Friday, May 11, 2012

My Mother's Day Minus One

This is the fourth Mother's Day we are celebrating without my Mom.  This weekend is by far the hardest day to celebrate without her.  No longer feeling her arms embrace me with a warm hug, hearing the simple words "I love you", telling her the funny line our little one blurted out the other evening, or hearing how she told everyone she knew how much of a 'star' her baby girl (our oldest and Mammaw's favorite) was the evening of the school musical.  Oh how I miss her...

Therefore, I simply remind myself I am surrounded by lots of loving Mothers.  Ones that I share laughs and margaritas with and talk about "50 Shades of Grey", tee hee hee.  Ones that are my family now, or have always been, or are "adopted members", and being very fond of those I can look into their eyes and see my own mother, or hear her through their own voice, stories and laughter.  She is everywhere within each and all of you.  Thank you.

I am very fortunate to have such wonderful Mothers in my life!  Once again, my Mother's Day card list has grown.  I have made 16 cards this year for those dear to my heart.   Each one unique, but sharing the same qualities, such as texture, color, font, style, etc.  Here are samples of a few, take a look!










Have a very Happy Mother's Day!!!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Wall of Memories

Wall galleries are very hot right now, and I wanted to get in on all the fun!  With luck, I had the perfect wall.  How did I know it was the perfect wall you ask, it was blessed with a thermostat right in the middle of it.  UGH!!!  We have lived here two years, and not one item has ever hung on that wall due to this decorating faux pas.


I started last week gathering old frames, different sizes, shapes, colors, some metal, some plastic, and some wooden.  Next step was my favorite, the gathering of my favorite spray paints!  EEK!!!  I rarely do a project that does not require spray paint, it is my biggest go-to these days.  After restoring as many frames as I could find, I had to resort to buying a few.  Goodwill had tons, however they were the same price of new frames I found at Dollar General.  All in all, this project costs me $40.00, and I am tickled pink, no really, I am pink, due to calamine lotion covering my entire body.  Darn poison ivy!



The picture of our family under the rainbow was drawn by our oldest years ago before our youngest was born.  As soon as she drew this, I put it in a frame, I love this piece of art! The picture to the right of it is of my mother and the picture above is of my mother-in-law and her sister.



The larger portrait is of my father-in-law, it was taken in Vietnam.  This needed hung as a reminder of what he and many others, including my father, grandfather, uncle, nephew, friends, have done for all of us. 



Hanging all these beautiful portraits has created many smiles in our home.  We tell our children stories of their relatives, how we are related to each one, and explaining our family tree.  After losing my mother, it was important to me to start collecting these family heirlooms so one day they can be passed down to our children.  Then they, in return, can carry on those family stories from generation to generation.

I am linking to the following beautiful blogs, enjoy your journey!