Maddie Started Day Care!!!

I can't believe my baby girl has started "school"!!!  On the one hand I am glad because she gets to interact with other children and learn.  On the other hand... she is growing up so FAST!!!

How gorgeous is this baby???  She looks just like her grandma!!  LOL!!!

BRAVE GIRLS 8/30

I missed this one yesterday!!  I would love to post this one on a BILLBOARD!!!

Dear Understanding Girl,

There are many things that spread and spread and spread...far and wide and deep. There are good things, and there are not so good things. You could be THE ONE who makes a huge difference in not just spreading wonderful things, but in making sure that not so good things don’t spread so much.

One of the best ways you can do this, beautiful soul, is to stop the gossip when it gets to you. One of the fastest moving and most destructive forces around is gossip...and it not only hurts the person(s) who is the subject of the conversation, but it hurts the souls of anyone hearing it or spreading it.

A wonderful way to stop stories from spreading is to simply stand up for the person that the story is about when the story gets to you. If the story has nothing to do with you, if it is not hurting you or your family...then it is really nothing you want to have around to needlessly ruin your day. Think of how you might feel if someone was speaking about you the way that others are speaking about someone else. Kindly tell the messenger that you are certain that there are valuable and wonderful things about this person, and that is what you are choosing to focus on...and let it go. You could either keep the story moving, or you could stop it with kindness and truth....

Because you see, it really is the truth....EVERYONE has wonderful things about them that we can focus on. If nothing else, focus on the fact that they are a fellow human being...that should be enough to compel all of us to speak with only kindness.

It will truly make you feel peace. Spreading gossip never feels peaceful. Stopping it with you will truly make a difference, far and wide and deep. Let it stop in a peaceful place.

So....lovely, loved, amazing friend....go where the peace is.

You are more influential than you know.
You are loved and you can do it.

xoxo

A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME.... BRAVE GIRLS POST FOR TODAY

I LOVE these postings from the Brave Girls Club - I think it's a great way to start your day.  Enjoy and IMPLEMENT!

Dear Extraordinary Girl,

It's ok to want things that don't make sense to others, dear friend. It's ok to be content with a simple life, to pass up on things that others find tempting, to walk a path that is not often traveled...maybe even a path that has never been traveled before.

Please don't get caught up in the confusing, hurtful and destructive belief that you are somehow obligated to live the life that everyone else seems to think you should live. Please listen to YOUR heart. Please shut out the opinions, advice and voices of "reason" that make you feel so uneasy, confused and inadequate. Be with your truth....be with the source of that truth. Get quiet and listen listen listen to your heart.

Your path is your path....the very path that you were created to travel. Your decisions are your decisions...the very decisions that your Creator will help you to make. Go where the peace is....in your life, in your relationships, and especially in all of your decisions. Make choices that bring you the most peace....even when those decisions don't make sense to the outside world.

You have what it takes to hear your truth, beautiful friend...and you do not walk alone.

You are so loved.

xoxo

NEW PROJECT!!!

We have 3 that haven't even started yet but this one I just can not pass on!!!!  Check out this video!



How incredibly beautiful is this???  Well, I have put together a new project with this same idea.

Each one of us does a "Tim" Tag - a tag using only Tim Holtz die cuts and/or stamps and ideology embellishments.

They send each person in the group (I think we are 15 or so) one tag, 6 inches of lace and a piece of fabric that is 12x8.

Once you have received everything (15 tags, fifteen pieces of lace, 15 pieces of fabric), you put it all together to make a book like this !!  Gotta love it!

FROM BRAVE GIRLS CLUB

I read them every day but this one I really really love and wanted to share.  READ IT!!!  It's worth it!

Dear Nurturing Girl,

It is often said that a good way to treat others that we love is to imagine that it is our last day with them...or our last day alive. But what if we tried instead, to live as though it is our VERY FIRST DAY with them?

Try to live this day as though it is the first time you have ever seen your child, or the love of your life, or your parents...or your beautiful friends. Look at them from head to toe...see them for what they are and who they are...look around at all that they are doing, and who they have become......work hard to make sure they know exactly how you feel about them. Work hard to be someone that they might want to have in their life.

After time has passed...we so often forget to see things that would normally leave us in awe. Things that are beautiful and miraculous and a complete gift in our lives are all but overlooked because we see them day after day. TODAY decide that it is the first day of your life...and walk into your life to see all of the gifts that are there for you. See your first glass of water, your first sunrise, hear your first song, see those freckles on the face of that little boy you love for the first time....notice the way someone shows their love for you...like it’s the first time.

We work so hard to go go go. Let’s stop today and see what is here already...what we don’t have to go anywhere to see. Let’s try to start seeing things that would blow our minds and touch our hearts and bring us to tears if we were paying attention....or if it were the first time it ever happened...or the first time we ever met.

Life is so beautiful, so full, so miraculous.

Welcome to the first day of your life!

xoxo

Thank you my sweet friend

I received this today from my friend Mario.  It is absolutely beautiful.  I had never read this before and I have read it 10 times since he sent it.  These words make my guilt over my decision with Dixie much easier.

Thank you cookie.

