The coincidental engagement. April 14, 2017, started as any other day for Brooke Sell. Any other date day. Her boyfriend, Brad Simon of 6 ½ years had planned a date day for the two of them. They were going glass blowing. Brad had a secret. He intended to ask Brooke to marry him. Brooke and Brad met in high school, coincidentally. Their lockers were next to each other. The began talking and became best friends. The beginning of their sophmore year, Brad asked Brooke to go to homecoming. A pretty girl with an amazing dress and a handsome young man with flowers. Pictures to commemorate the event were taken at the falls in Chagrin. Brad knew how important this beautiful girl was to him and asked her to be his girlfriend.
The two best friends found their relationship growing and growing. They fell in love with one another. A giddy kind of love. The kind of love that makes you smile when someone enters the room. They make you laugh. They make you smile. Brad would plan surprise dates for Brooke, bring her flowers and make her feel like she was the only girl in the world. To him she was. After high school, Brad went on to Bowling Green State University and Brooke stayed home to attend Kent State University. They missed each other. They had always been able to make each other laugh; to make each other comfortable. It was tough being 2 ½ hours away from each other after all this time they had spent together, always being there for each other, day after day. That first year, months would go by before they could see each other because of their school and work schedules. They tried to talk and stay in touch but often times only had a few minutes to spare.
Even though they were making their long distance relationship work, they began missing each other more and more, like never before. Brad came home to Brooke in 2016 to finish school at Kent State University. They were together again, a wonderful change for both of them. After Brad came home, he and Brooke started to really think about their future together and what they wanted. They began talking about marriage and even looked at rings. Brad had a plan and he intended to make their engagement amazing. Brooke would have to wait and be surprised. It is hard to surprise someone you are best friends with, someone who knows your thoughts and feelings. This was going to take time. April 14, 2017 was the day. Brad told Brooke he had a surprise date planned for them. Brooke was not suspicious. Afterall, Brad had made a habit of doing things for Brooke and surprising her. When they arrived in Chagrin Falls, there were a few minutes to spare. Planned perfectly by Brad. He asked Brooke if she wanted to take a walk down to the falls, a popular place for proposals. The same place they had taken their first dance pictures. This was not a coincidence, but Brad's plan. They walked on to the deck and then down farther on to the rocks. They reminisced about their first homecoming about how nervous and excited they both were. Brooke had no idea what was about to happen. Brad, more sure than ever he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this woman before him, got down on one knee and asked Brooke to marry him. She said YES Brad's day included another surprise. He had hired a photographer to capture their moment. The photographer, hiding behind a tree was able to create a lasting memory in pictures. As Brad and Brooke were walking back up the deck they noticed a Northeast Ohio Rocks painted rock that said “Will You Marry Me?” It was a surprise for both of them.
The rock was left there by Courtney Davis who had painted the rock to commemorate the day her husband had proposed to her. That day was March 21, 2014. As part of her anniversary, she wanted to create a love story for someone else. Courtney posted her painted rock to the Northeast Ohio Rocks Facebook Group on March 16, 2017. Courtney's plan had worked. Her special day and her special rock became a part of someone's special day. Little did she know that a coincidental locker location of a couple of high school kids who fell in love would lead to a coincidental rock find that was perfectly timed. To some of us, these coincidences are just the thing that make you believe in destiny.
The Week of April 2, 2017 For the week of April 2, 2017, Northeast Ohio Rocks! honored Husband and Wife painting team, Ashley and Ryan Cook, as Artist of the Week.
