Happiness for the Soul

At the age of six, someone gave me a paint by number set for Christmas. To my family’s delight, I was not only good at it, but loved doing it. To this day, my parents still have many storage totes of all my paint by number creations. At a young age, I learned that doing any kind of art or creating gave me focus and peace and made my soul happy. My love for creating has evolved over the years, whatever it is. Whether it be making homemade cards, painting ceramics, creating acrylic pours on canvas, or taking part in any kind of art, it feeds my soul.

I have two mottos that I live my life by. The first is: What goes around, comes around. If I pour my heart and soul into my art and give to others out of acts of kindness and love, it always comes back to me in one form or another. My second motto is: Waste not, want not. I strive to never pay full price for art supplies. A lot of my contentment comes from finding great deals from garage sales, second hand stores, online marketplaces, and upcycle art supply stores.

My latest creation is for a sweet 7-year-old named Amberlynn, who is the granddaughter of a lifetime friend of mine. Of course, there is a little back story to it all. About a year ago, I was in Seattle visiting my friend and he took us all out for a day of hiking and adventure in the woods along a river. When we first got out of the car and started down the trail, I spotted a painted rock that had been placed there by someone. I pointed it out to Amberlynn and she put her hands on her hips and said in her sassy way, “Well, how the heck did that get all the way out here in the woods?” I told her that it was placed there by someone who went for a walk one day, found the rock, carried it home, painted it, and brought it to the woods for us to find and enjoy its beauty. Her grandfather took out his phone and asked Google, “What does it mean when you find a painted rock?” The answer we were given was this: It’s a worldwide scavenger hunt meant to promote positivity and kindness. You never know when you might come upon a painted rock that has been left there just for you to find. You can even join a rock painting group where it will be your mission to make someone’s day in the form of a hand-painted rock decorated with a friendly face or an inspirational message. For those of you going through hard times or simply needing a small pick-me-up, creative do-gooders are out to spread a bit of happiness through small hand-painted rocks. There are now over 500 community rock painting groups on social media, the largest of which has over 100,000 members, and painted rocks can be found all around the world.

Amberlynn was delighted at the thought that someone could go hunting for that perfect rock, take it home and paint it, and then find a great place to leave it for someone else to find and enjoy. I said to her, “You know we could do that! Wouldn’t that be fun?” She turned her head downward and said, “Yeah, well I don’t have any paint or brushes to do that.” I told her, “I will work on fixing that little issue and the next time I come to visit, I would love for us to do some rock painting together.”

So here it is almost a year later and my next visit to the great Northwest is coming up in less than a month. As I sat in my art room one day, bored and trying to come up with something to create, I remembered that day with Amberlynn. My first thought was, “What could I use to make a little kit for her that would include everything she would need to paint, create, and feed her own soul?” I found my stack of old cigar boxes, looked through them, and found the perfect size to fit everything. The ideas started to bounce through my head, so now was the time to gather everything I would need to create this “rock painting kit.” First, and most importantly, were all the different high-quality cutting instruments I would need; without them, this would not be possible. I would be cutting cardstock, paper, felt, and stickers, so I would need at least my cutting board and two different sizes of scissors. After a day of trying to fit into a 7-year-old's shoes and thinking of what she would want to paint and decorate her rocks with, I was able to put it all together. I had everything on hand, it was just a matter of gathering and fitting it all inside that little cigar box. The kit includes six small containers of primary colors of paint, white paint to be used as a primer, clear varnish, glue, googly eyes, a collection of stencils, a few paint brushes, and some jewels to fancy everything up.

Upon completing the kit, I sat and looked at it and thought, “Can our life’s happiness be this simple? Can we find joy and peace for our souls in a box filled with small gifts given from the heart of others?” I know it certainly does the trick for me. I am hopeful that Amberlynn will love it, use it, and start a lifetime love of creating, sharing, and doing for others. In today’s world of upheaval, it is my hope that we can all find a small way to not only enjoy such a small gesture of happiness for our souls, but that we can share that enjoyment with loved ones or even strangers.