You are HOW old?

Welcome! 

All kaleidoscopes by inkspired and KaleidoCam  

Another birthday has come and gone,

and you’re exhausted.

Sound familiar?

Art Impressions, People collection

Just saw some photos of celebrities.

They were scary.

When did wrinkles become an enemy

to be vanquished at all costs?

In today’s modern society

why do we still think aging is something to be avoided, something to be covered up?

When I see people that have had so much 

plastic surgery to ‘keep looking young’

that now their eyelids can’t close,

and their lips look like a couple of really fat worms,

it makes me sad.

I believe if you want to stay young at heart

and even young in your outward looks,

You must keep your sense of humor!

You can nip and tuck and pull all you want,

but without laughter you will always

Look Old.

Embrace Joy!

There are so many benefits from laughter.

You can even benefit from just smiling!

Here is a partial list of some of the positive results from smiling and laughing -

- helps relieve pain

- increases your immunity

- reduces blood pressure

- decreases heart rate

- reduces stress hormones

- increases blood flow to cells and organs

& oxygenates cells and organs

Releases 3 ‘feel good’ hormones

—- dopamine

 —- endorphins

—- serotonin

Smiles have even been researched 

and proven to increase your life span!

Laughter doesn’t just give you a longer life span,

it gives you a higher quality of life.

“A warm smile is the universal

language of kindness.”

- William Arthur Ward

‘A day without laughter

is a day wasted.”

-Charlie Chaplin

So stop already the fear of getting old!

Stop the unending search for Youth in a bottle!

Stop the whining!

Stop the grouchies!

Look for the humor in everyday life - it’s there.

Find the silly, the ridiculous.

Give a smile to 4 people you don’t know,

Every day!

I hope today’s blog gave you some good ideas on how to feel better, make others feel better,

and hints on how to live a

happier, longer life.

‘Til next time,

inkspired

Thanks to several sites for research information, photos and quotes:

www.organicfacts.net

www.verywellmind.com

Online.uwa.edu

Pinterest

one hundred thousand smiles, gorillas & dried florals

Yippee!!

(That's American slang for hooray, I'm super happy, great news...)

We just HAVE to celebrate!!!

I am well over

100,000 page views!!!

wow!!!

Cool!!!

Doing a little jiggy-dance now!!

You guys all happy dancing with me?

Seeing other people smiling just makes you want to smile doesn't it?

I remember, far back in the dusty region of my brain, a movie about smiles.

It was considered a 'virus' and was highly contagious.

Anybody know the name of this one?

Let me know!



I tried to get some photos of people celebrating and smiling from all over the world, just like my inkspired musings friends!

Ah, you are great people.

You have to be, because you like my blog!!!

:0)

from www.creatinggrace.blogspot.com

Of course, with all this hip-hip-hoooray-ing, I have to let you know:

I am drinking lukewarm coffee from a "Grumpy" (SnowWhite & the Seven Dwarfs) mug.

I just finished my breakfast/lunch:

1 doughnut, softened in the microwave for 12 seconds

and

1 slice of cream havarti cheese;

Accompanied by....room temp water!

Whaaa?????

My temporary crowns that I got on Wednesday,

one of them cracked, broke and came off.

Not nice. Not too painful really, as long as I didn't eat or drink anything!

I went back this am to get another set of temp crowns.

More molds, more poking (but done in a nice way!)

Hey!

This could be a NEW DIET!!!

The Leave a Tooth Nerve Semi-exposed Diet

I just KNOW this is going to be a big money-maker

with many satisfied customers!

'Cause let me tell you, you are NOT going to over eat on this one!

tee hee

Okay, enough silliness!

Let's get on to a serious subject.

Today I want to share with you a Walk/Run that I have never heard of!

The Run brings in $$$ to help support the (at least 3) different programs

that are trying to save and maintain Mountain Gorillas in

Rwanda, the Congo, Uganda and others.

The Run is appropriately named

The Denver Gorilla Run

There are several good companies that help make this run a success.

http://denvergorillarun.com/index.html

You can learn more at the above link.

Here are some highlights from past years' runs:

Gorilla Runners waiting for the bus.

There is ample crowd control.

Some runners bring their own gorillas.

There are even some runners that bring their humans.

These Gorillas are sure Gathering for a Great Greet!

Mountain Gorilla in Rwanda

infant gorilla

Mountain Gorilla in Uganda

This is a very sobering fact for me -

there are only 790 wild mountain gorillas in existence.

I do think of my son. I think of the children born and unborn.

I really hate it that they may grow up in a world

with no mountain gorillas

or

Tigers

or

Rhinos

or

Black Bears

that live in the natural world that they were born to be in.

We simply must NOT let these animals down.

We must NOT let our children down.

We must NOT let ourselves down.

Do a little research

(what? you think I have time to do it all for you???)

Find an organization or Fund that is honest,

with most of the $$ going to the field work

and native workers; and education.

My first place to look would be to google

'Diane Fosser'

any organization that she runs or is involved in should be a good one.

I respect her tremendously.

Now that's something to celebrate!!

a celebration in Ghana

a celebration in Paris, France



Budget Crafts:

Let's finish up today with just a couple of fun things to do with dried florals.

These are flower illustrations that have been cut out and decoupaged onto a plain wood frame (I have seen these at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's Fabrics.)

I also have found wrapping paper with some wonderful images to cut out. Of course, your dried florals will be perfect for this too!

Not sure how to do it?

Just check out my tutorial on "Decoupage".

I am using glass plates in that, but the same steps can be used for wood!

Give it a base coat if you wish of a neutral color, or a bright one!

Start with laying out some larg-ish scraps of scrip -

foreign language, dictionary terms, letters, etc.

#2

What an incredibly beautiful ornament, yet so easy!

Go get out those clear ornaments you bought a few years ago to swirl paint in, and use some for dried florals. This pine tree snippet is perfect, but what about some other plant pod? A dried sunflower head? marigolds? Let you imagination expand. Could you decoupage some dried flowers on the inside of the surface?

#3

These are dried fauna that have been glued into a seashell, and then shellacked.

I would switch it up a little and use my trusty Aleene's Tacky Glue to make a miniature scene inside one of them.

Use the dried fauna, but also tuck in a little mermaid charm, a 'pearl' or two, maybe even a gold doubloon!!

If I need to seal it all, I would try Mod Podge Clear first.

Or perhaps try spraying it with Krylon Crystal Clear Sealant.

After you have done a few of these, take a nice picture,

and send it to me!

Remember, it's WAY EASY to leave a comment now!

No sign-ups. No hassles.

:0)

Time to sign off....

Thaaaaat's All Folks!

inkspired

www.inkspired.etsy.com

www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com

If you haven't seen Shelly's new lattice cards,

and butterfly cards, you are missing out!

Check out her blog, listed on the right!