I'm Fine

How many times have you asked someone how they are doing

 and heard the answer 

"I'm fine"?

Seen someone smiling, laughing and you've thought,

 wow, they sure are doing great.

Ever wonder if you're wrong?

I want to introduce you to someone. Someone who has been effecting me more then she'll ever know.

Her poetry haunts me. When I read her words, I feel emotionally drenched. 

Over the years I have read many books by too many different authors to keep track off. 

A very small number of people have been able to stop me in my tracks and 

make me just want to take a deep breath. 

My pulse races with the sheer raw emotion she places within her poetry.

An amazing thing about her.............. she is 13 years old.

 This is Kelsey.

She is the youngest daughter of one of my good friends. 

 She has a beautiful smile and infectious laugh.

She loves dying her hair and piercing her nose and lip.

She loves to draw.

She loves listening to music.

She loves to write poetry.

 She also suffers.

She is bullied at school every day.

She is shoved. 

She is pushed. 

She is called horrible names.

She is dealing with all of it with an amazing grace.

She created a video and placed it on YouTube.

It is so raw and emotional.

Her school had EVERY CLASS have to watch this video.

Thru her pain and torment, Kelsey is going to save someone's life.

She is going to have someone see her video and have that person

know that they are not alone in their torment.

She is going to open the eyes of so many people.

They are going to hear the words "I'm Fine" and now know

that person needs to be heard. 
Needs to feel loved.

Needs to feel compassion.

Needs to feel they are not alone.

Some of us go thru hard times because we also have been given the strength
and the ability to bring ourselves out of the darkness.
Out of the pain.
Out of the overbearing sorrow and rage.
To express these emotions thru our words.
Thru our artwork.
Not to get pity or be judged.
To open the eyes of those around us.
To shine light where needed most.
To be the voice for those not able to speak for themselves.

Here is Kelsey's video.

Watch it all the way thru.

Then think about the people around you.

Maybe it's you.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

 

Please pass this video on so that it may help someone 

who is sitting in their darkness

 to finally see a glimmer of hope and light today.

Kelsey.........you are an amazing soul and thru the darkest of your hours, 

you are a beacon of hope, even when you don't know you shine. 

You have made a difference in someone's life,I just know it. 

You have a spirit about you that many only dream about having. 

You are doing incredible things with your life and will continue to do so.

I told you that someday I would be paying good money to hear you 

standing on a stage reading your poetry and I mean it. You have an incredible gift 

and I hope that you always continue to share your words.

My dream for you is to someday make those words 

more about happiness, love and joy of living 

and let the sorrow and bullying finally be over for you.

xo
Tracy(Cedara) 

I Will Show You Mine {if you show me yours}

Fun link up today over at Jeanne Oliver.
She posted her makeup that she uses and I thought it was a cool concept for a blog post too.
So I scooped all my goodies and raced down to the kitchen table as it really is the biggest window for natural light. The skies are dark and gloomy today so taking photos was going to be a wee bit tricky.

 Now I don't wear make up every day. Some days are just too busy and crazy with everything else happening to even attempt to put eyeliner on without blinding myself. I will admit that when I do slow my day down enough to apply makeup, I somehow feel better about myself.

I do start every morning out using this though and I love the way it makes my skin feel and look. My parents gave it to me this last Christmas. Olay Pro X
It is a 2-speed facial cleansing brush that you use with the exfoliating cleanser creme. A little goes a long way as I have been using the little tube shown since January. The large tube I also got will most likely last the rest of my life.

      Next I apply Olay Total Effects Smoothing Serum. It goes across my whole face lightly with a bit more added in trouble areas like the frown lines on my forehead and crows feet . I use this a few times a week. The Nivea Creme is something I use daily. I apply in the morning and after I wash my face at night.

Bare Escentuals Mineral Makeup

My best friend Danielle came for a visit and brought me this. I was blown away by just how simple it was to apply and what a difference it made to my look. No more circus clown pancake makeup. This just floats on your skin and you look natural. I use the foundation powder; the blush in either a bronze color or glee soft pink (depending on my mood) and then apply the veil powder over everything to softly mask it all in place. I always get comments on my skin and makeup being "soft" which I love. I have large pores in areas of my face and none of this stuff clogs or causes me any issues.

When it comes to eye makeup, I'm a bit less fussy. The colors usually attract me first. Then I check the price and if its hypo-allergenic. I wear dark color eyeliner but I have sticks as well as liquid. Everything from a few dollars to $32 from a friend. My mascara is always black and always waterproof. I wear Burt's Bee in Fig on my lips almost 95% of the time but also own Rhubarb and Peony.
I also have a small pair of tweezers now due to that pesky chin hair that started appearing just after I turned 40. (Why do we never see the chin hair until it's long enough to attach a bead or bow to it?)

