Creative Bliss: January 2018

Hello!

It's amazing to me to think we are already three weeks into the new year. I hope this finds you doing well and enjoying the start of a brand new year (with no mistakes in it yet). I kind of quit making resolutions because, let's face it, those get broken pretty quickly. I am working on setting some goals, though. One of them is to update this blog a bit.

I'm going to start by sharing a photo I took of myself earlier this month.

You might notice the hair color is a bit different. I started going gray/white in my 20s and always vowed never to color my hair. I liked how it looked and I was very lucky that my hair changed evenly. It kind of looked like I had it highlighted for a long time. Over time, though, when my kids were very young, people began assuming I was their grandmother and not their mom. I was also told I looked about 10 years older than I was. I succumbed to wanting to look younger and started coloring my hair. I liked it fine, but got tired of seeing roots within a couple of weeks of coloring. I have wanted to stop coloring it for a few years, but the girls didn't want people to think I was their grandma and not their mom. I gave in for several years. After my dad died though, and all that you go through in that life changing event, I decided I was done messing with my hair. This is me, and if you think I look older or like a grandma, so be it. I actually really like the color, or lack thereof.

And for the record, a sales associate at Joann's asked my girls if they were enjoying shopping with Grandma. She was quite apologetic when the girls politely corrected her. I laughed and told her she wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last to assume that.

All my life people told me I looked like my mom. (She passed in 1994). I honestly never really saw a big resemblance. Mom was Mom and I was me! Well, I posted the above photo on Facebook (yes, I have a Facebook account, but honestly don't post much there) to let my brothers know about the hair change. They have either no hair or white hair as well. My niece commented, like most people who knew her, that I looked so much like my mom now. And she posted the photo below:

I know it's not the best photo of her, but I can finally see a bit of the similarities in this side by side!

{Hi Mom! Love you and miss you! Hope you are having a wonderful birthday today with Dad and Jim. :) }

And to finish off this post with something creative, here's something I've been working on coloring this past week. There's a new 30 Day Coloring Challenge and I want to participate. In addition to a Facebook account, I also have an Instagram account and am actually much more active on there than on this blog. https://www.instagram.com/crafterjeanne/ if you are interested

Jeanne Tomshack

This is a background stamp from Simon Says Stamp and it's called Center Cut Heart Background. I heat embossed the image in white embossing powder onto Bristol smooth cardstock and colored it in with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and a waterbrush. I also added a bit of White Gold from the Starry Colors palette of Gansai Tambi watercolors. I love the shimmer it adds.

Here is another background I colored with my Zigs and made into a card. This one is Center Cut Kaleidoscope background from Simon Says Stamp. I was completely inspired by this post from Debby Hughes on Lime Doodles Designs blog. I used some Close To My Heart Spring Iris cardstock, a gift card die, heat embossed with the same image on the die cut and a Reverse Confetti sentiment. Oh and the sentiment on the card front is from Simon Says Stamp and is from Stained Glass Love set.