The New Me

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Winner of $20 to You’re Gonna Love This is…

HOLLY who commented…
‘I am loving the kid necklaces and the tree necklace for me. Can I also just say that YOU ARE AMAZING! Love you girl!’

No Losers Here:
Visit youregonnalovethis.etsy.com and enter BLOG10
for 10% off anything in our etsy store!

I’m so grateful to Modern June for asking me to be a guest blogger on her blog! I have absolutely loved reading all of the other entries!

Like most women, when asked about my flaws I immediately had a list of 20 things come to mind. I’m not young. Not thin. Have a messy house. Sometimes I go all day without even thinking about brushing my hair. I’m a busy, tired mom.

But, as I thought deeper about my biggest flaw, I knew. It is my body. But, not the fact that I’m out of shape. Not the few gray hairs I have found. It’s the

2 years ago I started waking up with massive joint pain. Like can’t walk for the first 2 hours of the day joint pain. I tried to ignore it. But, it got pretty hard to ignore the fact that my fingers would not work. Then came the day… The day I could not pick up my son from his crib. I sat on the floor, bawling hysterically, not knowing what to do with my life. Luckily someone was looking out for me. A good friend showed up at my door for a reason unknown to her. She helped me get through that day. But, I realized then I couldn’t ignore this anymore. I needed to face the pain.

It took a while to be diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I was glad to have a name for the disease that was taking away my life. But, being diagnosed with a chronic disease I was now faced with kissing the old me goodbye.

The old me…

was super competent
was the first to volunteer to help others
took dinner to sick friends
was an elementary school teacher
had a clean house
took good care of my kids

The new me…

sometimes needs a cane
has trouble getting out of bed each morning
can’t open jars
drops full gallons of milk on the kitchen floor
sometimes can’t walk the full length of the grocery store
can’t button my children’s buttons
needs 5 different medications each day and one injection per week to function

So, my life has changed. But, my life is NOT over! It took me a while to realize that, but it really is true. I am still me. Maybe a new me, but I’m me. I am very proud of who I am. I’m proud of the life I have created.

I am…

*I am now a preschool teacher. I LOVE my preschool kids. It’s the perfect job for me. I work and play for 2 hours, then I take a break. Watching them learn makes me so happy!

*I am a jewelry designer. I started a business to pay down my medical bills and cover my monthly prescriptions. It has become one of my favorite parts of me. I love creating custom pieces that mean something to the people who wear them. And using my hands this way helps them to function better. I am so proud of my little business!

*I have found new ways to help the people I love. It might take a little more thought or planning, but I can still be a service oriented person.

*I have a wonderful husband, awesome friends and a super supportive family who love me.

*I am a mom to 2 wonderful children. They understand what I’m going through more than they should at their ages. They are phenomenal kids, and the thing I am most proud of!

I have days of frustration, but I really do love who I am. I don’t need to compare myself to others. And I don’t need to compare myself to the old me. It may have taken me a while, but I’ve figured out that I’m happy with me.

We want you to be happy, too! So, we are giving you $20 to our shop!!!

4 entries available…
1. Favorite our Etsy Shop.

2. Like our Facebook Page.

3. Post on FB about this giveaway.

4. Let us know your favorite item from Our Shop.
Comment for each entry!
You have 48 hours to enter!

GOOD LUCK!!!

Love Thyself: she is perfectly imperfect

Hi… I am Beth Quinn of Beth Quinn Designs… I am a mother, wife, sister, friend, business owner, jewelry maker and the list goes on and on..I have soo many roles in my life that sometimes its very overwhelming as I am sure so many of you can relate …Each one of us has soo many shoes to fill and we sometimes set our standards very high.. so loving ourselves inside and out isn’t always easy…

what do you do when that inner voice inside your head tells you no , its not good enough ?  I think as women in some form or shape we all struggle with this ..  I know I struggle constantly with the inner voice inside my head whether its about not being a good enough mom at times, because I am being pulled in too many directions or just being too busy..  Sometimes its that nervous feeling thinking that people won’t like what I put out there and questioning myself…. Its that vulnerable feeling .. and we are our own worst critic.. we pick at our flaws and imperfections …(whatever it may be weight, style, creativity, motherhood) we compare ourselves too often to others…    but what it all boils down too is somehow we still do it , we take the leap and get out of our own way..

