Making Time for Me AND my Kids...

Today's card was more of a reminder to me! A reminder to keep going on my New Year's Resolution because I rarely do... and a reminder that I NEED time... quiet time.  To read! And for me, the best time to read is when it's quiet.  I have a tough time reading when there is to much commotion going on so for me reading also means quiet time.  Normally alone too.  Sure it might be midnight when I get that time, but I have to find it some how.  :-)

My adorable image is from Magnolia, Editor Tilda.  My Tilda is resting in front of an awesome Cheery Lynn Die, Chasing Rainbows Doily with Angel Wings.  Those adorable little roses all started out as white.. yep, white!  I used a little Mr. Huey's, Overdue Real Red spritz to color some red and then a spritz of Heidi Swapp's Color Shine, Mustard on the light flowers and a heavy spritz on the darker flowers.

One of my favorite things to do is purchase white flowers and white pearls and use different spritz and Copic markers to color them.  How much more easier can restocking your flower supply be??? Order WHITE!!

The DP I used for my doily and the background papers are from Teresa Collins, Memories, collection.  Have you seen her new papers??? I love them all!!

My favorite book of all time has to be "The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks.  In fact, I am a HUGE Nicholas Sparks fan!  To be honest, I use to have to WAIT for his next release.  And sadly, I am behind and have about 3 or 4 of his books to catch up on.  THAT is not good!  So I'm hoping to catch up again this year and then... maybeee... I'll be waiting in sweet anticipation of his next book again.

Another book I really enjoyed was "Little Deadly Things" by Harry Steinman.  NOT that this was MY typical read... I'm a true romantic at heart... but... it was a way to get my son into reading again.  I knew he loved high tech items, and anything having to deal with computers, etc. would grab his attention.  I was right!  So... I chose this book thinking it sounded just like something he'd love!  We read it together... separately on our Kindles, but at the same time so that along the way and when we finished, we had a sweet little mother/son book club conversation going on.  It really did grab my attention as the book got further along and it made for some great conversations with my now 15 year old son!  We've already picked out our next book!!

And now... I have added yet another book to my Kindle which isn't exactly MY style either but again... it is moving my 11 year old daughter to read for fun.  She reads VERY well and does fabulous in school but, reading... no, not for fun.  She said she reads when she HAS to... but never for enjoyment. LOL  And yet, I can't help but hope she'll find that "one" that will change all that for her.  We are all BIG readers in our family and even my father will read 2-3 books a WEEK!  So I've always hoped she would find just one style that keeps her interest and makes her want to keep going.  

"Bliss" is all about a family who owns a bakery and the kids decide to grab the "magical" cook book out (even though they are not suppose to) and spice up their otherwise boring time with their aunt as babysitter.  I am hoping she will find it fun... funny... and exciting enough to keep at it.  Since we're still in the middle of it, I can't tell you if it has done the trick yet or not. ;-)

What do YOU do for fun and relaxation?  Do you read?  What kind of books are your favorite?  Romance, suspense and sometimes a little futuristic books are my first choice but I have found that grabbing a few other genre's hasn't done my soul wrong either.  :-)   AND.. if you have kids, this is proving to be a fabulous way for us to connect and talk and share a bit more than normal every day to day, conversations.  Give it a try, you might learn a bit more about them along the way as well.

Thanks for stopping by today and as always... I TRULY appreciate your comments and am happy you take time to look at my creations!!  *HUGS*




 Copics I used: