Mariah Hechler: We Were Here

Just when you thought Mariah's style was all about clean lines and matted photos she decided to surprise us all with this beauty.  She used a combination of wet media on her background paper repeating the circular grain of the wood and picking up a little color from the patterned papers she selected to contrast perfectly with the black.  Read on below for Mariah's own words.

This was a super fun layout.  I really think I should be honest here and share that I haven't made a layout in quite a few years.  I've been concentrating on my photography. In fact, this photo was done in pure manual and I am using spot metering now.  I've been shooting in manual for quite sometime but the metering is different.  If anyone has questions about that, I will gladly answer.  

Anyhow, for this layout I started with a base of color with inks and sprays...which were dried out.  So I made the best  of it and used the few items I have that weren't dried out (like I said it's been a while for paper crafting).  I added some garden paint I had in tiny bottles to add the black. Some of the ink spots are Tim Holtz ink.  I added water to the ink that I had pressed onto a plate. Just push the stamp pad down and add water.  It's really versatile.   I really wanted to define the circular pattern of the paper from Simple Stories "Happy Trails" kit.  I love the messy look, really and truly.  I cut apart  some of the papers and added some embellishments from Clique Kits past kits to complete the layout.  I'm really happy with the layout and if you have any questions about the layout or photography, just ask.

It's been a lot of fun having Mariah as a guest. I am glad that she is getting back to papercrafting and I can't wait to see her share her work in the Clique facebook group.