single page spread, but it turned into a double. I put White Gesso on both pages and dried with my Heat Tool.

Step 2: Patriotic for me means pulling out my blues and reds for my background. I knew I wanted to use the Scribbled Faces stencil and thought it would be pretty cool if one of the faces was red, the other white and then blue since there are three total faces in the stencil. I had this in mind as I laid down the Ruby and Lapis colors being careful not to blend them too much because I wasn’t looking to create purple.

Step 3: Next I wanted to bring in some texture by sponging the Jumbled Numbers Stencil onto my background using Archival Ink in Hickory Smoke. However, I realized about halfway through that my background still wasn’t completely dry so you can see I ended up getting some contamination and it also got on my ink pad which is a bummer. So, my tip is to make sure your background paint is completely dry before moving on to any kind of stenciling with ink!

Step 4: I love gold whenever I think of our flag so I decided rather than use Scribbled Faces with black paint, I grabbed Gilt and sponged the stencil with an Ink Blending Tool then used the excess paint around the edges of my journal to tie in the color.

Step 5: When I thought about what I would create today, I knew I wanted to incorporate poppies on it. Dina’s Abstract Blooms stamps were great for this. I started by masking off the leaves on the stamp and then inking it with Night Archival Ink to stamp on the bottom left and upper right corners of the left side of the spread. I love how it looks as if that is just a bed of poppies to compliment my red, white and blue faces on the right side. I love how it turned out.

Step 6: I added some additional color using Ruby, Blushing and Lemon to the flowers and once that was (almost completely) dry, I used the Fude Ball pen to dark up the stamping a bit. I also added my journaling here and found some stickers from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Small Talk Occasions pack to create a title on my page.

Here are some close ups of my completed USA inspired art journal page. I really enjoyed creating this page. Most of the Dina Wakley products I used for the first time and that always helps jumpstart creativity for me. Plus, this page will always remind me how much I love this country and how so many people have fought and died for it over the years. Men like my dad and my uncles served and lost their lives in other ways even though they still came home so I have huge respect for all of our men and women serving or who have served. This page really is in honor of all of those heroes.

Thank you Ranger again for inviting me to share my art with your readers using my favorite Ranger products. They truly are some of my favorite mediums I turn to again and again as I continue my journey as an artist. I hope you have been inspired today to pull out some new supplies and see what you can create!