I LOVE PAPER

I started scrapbooking in January 2005 after my last girlfriend in NYC moved to North Carolina and my then-husband told me that I needed to get a hobby because he wasnt going to keep me company. Yeah, wow! Despite the insensitivity, it was the best thing he could have said to me because I now have my artistic ventures and he was sent to his momma's house with what he came with, a plastic bag!!! (Kick Rocks Loser!!)

Anyway, thus began my love of paper. Scrapbooking papers are simply delicious! You just can't get enough of the colors, the designs, the textures, the countless coordinating combinations! I love it all! My first love was Basic Grey paper and I continue to love their unusual combinations and layers of color and pattern on each page. I also love old letter-type papers, like weathered advertisements and long lost love letters. There is a paper for each person out there, for each particular style a person may love.

My new love is Graphic 45's Fashionista and Communique lines. I love the bold colors and the vintage images! They are so vibrant and yummy! Me and Sassy Sasha got it bad! I ordered only one sheet of the Fashionista paper to see how good the color would be and I am stuck! They are so delicious! So now, I have to buy more!

Just wanted to let you all know just a little bit more about my hobbies, although with this one, I should be called more of a scrap paper hoarder than a scrapbooker!

LOL
Charisse

I Cried and So Did He...

I forgot to tell y'all that I did finally get to my mother's grave. I didnt take the kids because it was on the way back from Delaware. I went down to sign papers so the Diva could get her driver's permit. They have driver's ed down there.

Anywho, The Diva is now speaking to me which is a blessing to my heart. My Love, aka My Best Friend's Brother, drove down with me so I had company. On the way back to NY, I told him that I wanted to visit my mom's grave. I had to call my sister to ask her to look up the directions for me since I havent been in the longest time. She told me the directions and we were on our way!

After getting off the highway, we go down the road to Rose Hill Cemetery in NJ. One thing I do remember is the section my mom is buried in so I direct Love that way. Once we get over there though, I don't know which headstone is hers. I wander around in the general vicinity and feel very ashamed that I don't remember where she is and I start to walk back to the car. Love is sitting there watching me, but not judging me as I was embarrassed enough. I decide to turn back around though, and look once more, and there she is, Ms. Bernice, waiting for me to come to Mommy. I stand there for a minute in a kind of shock, reading the headstone over and over again. I had forgotten what was written on it, even though I was the one who provided it. I reached down and touched her headstone and then picked up the dried out, dead flowers that I know my youngest sister left there on her visit a month ago.

Then I start telling Mommy that I'm sorry, apologizing to her and asking her to forgive me for being such a terrible daughter and that I have done a really bad job with the kids and how I wish she was there to help me and tell me what to do, with the tears and boogers flowing. Then I ask her to forgive me one last time and I hear in my heart that she already has because that is what mommies do. ((Sigh)) So I tell her that I miss her so much. Then I feel something near me and turn to see Love standing to the right, behind me, crying too. I walk over to him, wipe his tears away, look back at Mommy and tell her with my heart that I love her and that I will come back with the kids soon, and Love and I hug-walk back to the car.

A weight was lifted that day that was on my heart for a while. I feel more free and open since and it is a good thing.

I will bring the kids out there soon, when the weather is better and warmer. Now wouldnt not be good because I am scared the Mommy Mobile might give out on the New Jersey Turnpike.

I told you I make stuff..

Find more videos like this on Mixed Media With Suzi Blu


I couldnt upload this to Youtube because it is too long so I uploaded it to my page on Suzi Blu's Ning Network! I hope you all like it. It ain't drunk painting like Adrienne gets to do ('cause I didnt go in the kitchen LOL) but it is fun!

Enjoy!
Charisse

Some Random Shots

The first three pictures are from being in Harlem, on the way to the Studio Museum in Harlem where you CANNOT take pictures. Oh well, there was life to be seen anyway. The last picture is of me and Donna Downey, scrapbooking artist.






Later
Charisse