I created a valentine in my art journal and thought it would be fun for you to try![/caption]I am so glad you stopped by! I was wondering if you remembered the first time you heard "I love you" from your sweetheart? I was actually thinking about that yesterday. Most people ask "When was your first kiss?" But I love thinking about the first time Eddie told me he loved me. Oh my word, it sent me to the moon! Then that sent me down a rabbit trail to second grade. There was a boy in my class that passed me a note that said "Do you love me?" Then there were two boxes I could check, one said yes and one said no. Are you wondering which one I checked? Me too. I really don't remember, but I can vividly remember the note on torn notebook paper written in pencil with horrible handwriting."Do you love me?" Why is that? I think it's because I am a girl. Girls love love! Think about Cinderella. Do you remember anything she said? Uh...no, we only remember the way Prince Charming looked at her and whisked her around the dance floor. What about sleeping beauty? All we remember is Prince Charming waking her with a kiss of true love and riding off into the sunset with her on his horse.
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I used paint, stencils, and pens to create a background. No real plan, just lots of color and designs.[/caption]"I love you." Wow those words are powerful. I never grow weary of hearing them. Those three little words still send me to the moon! They have a way of touching your heart like no other words can do! Those little words can do big things. They comfort, they encourage, they heal, they are magical. I love hearing them all the time! It doesn't even matter how often I hear them, I treasure those words every time I hear them. Those words are never not special? Do you know what I mean? You eventually grow tired of your favorite dessert. You can only watch your favorite movie so many times. Even your favorite sweatshirt has a shelf life. Hearing the words "I love you" never gets old.
That brings me to my next question. How often do you say those three little words? Not how many times do you think it, but how often do you say it? Let's be honest. It is so easy to tell your children that you love them. You probably don't even realize how often you tell them you love them. If you're like me, you tell them all day. When they leave for school, or before I hang up the phone, whenever they leave the house...every time they breathe, you know what I mean. It's so easy to love our children and we so want them to know that they are loved. But how often do we tell our spouse? Do you take for granted that you married them so they know you love them? It's so important to tell your children that you love them, but I believe it's even more important that we tell our spouses how much we love them. I know schedules are crazy, and when you finally see each other you're juggling dinner, kids, homework, sports, the computer, or whatever. However, imagine when your husband or wife walks in the kitchen after a long day and you just share a sweet smile and say "I love you." Oh my goodness, I just got chill bumps thinking about that! Seriously! It's that easy. We just need to be intentional about nurturing our relationships. I'm a year and a half away from empty nest, and when my babies leave, I don't want Eddie to have to reintroduce himself. Not good! Nurture now so it's even finer later.
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I cut out shapes and created a bumble bee girl. I painted her and glued her into my journal with gel medium[/caption]One way to nurture your relationship is the alphabet date night jar. My friend Lisa did this with her husband and I could hardly wait to get home and try it! She was so sweet to share the idea and she gave me permission to share it with my readers. If you are not married or dating someone, I thought this would be a fabulous "girls night out" idea as well! The idea is to fill a jar with fun activities that start with each letter of the alphabet. If you're married, give your spouse half of the letters and you take the other half. If it's a girls night out jar, split the letters evenly between the group. Take each letter and come up with a great activity and put it in the jar. For example, "A"might be Art night. Obviously that would be my letter, so I would have a fun art project that we could do together. "B" might be riding bikes or bowling or read a book together. The idea for me would be come up with an idea that's easy, inexpensive, creative, and fun. I think I will try to do it once a week. If your children are little, put them to bed early one night a week and pull an idea out of the jar. It beats sitting in front of TV or computer! It doesn't have to be elaborate! "C"cook something together! "D" dance party in the den! "E" eat ice cream sundays out of the same bowl. It's being intentional about time together. Try it! I also think it's fabulous for a girls night out! Pick a night or two a month and draw an idea from the jar. Or assign letters to each other and that person designs the night! Be creative! It's a fun thing! I'm starting this week! Tonight we are filling the jar!
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Then I added a little pen and ink and doodles and type that read "beeeee mine"[/caption]I had so many thoughts in my heart today. I hope I did not overload you! I guess at the end of the day we all want to be loved. We just do. Take care of your relationships. Love your mate. Love your children. Nurture friendships. Tell someone you love them today. A lot of times. I love you. Ruthie
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Art Journal "Beeeee Mine"[/caption]
Love you Ruthie
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