Stacked Stones Studio!

I had so much fun writing a guest blog post for Shanna Noel's Blog today ! She asked me to share whatever I felt led to do and perhaps share a couple of my current Journaling  Bible pages! You know me....she didn't have to ask twice, did she?!?! LOL If you have not met Shanna yet - you will LOVE her for sure...so be sure and scroll down past my post and meet her and some of her previous guests! I also created a printable page of tabs based on some of my artwork - and for those of you that use a Silhouette, you will find a cut file there for download too! I will be back with some fun new things to share very soon...but didn't want you to miss the goodies over on Shanna's blog! Hope you are enjoying the Advent and Christmas Season! Blessings, Jann

I would like to share a page from my Journaling Bible and I want  to tell you a little bit of the "backstory" to this journaling page - based on Esther 2:17. I was a missionary for almost 27 years. I have been blessed beyond anything I could have ever imagined - because I have seen God use me in ways beyond my abilities. So you would probably think that I walk into any situation feeling absolutely confident - but reality is, I sometimes find myself in a place where I feel like a duck out of water. And even at my age, I have to fight the urge to "duck and run!" (who knew I could use the word duck as both a NOUN and a VERB in a story about Queen Esther!?!?!) Esther has always inspired me to try and "step up to the plate" and allow God to use me in every situation I find myself in...but it is this little jewel I found in chapter 2 that has helped my "feelings" to get in line with my desire to be obedient. Esther felt like a "duck o...

Hey Friends! For the past month, Tim Holtz has been hosting a challenge  - and providing LOTS of inspiration as well. The challenge was to take his Sizzix Tattered Floral Die and to come up with a project that uses the flowers you create with it! Sounded like FUN to me!   I cut several sets of the flowers out of watercolor paper and stamped them with some Archival Ink. I knew I was going to be using wet medium to stain and distress them...and the best combo for that is watercolor paper and permanent ink. One of the things I discovered, is that stamping with Distress Paint will allowed me to use that image as a resist - so when I sprayed my flowers with Dylusions Spray... my white stamped pattern showed up! Super Cool Right?!?!? I have taped a tutorial and will edit this post to include it as quickly as I can! The flowers were so bright and "springy" - that I decided I just HAD to do a project that would   let me bring a little Spring into my house...sinc...

Mixed Media Canvas in Progress I have been a big fan of Ali Edwards for years. She constantly is a source of inspiration - and always reminds me (and all of her blog followers) that it is really important to document our every day life. The story matters. Words matter. Several years ago she introduced an idea - One Little Word - as she was contemplating a new year.  She challenged all of us to figure out what ONE word would be our focus for the next year. If you would like to read Ali's blog about ONE LITTLE WORD 2013, click here I have loved doing this for several years.  Some years it is really clear what my word is supposed to be...it is jumping up and down waving its arms to get my attention. And some years, like this one - it is more of a whisper...a whisper that I might have missed if I didn't pay attention. As I've been thinking about it for a few weeks - I think my word for 2013 is JOY! Not exactly certain what all of that will mean for me - but it feels ...

Hello sweet friends... Hope you have had a great weekend - and are looking forward to the week ahead! I just got a notice on my phone that middle Tennessee is likely to experience frost tonight!  Woo Hoo - I think that may mean that FALL is actually on its way here! YEAH! I was able to re-tape the video tutorial on the mini canvases - it was a little frustrating having to tape it with the camera off to the side - so I am really hoping to get back to using my computer and the overhead camera again soon! I apologize for the number of times I was demonstrating something out of frame or the goofiness of telling you to "look at something" that you clearly COULDN'T see because my left hand wasand was in the way! LOL.  Oh well - I learned a lot by doing this one and hopefully will do better on the next one. This afternoon, I got to start on the project I told you about in the video...the mini album that we want to send  to the family of the kidney donor Royce received ...

So they are a GREAT place to spend a little Creative Play time. These first two tiny canvases ended up being small thank you gifts for two sweet friends.  I found several of these small canvases (they are approximately 2.5 - 3.5 inches) back in the art department at JoAnn's - I think they were no more than $1.  They are wood framed and are basically square or ATC (artist trading card) sized. Small...and totally un-intimidating. I used Distress Stain (yeah - I can't seem to stop playing with that stuff) on the blue one and on the autumnal version, I used acrylic paint and acrylic washes.  The dandelions were stamped and then I used Sakura gel pens to add some dimension to the canvas.  I stamped the pumpkins with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored them with Copics  - but you could use colored pencils or Bic pens - hey - you might even try crayons...remember we're just playing so anything goes! I cut the pumpkins out and popped them up ...

Hello Friends... I am really glad to be back with another installment for our Creative Play series. If you are just now joining us...skip down a few posts and  catch up with us...or just jump in where we are...it is all good! *smile* Last time we talked about overcoming the paralysis of perfection by asking the question - "What if...?" and letting your natural curiosity take over. Today's method for helping you find that 5 year old that is hiding inside of you that just wants to CREATE is to spend some time "Creating for No Apparent Reason."  Sometimes the pressure of having an end product in mind shuts down our freedom...and when that gets shut down, we are less likely to create our best art.  So one of my ways of keeping myself "playful" is to take a few minutes when I may not have time to create a whole project - and use it to just make some backgrounds that I might use on another project....or not! Have fun watching the video...and then G...