we are not perfect and it is unrealistic to think we are .. .. we are brave and courageous souls each and every one of us ..

and we are all perfectly imperfect…   so with that being said I would like to giveaway my perfectly imperfect spring necklace to one lucky winner ..

to enter the giveaway :

Follow my blog  here…

Become a fan on my facebook page .. here

Twitter, blog , or facebook about the giveaway – Then just come back here and leave a comment for each thing you do to get an entry..

and remember no matter what .. that you can do it !!  Dream big and follow your heart !!

xo,

beth

Love Thyself – a little recap

I hope you have been enjoying the Love Thyself articles this month. I have love rounding up a group of inspiring women to feature. We still have some more women to come this week and next and more giveaways too!

Speaking of giveaways…

You still have time to enter to win a pretty necklace from Cindy:

Head to her post here and enter today!

The winner of the Kitty cats and Airplanes giveaway for this gorgeous little number:

michellehuegel

The winner of the 25$ to Daisy & June is

Melissa Rhodes

Please send me an email ladies at daisyandjuneshoppe@gmail.com  for your prize info 🙂

One last thing…I am holding an open call for my next series “The Mommy Chronicles”

I am looking for mommies form all walks of life to write articles on their struggles in Motherhood. If you are interested email me 🙂

Ok peeps join me tomorrow for another great article!

xoxo ModernJune

Love Thyself: OCD/Anxiety

Edited to add: The winner of my Birds Nest Necklace is…BLUE BUTTON DESIGNS! Congratulations Blue Button. Please email me at ct2designs@gmail.com to receive your free necklace. Thanks to everyone for leaving a comment, liking my fan page, following my blog & hearting my Etsy shop. ENJOY the rest of your weekend. XO!

Well, hello there friends, Cindy here to share with you one of many flaws I live with every day. But first, a little about me!

Photo by Ali McLaughlin Photography

I’m a 40-something stay at home mom living in the “semi” southern state of Virginia. I’m a former military (brat) and have once served in the military and I miss traveling! I’m mama to two very active and imaginative little ones that keep me on my toes, Tyler (9) and Corinne (4.5) and happily married to my best friend, Tim (10 years this July). We have an adorable fat tabby who likes to keep us up at night named Crush. I adore my little family. They are my happiness and give me so many reasons to enjoy life more and more each day & are so much fun to hang out with, even on a not so good day.

I love to cook and drink good wine, at the same time, of course. I’m always in the kitchen making new recipes to share with my family and they don’t mind being my guinea pigs. You will often find me creating in my scrapbook studio. I have been scrapbooking since 2003 and enjoy every minute of it. I design scrapbook projects for two amazing company’s Creative Memories & Lily Bee Design and you can read more of my ramblings and see my work often on my blog. Another love of mine is creating jewelry. I had spent a couple of years learning metalsmithing – still learning as we speak – and can’t get enough of it. Forming, shaping, sawing, heating, hammering and making something so pretty out of a sheet of metal just makes my heart smile. You can find my jewelry pieces in my Etsy shop, CT2 Designs and follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

I am a pretty easy going kind of gal. I love to relax watching movies, reading a good book on my tablet or my husbands kindle, date nights with the man, mini road trips to fun places my kids enjoy and hanging out with my girlfriends.

So, my flaw, well, this is something I’ve not shared with many. Not for any particular reason, but it’s just not something that comes up in every day conversation, know what I mean? My flaws are OCD/ANXIETY. Now, I will say, I have only been diagnosed having anxiety after baring children, but never for OCD. I was given medication to help calm my anxiety 10 months after my daughter was born and after six months of use, I spent three months weaning myself off the medication. I didn’t want to spend my life taking it. Though, while on the medication, I noticed how calm I was and how differently I felt. It was a GREAT feeling! Since I didn’t want to have to rely on medication, I began working on relaxing more and not let things get to me.

