Stacked Stones Studio!

They're cute aren't they? I had so much fun taking pictures for them before Prom...and I can't wait to get to my scrapbook table with these pictures...never pass up the perfect opportunity to put bling on a layout with my favorite son in it! I don't even think he will object this time. *smile* My favorite picture...and the cool thing is that he doesn't even know that he would put Tom Cruise to shame with those shades and that smile. Here are a few layouts I have been working on lately... I am totally in love with my Cricut Expression. When you add the Design Studio (on my computer) -- you have the ability to create your own shapes and cut full page images. I made this lattice background by "welding" snowflakes together... If you have a Cricut I would be happy to share the cut file -- so just drop me a note and I will be happy to send it to you. I saw flowers kind of like these in a magazine and had to figure out how to make them. I ended up just using a...

where have you been? I know -- I have been a very bad blogger! So sorry! I've missed you too. The answer is that we made a very last minute decision to be a part of the Nashville Women's Home Show -- and it took just about every single moment (had to cut back on both potty breaks and sleep) we had to get ready. Thought I would share a few highlights for you. First.... a HUGE thank you to Je nni Bowlin ...who allowed us to use part of her booth from CHA to get started. Weston took it and added to it so we had a 10 x 20 foot booth with beadboard walls.... that looked like this. The What You Make It booth was filled with Scrapbooking albums, journals and memo books...all unique custom designs made with vintage materials. We introduced a new line of products called "Lil Bump Books." These are one of my personal favorites. They come in five color pallattes and are made from vintage 1930 reproduced fabrics that were found on flour sacks....just really sweet. Here are a coup...

Is it possible to have "too much fun!?!?!?" naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I had such a blast last weekend at Scrapbook Village's Spring Retreat. Neither snow nor rain -- and certainly not "dark of night" kept these gals from gathering at The Lodge in Glasgow, Kentucky. Except for stopping a few minutes to run outside and catch a few pictures of the beautiful snow (our biggest snow all winter) -- we cropped til we dropped! Ok...I admit -- there were a few ladies that stayed up later than I did...someone said they locked the doors to the big room at 3 am...and I am pretty sure I was snuggled up in my jammies before then. Friday night, I helped Lisa Galvin and Debbie Turner host a 'make and take' extravaganza...there were six stations with a different projects that were absolutely FANTABULOUS. A group of doctors attending the retreat serenaded us with "scrapbooking" songs...the likes I have never heard...they sounded strangely like Christmas s...

Hope you have a wonderful day...I appreciate each and everyone of you! We are working on a project to show our support to the viewers of WPBM 31 (Proclaim Broadcasting) who have been affected by the recent tornadoes and storms that caused such devastation in Kentucky and Tennessee. I hope to have more details the beginning of the week, but for now, I want you to know that my family and church are praying for you.

February 14th is Valentines Day...a good reason to use our The Big Stuff Journal to write about our big loves... As you prepare to work on your Big Stuff Journal, take some time to reflect on those things that have a piece of your heart. I divided my journaling into two parts... First, a list of things that I love. My list includes: My heavenly Father, Royce, Weston, my family -- dear friends, photography, teaching, reading, scrapbooking (of course), the beach. Secondly, a letter to myself reminding me what loving someone or some-thing means...it focuses more on the results of my love...not just the things that I love. I also chose for my quote this month John 3:16 which says, "For God so LOVED the world that He gave His only Son -- that whosoever believes in Him shall not die, but have everlasting life." I also thought you might like to see how I stacked some of my embellishments...I really like this trend in scrapbooking...and it is easy...just take a couple of embellishm...

Sometimes I find myself pondering what I consider to be "life's mysteries." Oh no -- not things like why can't there be world peace or equally heavy topics...but more like...Do we really need to be so totally accessible to the world at any minute of the day that we need a home phone, a cell phone, IM's on our computers, faxes, voice mail and blackberries, blueberris and the like? Or is it just man's continual search for the next cool "gadget" while distancing himself from the business of forming REAL relationships -- you know the kind where you get a cup of coffee (maybe a piece of good key lime pie) and sit down across the table from each other and just talk!?!?! I ponder these things not because I am a wise woman who would rather solve these matters than get caught up in "Dance Wars" or "Deal or No Deal" -- no I ponder them because in the space of 10 days I went from being the most connected (electronically) human being I know -...

