Thankful Thursday

When I first heard about Inspired (2008) on Kal's blog, I was, well, inspired! It sounded amazing... and also intimidating. Majorly, hugely, nearly-overwhelmingly intimidating. All of these capital-a Artists and then little old me. But I thought about it. And then I thought about it some more. And then I thought about it nearly constantly. And then one night after some liquid courage (which it should not take, I know, but sometimes does anyway) I told Jason about it and said, "I really want to learn how to be an artist and I think this..." and before I could finish my sentence he said, "Baby, you already are an artist; you make beautiful things every day." And then I started crying. And then he told me to sign up.

Have I mentioned how much I love my husband?

So I did--I signed up that same night. And I am so thankful that I did. The experience took my mind and opened it wide up and shifted it all around to make room for a world of possibilities. Plus. PLUS. PLUS I became involved in this amazing community of women artists who inspire me and are my friends and whom I treasure. Words don't exist to explain how I feel about these women. Or maybe they do and I just don't know them. Ha! Nothing like a little levity to break up the lump in my throat.

Cynthia is going through a tough situation right now, and she is all the way over in Minnesota, which I lament weekly. Since I can't take her some ice cream or make her a casserole or clean her house or bring over a stack of DVDs and a new pair of fluffy pajamas or take her for a walk to the park and talk for hours while we swing, I told her to create art to help her work through it. Little did I know she would make art for me! I absolutely adore this canvas and cried when I received it in the mail. It's mixed media focused on a vintage postcard of Piazza San Marco; she knows how much I love Italy.



It is sitting proudly on a stand on my mantle, and it makes me smile every time I see it. Thank you so much, Cynthia!! (And you know I'm thinking of you and your mom every day!)

A while back I got a wonderful package in the mail from Shannon. She's is an amazing artist who inspires me with nearly every blog post; she's on a blog hiatus right now so hurry up and come back, Shannon! which I totally understand. She made me this amazing little flip-out book about "10 ways to infuse your work with your personality." It's super cool!


She also made me this amazing card! One of the reasons I love Shannon is because her style is so different than mine; every time she makes something I love it but I never would have thought of it! Here's the inside of the card before she wrote inside of it (Shannon, I hope you don't mind I stole this from your blog!).


I love how she stamped the bird onto a page of text and then cut out and pasted the body onto the card. Sooooo cool! She also sent me a whole bunch of goodies to play with. Thanks again, Shannon!

I'm also grateful that I've slept better the past few nights so I had enough energy and brainpower to finish my charm swap. The theme was Favorite Places so, big surprise, I chose Italy. :)


I made the base of each charm with polymer clay (a blend of colors to get terracotta) and on the front is an image of a couple on a scooter (with the Coliseum in the background, no less!) and on the back I stamped "Ciao ciao!" I think they turned out pretty well. I have a couple extras that I may make into necklace pendants!

Also thankful for:

• Being signed up for Inspired 2009!
• Being signed up to meet Deitra in Richmond to take three classes from Donna!
• My Chiropractor!
• Two mini-vacations just planned for later this month and next! Wooo, it's about time, Jason and I are getting restless!

So what are you thankful for today? Let me know and I'll see you tomorrow for Favorite {Photo} Friday!