...ON DISPLAY...

When I was in Jr. High, we had to take at least one semester of art. At the time I didn't have strong feelings one way or the other about it, but I soon discovered that art WAS NOT my forte and I struggled in that class. 

My husband attended the same school, so we'll occasionally discuss things about that school, even though we didn't know each other then. One topic we discussed is how they made an art class a requirement. Neither my husband nor I feel we did well in this class, and to this day, my husband is super frustrated that he had to take it. While I'm not as frustrated as my husband, I will say that grades shouldn't have been a thing, not all of us are artists.

Along comes daughter #1 who wows with her artistic ability early on. She took art as often as she could in school and then, in High School, she completed a project that got hung up in the school library for everyone to see. 

One day, I got a random middle-of-the-day text message from Shaylyn. Her text was a photo of her standing by her drawing in the library. I joked with her a bit saying that hanging her art in the library was the only way to get her inside of a library. Honestly, though, I was super proud of her artwork and so glad she thought about having her friend take a picture and send it to me. 

This photo needed a great collection to complement it, so I was overjoyed when Aimee Harrison released Art Therapy. It was perfect and colorful and I am pleased with how this all came together. 

SUPPLY LIST 

TEMPLATE: Template Pack 72 by Scraps N' Pieces 

KIT: Art Therapy by Aimee Harrison 

FONT: Artsy

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...CHATTING WITH GRANDMA...

Some of my happiest memories are the times spent with my grandparents. I was lucky enough to live within 15-20 minutes of each set growing up. We saw my mom's parents a lot more often as she was the baby of her family, but we saw both sets regularly.

I wish my kids could have the same type of memories, but distance makes it a bit more difficult. We live an hour away from each of our parents and though we try to see my husband's mom a few times a month, I'm not great at visiting my parents. However, my kids have seemed to forge their own relationships with each grandparent however it was naturally formed.

My baby girl has formed an incredible bond with my mother-in-law. I'm not sure when it happened, but I'm glad it did. There are times, lately, where she'll be a little more open with grandma than with mom or dad, so I'm glad she has someone she'll open up to.

My husband's cousin came in from out of town, so my mother-in-law had a get-together so everyone could visit. I happened to glance over and I noticed my daughter and mother-in-law conversing. I didn't think much of it, but when I looked back 10 minutes later, they were still chatting away, so I grabbed my phone and took some photos.

Then when Karen Shulz posted some wordart she was hoping to release for Grandparent's Day, I knew I had to use these photos. We were asked to use a certain kit with the wordart, and I'm pretty happy with the end result.

 
SUPPLY LIST

TEMPLATE: #2022 January by Connie Prince
KIT: Life After 50 by Karen Schulz
WORD ART: Grandparent Word Art by Karen Schulz
FONTS: Friendly Smiley (Journaling)
Give it Your Heart (Date)

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...BRIAN...

I don't know why, but I was never one of those kids with a security toy or blanket. My husband tells me he walked around with a pillowcase when he was young, and my oldest daughter had a blanket she carried around for many years, even sneaking it to school in her backpack in 1st grade at one point, but me - nope. I don't recall having or doing anything of the like. 

However, my little sister had at least two items she paraded around with. She kept a blanket with her for way too long and I jokingly changed its name from 'blankie with holes in it' to 'holes with a blanket'. Our grandma once persuaded my sister to throw her blanket away when she was 4 or 5 for some money, but as soon as Grandma left, my sister grabbed the blanket back out of the trash. She isn't stupid.

The other item she carried with her was a stuffed bear that she named, Brian. This bear went everywhere with her and she rarely had him out of sight. And unbeknownst to me, she's carried that bear around for all 30 years of her life. 

A couple of months ago she shared a post on Instagram that made one of her friends do such an awesome act of kindness that I knew I needed to make a page about it. Thankfully, a designer created a kit that worked pretty well for this story. 

SUPPLY LIST 

TEMPLATE: Healthy Habits (Retired) by Connie Prince 

KIT: A Teddy Bear Picnic (Retired) by Memory Mosaic 

FONTS: 1942 Report (Dates)
Sweet Bear (Subtitle)
Bugbear (Journaling)

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