Let’s go back a bit, my most common obsessive compulsion and/or anxiety disorder is the arrangement objects, things, etc. It’s something I have been doing for years. Specifically, during my years in the Army, I would literally sit at my desk to make sure everything was lined up correctly at the beginning of the day and before heading home. If someone put a sheet of paper in the wrong place on my desk, I would move it to the right spot and make sure it was perfectly straight. There were only two telephones in the office I worked in and my desk was the holding spot for one of them. I hated it. Whenever someone would use the phone, I would get so annoyed at them, because they didn’t put it back in the right spot. It needed to be set on the upper left side corner of my desk facing away from me with the spiral cord placed at it’s side, hanging of my desk so it wouldn’t take up too much desk space. Everyone thought I was nuts. I had these crazy thoughts that my co-workers would purposely move things around while I was gone and wait to see what I would do or say when I returned. Either they did or didn’t, in my head it felt like they did. Before the military, one of my chores while living with my parents was dusting. I never liked dusting, but when I had to do it, I made sure everything was completely dust free and put back nice and neat and uncluttered! As the day went on, I would notice something was moved and I would move it right back, correctly in my mind. But then I would spend the entire day freaking out if it was moved or misplaced again. This would go on for several days and sometimes a week.

I’m also a worrier! Something I inherited from my mother. Still to this day, I tell her she worries too much and yes, that came from someone who worries a lot and who also has anxiety, go figure. But it my way of comforting her, trying to ensure her that all will be alright, stop worrying and relax. At the same time, I would worry and sometimes worry for no reason. I always worried how I will say something to someone and have them take it the wrong way. I want to be honest with people and voice my opinion, but some would take it the wrong way depending on how it came out of my mouth. I would tense up so fiercely, I would sweat like crazy, my palms would feel clammy, my heart racing and my voice is less clear and more cut up slightly deeper because I am afraid to say something to that person. This is something I have dealt with as early as grade school.

Understanding that living with my wonderful husband, who doesn’t clean or pick up after himself unless told and leaves his clothes on the floor when he undresses and having two children that help keep our home a mess and cluttered with lots of toys, drawings and food crumbs everywhere, is OK!  Life is too short to worry about simple things such as the arrangement of objects or the clutter of things sitting on the countertop in the kitchen or cat food on the floor surrounding the cat bowl because Crush is a messy eater or the random three day old piece of bread found in my daughter’s toy box or the gazillion empty cups or bowls hiding in my sons bedroom or even the basket of books that should be placed in order by size with the spine facing up instead, there’s a pile of books overflowing in a scattered ever so randomly. I could go on and on.I am constantly working on overcoming these flaws; it’s a work in progress, that’s for sure. I have learned that keeping myself active and busy helps lessen my OCD/anxiety issues and learning that life is too short to spend it worrying all the time.

Now that I have shared something I really don’t ever talk about, my anxiety levels did increase as I was typing my flaw, I’m sure I’ll be judged. But, I am ok with that, because I’m not perfect! I am EXTREMELY happy with who I am, being ME, taking control of the situation and embracing the fact that I KNOW this is a flaw that will always be a part of me that I will not let get the best of me.

If you have OCD or anxiety, when did you notice and how did you overcome or deal with it in your everyday life? I would love to hear your story.

Without further ado, it’s time for a giveaway! If you would like to win one of my favorite and best sellers, the Birds Nest Necklace, all you have to do is leave a comment. You’ll have until Saturday, March 26^th, at midnight (EST.) and I will randomly select a lucky winner.

Want to enter more than one time? Like my Facebook fan page (CT2 Designs), Heart my Etsy shop (CT2 Designs), Follow my blog (Live as We Live It) & follow me on Twitter (CT2 Designs).

Thanks for letting me share my flaw with you. Have a love day & happy second day of Spring, xo!

Love Thyself: Don’t let anyone ever tell you you’re crazy.

Hi guys! My name is Chrissa and most anyone who knows me on the internets thinks of me as The Design Junkie, or perhaps has “met” me via my Pinterest or Etsy shop, like the lovely Kathy here. One of my absolute most favoritest things about having a hobby and side business that relies heavily on my meeting and making new friends online is that I get the opportunity to come in contact with the most amazing individuals. People that I would have likely never had the potential of meeting had it not been for that vehicle. To say that I am grateful for that is an understatement, to be sure.

