the roc nicholas rubber stamp design team post

today the roc nicholas rubber stamp design team post is brought to you by cathy parmelee, mixed media artist extraordinaire.  she used the scooter girl rubber stamp body in this wonderful piece of art.  don't you just love it!

to see my rubber stamp line sold through stampotique, please click here.

weekly planner - week 27

week 27 prompt - what makes you beautiful?

learning to love ourselves can be difficult.  we live in a society where we have such high standards of what beauty is.  we see skinny, beautifully featured people on magazines and in movies.   we are bombarded with airbrushing and beatutifying techniques everywhere.  it is a little unsettling to think that beautiful people still need technology to glamorize them even more.

when will it be ok to find beauty an internal quality rather than an external one?  in my opinion, i need to start with myself.  i can hear the internal chatter in my mind; you're too heavy, your hair is too straight and flat, you are starting to get wrinkles, you don't exercise enough...and then i tell myself to be quiet.

it is easy to talk badly to myself.  my ego wants me to be competitive with the beauty around me.  but honestly, when i quiet myself, i am enough.  i am really good right where i am.  are there things i can improve upon?  of course there are.  but life unfolds as it should.  i grow as i can.  

i know that i have many good qualities.  i do my best to remind myself of them when start to hear the not so good chatter.  i am a child of god, so how bad could i be?  i am growing in my own uniquely funky spiritual way. 

what about you?  what makes you beautiful?

i'm published

i'm thrilled and honored to say that i've been published again.  i'll be in the next art journaling magazine that will hit the stands july 1st.  i have things dotted through out the magazine this time around, as well as a few pages in the bound for art section.  i'll be sharing more photos with you once the magazine has officially released.

the roc nicholas rubber stamp design team

today the roc nicholas rubber stamp design team is honored to have karen hayselden's beautiful project to feature.  don't you just love how she made the mane and tail three dimensional on my ponytail stamp?!  what a wonderful imagination.  the text is also my stamp called color her soul.

to see more of karen's work please visit her blog by clicking here.  

if you would like to see my entire rubber stamp line sold through stampotique.com please click here.

weekly planner - week 26

week 26 prompt - do you make assumptions?

this week's prompt was created by a conversation i was having with my husband over a news segment.  of course, it was a violent crime, and the conversation was mostly about how disappointed i get with people.  it is hard to understand what leads up to events that have violence against people or animals.

my mind can't seem to phathom the possibilities or rationale behind other peoples' action and their seemingly senseless behaviors.  i once saw a billboard that said something to the effect that nothing is good or bad, that is our beliefs that make them so.

when you really think about that, there can be a lot of truth to that statement.  if i grew up in other cultures and countries, my beliefs and behaviors would be very different.

in having this discussion with my husband i realized that there are many things that happen that it is quick to judge as bad or wrong.  i do not know what transpired  in anyone's life.  i don't have all the facts, only what is being used a media fodder.  i don't know what anyone's journey is here on earth.  i don't know what god has in store for anyone.  that person's journey is with god and not with me. 

in the end nothing is as clear as it seems in my assumptions.  my mind wants to have everything figured out and categorized so i can put it in a nice, neat, little package and try to make sense of it.  unfortunately there are many things that just are not going to fit anywhere like i want to envision it.

i am learning that making assumptions and being quick to judge doesn't allow me to grow as an individual.  it doesn't afford me the chance to seek compassion and understanding.  i am working on that this year.  i'm learning to allow grace and forgiveness, albeit sometimes difficult. 

what about you?  do you make assumptions?

the roc nicholas rubber stamp design team post

today the roc nicholas rubber stamp design team post is brought to you by samantha read.  hasn't she done a terrific job of mixing up my stamps on her art creation?  sam has managed to use my learning to fly text stamp, my monster stamp for the body, my feline stamp for the face and my flying heart stamp for the wings!  love it samantha!

to see more about this piece please fly on over to samantha's blog by clicking here.

to see the stamp she has used, or all of my stamp line sold through stampotique.com please click here.

weekly planner - week 25

week 25 prompt - what do you remember about childhood play?

growing up i must admit i was a true tomboy.  i  had an older brother who was a little rough with me.  he thought i was a pest and i probably was. 

our neighbors were  mostly boys, as well as most of my cousins that came to visit, and so if you wanted to play you had to be ready to tumble.  we played lots of baseball, wiffle ball and football.  

i found that in school the girls seemed so delicate to me.  they liked to play in an entirely different way that the boys played.  i was also a little mean and bossy when i was younger.  i just played nicer with the boys.  most of my friends were boys.  they had a different way of being.  they didn't talk about people, if they got mad, they got over it in a hurry and were less particular about dress and manners.

to this day i'm not a girly girl.  i don't like to dress up, wear make up, fuss with my hair.  i really am a tomboy at heart.  thank heavens i have a husband who doesn't care about any of those girly things.  he prefers the no fuss, no make up look.  my husband has been one of my first male friends.  

i saw him in the fourth grade and i knew i'd marry him.  he's seen me grow up through my entire life and still decided to marry me.   now i won't even comment on all the possibilities of what could be wrong with that scenario, but oh, how i love him.  i am thankful he was one of my earliest childhood playmates.  i couldn't image my life without him.

so what do you remember about your childhood play?

the roc nicholas rubber stamp design team post

today the roc nicholas rubber stamp design team post is being brought to you by claudine criner.  she has used my screaming bunny rubber stamp and my scalloped lace border stamp to create her beautifully made art.

to see more of claudine's work you can head over to her blog by clicking here.  to see my rubber stamps sold through stampotique.com please click here.

weekly planner - week 24

week 24 prompt - what is something you would like to improve upon?

this week's prompt was about by an incident that happened where i was not so flexible in how i handled it.  

i am a reactor.  initally i have a strong, knee-jerk reaction to things and then in a few days i have the opportunity to calm down, think things through, and feel differently.  since i know this about myself, i rarely make decisions about anything at the moment.  i usually wait for a couple of days because i know my initial response to unsettling news or events will be changing over the course of time.

i am, however, working on being able to go with the flow and live in the moment more.  i lean on prayer first and foremost and have my conversations with god.  i know that through his grace and mercy i will find a calmer and more rational framework in which to operate out of, and for that i am very thankful.

do you have anything you would like to improve upon this year?

 

the roc nicholas rubber stamp design team post

today the roc nicholas rubber stamp design team post is brought to you by corrie herriman.  i just love it!  she has used my screaming bunny and dog rubber stamp to create this piece.  if you would like to see more about how she created it please head on over to her blog by clicking here.

to see my rubber stamp line sold through stampotique.com please click here.