It's another Friday and I thought I would take this opportunity to write this 7 Quick Takes post all about Smith Catholic Art. 

Maybe you have seen some of my blog posts about Cameron Smith, the very talented artist at Smith Catholic Art. Not only does he have an awesome last name (no relation to me, but he and his family are dear friends of our family), but Cameron Smith has incredible talent!  I thought I would go back in the blog archives and share the links to the posts where I mention Cameron Smith's beautiful work! Check them out below!

This week some major and exciting things are happening in my family!

My Dad just had major heart surgery today and he did well through it all.  Praise God! We are so thankful my parents were able to attend our homeschool group's annual St. Joseph Feast Day celebration this past Sunday since my Dad will be in recovery for some time now...

...AND my younger sister is due any day now with her first baby!  I can't wait to see if I'm going to have a new niece or nephew!  I am so thankful for all the thoughts and prayers from family and friends during this "eventful" week for our family!

Needless to say, I've had some distractions this week, but I thought I would join in on the fun "My Writing Space" link-up hosted by Divina at Beauty of the Picture Book.

Where do I blog?  Where is my writing space?

Right here.
Hmmm....The picture looks kind of crooked and I really hope to go through the pile of papers that are stacking up quickly.  But, it's home. 

Below is a close up photo of my writing space.

At the bottom right are notes as I continue to research homeschooling high school options for my oldest for next year.

Then that green/blue sippy cup for my 7 month-old filled with water shouldn't be there!   Aaaaa...that's one of our rules to not bring food/drink near the computers!

Then I have lots of papers, photos, piano books, religious books and candles surrounding the screen.

At the top left of the above picture is a postcard of our beloved Pope John Paul II.  It is a pencil drawing by the very talented Catholic artist, Cameron Smith (no relation to me, however).  Can you believe this was drawn with a pencil?????  It looks like a photo! 

Thank you to all those who entered my "Happy UN-Birthday (hand-made) Jewelry Giveaway!"  It was a great success in that visitors to my blog were introduced to Amelia, a very talented 7 year old, who made the beautiful necklace and jewelry for the giveaway.  Visitors also had the opportunity to get to know Amelia's talented father, Cameron Smith, who is an incredible Catholic artist.   If you would like to find out more about Cameron Smith, check out this link from Wall's Fine Art Gallery, where Cameron sells some of his paintings.  When you click on the link you will read a biography about Cameron Smith and then scroll down a little to see a great video with pictures of Cameron and his family mixed with his artwork pieces. Please share Cameron Smith's website (www.smithcatholicart.com) with others and help spread the word about his beautiful masterpieces!


And the winner of this giveaway is Adriana, from
Congratulations!  Adriana loves Amelia's jewelry and she had this to say about one of Cameron's art pieces after she visited his website:  "My favorite was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, she's beautiful, there is something so peaceful about that art piece!"
Adriana's mother loves hand-made jewelry and Adriana said that her mother has been working in a Catholic Private School for many years.  That is a neat Catholic connection since Cameron's family is Catholic and he shares his love for the Faith through his artistic talent!
Thank you again for everyone's entries and comments! Thank you also to Miss Amelia for making the one-of-a-kind jewelry!

Some of you may have known that this past Tuesday, Aug. 24 was my 35th birthday!  There were some exciting things that happened on my special day to make it an even more special day!

• The best thing was that my children surprised me in the morning by hanging up these birthday banners in our kitchen.  They were so excited to lead me into the kitchen with my eyes closed and then they shouted "SURPRISE!" and sang "Happy Birthday" to me!  They were so proud and I will never forget their sweet smiles!  What a wonderful gift that I will cherish always!

• I went out to lunch with my sister and Mom (thanks Mom for the gift of life!) while my Dad (thanks Dad for the gift of life!) watched my children at home.  Then for supper I went out to eat at our local Texas Roadhouse restaurant where the kids eat FREE on Tuesday nights!  We had a great time as a family and the kids LOVE to throw those peanut shells on the floor at Texas Roadhouse :)  And I didn't have to sweep them up!  Then in the later part of the evening I got to spend time with dear friends and their children!  (Hi MB, it was so much fun to hang out with you, your children, and our sweet friend DM! )  :)

• On my birthday, I happened to hop on a blog through Bloggy Moms.  The blog post that I found was titled "Today, It's My Birthday".  Well, since it was my birthday, I decided to visit Christelle's blog to read more and it ends up that Christelle at Beloved MaMa turned the exact same age as me on the exact same day!  OK this probably doesn't seem that exciting for some of you, but really, think about it. What are the chances that out of the thousands (millions?) of blogs in blogosphere, I find a blogging mom who is celebrating her birthday with her family and turning 35 years YOUNG just like me?  Be sure to visit Christelle at Beloved MaMa !  I'm sure she'll love for you to wish her a Happy (belated) Birthday!   

