Stacked Stones Studio!

We don't know!?!?!? He just came out of his room this afternoon with a George Washington wig, a spear and a shield. I thought he looked like a Zulu Amedius! He just cracks me up... Life is never boring around our place! This will be a fun "scrapable moment." Hope you've had a GREAT Christmas! Ours has been wonderful...and full of many strange moments...stranger than the picture of Weston! Remind me to tell you about it someday.

First of all -- I had a delightful "spontaneous" evening with some girls from my church the other night. One of them called and said she wanted to have us over for some scrapping...then the weather turned bad and we decided not to do it...and THEN -- the weather seemed to pass north of us -- so we went anyway! Because by the time I knew I was going I just needed to "grab and go," I took my tool bag, a handful of pictures and a small bag of random things that were sitting on my scrap table (ok -- one of them was a kit from Jenni Bowlin) and went. It was good to sit and chat with the girls -- scrap a little and laugh a lot. What an unexpected blessing. I finished the layout titled, "It's Good." I have also discovered the BEST stamping tool ever! It is called a Stamp-a-ma-jig. It is the perfect tool for placing your Stamps exactly how you want them. I have been intimidated by stamp sets that required "perfect placement" like this PRECIOUS vi...

Christmas is my all-time favorite time of year. I love celebrating Jesus’ birth. I delight in the decorations, the smells of Christmas baking, the chill in the air and of course the wonderful time with family and friends. But as busy as December gets – I sometimes feel like I need a holiday AFTER Christmas – to recover and catch-up. Do you? Well, I have the perfect day planned for you and some of your friends. Saturday, January 17th Come and crop all day! Once the packages have been opened and all the pictures taken (and maybe even printed) – come spend the day with me and a few friends. We have scheduled an all day crop at the Holiday Inn Express located near Providence Marketplace in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. This newly opened facility is beautiful and will provide a wonderful place to relax and be creative. It is also located very close to JoAnn’s, Staples, Target and lots of yummy restaurants. What is included? The cost for the day is $50 and includes one technique class and lu...

This is what happens when a friend gives you a box of inchies a few weeks ago and they sit staring at you on your work table ....day...after ....day. And finally, in a move to conquer the staring of the inches you wrestle them out of the box and make them do what inchies do....make small things....lots of them. Ahhhh ...but the dilemma doesn't end there....are inchies just inchies -- for the sake of being an inchie ...or is it proper and polite once you've conquered them to sweep them back together -- and make their small parts part of a whole bigger "thing" once again? See this was my dilemma as I baked pies and bread today...do I just work on a couple and say..."ta done!" and move on...but in the end...my inchies told a story....and the story was told better by letting each little inchie play his or her part. (you know they do all the voices -- they don't just read it in a monotone voice -- if you haven't heard an inchie performance you ar...

I do! Well...what I mean to say is -- I LOVE my Cricut Expression. It stays out on my work table -- and I find all kinds of ways to use it in my scrapbooking and just day to day projects. I was fortunate enough to have ProvoCraft (the creators of the Lil Bug and the Expression) ask me to be in their infomercial. I flew out to Salt Lake City and just had a blast with the video crew and the team at ProvoCraft. I have had a few friends start to see it on TV and have asked -- so YES... that is me...in the flesh -- telling everyone how much I enjoy my Cricut Expression. I have provided you a link to see two of the testimonials that they pulled out of the commercial -- if you are interested (you will probably recognize my face on the first one -- the second one is a picture of a pillow *smile*). I think if you go to the home page there is a way to watch the whole thing if you want to -- and have the connection speed. Ok...so I am not quitting my day job -- nor am I likely to get a job as th...

I have recently begun attending a women's Bible Study here in Mt. Juliet. I wish you could see the HUGE smile on my face as I type that. I have missed studying God's word alongside other women. When I lived in Dallas, this was so much a part of my every day life -- it wa s almost like breathing. But with my travel schedule being what it has been the past 5 years -- it has been virtually impossible to make the kind of commitment to bible study group that one should when beginning a new study. It might have been different if there had been a group of ladies that I was already grounded with -- and they could have pulled me back in based on our past relationships -- but, well -- enough about the past...because I am NOW studying with a group of ladies that are just a blessing from God to me. We are studying the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120 - 134) with Beth Moore...and these Psalms are just so perfect for me (well each of us actually)...because they were originally written for pilgri...

I have to confess...I have Christmas music blaring at my house. Ok...so, as far as I am concerned Christmas is fair game as soon as Halloween is over! And the music got me in the mood to create Christmas yummies...and I thought I would share them with you. I especially love my little Snow Angel.... She just looks joyful...so I had to put her on a JOY-ful tag! I really started out making these yummies as part of a gift exchange -- Jars of Whimsey with some girlfriends... So Zorina...or Terena...don't you be peeking here! Just look away! But I found that is was more fun to make them in MULTIPLES...seriously -- as long as you have the clay, glitter, glue and paint out -- you might as well make MORE...right? So I have put a few of them in my ETSY shop...just some fun little embellies for the Christmas scrapbook pages -- or maybe gift tags. I ended up creating special tags for each one too...yes, I know -- I am a bit obsessed with Christmas....it is my favorite time of year. Not ...