Ashley shared with us her and Ryan have been painting rocks for about 5 months now. Ashley found a rock at work and had to show Ryan and their kids. The kids loved it, it was a triangular rock painted yellow with a green smiley face on it. Ashley rehid it almost immediately. Ashely said she wanted to make sure that whoever made it had a chance to have it found again. She said “it was such a rush re hiding”. That little yellow and green smiley face rock made her kids so happy it inspired her to create her own rocks, and then her husband started painting right along with her and they haven't stopped since! Ashley said, when she first started painting rocks she painted abstract rocks, a lot of words, a lot of hearts and since then she has grown to animals and other characters. Ryan, her husband paints the best Pokemon rocks. He also paints many different cartoon characters from the 80's and 90's between the both of them they have painted well over 500 rocks. In their travels of hiding rocks they have also found at least 20 rocks themselves! When Ryan was younger he used to draw a lot and Ashley used to help her mom craft jewelry and she loved to color. Now as adults they paint paint rocks with their children! Ashley said, her favorite thing about Northeast Ohio Rocks is that it is something that the entire family can participate it. It is so relaxing to sit there with your family and just paint and enjoy each others time instead of sitting in front of the television. We are so thrilled that we to paint rocks for people and bring them joy every day!
The Week of April 9, 2017 For the week of April 9, 2017, Northeast Ohio Rocks! honored Michelle Wahl as Artist of the Week.
Michelle said it has been a long time since she been creative, prior to starting to paint rocks. She discovered her love for painting by chance in a high school art class. She painted a little after high school, but motherhood and life called and her paints dried up. She also enjoyed sewing, but that has also taken a back burner over the years. Michelle likes to paint superhero rocks, rocks with positive messages, basketballs and silly rocks. She said that she has found these make people smile, and that's really what it's all about. Plus she really likes superheroes & basketball 😉 She is inspired to paint rocks to share smiles & kindness, brighten someone's day and inspire others to find their creativity. Her favorite thing about Northeast Ohio Rocks! is everything is that it encourages more family time, whether painting or searching. She loves that it's a movement about simple kindness that it shows the good in people. She has painted hundreds of rocks, she says probably over 120 lbs of rocks and counting. She has found three. Her daughter's have each found 2 rocks on their own. And even though they may be too cool to admit it, it's made them very happy and they couldn't wait to show her.
The Week of April 16, 2017 For the week of April 16, 2017, Northeast Ohio Rocks! honored Tracy Zimmerman as Artist of the Week.
Before
Tracy
started painting
rocks, photography and dabbling in acrylic painting were (and
still are) her
creative outlets. She
has enjoyed
photography for many, many years. She
started with a
35mm film camera back in high school. Since getting into digital
photography, she
has 80,000
photos on my computer.
Photography
is her
favorite way to be creative. She
started getting into painting when her
grand daughter was born, 3 years ago. She
did a lot of footprint/handprint art with her. She
has
always been a creative person. Always coloring and doing crafts as a
kid then moving on to photography.
She likes to
paint a large variety of things on my rocks from inspirational words
to puns to anything related to nature. She
is
constantly looking for new ideas and new techniques. Nature and
outdoorsy type things inspire her
the most. She
loves
camping, the beach, hiking, birds, flowers and it shows in her
work. Her
favorite thing about Northeast
Ohio Rocks!
is that it can be a tool used to teach and spread kindness and it can
inspire people to find their inner artist!
She has painted about
300 (give or take a few) rocks since October. Of
course, she has pictures of all of them. She has only found
8.
The Week of April 23, 2017 For the week of April 23, 2017, Northeast Ohio Rocks! honors Jessica Freeland as our Artist of the Week
Jessica discovered her "artsy" side in her mid 20's. It began with drawing or what she calls "doodles". Jessica said, during stressful times or a long day, it was the only thing that really made me feel calm. A few years later came her love for photography. She went from being a "cardboard" camera user, to obsessing over learning how to really work a camera, and all the tricks of post processing. Over the last 10 years her photography has included flowers and landscapes, wedding and portraits, abandoned factories and churches, and everything in between. When Norhteast Ohio Rocks! come across her news feed back in late August of 2016, she was instantly curious. She took one glance at the group and new she wanted to participate. She started with painting tress and hearts. Then, because she is a huge animal lover, she progressed into lots of different types of animals. She also loves doing dots. She says, something about dotting is extra relaxing. Painting rocks has the same effect as drawing, it's instant peace of mind. Being able to combine that with the idea to "pay it forward" is the best, and is probably her favorite thing about Northeast Ohio Rocks!. She said, she gets to paint and feel peaceful, but also I get to share a smile one rock at a time. Jessica went on to say, the rocks change peoples bad days to good, sometimes they give people hope when they really need it, they change lives, it is a good feeling to be a part of that. She is inspired and challenged to try new things whether that is a camping scene, an animal, a camera or painting dots. She doesn’t know how many rocks she has painted but she thinks it is around 250-300, give or take a few. She has yet to find a single one but knows her day will come.