• In the afternoon, I found out through an email from a blogger named Adriana that I won a $50 Gift Card to Amazon.com because I entered a Blog Giveaway on Adriana's blog at and baby makes three and the winner was going to be selected on my birthday!   To celebrate Adriana's "one year Blogoversary", (Happy Blogoversary Adriana!) she was hosting this amazing giveaway! One of my entries was this blog post that I did about the giveaway. I was shocked to win because Adriana had such a great response to such a great giveaway!  (she had about 160 entries!) Winning was a nice surprise and Thank You to Adriana for hosting such a fun giveaway!  I will be spending my Amazon gift card wisely :)  Be sure to hop on over and say Hi to Adriana at and baby makes three and wish her a "Happy Blogoversary!"

• Speaking of giveaways, I'm hosting my 2nd giveaway since starting my blog in June 2010.  It's called "Happy UN-Birthday to you (hand-made) Jewelry Giveaway".  (Click on the giveaway title to find out more information and to enter). Entries are accepted until  Tuesday, Aug. 31 at 9:00 PM EST.  Thank you to Adriana at "and baby makes three" who just posted a link about my giveaway on her blog :)  I'm really excited about this giveaway because I'm helping spread the word about my friend, Cameron Smith's, INCREDIBLE artwork by giving away his daughter's hand-made jewelry!  Here's a sneak peek of one of Cameron Smith's prints and you can view/purchase more of his masterpieces at Smith Catholic Art.

This was my first year celebrating my birthday as a blogger (I started blogging in June 2010) and I must say it has a been a memorable birthday for all the reasons stated above!  Thank you to all my family, friends and those in blogosphere for celebrating my birthday with me this year!

I'm so very excited about today, Tuesday, August 24, 2010!  Why???

1. It's my 35th birthday today!
2. In this blog post I get to share with you a little bit about my maternal grandparents who are no longer with us :(
3. My first giveaway was so much fun and such a success, I am going to host another giveaway starting today so that one of my readers can get an UN-Birthday gift from me!
4. I get to share with you about a very talented, beautiful 7 year old friend who worked so hard to make the jewelry that I am giving away!
5. I get to share with you about my 7 year old friend's dad who works so hard to create such beautiful artwork and you will be blessed when you view his masterpieces!

As a child, my maternal grandparents, John and Anne Arricale (also fondly known as "PopPop" and "Nanny"), lived in NY while I lived with my family in the South.  So growing up, our visits with them were limited due to the miles that separated us.  But, one special memory I have of my PopPop and Nanny is that they would always send "un-birthday" gifts to me and my other "un-birthday" siblings when one of my brothers or sister were celebrating their birthdays.  These "un-birthday" gifts were very small like crayons and a coloring book, but I remember being so excited to get my special treat in the mail from my special PopPop and Nanny.  Here is a photo of my sweet grandparents in 1997 when my hubby and I first moved into our new home as newlyweds.  PopPop and Nanny, we love and miss you so much! (does anyone have a Kleenex for me to wipe the tears as I go down memory lane tonight? )
As a way to celebrate my birthday today and to keep my grandparent's un-birthday gift tradition alive,  I would like to give one blessed reader a "Happy UN-Birthday!" gift. (including S & H by me!)
The gift for this giveaway is this beautiful hand-made necklace and matching earrings:
This long necklace is silver-platted with green clear beads with small blue flowers in the beads.  The matching earrings are surgical steel that are hooked backs.  The earrings are also the same green color beads as the necklace with small blue flowers in them.

