Stacked Stones Studio!

Well stink... The internet is off at my house...and me with three more videos to upload. Drats and double drags!  I am making a quick post here via my phone to let you know that I will upload the videos as soon as the internet is back.  I have been having fun creating cards like crazy  - I need to have a day to get the studio back in order!  Nah....I'm going to keep going while the mojo is stirring! Here are a few pictures to give you a taste of the projects I will share as soon as I can! Hope you have had a great day!

My studio is a MESS....but I am having a ton of fun. I've pulled together some projects that I hope you will enjoy and find some inspiration for your own card making. Let's get right to the first one. I fell in LOVE with these mustaches...and bought them - with not ONE thought of what I was going to do with them....sometimes you just have to do that....get the thing that speaks to you and figure out what to do later...especially when the "thing" was just $1.99. I now have a fun little 4.25 x 4.25 masculine card that I can use for a surprise note to my honey! Well...and since I made a second one to show you the process....I will have to come up with someone to send it to! Here is the first video... be sure and watch to find out how you can be eligible for my WCMD Giveaway.  Just a little added fun! Thought you might want to see that little alpha die up close...it is by Die-Versions and I got it here . They may be out of s...

 I have been a baaaa-ad blogger!  I actually have TWO projects to share with you...so hang on to your hats! The first is a fun "folk art" style card. And the technique I wanted to share with you involves using your "colorless blender" Copic market to add texture to images that you color. The stamped image is from Papertrey Ink's "Autumn Hills" set.  I love all the little bits and pieces that you get in the stamp set...I used two of the companion stamps to "spiff up" the inside. Don't you just love that "peek-a-boo" die cut strip down the right side of the card?  That is a fun Memory Box die called Piestra Tile.  The detail it adds really means that you don't have to do much embellishing  to your card...it does all the work for you! I did add just a touch of Chestnut Liquid Pearls in the centers of some of the lacey cuts. You will want to watch the video either here or on YouTube because it explains how to use your co...

I am SO EXCITED to share this project with you! I had so much fun playing and experimenting...and I am pretty sure I am not quite done with the "creative play" that started with this layout. As I told you in my last post, I have been enjoying the art of Louise Nelson...a designer who lives in Australia. She does some SERIOUS - outside the box creating.  You can check out her blog here.  Her projects have such a wonderful sense of movement and feel very organic.  I have been wanting to try and apply some of the things that she uses on her layouts, and this fall layout seemed the perfect time. See what I mean? She creates backgrounds that I would describe more as "back drops" for her overall design...I love it! I couldn't wait to try to create my own take on the inspiration that I find when I look at her projects. Source Louise uses "gray board" (raw chipboard) for her base and often uses gesso in a sprayable form to create her subt...

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...

These cards were just FUN to make!  When I was a little girl, my Mom taught Sunday School at our church.  Her class became known among us kids as the "messy fun" department! Even though we were dressed in our Sunday Best, Mom always had plenty of Dad's old dress shirts that we could each put one on backwards (buttoned at the neck) as an Artist SMOCK and then we were free to use paint or glue or whatever was needed for our project. Every fall one of her projects called for us to take a walk outside to gather  up some of the beautifully colored fall leaves. We would use wax paper to capture them for a "placemat" to use at home.  I think that is when my love of fall first began! I just LOVE the colors and the smells and sounds of fall. The "sounds of fall" you might be asking.  Yes - there are some distinctive sounds that signal fall for me. Crunching leaves, a whistle in the wind and one that you might not expect...the sound of a high school marching b...

Hello friends! I know that fall doesn't officially start until sometime AFTER Labor Day here in the United States, but in the "Land of Jann," I am SO ready for it to be fall that I am getting a bit of a jump on the season by starting a new series on the blog! (Hey don't judge me...I was in JoAnn's over the weekend and they had CHRISTMAS stuff up!) I love decorating my house for fall...and have a few projects in mind for that - just a couple of quick things that will freshen up my other decorations...so I will post a tutorial or two as I get those projects done. For the most part though, the projects that I have planned center around cards, gratitude journals (for myself and perhaps a friend or two...you never know - you might be that friend!) and a few other little things that I want to have ready for some family time at Thanksgiving.  I usually try and send Christmas cards to friends and family - but am going to try and actually send Fall/Thanksgiving/Thank...

Actually... o. my. stinkin' . stars! So...many hours ago I had an idea.  It was a simple idea. A good idea. An idea that it would be fun to do a "start to finish" video tutorial on making a simple birthday card. Did I mention that I had this idea HOURS ago? It is Royce's birthday tomorrow...and I had been thinking about the card I wanted to make for him for several days. It was all worked out in my head. So I got out all of these lovely supplies....and started the video camera. My had two parts to my beginning idea. The first was to use some star shaped wafer dies to IMPRESS the star image into the cover of my card. And for the second, Royce is always teasing me about saying "Oh my stars!"...and when I came across a stamp ( Papertrey Ink: Glory Be ) that had the Oh My Stars stamp in it, I KNEW I wanted to use that as the front sentiment for his Birthday Card. I don't know if you have ever tried to do this, but it is a pretty cool way to get ...

I found myself needing a card to send to a sweet friend this past weekend - and after digging through my stash of cards, I couldn't find ONE that was appropriate...and I was short on time to make one...but of course, I did.  I also made a mental note to sit down this week and get several cards made so I wouldn't be in that position again. Here are the basic cards I came up with....and I actually made about 10 of them in under 30 minutes. On some of them, I left the sentiment off so that I could add whatever I needed it to say, when I get to the point of sending them.  I used two stamp sets from Papertrey Ink: Simple Sunflowers and Stitches and Swirls to create the single layer backgrounds.  I thought you might want to see the process so I did a video showing how I made each of the basic cards. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a good week and if you find yourself without some cards (ready to go), that you will find a bit of inspiration with th...

Are you having fun watching the Olympics? I wish I were able to just sit and watch every moment...there is something about seeing athletes show up at their peak, give it their all and triumph. And my favorite part?  When they are standing on the podium...and they hear their national anthem play. You know they have dreamed of that moment...and I always wonder how much they are able to soak it in, or if it is all a blur.  I know I would just be bawling my eyes out...I can barely make it through our national anthem just sitting on the couch! I have so many projects going on right now with some pretty serious deadlines, so I have had to settle for having the Olympics on in the background...but I do run into the room when I hear tons of cheering. So I thought I would share my fun nails in honor of the Olympics and Team USA... Sorry the lighting is bad...but you can get the idea. I have had fun learning stamp on my nails. You can read THIS POST to learn how it is done. ...