Day 12 & Cassidy's Prom

Day 12: What do you miss (a person, place, thing, time in your life...)?

My mom is one of ten children (the 2nd oldest), and I grew up with over 20 first cousins.  As a child, Christmas Eve was my favorite holiday because all of us would get together at my nana's house, 30+ people all talking and laughing at the same time.  We would have pinatas for the kids and a grab for the adults, along with tons of food and drink.  I can remember sitting in the backseat on the hour-long drive home, being happily exhausted and watching for Santa up in the sky.

I always felt a closeness with my cousins and aunts that was very special to me.  But as time went on and I grew up, it just all changed.  I guess it happens, but I miss them.  Families are complicated and mine is no different, we have had more than our share of heartache and sorrow and hurt and sometimes you just have to step away to spare yourself from any more.  It doesn't mean I don't love them just as much as I always did, but I have to protect myself and my own family (my children) from hurt as much as possible.  And when people have a pattern of hurting others, whether it's through drug addiction, abuse, or just plain selfishness, it's not likely they're going to stop.  More than anything, I miss that time in my life when my family was all close and we would all get together and laugh and enjoy each other.  I miss having a big family.    
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My daughter Cass went to the prom the other night, her and her friends looked absolutely gorgeous and they had a great time.  Here are some pics, Cass is in blue:

This is one of my favorite pics - LOL:

Her and her best friend Missy:

This is her with her cousin Eric:

This is her papa with her:

This last one is her nana (my mom) on the left and me on the right:

Have a happy Mother's Day!  :)  Peace.

Day 11, WW & JSL Reminders

Day 11:  Sell yourself in 10 words or less.  Easy Peasy.  :)

Girl who loves to make people smile and laugh. Peace.

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We have a reminder post for you today at:

Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge:  Tarot Cards/Symbols

 For the Queen of Wands, I used a gorgeous image from Michelle Perkett Studio printed onto the DP and colored with Prismacolor pencils & mineral spirits and markers.  I added a candle digi stamp shrunk down tiny and I gave her a wand to hold instead of the heart she had.

 For "the Moon" tarot/ATC card, I used some newsprint DP with a rub-on from SU! and owl stamp from Prickley Pear.  I used my circle punches to create the moon, inking the smaller punch for shading.  Sentiment was created with my Dymo Caption Maker.

The original tarot cards that I used as inspiration (on the left) are from Fairchild and Paschkis).

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We also have a reminder post for you today at:

Just Some Lines: Mother's Day/For Mom

I used Emo Tulip from Just Some Lines, colored with Prismacolor pencils & mineral spirits.  DP is some older paper from Stampin' Up!  Ribbon is from my stash.  Peace.

Day 10, Dilly Beans: Celebrations and Movie Magic Monthly: Star Wars vs. Star Trek

Day 10:  Most embarrassing moment(s) - spill!


Well, I get embarrassed really easily and it's hard to pick out a specific time that was my "most embarrassing moment" - but here goes:


My son Trevor has always had issues with his teeth, and when he was about 8 years old we went to the dentist for a routine cleaning.  To my surprise, the dentist decided to pull all 4 of his front bottom teeth because they weren't coming out on their own and the new teeth needed the room to grow.  Trev was absolutely fine, but I was crying so hard that the dentist asked if I needed to call someone to come drive us home.  It cracks me up now, but I was so embarrassed!  I don't even know why I was crying so much, I guess it just totally freaked me out to have my baby lose all 4 teeth (and what looked like a lot of blood!) at once.  LOL  I'm still emotional but let's just say after having gone through the teen years with both a son and a daughter, it takes a little more than a pulled tooth to make me cry.  :)
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We have a new challenge for you today at:

Dilly Beans: Celebrations

I used Amalia Princess, I removed her crown and the star from her wand and replace it with a US flag.  She's celebrating the Fourth of July holiday, and her little tutu is all covered in Stardust Stickles.  Papers and paper embellishments are from MME, and I added a few little star gem brads.

