Stacked Stones Studio!

I know that is almost scrapbooking heresay, right?!?!? Seriously, if you have a story to tell, but no picture to go with it -- you STILL need to tell the story. I decided to let a bit of my "artistic" self emerge to create the setting for this particular story. So I had fun with paint and stamps...making sure to leave room for the STORY. Do you have a story to tell? I can't wait to read it! Go for it.

You know me...I love the layered page...I love techniques...I love distressing....but every once in a while -- I want to get back to the basics. These two pages were really about letting the cardstock be the basis of the page....and I like how they turned out. They are from two extremes of Weston's life -- but in both -- he clearly knows how to work the camera... In this first one, I tried to make the Mickey Ears reflect the "REFLECTION" of weston in the pictures.... I think that the red pops off the page a bit more because I outlined the letters....just an idea. If you are using a Cricut, you can use the Cricut Color Markers before you cut out your shapes and they will come out evenly outlined...a time saver and a nice touch. On this layout, I used one of the Cricut Shapes from the Graphically Speaking cartridge. It is an element that I think was intended as a "foundation" shape for a mini-book...but I resized it to FILL THE PAGE....and I love the rounded e...

I have used two different kinds of embossing on this layout. The birds and the script underneath the tag are both stamps that I then used embossing powder on and then heat set. The tag is something new that I just discovered you can do with your Cuttlebug. If you will ink your Cuttlebug Embossing folder(any kind of ink other than permanent ink like Stazon) prior to running your paper or tag through the Cuttlebug you will get a very interesting embossed background. I tried inking both sides of the embossing folder and found I like the results best on the side that actually has the Cuttlebug logo printed on it. When you are done, just use a baby wipe to clean off any remaining ink. My mind is spinning with fun new ideas...and will be sure and post them here. Hope you have had a good Saturday...is it Spring where you are?

I had a great time Friday Night with my scrappy girls! It was cold and messy outside -- but as usual it was warm, fun, friendly and full of encouragement inside! I had a couple more ideas about how to add an "edge" to your page and thought I would share them with you. In the layout above (ok...how funny is that picture of me and my sister putting on a "show?") I used a piercing tool to prepare my layout for some hand stitching (I wanted to add a bit more orange to the layout). Then before i did the sewing, I used some distress ink in a similar tone to the background cardstock to darken the edge...then went ahead and added the orange stitching. On the layout below -- I simply used a pencil and a scalloped edge ruler to mark the scallops onto my background. I then painted with white paint on the outside of the scallops and finished it off with a sharpie giving a good thick line to the edge.

I love this picture of my two nieces. Lindsey got to go visit her new sister in Guatamala. I wanted a little bit of an edge to the page -- but didn't want to distract for those cute little owls or the picture -- so I stitched close to the edge and then used a bit darker distressing ink and rubbed it into the edge. I like the effect...an instant subtle border. Try it...and let me see what you come up with.

I love the special look of a die cut edge...but I also like them in smaller sizes than they usually come in -- so I decided to try and make my own. I used a corner and edge punch by Fiskars and then trimmed along the shapes to create the wavy edge. To set off the edge, I used some distress ink to darken the outer edge. I also wanted to stamp just on the inside part of my card. To do that -- I created a mask out of a piece of scrap paper. I placed the mask over my decorative edge and stamped with my script stamp to fill in the center. This is an easy technique to use anywhere on a layout. You can create a shape and then stamp inside of it on your page. Lots of possibilites. Have a great week.

I wish that I could give you a huge list of things that I am currently doing that would be considered "green." But, in reality, I am taking baby steps. A layout that you will see later this week was inspired by a moment of exasperation when yet ANOTHER yellow pages book showed up on my doorstep. It feels like these HUGE books get outdated faster than they can be printed -- and with competitive books -- it just means that the number you are likely to get is doubled. I hate the idea of throwing out pages and pages of paper into a landfill...so I looked at the book a little and decided there were at least TWO uses I could repurpose it for. The first was as a leaf/flower press. I am going to try and do some mono prints with natural materials...and having them FLAT is a key part of that....so now that book is my official press. I took a few minutes and added some wax paper between several spaced out pages...and it is ready and waiting for spring and my mono-printing project. The f...