If it should be that I grow weak,
and pain should keep me from my sleep;
Then you must do what must be done,
for this last battle can't be won.

You will be sad, I understand;
but don't let grief then stay your hand.
For this day more than all the rest,
your love for me must stand the test.

We've had so many happy years;
what is to come can hold no fears.
You don't want me to suffer so...
the time has come, please let me go.

Take me where my needs they'll tend,
but please stay with me 'til the end.
To hold me close and speak to me,
until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time you will agree,
it was a kindness done for me.
Although my tail its last has waved,
from pain and suffering I am saved.

Please do not grieve that it was you
who had this painful thing to do.
We've been so close, we two, these years;
don't let your heart hold any tears.

My prayers are with you in this time of grief, may the Lord ease your pain and surround you with love.

Dixie Farinas 1/3/2008 - 8/22/2011

She is gone.  My beautiful baby girl.  I hope she finds the rainbow bridge and can be happy and healthy.

So hard letting go

The right thing - the humane thing - to do is to let her go. But you can't help telling yourself that maybe a few more days... Another week. We are both heart broken

Bernie had always wanted an afghan and Dixie was everything we ever wanted her to be and more.




-Posted from Elena's iPad

My beautiful baby girl

This is Dixie.  My beautiful baby girl.  She has been such a joy. So much fun.

She is 3 1/2 years old and is dying from cancer.  It has spread to her spleen, liver, lungs, brain....  She will be put to rest on Monday morning.  But for this weekend, she will be loved.

Insomnia is so exhausting

It is almost 5 am and I have been awake since 2 am after sleeping for only 3 hours. This has become a truly exhausting routine. <<<<>>>>>


-Posted from Elena's iPad

BAMBOO JOURNAL

I did this bamboo journal a couple of months ago.  Someone was commenting about these types of journals today so I said I would post it.

The journal is 6 x 11 1/2.

The spine of the Bamboo Journal.

The front cover of this particular journal.

The following slideshow are the pages inside the journal.  Enjoy!

MY ASIAN JOURNAL IS DONE!

Okay!  I am done with my Asian journal.  This binding technique took a little more time but it was really really easy!  Love it!

Instead of binding it in groups of signatures, I bound the pages individually.

The front of my journal.

How cool does that binding look????

Welcome to the Florida Keys!

Key West is famous for the amount of roosters and chickens that roam around it's streets. They are "mascots" for the City of Key West and are very protected.

In Key Largo we have peacocks.  The courthouse is full of them and now they are roaming around most of the island.  We have a beautiful female peacock on our property who makes her home under our motorhome.  She had sort of "disappeared" and we were worried about her.

Today, when I left the house she was back!!! AND she brought 5 babies with her!!!  Woo HOO!

JOURNALS, JOURNALS, JOURNALS!

I have become totally obsessed with making journals! I have tons of homemade journals but every time I come across a new binding technique my OCD goes into overdrive!

LK Ludwing - whose art I ADORE - has a wonderful class (Just 3 Journals) which teaches 3 binding techniques.

Yesterday I did the first one.  It was fun to do but so easy it was really not challenging at all!!!  Here it is:

This is the binding from the side.  I was happy with the binding.  Didn't like the "whiteness" of the paper.  I also rounded all the corners on the pages to give it a more finished look.

This is the front.

Another front view.

The BEST thing about this type of binding is that the journal lays totally flat!  After participating in numerous round robins where the books do NOT lay flat, I can really really appreciate this!

Now, last night I started another one where I addressed the things I wasn't happy about with the first one:

Since I didn't like the white paper - I covered the folded edges of the paper with this wonderful gold colored - tissue textured paper that I have no idea where I got.

This journal is to be used for an Asian round robin project so I wanted the paper to have an "Asian" flair.  I also obviously wanted the covers to match with the paper I had used for the paper edging.

I used the same paper that I had used on the paper edging for the inside panel of the top and bottom covers.  It looks really pretty with the edging.

Tonight I will try a different binding technique to put it together. We will see what happens!

A BEAUTIFUL GIFT

Martha Lever, a wonderful lady and teacher on Creative Workshops (her latest Color Drop Flowers is just amazing) sent me this wonderful painting!

She had been searching for a Kala Kiss Brush which are discontinued and as difficult to find as dinosaurs!  Well, I decided I wanted one (probably because I thought I couldn't get it!) and since I suffer from OCD, after numerous emails, telephone calls and endless backtracking I found THREE of them!

Anyway, I sent Martha one as a gift and she sent me this wonderful painting as a gift.

Thank you Martha!!  I LOVE it!!!

SMARTER THAN MOST PEOPLE I KNOW!

My friend Teri sent me this video of GUS.  Not only is Gus absolutely adorable, he really is much smarter and more tenacious than most people I know!

ENJOY!

A DAY AT THE WATER PARK

I had my grand daughters for 5 days last week (barely survived it .... seriously thought of hiding under my bed).

Bernie and I took them to the Water Park on their last day with us in an attempt to tire them out - but they tired us out before we accomplished that goal!! Thank God their mother picked them up from us at the park!

Ms. Kaitlynn is rehearsing for her magazine photo shoot!! That girl LOVES the camera!