To tell you the truth, historically (and habitually) I haven’t always “loved thyself”. I tend to be such a perfectionist that I am never good enough for me. No matter how hard I would try, I always fell short of my own expectations. I didn’t go to college, I’m not some svelte trophy wife, in fact, there is nothing truly spectacular about me…with the exception of my having met online and then in real life over 300 of my closest friends. True story.

[Image via Pinterest]

The more I began to interact with new people and hear and see so many fresh ideas, I began to (not to be totally cheesy) blossom. I had always been a creative person, but suddenly I found myself with such a plethora of ideas. I equated them to helium filled balloons, each threatening to float away whose strings always teased me by slipping out of my grasp. I tried to write things down, to take photos of what I wanted I wanted to make, but as the journal and notepads stacked up and the images started to flood folders and editing programs with nary the time to process, I started to think to myself, “I’m doing it wrong”.

[Image via Pinterest]

I tried to simplify, I gave up Farmville, I found myself being more particular about what I did with my time and who I spent it with. Still, I became pretty good at over-promising and under-delivering, flaws that I still struggle with. I’m trying hard to work on this, not only because I have to let others down, but because I don’t want to let me down. Which brings me to a promise I made myself this past Christmas… I had become so active in large part to my blog and its Facebook page, as well as piles of freelance projects, that I found myself thinking about how much I could do, if I didn’t have to go to work every day, which I know sounds absolutely all kinds of crazytown. I had been working for the past 15 years in a position that (I think) I was very good at, I have pretty much the best boss in the history of ever, and employment in a state that has one of the worst unemployment rates in the country. I was always comfortable, so it allowed me to be very sedate, to do anything else would throw shove me pretty far out of my comfort zone. I was scared.

[image via Pinterest]

Then something snapped inside. I felt like I had quite literally cracked open. It finally occurred to me, that if I failed, it wouldn’t kill me.

Again, not having an 8-5 day job WOULD NOT MAKE ME DIE.

For some reason, this was a prettttty big deal to really let that sink in. Everything in me told me I’d be okay, I’d kick butt and take names and all of that, but mostly, I have faith. My faith tells me that I will always make it. I have a ginormous network of support from people who love me all over the world, not to mention, I’m the kind of girl that can make the best of any situation. Case in point:

So I’ve decided not to worry. I have a summer position on the table in Chicago. I’ll help coordinate, sell and organize weddings. Right up my alley. Part of my mission, should I chose to accept it, is re-designing a chicken coop into an office and bridal suite. I’m pumped. I had a nice, super positive talk with my boss, and I’d just like to reiterate that I have been fortunate enough to have worked all of these years for the most supportive guy ever. I called my Grandma to tell her that I wanted to see her soon, that I would likely be gone for the summer. I told her what I was doing. Her response, “What are you, crazy???”

I thought about it for a very long moment before responding.

“Perhaps. Perhaps I am. But I am okay with that. I’ve worked hard and I’m worth this.”

Because you know what? I totally am.

And So are you.

Don’t ever forget that or let anyone ever try to talk you out of your dreams.

“I’m going to make everything around me beautiful – that will be my life.” – Elsie de Wolfe

Daisy & June – Behind the Seams – Little Touches

Morning peeps,

When I started Daisy & June a while ago I didn’t really know what I was getting into. I just knew I wanted to make stuff. I wanted to be crafty and share my crafts with others. I would send my packages out just wrapped in tissue in a boring yellow envelope. Packaging never really came to mind until one day I ordered fabric from an Etsy shop. It was just a few yards of fabric but the way it was packaged was so impressive and it really changed my entire outlook on the whole concept of packaging.

I tried for the longest time thinking of what would be my perfect packaging. Maybe I over thought it who knows but I have finally picked out and ordered everything needed to make the perfect impression on my customers.

So from now on when an item is ordered from my shop they will be come in a pretty brown envelope(recycled) and wrapped in white tissue. Each item is wrapped with these gorgeous twine strings…

And each package has this adorable thank you note attached to it….

Cute right? I found some other cute things for packaging,  I thought I would share some of my favorites…

********

A Little Giveaway Business.

The winner from the kitty cats and airplanes giveaway is…

michellehuegel

Please email me at daisyandjuneshoppe@gmail.com for your prize info.

 

Ok peeps, Have a great Sunday!

 

 

Happy Saturday – Find out who your friends are…

Morning everyone! Busy busy today working on the final stretch of Very Jan today but I wanted to post real quick about real friends.