Journaling: Serenity on the face of a woman captures a sense of eternity in a way that beauty never could. I have tried lots of ways to take an image and transfer it to paper or fabric -- and this is one of the easiest. One of the things I like, is that you can print the image out on your own ink jet printer -- on a transparency. Remember that it will transfer "backwards" so if there is writing on your image, you will want to select print mirror image on your printer settings. Here are the steps for doing the transfer: 1. spread a generous amount of gel medium (gloss or matte) onto your paper or fabric. I really can only tell that I have enough by spreading it out with my fingertips. It needs to be very moist and "slickery." 2. Quickly put the image (printed side down) into the gel medium and let it sit for at least 30-45 seconds. 3. Take a spoon and begin to rub from the center to the edges fairly firmly. Because it is a bit slippery, use one hand to ho...

For this card, I really wanted the leafy background -- but I also wanted to make sure I had room for the stamped word "passion." First, I stamped the word "passion" with red ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I used clear embossing ink and stamped the background and sprinkled espresso embossing powder. Before I used my heat gun to melt the powder, I took a soft paint brush (soft works much better than stiff) and holding the card upside down, I brushed away the powder that was covering up my previously stamped word. Once I had removed the extra powder, I heated the background. The embossing powder acts as a resist so I could then rub distress ink into the cardstock and stain the paper with various colors to create the multi-hued background. It sounds like a lot of steps...but it really is very simple...try it!

Similar to the stamping we did on the buttons a few days ago -- you can also stamp on a sheet of acrylic or a transparency to give added dimension to your embellishments or pages. You will need to use solvent ink (like Stazon) and give it a few minutes to dry before handling -- but I love the look of stamped images over other elements on my page. On this page, I stamped the tree and the butterfly in white and then put the piece of acrylic on pop-dots (in the corners -- hidden by the eyelets and twine) to raise it up off of the sheet of butterflies. I also used rubons (American Craft -Jane) to add the word, flutter . Below is the finished page. I saw an ad in Anthropologie that showed a window with this pale blue color behind it -- it was filled with butterflies and was totally inspired to try and recreate it a bit. Journaling reads: It is my nature to worry and when things are not going quite right, my heart begins to flutter with anxiety. I am so glad that my Father in heav...

I am just a fan of words...in all shapes and forms....so using book pages as part of a background is a natural for me. However, sometimes your images can get lost on the page because of the strength of the words on the book pages...so what do you do to "tone it down" a bit? Gesso. Gesso is slightly chalky -- but is very opaque (which is why it is good for covering things up as a primer)...so you want to be a little careful how you use it or you will totally obliterate the words from your background. I have found that if you load your brush with gesso and then use a paper towel to "brush off" most of the excess gesso -- you will get a nice "dry brush" effect that softens the words or images on your background papers -- still allowing them to be visible, but not dominant. The other thing I did on this card was to dry brush just a touch of cream color acrylic paint over the gesso -- I could have put the acrylic paint into the gesso to tint it (which I ...

This technique has so many variations, it could keep you busy for WEEKS! hee hee I think you will be seeing it from me several times in the days to come because my mind has been having fun thinking up new projects to try out -- so hopefully I will have some to share soon. Let me share with you the basics...and then I would love to see what you come up with. Basic Embossed Resist Technique: 1. Ink a stamp with embossing ink. 2. Sprinkle the stamped image with embossing powder (clear or tinted). 3. Heat the embossing powder with a heat gun until melted. Let cool. 4. Apply distress or chalk inks in multiple colors to background. 5. Wipe the excess ink off of the embossed image with a baby wipe. A few variations you might want to try: 1. Use colored ink for your stamped image. 2. Used tinted embossing powder (or put different colors on different areas of the image). 3. Collage multiple stamped images. 4. Use Distress Embossing powder -- and rub the release crystals off prior to inki...

I am so excited about this Monday morning...I think there is something fresh and new about the beginning of a new week. Hope you are anticipating a great week too. Today's card started from a scrap of vintage wall-paper. I sometimes think I am an "old" lady stuck in a young woman's body -- just because of the things that I love! There really wasn't much needed for this card after I glued the scrap of paper to my card...just wanted to pull out some of that red and green in the embellishments...and chose a couple of buttons to do that. They looked too "modern" on the page...so I decided to stamp a bit on them. To stamp on plastic you need to use solvent ink (Like Stazon or Archiver Ink by Ranger). Because of the rounded surface on buttons, I have found that small stamps work best. You can stamp and turn the button several times until it has been covered with the image the way you like. Just tie a bit of twine through the buttons and add to your page.....

