My Class with the Queen of Stamping: Wendy Vecchi

   When Andy first started working at the Savannah River site in SC  last July, I found out that Wendy Vecchi was going to do a class August of this year at the stamp shop in West Columbia. I waited for over a year for this class, and it was wonderful! I feel so fortunate to be able to take a class with someone as big in the stamping world as Wendy Vecchi. Now if I could just get to a Tim Holtz class!

   And here is the finished project. This is actually a lot brighter than it really is, but I have spent at least an hour trying to get it right and I JUST CAN'T!!!!

I haven't been able to publish this post either. The first two went on beautifully, but I have had nothing but problems with this one. Hopefully I will get it on here tonight. Needless to say, there is gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair!
Blessings,
Janis

Our New Camper

   Going from a 24 foot camper to a 33 footer with slide-outs is incredible! It is like being in a small apartment, and I am so thankful for it. It has a decent-sized bathroom on one end, and a bedroom on the other, with the kitchen all along one wall in the living area. This is the best camper I have ever seen, with the exception of the fifth wheel I saw in Michigan years ago. It had a washer and dryer combination in it. I think I like this camper better, though. I'm wondering if we could put a small shelter out back with a washer/dryer stack in it!

 

We had turned the sofa around to face the TV in this picture, but we have turned it back around so that it is against the window. We bought a small recliner to put next to it. It doesn't look great in here, but it is fine, and we had to have more seating. I love the table and chairs; it is so much nicer than a booth.

Look! Counter space! Whoo-hoo!

 I love the rug.

 I bought a few new dishes because what I had would definitely not go with this decor. Can you believe I am living with all this brown? I would never have bought any dishes like this ordinarily, but I am actually enjoying them. You can't get a really good idea of how they look from this picture, but I adjusted the color as best I could. They are more gold, with a browner burgundy than the picture shows.

With all this brown, fall colors fit right in , but decorating for spring might present a challenge. I have decided that gold will do nicely for Christmas.

 This is the shelf in the bedroom. What a blessing it is! I tried to avoid taking a picture of the overflowing hampers underneath, but couldn't quite miss it. And we definitely need to update the picture in the frame at the left; that child is 8 years old now!

Next up: the pictures of my class with Wendy Vecchi.
Blessings,
Janis

A Budding Artist

   My granddaughter Cara, who just turned 8 in June, took a photography art class a few weeks ago, and at the end of the week they had a presentation for the families of the students. There were 4 girls in the class, and their work was impressive. The class was at Airlie, and they took pictures and then used various techniques to enhance the picture and make art of them. When I saw this first picture, I got excited about learning how to do this technique, but it turns out that no one knows how she took this picture. It was blurry, and then she outlined the various parts of the picture with a black pen. It looks like something an adult artist did, to me.

   I have figured out how to do this without taking a picture. I think I can just create a picture using pastels, and then add the outlining. Maybe I will actually get around to trying that one day!
   The rest of the pictures use various techniques, such as adding bits of paper to create texture. I can't remember all the techniques that they used now. I love them all!

 In this next picture, the one with all the white in the center was really interesting. It was a picture of a lot of feather that had apparently been left by some swans. Click on the picture to see it better. The "eye" picture is of Cara's eyes, with a lot of bling added.

 This is a picture of an angel statue, I think. She added some gold outlining, and maybe some color. I wish I could remember all this now. I am so proud of her!

 Not to leave out Amelia, these are some pictures of her at her new dance class.

What a doll!

The next post will have pictures of our new camper, and the next one will be from the class I took at the end of August with a "stamping master".

Blessings,                                                                      

Janis

Thoughts on Network Marketing

Can I rant? 
     I think it is a shame that so many people think that there is something wrong with a person having their own business. It seems that because there are some manipulative people in the network marketing world, everyone has been tarred with the same brush, and we are made to feel that we should be ashamed for trying to sell something to somebody. I heard someone say today that entrepreneurs should be very proud of what they do,  because they are the backbone of the economy. They create wealth, help people with their products and services, and help people to have a better life. I am very, very proud of the products that I sell, in fact, I love them! And I am extremely proud of the business that I am in, Market America, because I have never seen a business like this one before, that delivers on the promise of residual income and does it in such a big way, and I have been in 3 other network marketing businesses.. Why is it that people don't mind Wal-Mart or Penney's trying to sell them something, but resent it when an individual tries to share something with them? I think it is really sad. There are a lot of good products out there that are green, healthful, good for people and the environment, and that will save you money, but they get no notice because they are not in a store.
Shop and get cash back:
   Having said that, I would like to tell you a little about a great program that can put money back in your pocket. Whenever you need to buy something, even everyday products like tissue or dental floss, if you go through my web portal to shop at our thousands of partner stores and sign up as a Preferred Customer, you can get anywhere from 2% to 35% cash back. If you refer other people, and they sign up also and shop, you will get 1/2% of everything they buy forever! If you refer multiple people, that can add up. We regularly offer one or two of our Market America products with increased cash back, usually 20%. It can save time, energy, and gas, and you can save money on a lot of items. I order everyday stuff once a month from Walgreen's and get free shipping because I order $25 or more of things that I ordinarily go to the store to get, such as hand soap, tissue, etc., and they deliver it to my door for free. I don't have to do anything but place an order online. I love it! When I need something, I search for it on my portal and it gives me a comparison of all sources of that product with the prices. It is a great way to shop, and they give me money back. And by the way, if you have a website or blog, if you put a widget on it for the cashback program, you will get the half percent on everything that people who click on it buy. I would like to encourage everyone to watch a short video about this program on my web portal. I wish I could link it here, but I haven't been able to make the link work, so go to MATV and click on the video titled Growing Your Business With Paid To Shop and Paid Online. It can be money in your pocket.
 Stamping Tip:
   I did something really cool with the sponge pads that go on my inking tool (Tim Holtz). I put small velcro dots on a piece of printer paper, but cardstock would probably have been better, and I stuck the sponges on and put labels under them with the color names. All I have to do is pull off the sponge, use it, and stick it back. Couldn't be easier!
Book Giveaway:
   I am giving away a copy of Andrew Farley's book, The Naked Gospel, and all you have to do to be in the running for this book is leave a comment on this post about whether or not you believe that God gets disappointed in us. I have been in several discussions about this lately, and I will give you my thoughts on it in the post where I announce the winner, which will be randomly selected. I will take comments through Sunday and announce the winner on Monday.  This is one of the best books I have ever read, and it is so full of wonderful truth about God. It is a great help in getting to know the one, true, real God. Please give me your thoughts on this, I can't wait to see what everyone thinks.

