Sara Jane's Studio

Style Stone Summary

I've played with Style Stones a lot over the last few years.  They are a wonderful man-made stone, pre-drilled, which is great for jewelry and embellishments for your artwork.  I've mostly had fun making jewelry.

 If you are interested, here is a summary of what you can see:

• Red and black Asian-theme bracelet
• Green and gold bracelet
• Coral and brown bracelet
• Green and brown bracelet
• Blue pendant and maching earrings
• Heart-shaped earrings
• Triangle earrings
• Review of Stye Stones on Craft Critique

And another great surface, size and shape for jewelry making is dominoes!! Check out these ideas:

• Palm trees and flowers
• Queen of Hearts necklace
• Domino pin

Let me know if you want to learn how to make these fun accessories, or even if you'd like to order something custome made!  Contact me and we'll work something out.

Stylish Style Stones: Part II

And here is another pair of Style Stone earrings.  This time I used the engraved triangles.  They are 1-1/4" across the top (as I show them here) and 3/4" top to bottom.

Even though no two are alike in this set of four, I did not mind making a pair of earrings.  I think it adds a little interest to have each one be similar, but not exactly the same.

For the base coat on these I used Encore Ultimate Metallic ink in "Teal."  Two coats, with heat setting in-between.  And I used the Clearsnap inking brush to get into all of the engraved areas.

Then I lightly applied Chocolate Chip Craft ink on the surface- and wiped quite a bit off, in an "antiquing" sort of approach.

The sides and the back were also covered with Chocolat Chip craft ink.  After heat setting, I sprayed them with a gloss finish acrylic spray.

Fianlly, they were embellished with gold jewelry findings, some cool square shaped beads in the same color and finish (pure good luck on my part to have these!!) and a coin pearl.  My jewelry findings and beads came from Fire Mountain Gems. 

Want to make some of your own?  Want to buy some custom-made to order for the holidays?  Contact me and let's see what we can work out!

 

Style Stone Earrings: Part I

More Stye Stone fun!!  If you are not familiar with them, these are man-made stone shapes from Clearsnap, pre-drilled, which can be embellished with all manner of materials and techniques.

This time, I used engraved Style Stones in the shape of hearts.

  These are pre-drilled from top-to-bottom, and measure 3/4" high and about 1" at the widest point of the heart.  Surprisingly, they are light enough to wear as earrings, so that's what I did with them.

The first step was to color them directly with my ink pad:  I used Cameo Coral Craft ink,  two coats, and heat set each coat with my heat gun.  To get into all of the little nooks and crannies, I used on of Clearsnaps' style stone inking brushes- which is nothing more than a very small stipple brush.  (They can often be found in big box craft stores and art stores, for use in stencilling.)

Then I used my Chocolate Chip craft ink, and tapped it onto the Style Stone lightly, so that it only colored the top surface.  After heat setting, I sprayed with a gloss finish acrylic spray to seal them.  The finishing touch was a tiny red rhinestone heart in the center of the star.  (Some times it pays to buy things even if you have no immediate use for them!!  I've had the little heart since I can't remember when- and FINALLY had the perfect place for it!)

They were completed with gold jewelry findings and brown glass drops.  (FYI- My favorite online source for all kinds of beads and jewelry-making supplies is Fire Mountain Gems.  Huge selection, and good prices.)

 
If you are local (ie somewhere near Boston) and want to learn how to make this kind of fun and unique jewerly, contact me!  Or, if you want to order something custom-made, contact me!  I look forward to hearing from you!!

Blue Pendant

I've been having fun with Style Stones again, from Clearsnap.  If you want to read more about the Style Stones themselves, you can check out my product review on Craft Critique. 

One of the things I love about Style Stones is that they are a ready made surface which can take all manner of decoration and embellishments.  AND they are pre-drilled- which is a lot easier than having to drill it yourself.  This particular project makes up in only a few hours, and yet it looks like it came from a trendy boutique.