Have you checked out this month's paper crafting kit? I have been having a lot of fun playing with it myself...I made a little mini-book and put it in the brown jewelry box that comes with the kit as a gift for Royce for Valentines...just a little place to write some sweet notes to him. There are some other layouts in my gallery ...and more to come in the next few days.

This is the view out of my hotel window in downtown Dallas. Love the lights of a city at night. The conference has been terrific. Really lovely people to work with -- and terrific music. I am now off to spend the night and a few hours tomorrow with my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew. Just an added blessing to the trip to get to see family too. Have a great Sunday

I thought it was only yesterday that I blogged...and then I checked the date on my last post...and had to just laugh...time just speeds by (when you're having fun, have a huge list of to do's .... or you are over 40!). I had so much fun getting together with a group of ladies that I have met on SIStv . We all got together for a day of scrapping, eating, giggling and all around fun on Saturday. It was actually one of my most productive days ever at a crop! It helped that we did several "round robins." Have you ever done that with your friends? The basics are: you start a layout with your picture...and you have anywhere between 5 - 10 minutes to begin. Then the buzzer rings and you hand it off to the next person at the table -- and you take the layout from the person on your right...and have 10 minutes to work on it. and so on and so on -- until your layout comes back to you....with a bit of everyone else at your table on it! I love it because it stretches me in a coupl...

We have lots to do this next year! I have been having the best time getting ready for our next taping of What You Make It . I have begun to get emails from you, our viewers, and it is such a treat to begin to imagine you on the other side of the camera while I am taping. Several of you have mentioned that you liked the segment we did on "scrapping our faith" -- so I have been working on some regular segments on that topic. Here is one of the layouts I am going to show you how to make this month. It uses our What You Make It Februrary Paper Crafting Kit that will be available in the store in a few days...and features the "fussy cutting" technique...where you cut out a portion of the patterned paper to use as an embellishment. I promise, it looks harder than it is -- I'll show you a couple of tricks that will have you "fussy cutting" all over your pages! Everything on the page (with the exception of the letter stickers) are in one of the February kits.....

Welcome to 2008. Have you made any New Year's Resolutions? I have a few -- and I will share them with you -- that certainly helps with accountability, right? But first a funny story... This is the honest, truth. A few year's ago I was standing in line at a Target store waiting to check out during an "after Christmas sale." I was amusing myself by people watching -- and I confess..."people listening" as there was a very animated group of women behind me chit chatting as they waited to check out too. The topic of their conversation was "pet peeves." They were talking about things that their husbands do that drive them crazy...and you can guess that there was a fairly common and specific list of complaints. But one of the ladies chimed in with a kind of unique one... she said, "I hate it when he uses a word that he doesn't know the meaning to -- and acts like he does...you know WORDS matter!" At the time, I had a couple of thoug...

I have had fun over the past couple of days getting to know my camera a bit better. I have been meaning to study my cameras' manual since the day I got it -- but just haven't gotten around to it. The very talented Becky Novacek has done a wonderful photography tutorial on Scrap In Style tv ... and I printed it out and grabbed my manual and worked through both of them over the past couple of days. Becky really emphasizes that she rarely uses her flash -- even for indoor photography...and I decided to take that as a challenge to learn how to do that (although her results are WAYYYYY better than mine) too. After playing with settings, and reading and re-reading both her tutorial, my manual and Brian Peterson's book, Understanding Exposure , I took the following pictures around my house. I did play with Photoshop on a couple of them -- but only to emphasize something that I liked -- no need to lighten them since the settings allowed me to get plenty of light without a ...

One of the things my grandmother, Jammy Jane, used to always say to me was "never stop learning." Her advice has become one of the tenets of how I live my life...I love to learn -- I love to try new things. I love to take classes from other scrappers -- I think it helps me think outside my "creative zone." Thought I would share with you something that I am participating in this Christmas...It is Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class. We get a prompt every day on what to journal about that day -- with a couple of challenges (ideas to try while we are working on our pages). I really wanted to participate in this class because I love the idea of recording some daily thoughts during this holiday season -- Honestly...there have been days that I did my writing/journaling but didn't get around to scrapping the page until the next day -- which I think is fine considering how busy this time of year gets to be. This is the cover...had a super fun time playin...