Blessings,

Janis

Final Post of the Day!

Phew! This is my fourth and last post for the day, and it has taken me all afternoon to get all these pictures on. I wanted to put these last few on here; they are of my free believers group that I meet with on Sunday. Some are from our meeting at Hugh McCrae Park a few weeks ago, and some are from a get-together at the Bluewater Grill for Phillip's birthday.
   But first, a couple of pictures that I think I took Mother's Day,

Gosh, I love my family!

Jim & Cynthia, Phillip and a friend (I can't remember names!).

Ooookaaaay, I'm going to put this on here, but I'm not happy about it!

A "gathering" at the park when it wasn't so hot. I joked that I didn't like to call it a gathering because it sounded like a horror movie. The GATHERING!

Yay! All the pictures are on here, all the posts are done.Coke float, here I come!
Blessings,
Janis

Anniversary Party

   Beth, Mom and I went to my cousins' (Shirley & Glenn Goodson) 60th anniversary party a week or so ago. In my last post I was with my mother's family; this is my father's family. I have not seen them in a long time, so it was great seeing everyone. As usual I just snapped away and didn't pay a whole lot of attention to posing anyone. I know, I have to stop doing that! Without further ado, here are the pics:
   This first one is Shirley's sister Katharine, my mother (so pretty!), and Beth.

Left to right: Katharine's daughter Lisa, her husband Tim, and Glenn.The food was wonderful, especially the cheese spread that Trish, Glenn and Shirley's daughter-in-law, made. Of course it was, it involved cream cheese and a half cup of butter!

 Shirley and Glenn on the right:

See what wonderful pictures I take? 

Trish and Kathy. Wish I knew what they were saying, it must have been funny!

   I really like this last picture. Didn't everything look nice? It was a great party and I really enjoyed seeing everyone. Hopefully we will see them sooner in the future. By the way, the cake looked really good (sigh).
Blessings,
Janis

My Aunt's 95th Birthday Party

   My Aunt's birthday is June 5th, and the family gathered in Fanning Springs, Fl., near the Suwanee River, to celebrate. The last time we did this was 5 years ago, so I haven't seen some of these people in 5 years. We had lunch at the nursing home, provided by Mike and Marcie (sp?) and Herbie and Nancy. Mike is Grace's son. It was a great lunch, especially the watermelon. The cake looked really good (sigh!). I didn't pose any pictures,  I just snap away and hope something turns out, but I am going to try to do better in the future. People are going to kill me if I keep doing this!
                            This is Andy (ain't he handsome!) with my cousins David (l) and Mike (r).

          Aunt Grace with Marcie (l) and Aunt Frances (r), Frances's daughter Diane is in the background.

 From left to right: Herbie, looks like Lorraine next to him, my mother, Nancy, Diane, Marcie, and looks like Pam behind her. All eating cake! Darn it!

 Aunt Grace is such a sweetie! I have the best family in the whole world. I am so blessed with these people! My Uncle Harry couldn't come (bummer) because he was preparing to move to Wilmington (Yay!).

                         My mother, cousin Pam, and daughter Beth at the restaurant Saturday night.

                    Nancy (great top!) and Lorraine, finally from the front and not the back of her head.

 

Andy and Herbie, whose name, believe it or not, is George Herbert Walker, Jr.. We're still scratching our heads over that one!

Next are pictures of the house we rented while we were there. I have to tell you that the trip down was awful; I looked at the map and picked the wrong route, let me tell you! It was long and miserable, and I left my pocketbook in a Hardee's in Chiefland, Fl., about an hour from where we were going. Fortunately my cousin was coming right through there the next day. What a break!

  

   It was a really nice house, and we picked this one because it had a pool table. What we didn't know was that they had put it in the breezeway with, you guessed it, no air conditioning! Needless to say, we didn't shoot any pool. I loved the tin man in front of the door. Hopefully you can click on the picture and see it better.

   We went over to 95 and then back over to Jackson to go home, and saved at least an hour and a half on the trip. That's how we should have gone in the first place! It was a really nice weekend, though, I just wish it could have lasted longer. Of course, there was the little glitch with the rain filling the septic tank and the toilets not flushing and one of them leaking. Oh well! It WAS a nice house.
Blessings,
Janis