Add stamped images or words to a card or layout by putting them on material. I like the frayed edge of this label (I ripped the fabric rather than cutting it to give it the frayed edge). To get a crisp image don't use chalk or water based inks...they will absorb and blur when printed onto the fabric. I use solvent inks like Stazon on Archival Inks by Ranger.

I am having so much fun playing with acrylic scraps these days. I used a left over piece of Hambly Clearly Heavy overlay to for the foundation of this card. I put the piece through my cuttlebug and cut out the flower shape...and stamped the petals with Stazon Opaque White. To create the look of marble I used three shades of blue alcohol ink (with a bit of liquid extender) on a felt pad and pounced them over the acrylic card...leaving the flower blank. Let the ink dry and then repounce. Finally, I backed the card with a piece of white vinyl. The vinyl has texture and adds depth of color to the ink stained card. Embelish with doodling and liquid pearls.

This is another fun "faux" technique. To create this faux wax seal I used embossing ink, UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) powder, heat gun, small piece of chipboard, Perfect Pearls, a bit of acrylic paint or some alcohol ink -- and finally a rubber stamp or wax stamp. It is also helpful to have a pair of tweezers Begin by cutting a circle out of chipboard slightly smaller than the size you want your finished "seal" to be and covering with a good coat of embossing ink....and sprinkling UTEE powder to cover. Sprinkle a mound of UTEE powder on a scrap piece of paper for dipping. Melt the powder with your heat gun (holding it with tweezers) and then immediately dip the chipboard in the little mound of powder while it is still warm...and then melt that layer as well. Continue this process -- along with sprinkling a bit of Perfect Pearls onto the top dipped chipboard in between meltings. Let the UTEE melt over the sides. When you get a thickness that resemble...

I love the look of old book papers...or printed leather...and I think this technique gives me a feel of that with just a couple of steps. First begin by covering your substrate with torn pieces of masking tape. Overlap them at odd angles for the best results... Next brush a thin layer of mod podge over the surface and let it dry. Finally, create a tinted glaze by adding water to acrylic paint. If you want it to stain darker use less water...the lighter you want it -- use more. Brush the glaze over your background and let it stand for a few moments, then use a paper towel to wipe it off. Repeat to add depth...and maybe even change the color of the glaze to give it even greater depth. It's as easy as that.

I am feeling the need for a little sunshine today. Actually, when I woke up this morning -- the clouds were gone...and there was just the hint of a sunrise. The birds were certainly taking advantage of it. Oh, I know that winter still has many more days ahead -- but I love when you get a hint of the spring to come. Today's card is my only little bit of sunshine. It is a gesso - resist technique. You first put the gesso down on your background...I used white...but you can tint gesso with acrylic paint to make it whatever color you like. Gesso has a chalky base...which makes it resist the Distress Inks (by Ranger and Tim Holz). After you rub in two or three colors of the distress inks (I chose shades of yellow, orange and red) -- spritz with water...it gives a water stain effect...and the bit of dampness lets you wipe away the bit of ink that is on the Gesso. I then stamped with archival/solvent ink (like Stazon) and embellished. Hope you have found a little sunshine in y...

Oh Yes...is it cold indeed here! This is a fun little technique I thought I would share with you...putting a picture under an embossed transparency! Am having so much fun with my cuttlebug lately...since I discovered that you can put thin acrylic through it...Like I did on these Heidi Swapp letters.... on this layout about my new niece!

I love my old typewriter. I love the sound of the keys striking the ribbon and making their mark on the paper. There is something very satisfying about touching the key and knowing that touch will actually CREATE words on a page. Don't get me wrong...I love all the things that my computer does for me...but one thing I like BETTER about my typewriter is that the INSTANT gratification of the printed word it gives me...yeah -- I am a bit "old school." Today's card started out as a thin piece of cardboard...to which I Mod Podged some scraps of a sewing pattern...If you look closely -- I was REALLY going for the SIMPLICITY theme because that word was actually part of the pattern...but in the end...it needed this little blue tree and the words, "Let go for a moment...Just Be."