I’m sure you have friends, friends of different levels. The friend that makes you laugh, the one who gives the best advice or the one who is your go to party planner. My circle of friends is tight knit. We have a baker, a giver, a gossip, a comedian, and a mother hen…we are all completely different but yet each day we keep each other company and make each other laugh and care for each other.

One of the friends in my circle has really become my closest friend period. She is the giver. She is a true good soul. She constantly worries about others – people she doesn’t even know and blesses their lives with her happiness and generosity. She doesn’t ever ask for anything in return even though she deserves it. She loves freely and openly and is a truly positive person. She is the kind of person who uses what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger as her daily motto.

I love this woman. Being friends with her has really brightened my life. We are from such different places in life. Yet being friends with her comes so naturally.

Just this week she saved the day twice for me and this morning called me at 9am to ask me Daisy’s shirt size cause she was out at a yard sale LOL. A while back I bought her this necklace, a gorgeous birds nest with a single egg(she has one child), thinking back on it now I wish I had gotten her one with a pile of eggs as she treats all of us as her family and cares for all of our kids like they are her own. My children love her so much and they can’t go a day without asking if we are going to see her.

Today I am grateful. Grateful to have a friend like her in my life. Her positivity keeps me going through the most stressful of days. I hope everyone is blessed to have a friend like her in their lives. If you do have a friend like this, make sure you tell them how much you appreciate everything they bring to your life! Friends like this are far and few in between and should be cherished!

Ok peeps that’s my peace on good friends!

Now don’t forget about our weekend giveaway from kitty cats and airplanes You have till today at 10pm CST to enter! Enter here

 

and as an added bonus I am going to give a 25$ gift certificate to my shop Daisy & June Good for a custom order 🙂

You have till Tomorrow night at 10pm CST to enter to win that.

HOW TO ENTER:

*Like my Fan Page

*Share your favorite Love Thyself post on FB or Twitter

*Favorite Daisy & June on Etsy

 

Have a great Saturday!

 

xoxo

ModernJune

 

Love Thyself: You can overcome anything.

*******************

A little Giveaway business before we get to our amazing hostess for the day….

The winner of the You Can’t do Everything Giveaway:

Rachel DeVaughn

“You can do anything but not everything” and list one way you are going to cut yourself a little slack today and everyday:

I am not going to freak out if I can’t get caught up with my scrapbooking albums by the end of the year. I will do a little at a time instead of thinking of a huge looming project in front of me!

Winner of the Flaws are Beautiful Giveaway:

Misty O’Brien

I have had 3 boys (all 10lbs) and 3 c-sections. I will always have that leftover “shelf” no matter how small it may ever get to be. However, I pay no attention to it anymore Heck, the first thing I do when I get home and relax is peel off my clothes down to my skivvies and parade around the house, showing off that proud momma leftover belly. Doing this has made me comfortable in my own skin. Thank you for sharing your story and making it relatable to other mommas out there. We appreciate it!

email me at DaisyandJuneshoppe@gmail.com for your information!

Thanks for playing along everyone! Now lets get to know Amie…

Hi. I’m Amie. I blog over at {Kitty Cats and Airplanes}. Sometimes I blog about crafting (my main passion, besides cats), sometimes I blog about my life. Sometimes, I don’t even blog! My life can be a whirlwind sometimes. I also have an Esty {shop} by the same name. That’s how Kathy and I “met.”

To be honest, I had a little trouble with the concept of “Love Thyself.” I battle a fun little disease called major depression, and I can be more than a little hard on myself at times.

“I am such a bad wife.”

“I am the worst business woman in the world.”

“I can’t even take care of myself, how will I ever be a good mom someday?”

“Ack, I’ve gained weight. Just go running you lazy butt!”

And so on, and so on, and so on. It can be crippling; the self doubt, the guilt, the physical and emotional pain. Haunting my every thought, paralyzing me like a helpless child. Burrowing me into a hole I feel I can never climb out of. I would desperately claw at freedom. Buying things I thought would make me happy with money I didn’t have. Pushing the hurt onto my poor husband in attempts to relieve myself of it. Physically trying to “cut” the pain out of the very veins. Anything, anything to get me out of my head, to make the pain stop.