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We also have a new challenge for you today at:

Movie Magic Monthly:  Star Wars vs. Star Trek

I knew right away that I wanted to use this freebie from Mayzy Art for my creation - this is Han Solo and Princess Leia.  I colored them with Prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits, and sponged the edges all around each layer.  Added a shiny silver chipboard star and this Star Wars logo I found online.  The image kind of steals the show, though, I think it's just fabulous.  Hope you'll come play along with us, you've got all month - we'd love to see which one you'd choose!  Peace.

Day 9 and From the Heart Monthly Freebie Challenge

Day 9:  A moment in your day (can be a photo or a photo and words):

This pic is a moment from my day yesterday.  This is my sweet daughter Cass with two of the most adorable babies I've ever seen.  This was my first time getting to meet the precious twins born to one of my favorite cousins, Nick, and his awesome wife Aimee.  Meet Alaina and Brielle - they are 10 months old and they hardly ever stop smiling.  They are just little angels who let me and Cass hold them and play with them for hours, it was just heaven.  Hard to believe that Cass was that little not so long ago.  So that was definitely the highlight of my day yesterday.  :)
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Today's creation is an altered coaster that I made for the:

From the Heart Stamp of the Month Challenge

I used this month's freebie that was e-mailed to me for playing along last month (thank you, Faith!), printed on some light DP and cut to the shape of the coaster, then colored with Copic markers and then spritzed all over with a few different shades of pink Glimmer Mists.  I used Paper Mod Podge to apply the entire piece to the coaster, and another layer of Mod Podge on top.  Punched some holes along the top and tied little pieces of ribbon through it.  It has a magnet on the back so it can be stuck on the fridge.  Peace.

Day 8 and Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge: Tarot Cards or Symbols

Hello friends - Day 8: A piece of advice you have for others, anything at all.

My advice is to smile more.  Just smile.  You'd be amazed how good it feels.  You simply cannot be in a bad mood while smiling.  

 Go ahead, try it.  Smile.  Yes, right now, for no reason.  Well, because I love you.  There, see?  You smiled, right?  Didn't it feel good?  Isn't it hard to be grumpy with a big old grin on your face?

I found a great list of the top 10 reasons to smile:

1. Smiling makes you more attractive.  :)
2. Smiling changes our mood (see??).
3.) Smiling is contagious (see again? LOL).
4.) Smiling relieves stress.
5.) Smiling boosts your immune system.
6.) Smiling lowers your blood pressure.
7.) Smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin.
8.) Smiling lifts the face and makes you look younger.
9.) Smiling makes you seem more successful.
10.) Smiling helps you stay positive.

You can check out the complete article here.

I'm amazed at how many people don't smile.  I'm amazed at how many comments I get because I do smile - a lot.  I love to smile, I love the way it makes me feel and I love the way it makes others feel.  I usually get one of two reactions when I smile at strangers in public - which I do, despite (or maybe because of?) my social anxieties around crowds.  Folks either look pleasantly surprised and smile back or they look quickly away, not wanting to make eye contact or have to return the smile.  I feel bad for those folks.  So if you're one of them, do me a favor and return the smile the next time some crazy girl like me offers you one in the grocery store, the post office, or just walking down the street.  Just smile.  It's easy to do, it's free, and it just might make you and the person you're smiling at feel good - and you'll be spreading sunshine before you know it.  ;) *************************************************************
I just have one thing to share today - my ATC for the new challenge at:

Wicked Wednesday: Tarot Cards or Symbols

The tarot symbols are cups, wands, pentacles, and swords - I focused on swords for this ATC, using Mermaid's Revenge from our sponsor Delicious Doodles, colored with Prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits.  This image is so beautiful, I just basically printed it out ATC-sized and mounted it crooked on another piece of ATC-sized DP.  Sentiment was added with my Dymo Caption Maker.  Peace.

Day 7 and HDH MM: Stephen King Knightmare

Day 7:  The thing(s) you're most afraid of.

I struggled with what to write about for this topic - I wanted to write about being afraid of something bad happening to my kids, but I assume that's every mom's primary fear.  So I'm going to tell you about my extremely irrational fear of heights.

