Stacked Stones Studio!

I seriously love creating these collage stamped backgrounds! Wish I had discovered it sooner! I am so glad that the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Challenge got me thinking about this technique.  You can check out the beautiful card that Dawn made here. I am preparing for a class I am going to teach - French Country Inspired Projects . I have had fun researching...finding lots of things that will be my inspiration for creating these projects. I have started a Board on Pinterest called French Country. If you would like to check it out - there is a link over in the side bar that will take you to my Pinterest Account. So, as I am preparing for this class the first thing that I did was to look into color combinations and iconic images that would help give my projects the FEEL of French Country. I found that Golden Yellow, True Red and Deep Blues are often used - so I pulled out some of my supplies that might work within these color ranges.         ...

I am having the best time working out these stamping collages! You know I particularly love finding new ways to use supplies I already have...and this technique of using stamps from different collections and pairing them with inks of different intensity to create a cohesive collage is just SO MUCH FUN...and a terrific way to stretch your supplies. Here is a close up...I just love the way the frame draws attention to the silhouetted couple...but because the inks are lighter, the provide balance for the focal image (vintage camera). I also added some embossing to the top because it seemed empty - but I didn't want to add more stamping. Embossing can help you fill space with a bit of texture, but still allows you to maintain the balance of your other elements. The vintage camera is from a stamp set called Shutterbug Special. So very cool - and you can get a matching die...that also cuts that little pull out! Such a great way to add a special sentiment, note or tiny...

Hey Friends! For the past month, Tim Holtz has been hosting a challenge  - and providing LOTS of inspiration as well. The challenge was to take his Sizzix Tattered Floral Die and to come up with a project that uses the flowers you create with it! Sounded like FUN to me!   I cut several sets of the flowers out of watercolor paper and stamped them with some Archival Ink. I knew I was going to be using wet medium to stain and distress them...and the best combo for that is watercolor paper and permanent ink. One of the things I discovered, is that stamping with Distress Paint will allowed me to use that image as a resist - so when I sprayed my flowers with Dylusions Spray... my white stamped pattern showed up! Super Cool Right?!?!? I have taped a tutorial and will edit this post to include it as quickly as I can! The flowers were so bright and "springy" - that I decided I just HAD to do a project that would   let me bring a little Spring into my house...sinc...

If you are here in the US - today is Labor Day...unofficially a day for the last BBQ of the summer, a signal that fall is coming (not soon enough for me) and the last day we can officially wear WHITE (yes, I know that dates me...but growing up my Grandmother always told us we could only wear white after EASTER and before LABOR DAY...and I always listen to my grandmother). It was also a good day to catch up on a few projects, get the house straightened up and do a bit more decorating for fall. And I was excited to get to put together the little tablescape that I envisioned when I saw this cute filigree pumpkin at Hobby Lobby.  It needed a few more elements...and I wanted to bring in some of the colors of fall....so I picked up a variety of wooden acorns to go with it - knowing that I could find a way to add color to them (I forgot to take a "before" picture...but they were all brown like their tops - I didn't do anything to those). I did do a little video to show y...