Stacked Stones Studio!

That he made Santa's Official "nice" list! Here's the note that Santa pinned to Royce's stocking...on official Santa Stationary...from the North Pole! There will be no living with him in 2013! He will simply pull out his "proof!"  What was Santa thinking?

Chickadee Stamp: Impression Obsession Merry Christmas! I can't believe that it is Christmas Eve! I hope each and everyone of you are with people you love! I feel like I blinked the day after Thanksgiving and it was Christmas! Has time moved in double time in your life too? Crazy - I have gotten projects done, but haven't gotten them posted here on my blog...so let's slow down the clock....and catch up! This card started running around in my head from the moment that I saw the Poppy Stamp Arched Window Die (and Luminary Die). It reminded me of some of the old stone churches that I saw while I was visiting Scotland a few years ago. Then I found the Frosted Film (by Tim Holtz Ideology) - and a plan began to come together.  Sometimes it isn't about "just getting the project done" - you have to just follow the creative path and see where it takes you. This may be one of my favorite projects I have ever done. I enjoyed focusing on the details (like t...

This time of year I am convinced that the clock actually speeds up! I know the daylight is gone earlier - and even if I stay up later than usual, I still always feel like I am behind. But it is also my favorite time of year.  I love the crispness of the air. The fact that people seem to be kinder to each other (ok - I do NOT go to the mall EVER in the month of December, so please allow me to continue in my delusion that people are kinder! *smile*). I really love the twinkly lights and smile as I see homes all decorated with lights and candy canes and deer nodding their heads up and down. But mostly - I love knowing that this is the time of year that we pause and remember that Jesus - the Son of God - came to this earth to live among us as the Son of Man. Even typing those words gets me all choked up. It doesn't make sense - in human terms - that God would choose to come to earth and take on the body of man...and as a BABY no less. God, Who created the heavens and the earth - ...

I really love the Tim Holtz Poinsettia die and embossing folder! Used together they create a really gorgeous flower.  I cut several out of watercolor paper. I found that watercolor paper is great for using Distress Stains on - they absorb the color but don't pill up AND they give you a really great impression when you use them in the embossing folder. The key to making the flower so vintage and sparkly - is to use a combination of Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint and Dry Distress Glitter. Love how they turned out - they have a bit of a vintage porcelain flower look when you see them up close. I created a tutorial that you can watch here or on YouTube if you want to see the details of how I created the cover for my December Daily. Hope you have a great week...and be sure and save some time for creative play! Blessings, Jann

We're making progress! I've gotten the binding done and all my base pages mounted into "signatures." I didn't want to put the binding through the actual spine because I wanted to preserve the title - so I created a hidden "faux" spine to bind the signatures and then I can attach it to the front and back cover. I used seam binding to attach the signatures through the spine. Seam binding is strong - but keeps the vintage feeling of the overall altered book. I created a tutorial to show you the steps in the binding process...you can watch it here or on YouTube: I am working on decorating the cover - and will have that tutorial ready for you soon! Am pretty excited about how it is turning out.  Thanks for stopping by - and I hope you have a wonderfully creative weekend!

Hope your week is off to a great start and that you had some creative time over the weekend. I was able to work on a card for Sybil (JandSib80 on YouTube).  I really love this knit stamp set from PaperTrey Ink. I know I will want to make several more of these little Sweater Cards.  I'm trying to figure out how to make one of those tacky Christmas Sweaters (I still have a couple in my closet that my Mom gave me - I think she secretly wanted me to be a kindergarten teacher! LOL) Here is the tutorial I did for the Sweater Card. You can watch it here or on YouTube. I also got the base pages made for my December Daily! Do you see muslin patches I sewed onto the base pages? I had some Coffee Dyed fabric left over from when I made my Thanksgiving Blessing Box during the Fall Project Series  so check out that tutorial if you want to know how to make your own.  I tore it into strips and stamped some images and scriptures onto them.  I am going to ...

Well - I hope if you live here in the United States, that you have enjoyed too much food and plenty of good fellowship with friends and family today.  We had a lovely time - and the guys are in a turkey and football coma (absolute happiness for them, except I seem to have heard quite a bit of yelling at the tv screen - so I am assuming that their teams aren't doing too well!) The perfect time for me to come get a blog post written and to share a little December Journal Inspiration with you. Here is a flip through my journal from last year...and a little peek at my plans for this year's journal.  I have been planning this for a while.  Do you ever do that? Have an idea in your mind - and hope that what you create lives up to your imagination? I am excited about my idea...as I have been collecting bits and pieces for this one for several years...and I am going to be creating several tutorials that hopefully will keep your creative juices flowing if you are working on a Ch...

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...