In a perfect world, none of these ailments would plague me. I would be free and unspotted from the world. But then again, what’s the point of a perfect world? Isn’t our whole existence based on growing and learning and discovering ourselves? To enjoy our lives and fulfill them as best we can. Our lives are a precious gift, as is every moment we are blessed with. How easy it is to forget that, to forget how blessed we are.

{here}

It is opposition that makes is strong. You’ve got to be sick to appreciate your health. You’ve got to be sad to appreciate your happiness. And you’ve got to face adversities to appreciate your bounty of blessings. Weak things CAN become strong.

If there is one thing I believe in, it is that you can handle anything that is thrown at you. Anything. Sure, in my darkest days and most painful moments, I would call you a fool for saying such things. However, deep in the very fibers of my soul, I know that I can do it. I would not have been given this life if I couldn’t handle it, I was given this life because I was strong enough to take it on. This life I have been blessed with is to make be a better person. My weaknesses can become my strengths.

{here}

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll always handle it in the best way. Oh no, I’ll screw up. I do screw up. I miss deadlines, I have bad days, I say things I regret, I let people down, and I don’t always seize every moment to be happy. But that, under no circumstances, makes me a failure. As long as I learn from my mistakes, I can pick myself up, dust myself off, and stand back up. (Even though sometimes it takes me a few days to do the dusting and picking up.) I truly believe that with every step you take to fight against your weaknesses, you are one step closer to making those weaknesses your strengths.

I wish to give you a flower. A sunshine yellow peony, forever in bloom, to remind you that you CAN do this. You can handle anything, and you can make your weaknesses your strengths. If you would like this little reminder, you can enter the giveaway by any of the following methods.

• Follow my blog, {Kitty Cats and Airplanes}
• Like my facebook page {here}
• Heart my Etsy shop {here}
• Tell your friends, by means of facebook, blogging, and/or tweeting. {One entry for each}
• Like the Daisy & June FB Page here

None of them are mandatory, but you must do at least one to enter. Please leave a separate comment for each qualifying entry. You have until Saturday Night at 10pm CST to enter!

Thank you Kathy, for inviting me to share my thoughts. Have a blessed day!

Love Thyself: You CAN Be Free

So here’s a little of my back story –

My dad was in the Army which meant moving every 3 years.  I was diagnosed with depression around 12 or 13.  My younger sister had been in a mental hospital and in turn I had overdosed on a medicine trying to make the hurt of it go away – all by the age of 15.  My sister had a baby at 16 and I had one at 18.  You get the picture…

For the most part of 20 years, I have struggled with severe depression.  I have blocked the world out while suffering within.  I have told myself that I have been unhappy for so long that nothing could change it.  Oh sure – there were good times – but way more bad times.

Fast forward to Dec. 2010 – now I’m a married mom of 3 boys lost in this spiral of trying to figure out who ‘I’ am.  Which role that I play is most important?  Are they more important than the role of ‘me’?  I have dealt with depression all this time – so can I just switch it up and be happy now?  From all these questions I made a simple New Years Resolution for 2011 – learn to like the real me, including  pictures of myself.  What a year of exploring myself I spent.  I even made this layout of all the pictures I took during the year – just to prove to myself that what I had been doing was working.

Kit Credit: The Journey by Jen C Designs

So… what I have been experimenting with this year on my journey of self-exploration is journaling.  Last time I saw my doctor – he suggested I get a journal.  That means I went home and started Google-ing journals (cause I’m a nerd like that – I Google everything!) which lead me to finding art journals   Let me tell you – I think my whole life would have been different had I found a release like this many years ago.  I’m no artist by any means.  I’ve always told myself I wasn’t the creative type – even though I’ve dabbled in a few things like cross-stitch and scrapbooking (both paper and digital) throughout the years.

This is where I get excited…

One night I grabbed some of my kids watercolors and a paintbrush and just let go.  It may sound crazy to you – but I remember feeling the weight lifting off my shoulders and my whole body relaxing.  Seriously.  All I was doing was letting the paintbrush glide across the page, letting the brush land where it may.  There is such a freedom in just making marks on the page.  Maybe you’ll like what you’ve done.  Or maybe you will keep working on it later.  Just knowing that it doesn’t matter – you can do whatever you want – no one is watching, you aren’t being judged, you are just letting it out.  I’m here to tell you – it’s an AMAZING FREEDOM!!!!

