Homegrown Hospitality

Grove's....

On Nov. 10th I will be teaching TWO of my new classes so get ready to create a beautiful mess in my favorite PA town, Huntingdon at Grove's and rumor on the street has it we might just have a whole new studio on the 2nd floor to create in...

I am going to be teaching these lovelies in honor of the upcoming holidays, you know, for the tree, BUT you do not have to pack these away once the tree is down because they were created to hang anywhere as an everyday reminder of how special we all are...and sometimes we need to remind ourselves as well as others...

and the next class is taking an ordinary book and making it an extraordinary art journal.  I am going to be sharing and teaching just about every technique I know and together we will create the start of an amazing journal ... For more information on these classes, head over to the Grove's site by clicking here.

Hope to see you in November!

 

Fear Not

The antidote to fear...Genesis 28:15

and quite possible the tattoo that I might get on my foot...I said "might", mom.... 

Fear

Bllahhhkkkk....

Something that I personally have battled for a loooonnnnnnggggg time (just ask my mom and dad!) and just when I thought it was over with (there I went thinkin again), I went and fully surrendered.

Who'd a thunk...

and then Pastor Rick hit the head on the nail yesterday when he said this:

"When you get serious about God..All hell will break loose"

perfect.

I am here to confirm that quote above and the only way to describe it is to say that it is like a garden hose on full blast that is flipping back and forth like crazy and you can not catch it....BUT, when you do get serious about God, you can handle things better than you can imagine.

Please do not get me wrong, I am not looking for sympathy....I am a fighter, sorta (not really, but you know what I mean).  I put on my boxing gloves, punch as hard as I can, kick, scream, battle...then pray through it...and get on with the day...the week..the moment...whatever it is and I am sharing it because I know that I am not alone and because you may need to hear this right now.

Fear has kept me from doing what I was created for and I am learning that I am always going to have to battle it because, dang it, it is not going to just go away....I just have to be stronger than it (so do you) and that is what I am working on right now, ya know, kinda like strength training.

Fear for me, and for you is always going to rear its ugly ugly head (thanks Adam!) and when it does you must believe that you can get through it, even when you are scared...it is called courage.

Sunday Morning Workout

My Early Sunday morning consisted of coffee & creative time starting with a lil' stamping

and 100 steps and layers later...

All part of my new HEart ART Journal Class...Dates and locations released soon...

Lovely...Inspiring...Beautiful...

I have been playing around with a combination of new Dylusions colors and am making a beautiful mess with trim, paper and tags...Mixing them with Tim Holtz products and a sprinkling of Brave Girl Tissue Creating coordinating trim (and gasping at the lovely "fallish" colors)

Adding color to ribbon trim to coordinate and drying it (and gasping at the colors) and putting it all together and loving it Do what you love to do and it shows in the work you do...we could set the world back on its axis if we would all just take a little time to do it...

Here is what I used:

Ranger Non-Stick Kraft Sheet	#5 Manila Tags	Ideaology Lavish Trimmings	Ranger Heat It Craft Tool	Jet Black Archival Ink
SA Classic Favorites - Borders	SA Classic Favorites	Tim Holtz Distress Markers	District Market Tissue Wrap - Terminology	Glue-N-Seal
Dylusions - Postbox Red	Dylusions - Pure Sunshine

InLinkz.com

 

 

Note to Self..

New Things...New Ways

It has been awhile since I have been out and about teaching in-store but I am actually in the midst of getting ready to announce a little road tour soon to teach you how to make these lovely reminders to hang, not only on your Christmas tree...but wherever..as a reminder that YOU are Loved...

and that YOU are beautiful

and amazing & kind...

But not only will I be traveling from store-to-store, I have also added a few to my ETSY store (with more coming soon..) you know, in case you don't want to make them but wait..there is one more way that I will be teaching...and that is at your home, with your friends.  If you are interested in hosting a Create@Home Art Party, I bring all of the supplies, you clear off the table and together we will create a BIG BEAUTIFUL MESS! (if you live out of state and would like to purchase the instruction sheets, they are also available for download)

If you are interested, please email me at homegrown1(at)att(dot) net and I will send you the details.

Domino Effect

I know that I have posted this here and there..but it is a good reminder to do what you love to do because when you are doing something that you love, it shows and therefore, you can be a great influence on another...and together we can create a really good domino effect..

Pass it on.

Women of Faith

I joined an amazing group of women from Saddleback this past weekend and we planted ourselves at The Pond, well, The Honda Center for a weekend full of women, faith, worship, tears, laughter, Cece Winans, Selah...and a whole lot of wow at the Women Of Faith event.

Standing on the floor and looking back onto 11,000 women (and a few men) for the same reason...JESUS.

WOW.That's all I can say right now..wow.

 

...and yep, in case you are wondering because you know I do not like to vere too far from home..I spent the night there with my friends, my faith and my bravery, not to say that there were brief moments (before we got there) when I just wanted to go home.

I stayed, I danced, I sang, I cried and I cracked up with laughter...alot.  If this event gets to your town, please make an effort to attend...

I hope to be back later with more thoughts.

Etsy Shoppe Update

 Restocked!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/StephanieAckermanDes