I am teaching a class in November on the 25th (Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving), here in Mount Juliet. We will be making a vintage Christmas Advent Calendar. Lots of fun techniques...and a great way to get ready to begin decorating for the holidays. Details below. The class is probably going to fill up pretty quickly...so please contact me asap to reserve your seat. This is similar to the calendar we will be making...but updated a bit with new papers and yummy bits.! Hope to see you there.

sandra said... whoa! those are loads of pages-i say 61!! SANDRA guessed it RIGHT on the NOSE! Hey Sandra...I will need to get your addy...so I can send you your "prize. Thanks for playing everyone. I was totally shocked when I sat down and counted them...thought it was in the 40's....am feeling pretty darn PRODUCTIVE now that I ponder the stack...and wondering WHEN I am going to get them put into the album. Have a great weekend.

in putting my finished pages into albums. I even have the albums...and the protector pages...it is just that I haven't sat down to do it -- and the pile just keeps growing and growing...and GROWING! These are pages I have finished since the first of June...so about five months worth...any guesses on how many? Shall we make it interesting? Post the number of pages you think I have stacked up here -- and I will send a RAK to the person who gets the closest. If two or more of you guess the correct amount -- I will do a little drawing to see who gets the prize. I should have taken the picture with the ruler in it -- for reference...but I forgot -- so I will tell you (for those of you that are mathmatically minded) that this pile is about 10.25 inches high. Good guessing. I will give you a week to make your calculations. Next Thursday, November 6th, I will post the winner.

Lists are good. At least for me! I was up by 6:15 -- three snoozes felt oh so good! But still up in plenty of time to get everything done before I headed off to my classes at Cumberland. It was a gorgeous day -- and I just felt GOOD driving to class knowing that I had accomplished everything that I needed to before I got to the school. My students were "on the mark." They all turned their papers in -- and nobody got lower than an 82 on the exam...I am real proud of them. With the new Monday=Friday class schedule, we have had less lecture time -- so I had to rely on them to do more work for themselves out of the book...and they had -- because there were questions on the test I hadn't covered in lecture. YEAH for them! While they took the test, I got started reading their papers...ok...so I didn't make much of a dent in 63 3-5 page papers..but I got started -- which puts me AHEAD of the list, cause grading papers wasn't even on it. After class, I went over to...

In Jann world that is...lists are what I live by. They guide me from one activity to the next most important activity -- allowing me to lose myself completely in whatever I am doing until the "list" comes and taps me on the shoulder (and with a bit of a british butler voice) says, 'I say, my dear, the list indicates it is time for you to wrap up these activities as you're Sssshhhhhhhhheduled (you know how they make the word SKEDULED start with the hissing sound a snake makes....)SSHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheduled to be fixing dinner for those lovely men in your lives. We don't want them starving now do we Mam? No -- I thought not...so -- put that down and come along.!" I know you think that last little foray into my brain was a bit odd...but you might find it totally ODDER still to discover that those voices do in fact reside in my day....and those days that I don't let them come out and be in charge of the "LIST" -- well -- they just don't...

I saw an ad on tv the other day where the main color pallet was bright blue, orange and brown...and I decided I wanted to do a layout along those lines. This is how that turned out. While I was working on it -- I ended up pulling out the foam stamps I made last fall -- for this layout. I needed to stamp some leaves for each of these layouts -- and didn't have the right size or shape of stamp that I needed..so I ended up making them out of fun foam. If you would like to make some for yourself here are the instructions . I made leaves -- but you could make anything that you can draw and cut out of fun foam. Send me a post and show me what you have created -- I love to see your creativity.

I had the most fun with Beth yesterday afternoon shooting her Senior pics. Obviously, the camera LOVES her...but she just had the sweetest spirit and was a bit adventurous...so we tried lots of fun things. I thought I would share a few of my faves. If you know anyone that would like to have a photo session done for engagement, senior pics -- or just for fun...please have them contact me.

I have found a couple of great on-line shopping spots for scrapbooking -- and I thought I would share with you... First of all you need to check out PaperCents.com -- cause they always have the latest and greatest and a bargain prices. If you would like to know how to get an even a few more dollars off your order, send me an email and I will hook you up! For unique rubber stamps -- I am a fan of Catslife Rubber Stamps . What I really love is that you can order them mounted or UN-mounted which saves a lot of money....just use some double sided tape and use an acrylic block -- or use self adhesive mounting foam and keep them in three ring binders (takes up much less space). And for Digi or Hybrid scrapping -- my favorite these days is A Cherry On Top scrapbook shoppe. Love that they have a wide range of digi papers and embellishments. You know -- even if you just want to add an embellishment to a traditional scrapbook page -- you can use your computer to create it -- so don't rule ...

Not good at all when a whole month goes by between postings!~ What could I have possibly been doing rather than blogging? Hmmmm.....let's see. I have been traveling quite a bit...Dallas, Philadelphia, Houston and Kansas City. We taped our 33rd episode of What You Make It . (can you believe it? I still am amazed that we done that many) I promise more in the next few days...but thought I would share a few projects I have been working on lately . These busts are from the challenge that Holly Wood and I did. We found these vintage department store busts...and decided to see what we could come up with -- mine is the one on the left (hers on the right). It was a fun challenge. Mine is called TRUE BEAUTY...based on something my grandmother used to tell me..."Jann -- to be truly beautiful, you need to be as pretty on the inside as you are on the outside." I chose to write my favorite scriptures and quotes and mod podge them to the inside.... The last picture is of some of o...

I have had a wonderful Scrap-urday! My guys are out of town...it is a long weekend...and I decided I was going to devote myself to just playing! I started out with my May kit from Jenni Bowlin....love, love love it! I always want to try something new with her wonderful bracket die cut page...and this new one has printed journaling lines on it. I cut half of it out -- and placed the red KI lace behind it. Journaling reads: I'm talkin' 'bout you two...my guys! I look at these two men in my life and my heart feels like it doesn't know whether to skip a beat of just pound riht out of my chest. You both have that dangerous twinkle in your eyes...and mischief in your heart. That same heart is tender and good -- willing to fight for the underdog. You are two independent souls tied together by blood, experience, love and family ties. Sometimes I can't tell one from the other -- and at others, your differences are so very evident. On any given day I think that I couldn'...