The Week of April 30, 2017 For the week of April 2, 2017, Northeast Ohio Rocks! honored Sharon Lin as Artist of the Week.
One of Sharon’s daughters found the families first painted rock in November of 2016, she wanted to keep the rock but Sharon was finally able to convince her to re-hide it after a few days. In seeing how happy her daughter was in both finding & hiding the rock and realizing the valuable lessons her daughter had learned (share the kindness with others & learning to let go) Sharon decided to paint some rocks of their own in early December to bring the experience closer to home. Sharon said she has no formal training in arts & craft so initially she looked to the images posted in the group for inspiration. Recently she have been painting event driven rocks such as birthday & holiday theme or participating in rock painting events. Sharon became inspired to host her own group painting events to inspire others. She said, it isnt every day you get presented with an opportunity to change the world. Surprisingly painting the kindness rocks have given me just that opportunity: one rock at the time. Sharon initially loved looking through the group to find rocks they had painted but now they enjoy the creativity and the quality time she spends with her family and others. She is already planning her next painting event. Sharon doesn’t have an accurate account of all the rocks she has painted. She believes her and her family have painted hundreds of rocks. They have only found four.
So that our finders become inspired to share kindness too, we have labels for the back of our Northeast Ohio Rocks! rocks. Our labels instruct the finder to find us on Facebook, post a picture and re-hide the rock. We hope our finders are inspired to become painters and hiders too. Rock On! Kindness ROCKS! You can find the labels in the files folder on the Northeast Ohio Rocks! Facebook Group Page
Northeast Ohio Rocks!
We attach our Northeast Ohio Rocks! label by decoupage. To decoupage, you use Mod Podge.
1. Glue the label in place with the Mod Podge by using the Mod Podge under the label. Be sure to cover the label edge to edge. 2. Cover the label with Mod Podge. Be sure there are no bubbles or creases in your label. 3. Allow to dry completely. I usually allow overnight drying. 4. Repeat two more coats. If done properly, your label will become a part of the rock.
NOTE: Allow drying, overnight to ensure dryness, before sealing your rock. If you do not allow proper drying time, your artwork could crack in the extreme temperatures.
5. Prior to moving on to sealing your rock, please allow overnight drying. Not allowing the mod podge to dry completely will cause cracking when the sealer dries faster than the mod podge.
Please use Mod Podge. Please do not make homemade mod podge with white glue and water. Mod Podge has properties that white glue and water do not. Using the homemade formula may cause cloudiness and pealing.
The very first community based “rocks” group was established in January 2016 by Aisha Lesh. It was named Port Angeles Rocks. Whidbey Island Rocks was inspired by Port Angeles Rocks and was started in June 2016 by the Darnell Family. Northeast Ohio Rocks! was inspired by Whidbey Island Rocks and started on July 24, 2016. Northeast Ohio Rocks! and so should you.
Northeast Ohio Rocks! has inspired the beginning of the following groups
1. Check your area. Make sure there are no other groups in your area. You should not invade a group by making another where there already is one. It is just not respectful and will cause confusion in your area. You should support the group in your area. To find a group in your area search Facebook and Google by “city name rocks” or “city name state name/abbreviations rocks” or by “county name rocks” or “county name state name/abbreviations rocks”. Some groups are named for popular regions like Whidbey Island Rocks and Northeast Ohio Rocks!
2. Name your group your city your state Rocks or your county your state Rocks. Example: Anytown Ohio Rocks or Any County Ohio Rocks. Your group should be local. Do not make a state group.
3. Add your friends and ask them to add their friends.
4. Paint lots of rocks and hide them. People will come!!
5. Please give Northeast Ohio Rocks! credit for being the inspiration to starting your group as we have given Whidbey Island Rocks.