For this pendant, I started with the next-to-largest size oval cameo:  it measures  only 1" top-to-bottom and 3/4" side-to-side.  I used my Taken with Teal Craft ink padd, and tapped it directly on the top and the sides of the cameo.  Two coats were required to give a deep, even color, and I heat-set each coat with my heat gun.  NOTE:  These puppies really take up heat!!  So dont' handle them immediately after using the heat gun.  Instead, I always make sure I have a couple of stones in progress at the same time, and just switch off between them when one of them needs to cool.

Once the second coat was cool enough, I stamped the circular image from the Charming stamp set from Stampin' Up! using Whisper White Craft ink.  Then I embossed with white embossing powder.  WHen this was cool, I added a top coat of Crytal Effects to give it a nice gloss finish.  And before the Crystal Effects was fully set, I dropped in a tiny turquoies rhinestone from my stash.

"Charming" Stamp Set Images

The cameo was finished around the edges with my trusty Krylon Gold Leaf pen.  I used gold jewelry findings, and hung it on a piece of navy blue velvet ribbon. 

And since I can never go without matching jewelry, I made these sweet little earrings to go along with the pendant.

I like the fact that the white inage is not perfectly solid -  it has the feel of batik to it.

Like them?  Need one or more for holiday gifts?  Just drop me a line- a set will be $35 (plus shipping) and can be made to your specifications.

And check back for more jewelry ideas using Style Stones.

 

Give Thanks

No matter what I do this autumn, I seem to keep finding another beautiful color combination and feel like I have to make another card....

This one uses the Polished Stone technigue on glossy cardstock, applied over a resist.

I started by stamping the leaf images from Autumn Splendor (in the Holiday Mini Catalog) using Versamark Ink, on white glossy cardstock.  They were then embossed with clear embossing powder.  These embossed images will resist any application of ink, and provide the bright white contrast against the colored background.

For the background, using the Polished Stone technique, I used Soft Suede, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red and Old Olive inks. 

The image was trimmed to 4-3/4" X 3-1/2" and mounted on Soft Suede cardstock, trimmed to 5" X 3-3/4", and this was adhered to a More Mustard card base.

The sentiment is from the Hostess Set called Holiday Best.  Using the Direct to Rubber Technique, I colored the words with Soft Suede ink, and the leaves with Old Olive (and a touch of brown).  I stamped this on Whisper White, and trimmed it to 1" X 2-1/8".  I used Stampin' Dimensionals to attach this to a piece of Soft Suede (1-1/8" X 2-14") and then again onto Ruby Red (1-1/4" X 2-3/8").

Three strips of Ruby Red were cut  to 1/8" X 5-1/2", and attached to the lower third of the card with SNAIL adhesive, and the sentiment was attached with Stampin' Dimensionals.

This would make a lovely invitation to your Thanksgiving feast (use the Please Come or Introducing stamp set on the inside) or as a thank-you to your hostess (f you are lucky enough to not have to cook!!)
 

Bright Blessings to You!

I will admit that this is my favorite of the autumn cards that I've made this season.  I'm not sure I can adequately explain why...  A combination of the gentle colors, and the lovely sentiment, I suppose. 

It starts with a Soft Suede card base, and the Bright Blessings jumbo Stampin' Around wheel.  If you subscribe to my newsletter, this is the same wheel that I used in one of the 12Weeks series newsletter for a notecard and a placecard.

And the fun part is that you can use the direct to rubber technique on a stamping wheel in the same way you can use it on a wood block-mounted stamp!  (Click here for a reminder tutorial.)  Remove any ink cartridge from your stamping wheel handle, and insert the wheel into place.  Then color the images as I did, with Soft Suede, Really Rust, So Saffron and Bashful Blue, right on the wheel.  (Below, I show the wheel being inked before it went in the handle.  You can do that, too, but then be careful when you do put it in the handle that you don't accidentally wipe any ink off the surface.)

Once the inked wheel is in the handle, "huff" on it to remoisten the ink with your breath, and roll the image onto some Whisper White cardstock.

Re-ink the oak leaf shape with Really Rust, and stamp it again.  Then re-ink the other leaf image two more times with Soft Suede, and stamp it twice.  Cut all three of these out, leaving a narrow margin around the image.

Trim the image to 3-1/2" wide by 2-3/8" high.  Mount on a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock 4-1/8" X 2-5/8"- aligning the right edge.  Then tear the left edge of the Chocolate Chip.  Mount this on a piece of Really Rust cut to 4-3/8" X 2-7/8", again aligning the right edges.  

