If You Carry Your Childhood With You, You Never Become Older

(Quote by Tom Stoppard)

                                                                   

I often wonder if I'm the only one whose dreams and emotions and spirit just don't seem to match my physical age. Inside, I'm actually 30 years younger than outside, but I've been acting my "outside" age and it's no fun! I realize that I created boundaries long ago, constantly telling myself that I can't wear this or I shouldn't do that, and I can't create, I can only copy. Now I'm trying to figure out why I ever placed such restrictions on myself, and the only reason I can come up with is that somewhere along the way, I stopped carrying my childhood with me! Today's card is yet another attempt to do something new, and I'm continually amazed that whenever I take tiny steps outside of my box, the world doesn't explode, people don't laugh at me, and my friends still love me.

I've had the background paper for a long time; it's pink toile and shows little girls playing at being grown up. The sentiment is one that makes me think of my own kids and grandkids, and literally brings a lump to my throat every time I read it. Colored ink didn't work for it, but the black was just a tad too stark, so I put some velum over it, which I punched with a lace border. The pearls seemed to be the right "soft" touch.

I enterred this in the following challenges:

One Stop Craft              sentimental
Paula's Ponderings         pink background
Craftypad                      pearls
Sentimental Sunday       clean and simple
Die Cut Dreams             soft shades of vintage
The Shabby Tea Room  old meets new