The creator of this jewelry is my 7 year old friend, Amelia, who made this jewelry for this blog giveaway with such love and care! Here she is making these lovely pieces:

Amelia is in our TORCH homeschooling group in my hometown with her other talented siblings.  She has 2 younger sisters and a younger brother.  She has been making jewelry for quite some time now and is so very good at it.  The winner will also receive an autographed tag on the necklace and the earrings with her beautiful cursive writing.  Amelia is very excited to share her God-given talent with the blogging world and the winner of this giveaway will have a unique and beautiful gift from an awesome, talented little girl!

Little Miss Amelia not only has God-given talent, but she also has parents that are as creative and artistic as Amelia and her siblings.
Amelia's father, Cameron Smith, (no relation to me at "A Slice of Smith Life") is a Catholic artist who has done some absolutely incredible paintings and sculptures.  Cameron's latest paintings, the "Sacred Heart of Jesus" and the "Immaculate Heart of Mary", can be viewed and purchased at his website Smith Catholic Art.  Everyone who views his masterpieces is sure to be touched in a special way, whether you are a Catholic believer or not.  So visit Cameron's website today!  I'm sure Miss Amelia would love for you to support her daddy!

OK so how do you enter this AWESOME, SENTIMENTAL, MEANINGFUL, INSPIRING, UN-Birthday (hand-made) Jewelry Giveaway????

Here are the details of the giveaway:

• One reader will win a hand-made necklace and matching earrings made by my friend, 8 year old Amelia.
• Entries close Tuesday, August 31 at 9:00 PM EST.
• Entries open to all my readers since I want to share so much talent with everyone!
• You can enter with a blogger profile with an email or include your email address in your 'entry comments'.
• This giveaway is also open to those that do not have a blogger profile or do not leave an entry comment.  If this is you, please email me at atsmith@ec.rr.com, with subject line "Blog Jewelry Giveaway" and I will enter your name into the giveaway.
• Winner will be notified via email, who will have 48 hours to get in touch with me, otherwise I will redo the draw. Once contacted I will post the winning details on my blog.
• Once I have made contact with the winner, I will ask for the winner's name and address so that I can ship the jewelry to you. I will pay the S&H to make this an even better "un-birthday" gift!
• It is possible to receive 5 entries (and 3 bonus entries) into the draw and here's how...

To Enter:

MANDATORY ENTRY: (Entry #1)
Visit Cameron Smith's art website at Smith Catholic Art and view his prints.  Comment back to me making sure you include your email if you don't have one on your blogger profile or email me at atsmith@ec.rr.com and let me know you viewed his artwork and which print you liked the most.


AFTER you do the Mandatory Entry you can grab more entries by doing one or more of the following: 


To grab 2 entries, become a follower of my blog and comment back that you are following.  Please leave your blog link so I can follow you back.  If you already follow my blog, just tell me in a comment and your entry will be counted.

To grab 3 entries, Click on my "Like" A Slice of Smith Life on Facebook badge on the right sidebar and leave a comment that you "Like" A Slice of Smith Life now on Facebook.

To grab 4 entries, vote for my blog by just clicking on this "We're #10 on the Fence" button.  (Leave a comment each time you vote for me per day (more votes, more entries) and if your blog is on the Picket Fence website, let me know because I'll vote for you too!)



To grab 5 entries, leave a 5th comment letting me know that you have posted about this great  giveaway on your blog. Include a link to the post in your comment please.

To grab 3 bonus entries, order one or more of Cameron Smith's prints directly from his website at Smith Catholic Art !   Leave a comment or email me at atsmith@ec.rr.com and let me know you placed an order and which print(s).


Thank you again to my PopPop and Nanny for all their love and "un-birthday" gifts and to my talented friend, Amelia, for making such beautiful jewelry for this giveaway.  I also thank Amelia's dad, Cameron Smith,  for sharing his faith and incredible artwork for all the world to see!

On Sunday, July 4, 2010, we first went to Mass as a family in our patriotic attire. This picture was taken outside our church in the garden. While I was reading our church bulletin, I saw this beautiful quote inside:

I think Pope John Paul II is a wise and holy man indeed. Speaking of Pope John Paul II, I would like you to see this pencil sketch drawing of this great Pope titled, "Portrait of a Saint" drawn by Cameron Smith, a local and very talented artist. No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. This portrait may look like a black and white photo, but it is in fact a sketch done by the hands of Cameron Smith. Be sure to check out the rest of his artwork and be blessed!