Add a silver brad to the upper left corner of the Really Rust cardstock.  Mount the entire piece onto the Soft Sueded, about 5/8" from the top, and aligning the right edges.  Using an Xacto knife or other hobby blade, cut a short slit just under the edge of the Chocolate Chip cardstock, about 2" down from the top of the card base.  Slip a 6" length of ribbon through the slit, and tie in a knot on the front.  I used some fun ribbon from my stash, but the brown ribbon included in the Orchard Ribbon Originals package also looks great.

Using Stampin' Dimensionals, attach the individual leaves to the front of the card as shown, and you are done!  Bright Blessings to your friends and family!

 

 

The Colors of Falling Leaves

And in the continuing series of cards made with the Falling Leaves stamp set, here is a bright and cheery one for Thanksgiving.

The card base is Crushed Curry, a standard A2 size, with the fold at the top.  The leaf images are stamped on a piece of Whisper White trimmed to 3-1/4" square using a combination of Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Soft Suede, and Rich Razzleberry.  The stamped images are adhered to a piece of Old Olive trimmed to 3-1/2" square, and then to the card front.

The 1/2" Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon in Dustry Durango gets wrapped around the card front and tied in a knot.  Then, using Stampin' Write Markers, (More Mustard, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive) color directly on the rubber of the little acorn medallion image, and stamp on Whisper White.  This image is punched out with a 1" circle punch, and attached to the polka dot ribbon with Linen Thread.

A great way to remember someone on Thanksgiving!

 

So Thankful for Falling Leaves

Here is another delightful card made using the Falling Leaves stamp set from Stampin' Up!  It is perfect for a special someone this time of year, or as a "thank you" card.

The card base is made from the lucious Rich Razzleberry, one of this years' InColors.  It's a standard A2 size (4-1/4" X 5-1/2"), with a fold on the left, and the front edge torn to create some texture.

Punch out 1" circles from textured Chocolate Chip and Dusty Durango, a 1-3/4" circle from textured Old Olive, and a 1-3/8" circle from More Mustard.  Stamp the images as shown using Rich Razzleberry, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, and Old Olive.  Trim them close to the images, and mount with Stampin' Dimensionals as shown.

Stamp the sentiment with RIch Razzleberry on Whisper White and trim to 2-3/8" X 1/2".  Cut a piece of Old Olive 2-3/8" X 1" and scallop with the Scallop Edge Punch.

Wrap a piece of 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in Chocolate Chip around the card, and tie in a square knot.

Add a silver brad to the More Mustard Circle, and adhere everything as shown with Stampin' Dimensionals.  Finish with a brown flower button from the Button Latte  set, and you are ready to gift this card to a special person!
 

Falling Leaves

Here in New England, I'd venture to guess that less than half of the leaves remain on the trees.  We had a lot of wind over the weekend that blew many down, but some areas still have some tenacious hangers-on! 

I've been playing with a great stamp set from Stampin' Up!, itself called "Falling Leaves".  And I'll share some fun card ideas for November over the next few posts.

This is a fun, and quick card, using a unique set of fall colors.

The card is Not Quite Navy, a standard A2 size (4-1/4" X 5-1/2") with the fold at the top.  I used the textured Night of Navy cardstock from the 12 X 12 package of the Earth Elements color family.

I stamped three leaf images with Pumpkin Pie ink on Pumpkin Pie cardstock.  The cardstock is cut to 4-1/4" X 1-5/8".  The "thankful" leaf image was stamped on Whisper White with Close to Cocoa ink, trimmed close to the image, and then mounted with Stampin' Dimensionals.  A piece of Naturals Ivory cardstock was cut to 4-1/4" X 1", and scalloped with the Scallop Edge punch.  I adhered it to the back of the Pumpkin PIe piece, and then added a piece of the 1/2" wide Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon in Crushed Curry to the back of the bottom of the Pumpkin Pie. 

Attach all of this to the front of you card, and finish with Linen Thread, wrapped around the card front, and tied in a bow!

Falling Leaves Stamp Set images