faith...and paper

All month I have visited several blogs and noticed that many of you chose a word to inspire you this year. I really love this idea and think it's much better than trying to stick to a New Year's resolution.

I love the word BELIEVE. I know lots of you do to. It holds so much meaning especially for those of us trying to live a creative and artful life. It's so easy to doubt yourself and loose faith in your abilities. A tiny amount of of self doubt can snowball until you loose sight of your dreams.

One word seemed to keep popping up around me earlier this month. In messages, songs and even in things I would find in stores. After thinking about it I realized I had found my word for the year. It is much like BELIEVE but maybe because it can mean so much more I chose the word FAITH.

Faith goes beyond just believing in my dreams but having faith in the journey to finding them. It means having faith in my passion, my vision and any talent I can nurture. It means having faith in how the journey unfolds.

Last year I loved the word SOAR. I was discovering a whole new world and with each step I felt tiny wings starting to spread. I wanted to soar.  My wings will take me somewhere, I know. Maybe far or not so far.

I will try to have faith in the journey. Not just my creative one but the one I take everyday with all it's ups and downs. I've learned that chaos isn't always a bad thing even if it can seem that way at first. And that a new perspective is like a magic wand sometimes. Faith.

I have been having fun playing with different kinds of paper. Napkins, streamers and paper flowers! One night I came up with this piece and worked on it almost entirely by candlelight because the power went out. When I looked at it the next morning it made me smile. This is just a preview to tease you :)

It will be a gift to celebrate my first blog anniversary on Saturday.

I hope you'll come back and join me for a cupcake or two.

Did you choose a word for 2011? I'd love to hear.

♥

I'm also linking up with my friend Leanne's Word of the Year project.

Leanne's blog From Chaos Comes Happiness has been making me smile since we met early last year. I love how she writes about the chaos and happiness that is her life, so stop by and say hello.

Oh the little paper heart up there was a happy accident that happened while I was playing with a roll of silver streamers from WalMart. It's on it's way to some one's studio but I'm working on a few more for Valentines Day too.



january blissfull atc swap

First Blissfull ATC swap for the year. The theme for January is

white and/or snow and my swap partner is Patti  from Treasure Barn.

Here is the beautiful card she sent me.

Love the gorgeous snow bird and how she framed

it with the soft yellow and pink.

Patti also included this little image which

I love love love!

It just made me smile and I thought of how many

of us have husbands that probably wonder the same thing.

I had to put it up on my inspiration board so I

can look at it everyday.

Thank you Patti! I love them both.

And here is the ATC I sent her.

I found this picture of a beautiful snow fox in a calendar

I just took down. The snow on the branches is

the stuff you use on miniature trees and winter villages.

I also sent Patti a little tag I made using a coffee

filter and vintage sheet music. I aged everything with

my favorite Vintage Photo distress ink pad.

You know I really love doing this ATC swap. I look forward

to working on a new theme each month and meeting

a new artist to swap with. I learn more with each one I make

and the best part is finding a little work of art

in my mailbox everymonth.

Thank you Wendy for all the work you put into making

this a great and fun swap!

Stop by Blissfull ATC Swap to see the January

cards or to play along.

Speaking of blissfull.....here is my Luna, dreaming of tuna perhaps :)

faerie magic and a giveaway winner

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend, and a warm and cozy one for all of you having to deal with snow. We are once again having electrical problems at my house so we were almost completely out of power all weekend. Down to 3 outlets which made lighting, cooking and computering rather interesting. It's being worked on I'm told.

Luckily I was able to draw my WWC magazine winner before we lost power. And the best part was that I had a wee bit of help from the fairies.

First, all the names were written on blue strips of paper.
Everyone who left a comment was included.

A sprinkle of stars to make sure no one was left out!

Remember the magical lantern the fairies left me for my

Tea Party Under A Halloween Moon?

I keep it in my studio for inspiration. I also discovered that the wonderful light

still works on certain nights. Tonight was one of them!

I thought I could use my lantern to choose the winner's name.

So I opened the little glass door...

...and placed all the names inside.

Fairy lights don't burn as you all know. :)

The door was left closed for a count of 33.

1, 2, 3, 4.....

.... 31, 32, 33!

And the winner is #17...Fran from thebagglady...hooray!!

Fran gets to enjoy my extra copy and be inspired by the creative spaces of some really amazing artists. Congratulations Fran!

Thank you everyone for stopping by and sharing your creative spaces with me. I loved hearing about where you like to scrap, paint, sew, glue and glitter. I'll be back again with my January ATC and details about my one year blog anniversary celebration.

Have a glittery, creative Monday!