At the moment as well,my perfume of choice is Roots Source Red Tea

The Art of Wild Abandonment Blog Hop

WELCOME!!!
Quite a number of us have been taking this incredible mixed media workshop "The Art of Wild Abandonment" by Christy Tomlinson and Junelle Jacobsen. Since so many of us also happen to blog, we thought it would be great fun to do a blog hop and talk about the course.

If you are following the Art of Wild Abandonment Bloghop, you have probably came here from Angie Ibbott Blom http://angieblomdesigns.blogspot.ca/. After you have read my post don’t forget to follow the bloghop onto Kay Boespflug http://www.nordljusfollowyourstar.blogspot.com/ . If you haven’t yet started the bloghop, why not join in the fun by visiting www.clairesmillie.wordpress.com and learning all about it”

Thanks to taking this incredible workshop I am now addicted to using these.
Ever seen them before??
They are Caran d'Ache Neocolorll Artist's Crayons

 "Neocolor II crayons are softer than colored pencils, yet denser than children's wax crayons, and extremely responsive to a wet brush. Wet and dry techniques can be combined in the same drawing. Because of their strong pigmentation, light colors cover dark colors and

vice-versa."

It's like watercolor painting with more control. I am in love.

The array of colors to chose from is wonderful. I opted to buy the "40 pk" and can tell already that I will have to be getting a few more colors. I may have to bite the bullet and just get one of every color they offer. They make me feel like a little kid again sitting at my grandmother's kitchen table, coloring with my box of crayons and watching the page come to life with each stroke of new color.

 The quince bush out from in my yard started blooming this week and I raced out with my camera to capture a few photos. I plan on sitting down the next week or so and sketching it onto watercolor paper that I just picked up. Then I'll be applying the Neocolor II and once again watching the page come to life with each stroke of new color.

 Enjoy the blog hop!

Tracy Dunn of Thru the Attic Door and Thru the Attic Door 2

Photography Backdrop

I know many of you out there have been like me and looked at a photo taken of someone/something and thought.....wow.....they are so lucky to have "that" as their backdrop for the photo. I myself have always been drawn to the pictures taken with the chippy paint wall paper behind people. Have caught myself thinking how lucky they were to find a home with such great old walls to be able to take photographs against. Have often dreamed how incredible it would be to be able to have such a textured wall behind my primitive folkart dolls to really showcase them.
 I have always been so jealous......until now!

Just today I was shown a world I had no idea about.

SWANKY PRINTS

They are vinyl backdrops for when you take photographs!!!
Their backdrops are printed using the latest (state of the art) technology. The artwork is very high quality, so it can scale properly. The vinyl backdrops are waterproof, glare free and roll out flat.

This is the one I ordered and I can hardly contain my excitement over it. It is the perfect background to take the photos of my prim dolls. My photos will have the look and feel that I have been dreaming about and yet I won't have to worry about the cat licking toxic flaked paint from the livingroom floor. My cat is crazy.....he'd be licking.

I ordered off Etsy and she was INCREDIBLE to work with. She answered all my questions very quickly and without rolling her eyes at me for asking silly questions.

She also has a Facebook Fan Page that you should make sure to check out.
She does giveaways and such. I *liked* her FB page right away and have my fingers crossed to win another incredible backdrop. I would just flip out with joy!

I'm going to spend the evening sketching some new prim dolls to create, with using this backdrop behind them in mind.


Tracy Cedara Dunn of Thru the Attic Door and Thru The Attic Door 2

My Creative Muse likes her music LOUD

                                                    (Photo)

My home is never fully quiet. I'm not talking children fighting or hearing traffic backed up in the street. (Well for one thing, I don't have children and I live on a very rural back country road.) I'm talking about how music is always playing from some corner of the farmhouse. We have stacks of cds that over the years, have been purchased. Some still have their covers. A few are laying in special cases we had to buy so they won't be scratched too much and become useless. Many are downloaded tunes that we play thru the speaker system on my laptop. Some evenings it's video after video being streamed thru Youtube.

I listen to a wide array of music. Each style speaks to a different part of my creative muse. Some music I can sit back and sketch in my notebooks. Not really focused and yet my pencil lead skims across paper like skates on a frozen pond.
Other times my sewing machine pedal is smoking, that needle is slamming thru fabric and you can't even keep up with the drum beats slamming in the background.

Do you create with music floating around you like creative mist soaking into your skin?

Here is a small sampling of what my muse has been creating to the last little while.


Leeroy Stagger

The Wailin'Jennys


And many afternoons I have had the cd "In Your Dreams" by Stevie Nicks playing in a continuous loop for hours

Happy Listening!
Tracy Cedara Dunn of Thru The Attic Door and Thru the Attic Door 2