And perhaps my youngest student for a scrapbooking class EVER! She did great during my button painting class...look at the detail she put in the wreath and tree on these buttons! She ended up doing a full card....and her sister (younger than she is) also painted right along with us! Her mom did tell me that they do a lot of crafts -- but I still think she has a huge future in the arts! The class was in Glasgow, Kentucky at Scrapbook Village ...it is just a wonderful store...lots of yummy goodness that you just want to wander around for hours! I have been working on a journal called Journal Your Christmas ...it is a great way to focus on the important stuff during this season that can get overlooked in the hustle and bustle...hopefully will keep going all the way til the 25th. Will take some pictures of what I have done so far in the next day or so and share. Think about taking time to write down some of your observations about Christmas over the next few days...and then tuck ...

Ok....so today I intended to get all the white lights up...it is kind of the thing that signifies the :officialdom: of the Christmas season being in full swing. I start with the ceremonial placing of the nativity scenes (multiple ones in various rooms) -- and then move on to the placing of the trees/garland and the hanging of the WHITE lights. But being the "orderly" person that I am -- there are pre-requisites...like the house has to be cleaned first....I can sorta squeek by on the nativity scene activity -- afterall Jesus was born in a MANGER -- which probably wasn't totally clean either...but the rest of it -- the decorating the house simply requires cleanliness. I have been in a major organizational tizzy...trying to figure out a way to use my guestroom (still as a guestroom) and as a warehouse for kits for the show. I have company coming -- and I would prefer for them to not to have to sleep on the shelves! *smile* So....as I said when I started writing...I INTENDED ...

Thank you so much for all the great feedback you have given me about these Christmas letters we created for an episode of What You Make It . I used vintage Christmas sheet music, Tinkering Ink papers and German glass glitter...I got the letters from Deb Dambroise Designs -- she has so many absolutely FANTABULOUS letters, shapes and words. She is also offering these letters ( Tuscan Joy ) along with Melissa Francis paper in a kit that I thought you might enjoy...go check out her store on ETSY...I know you will fall in love with her products the way I did. She also has a very inspirational blog... here .

Do you watch You Tube? I occasionally will find a link that just makes me laugh...and this video is just that kind of thing. These boys cannot dance...but I love how committed to this video/dance that they are....The boy in front knows the words...the one in the back is bustin some moves! Enjoy...Happy Monday

A few days ago, I pulled out my Mom's nativity scene and was hit by a wave of nostalgia. First of all -- I remember my Mom making it -- it is ceramic and back in the 70's it was the creative "rave." (Ceramics, that is). Instead of painting the figurines, she chose to antique them and then just put a cream glaze...very timeless and classic. They became a centerpiece of our holiday decoration...one of the first things we put out when we started decorating. It was really fun to pull each of the pieces out and reminisce. What a great reminder then (and now) that Jesus' birth is the "reason for the season." I decided to have a little photo shoot (so much easier than with people, by the way -- ceramics are VERY cooperative -- stand where you want them to stand and don't mind you taking TONS of pictures *smile*)...and did a little layout with Kelly Panacci paper to capture my memories from my youth -- and perhaps the new tradition of this nativity s...

Don't you just love the Christmas paper from Basic Grey...Figgy Pudding? I do -- they always amaze me with how versatile it is...you can go graphic with it -- or more layered collage and it just works -- depending on what you want from it. I decided to layer it for this layout of the boys...the title I combined the BG raw chipboard "HIP" with the monograms that match the Figgy Pudding paper. I particularly liked that they are both self adhesive -- totally speeds things up a bit. I added some paper glaze on top of the letters to give them a bit of shine. The journaling and frame are a couple of Sizzix die cuts from the same paper. After Thanksgiving the Christmas tunes went on -- and I got busy with Christmas...will have some new things to show you in the next few days. By the way, we only have nine more Advent Calendars in the store...but I am going to try and put some more together -- so if they are sold out by the time you get to them, please check back -- I will...

There is a family of deer that lives in our neighborhood. With the drought here in Tennessee, they are going to have a hard time this winter. Royce has put a trough out with corn for them. I think it will be fun to sit out on the porch and watch them come to feed in the back yard...wonder if Rudolf will show up!?!?! Hope you all had a good black Friday -- did you go shopping? I stayed away...just didn't feel like fighting the crowds. Weston however, went to spend the night with friends camping and waiting for Best Buy to open. I am sure I would have thought that was quite an adventure when I was 17 -- but at 46...it just sounds like a cold sleepless night!