Finding Color Your Color in the Dark~

 Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Phobia's, L-I-F-E can strip us of the beautiful colors we see everyday.

We allow these things to waltz in and rob us of the beautiful creation we see at every corner, to make our world black, white and some gray-scale in between.

It's at these moments that we need to reflect on what is most important to us and bring that color back. 

I saw this image as I was scrolling randomly through Pinterest the other day. And it captured every emotion I was feeling, but somehow made me feel better about it.

 Here is the LINK - If you know who is the creator give me a shout so I can credit them...=)

It was very therapeutic to draw out the lines that made me sad and to fill them in with color. Reminded me of my childhood days of laying on the kitchen floor coloring with my crayons and using the linoleum floor to make a cool pattern. 

Can you tell I am from the 80's...=D

I felt stronger because I could see how bright life can be.

Color your world beautifully, don't let yourself be swallowed by the darkness.

Take Care~

“Wide brimmed and narrow, some tall, some not, some fancy, some colorful, some plaid, some plain...” ― William Goldman, The Princess Bride

I have always loved hats, my favorite hat was my fathers old felt hat. Brown and tattered with the feathers falling off the band, just the way I liked it.

I found my hat the other day at TJMaxx, it wasn't tall or super wide brimmed.

Reminded me of my Fathers hat, just black and without the feathers. I was immediately in love with it.

Earlier I had watched Jaclyn's GRWM video and her hat looked so amazing I thought I NEED to try that. 

Obviously Jaclyn's hat was round, larger, floppier and over all gorgeous, I was hoping to achieve a similar effect.

It just kinda fell short, my eye makeup was not quite enough and possibly the wrong shade. And black lip stick just makes me look weird. I still love my hat, just not sure it's the right one for me. Can I be the "Princess and the Pea", just with hats. Maybe a little "Goldilocks" syndrome going on.

Even though it was a fail makeup for me, I thought I would share my adventure.

Take Care-

“Color is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive.” ~ Elliott Erwitt

It has been such a warm summer this year and we didn't get much moisture from our summer rains. Hopefully more is on the way, I love me so cool weather.

I am the odd person who wants it cold and sunny, a little of both worlds.

Because it has been so warm I just have not been feeling creative at all. In fact we have been running so crazy busy.

We replaced the timing belt, manifold gaskets, o2 sensor, clutch and rear engine seal in our Subaru just a few weeks back. My niece got married on the 30th of July, I had a great time doing her hair and makeup, but now August is here. WOW!

Just seems never ending...

This is when we got to stop, take a breath and create something beautiful. 

What's beautiful to me is could be totally different for you. 

We all interpret beauty differently, I love that!

My makeup today is a recreation of this beautiful piece I found on Pinterest. 

If anyone knows who was the artist I would love to properly give credit. 

I am in love with the simplicity of design and the pop the artwork.

Just amazing!

I cannot begin to express how freeing it is to draw on oneself and then jump in the shower to see it all wash away.

I truly feel like there is a deeper lesson to be learned here.

Guess I just need to let the stress, worries and anxieties wash away for the day.

Enjoy the funny poses and random "Lets read a Magazine", art is what You make of it.

Enjoy~

Bonus-

Glimpse of the beautiful couple.

Would Eye Lie to You~

This is a recreation of the beautiful and talented KlairedeLys-

Just wanted to mess around with my colors and Klaire has such a unique talent for using such interesting items from around the house.

I will say...

Cutting the CD is so easy with tin snips, but it kept cracking them into itsy bitsy pieces.

I also do not own white contacts so I just removed the color and bumped the saturation up.

Thanks so much Klaire for the great project and fun!

Please support her and check out her work...=)

Everybody Hurts~

When your day is long

And the night, the night is yours alone

When you're sure you've had enough

Of this life, well hang on

*R.E.M -Everybody Hurts

Well here we go...

My name is Nikki and I have a problem, I self harm.

Now, before I cause any hurt feelings, anger or just unhappiness. 

Please listen-

There are many people who choose to self harm, The most common form of self-harm is skin-cutting but self-harm also covers a wide range of behaviors including burning, scratching, banging or hitting body parts, interfering with wound healing, hair-pulling and the ingestion of toxic substances or objects.

I am not a cutter, I am not trying to insult anyone who does or glorify it.

That's wrong!

I chose to inflict the pain in other ways.

I have a very hard time handling stress, frustration, fear and anxiety.

Last fall my social anxiety took a turn for the worse and I feel deeper into my fears. 

I felt helpless, swallowed up and could not see the light of day. I could manage to put a smile on, but inside I was dying.

Instead of hurting my self by hitting, slapping and such I realized I was fixated on cutting. I didn't know how to express the desire. I felt like if it hurt worse, maybe I would somehow feel much better.

I gave in one night and just did everything I had always wanted to do, but safely.

I chose body paints. I could see the blood red color, imagine it and see the after effects of what I had done. 

My loving husband who is so supportive of my messed up brain captured this pain for me to always remember.

My makeup is an outlet, my outlet to show my emotions. 

Cutting is not going to take the pain away, either is what I do. 

But for a moment using that paint brush I was able to show how bad I hurt inside.

These pictures, my feelings are not meant to hurt or upset anyone. 

The fact is everyone hurts sometime, we just need to find healthy ways to express it.

I hope I can get better.

Yes, prayer helps.

You out there that hurt, self harm, that feel like life has no place for you.

Hold on please-

Pain on the Inside~

When you put on a happy face, but the pain still encompasses you.

Sometimes when we lose those close to us we are unable to express the pain we feel.

I chose to express mine through art.

My mind couldn't get any rest, so late at night after wearing my normal makeup all day I went to doodling.

I was pouring over Pinterest and came across this photo and was immediately drawn to it.

It was so bright and cheery, yet had so much emotion going on.

No, I didn't do the makeup justice. It was late, my color choice wasn't quite right and yeah it was shodd-ily done. But it brought me peace and let me express the feelings I felt.

Thank you so much to my wonderful hubby who took these photos for me.

Thanks for checking out my page!

Take care-

~Uptown Funk You Up~

Hhhhheeelllo!

You know this song??? Yeah, every body knows this song!

It's so not my style or genre, but I am hooked!

I love it, and Bruno Mars rocking the curlers on The Voice!?! Lets just say MmmHmmm!

I know it has been forever and probably a day since I have been on here.

I haven't stopped, just really slowed down and did some self examination.

As to self examination, why is it girls always want what the don't have???

Yeah, I would rock a fro every day if I had one!

Alas I don't, I have natural wavy hair. And boy is it super fine, took me over an hour to detangle my hair after this glorious master piece...LOL

My hubby helped with my hair.

***THANK YOU HUNNY***

 Now there are pins made for doing this, but you see we didn't have any and I wasn't going to drive 120 miles just to get some.

*redneck moment ahead*

My hubby painstakingly wrapped my hair around homemade bailing wire, yes bailing wire pins and secured the ends in black tape...*insert laughing*

And I slept on it, well, I arranged my head as to not stab myself and slept, nah I didn't sleep...LOL

Moving on-

The makeup is full on Blues and ready for some Funk! 

I didn't take any photos of the makeup used, it all just kinda happened.

I think Bruno Mars just does that..;) 

It was a combination of Sleek eye shadows and my Shimmery Mineral Duo Baked eye shadows.

I didn't put anything on my lips and my blush was a combo of peach and deep mauve tones.

Thank you so much to everyone that has viewed, commented and joined me this year! 

See you next year!

***DANCE PARTY***