I am so afraid of heights, I can't even stand myself.  I get so annoyed with myself when I'm in a car (a car, for crying out loud!  INSIDE A CAR!) and we're going up (or down) a mountain, and my heart starts pounding and my palms start sweating as I realize there is a cliff on my side of the road.  Or the other side of the road.  Or anywhere that I can see.  I cringe when my husband says "Look at that... fill-in-the-blank" - I can't even enjoy the scenery.  And I wish so much that I could.  I wish so much that I was like him, and our son, and our daughter, and that I could just gaze out at the gorgeous mountains and cliffs and places where your car can end up 600 feet below if you aren't watching where you are going... oh sorry, I got distracted by all that... space.  LOL  Seriously, though, I wish I could enjoy it.  Their eyes light up when they talk about the possibility of jumping out of an airplane, bungee jumping, or taking a ride in a hot air balloon.  You could not pay me to do any of those things.  If you paid me a million dollars, I might offer someone 1/4 of it to PUSH ME OUT, but I simply could not do it myself.  And I'd probably have a heart attack if someone pushed me, so no amount of money would be worth it.

I guess in the grand scheme of things, it's not so bad.  When I'm forced to be in a situation where I have to deal with heights, I just try to remember how irrational it is and not let the panic take over.  Deep breaths, positive thoughts, all that.  It does work enough to get me through it, but I wish I could find a way to not have to suffer through that irrational fear to begin with.  What are you afraid of and how do you cope with it?
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OK friends I'm about to get on a plane this morning to head back to Massachusetts for a week-long visit and bring my daughter back to Cali with me!  :)  My first plane trip alone, I'm a little nervous but also excited.  I have plenty of reading material and a couple of movies loaded on my Nook HD, so I shouldn't be bored.  I'll be checking in from my mom's and I have all my blog posts pre-scheduled, so hopefully you won't even notice I'm gone!  :) 

I did have to squeeze in one more project yesterday between packing and stuff, this one is special to me, it's for the:

HDH Macabre Monday: Stephen King Knightmare

My friend Megan sent me this adorable 4x4 art journal a few weeks ago and I was itching to get started in it, these were my first pages.  I used paints and mists for the backgrounds, the image on the left is a free coloring page I found online (printed twice, second image I fussy-cut and layered the tower and clouds over the painted/misted original), and the clipart on the right was also found online.  I added Stickles to the sun, tower, rocks, and clouds.  Sentiments were done with my Dymo Caption Maker.
Peace.

Blog Every Day in May: Day 6 and Nina Mermaid

Day 6:  If you couldn't answer with your job, how would you answer the question, 'what do you do'?

The funniest part about this question is that I don't have a job anymore - and I find that I am just as busy now as when I worked a full-time job!  So what do I do?  I wake up early and go to bed early.  In between, I fill my hours with cooking, cleaning, and crafting.  Ha - the 3 C's!  I love that I get to stay caught up with laundry, that was always a hassle for me.  I don't enjoy cleaning, so I only spend what time I have to doing that but it does get done regularly.  Crafting is my passion and I thoroughly enjoy spending hours at my table, getting my hands messy with inks, paints, glues, and glitter.  And I have begun to eat and feed my family organic foods, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen preparing fresh meals.  I enjoy looking up new recipes and experimenting with my own creations in the kitchen.  I've blossomed as a cook and realized I am actually quite good at it, something I'm proud of.  There's just something gratifying about creating nourishing and delicious food for your family from scratch, it makes me feel good.  And I love teaching my daughter to cook, spending that time with her in the kitchen bonding over baking or coming up with new recipes for dinner.  We have fruit trees and grapes on our property and we're planting a vegetable and herb garden.  We are also going to be acquiring some chickens - hoping to rely more on foods we grow and raise ourselves than market-bought foods.  This should keep me even more busy!  So that's what I do - and I love it.

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I have one card today that I would like to enter into the following challenges:

Make it Monday: Anything Goes
All that Stickles - Icicle
 AllSorts - Add Some Sparkle
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Happy Mail
Digi Galore: Spring
 Digital Tuesday: Distressing

I used one of the new mermaid images from Dilly Beans, she's called Nina Mermaid and you can find her here.  She was colored with Prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits and a generous application of Icicles Stickles to her tail, her cute little bathing suit top, and the flower in her hair.  Sentiment is from TLC Creations, I distressed the edges of the sentiment and the blue cardstock behind it with my scissors.  DP is from My Mind's Eye.

Peace.