These are a few of my favorite creations from the last couple of months.  Some are finished – some may not be.  Who knows?  It’s a journey!  I even made myself a journal.  🙂

Listen.  Whether you struggle with depression, self-esteem issues, or anything else.  It does not have to define you.  YOU CAN BE FREE from it!  You have the power to change!  You are strong enough to change!  You are worth it!  You deserve it!  Just go for it!

My challenge to you today is:

Grab a piece of paper and means for making marks (paint, crayons, markers, pen, anything).  Get to somewhere alone (don’t be afraid to sneak in the bathroom and lock the door if you have to!)  Take some deep breaths.  And just make some marks.  Relax your wrists and go with the flow.  Be Free!  Just try it!

When you are done – leave me a comment and let me know how it went for ya!  🙂   **That will be your entry to WIN a handmade journal!  For extra entries – Connect with me on the Get 2 Scrappin’ Facebook page  and/or Pinterest.  Be sure to leave a separate comment for each action you take.

I’m Jacque, known mostly as Get 2 Scrappin’ online.  I am so thankful to Kathy for letting me a part of this amazing series.  I will be continuing to share my creative journey on my blog, Get 2 Scrappin’, and I’d love to have you visit sometime.  🙂

Love Thyself – Flaws are Beautiful

A quick note before we get to our amazing post for the day…

Rachel(Pretty in Green) is going to give her kit away to everyone who commented on her post. Please email me at daisyandjuneshoppe@gmail.com to receive your code.

Hi ladies I am so happy to be hear today to talk about my flaws!

I want to thank Kathy for letting me do this, she is a sweet heart.

Before we talk about my flaw, I would like you to get to know me a little bit.

My name is Cerrisse I am a 26 year old stay at home mom to the cutest bundle of energy son Jaxon.

 I married my high school sweetheart Curtis who is my support and my rock! I don’t know what I would do without him.

I am loving staying at home with my son, it gives me the chance to blog and work on my online business. Me and my mom started our little business in September of last year. We are loving it! and are starting to pick up. We make necklaces, headbands, and hand stamped jewelry. If you ever want to come and take a look head on over to our shop and take a look at our blog .

Our shop is a little bare at the moment, we are moving to a new shop this month with our brand new spring line!!! so excited 🙂

So lets get down and dirty and talk about my flaw. When Kathy asked me to talk about my flaw I didn’t know which one to choose…YES I have more than one. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to talk about a non physical flaw or physical. But then I asked myself what flaw do I have that bugs me the most? Well that was easy….

Big pregnant with my son at 38 weeks

You are bound to end up with this….

Now some of you are thinking “it’s not that bad” but to me it is.

This is something I have to deal with everyday. Sure I could be a crazy work out machine and get this to go away, I could eat better…so on and so on. I do what I can with the time and resources I have. But whatever I do this “flab” will not go away.

I get asked all the time “when are you due” that is the worst!!!!

Sometimes I compare myself to other women who shrink back down after they have babies. Like my sister she is thinner than she was before she had her baby. But you know what she did get?….she got really bad stretch marks. That made me think, every woman is flawed. We all have something even if you are the skinniest most gorgeous woman ever…right?

We just have to embrace our flaws and know we are beautiful, that is what makes us happy.

 I know I wont have this “flab” forever, and I shouldn’t get down on myself or be self conscious about it. There are more important things in life. It’s time for me to wear that bikini and own my body, be proud of it! No matter who is looking and judging because I can be a judge too!

So own your body because it is beautiful!

We all have flaws, I have to remind myself of that everyday.

So in light of this post I wanted to give you the chance to win something from my shop. Nothing more appropriate than this necklace

You can win this “I am beautiful” hand stamped necklace.

Just answer this question:

What flaws make you…you? and how do you deal with them?

To enter:

-Comment to the question below

-Like my shop on Fb.

That is it! You have until 9pm CST tomorrow to enter! Winner will be announced Friday morning 🙂

Thank you for letting me share something so personal and revealing with you guys.

There is still time to enter to win the 8×10 Print from yesterdays post as well!