Hoping You Always Have a Wonderful Reason To Smile

Happy New Year!

The time has come for resolutions, goals, gyms and getting back to reality.  2015 was a wonderful year for me and was full of love, adventure and my marriage to my wonderful husband.  For all the good there was some not so great but I truly believe that all of that has made me more aware of who I am and how I am travelling through this life.  One thing that I really noticed in 2015 was how tuned out I've been to the world around me while tuning in dramatically to social media and my portable screen.  This has been an interesting realization for me as growing up my father worked with computers, we had multiple computers in our home at all times and there was such a fascination with where technology would take us.  Sadly, my father passed away in 2007 and so really never got to see how much we've integrated technology and computers into our daily lives.  I am often left to wonder what he'd think if he saw where we've come to with it all.

While my father had a fascination and definitive knack for working with computers, he was very much a lover of music, writing and fine arts.  He loved to read and had bookshelves filed with old and new literature.  He was a very bright man and seemed to have found a balance between the computers he loved to work with and the reality around him.  One of my biggest realizations in 2015 was how unbalanced my computer/real life balance has become!  It is so easy to switch on a device and occupy ourselves for hours which feel like minutes.  I've been very guilty of it when it comes to my hobby of papercrafting, and rightly so as there are so many amazing papercrafters and artists in this community to discover (I'm even blessed to have a couple of you following this blog <3)!  It is so easy to watch video after video on Youtube of every technique imaginable, but not so easy to then jump into the creative process.  I also find that constantly watching others do that which I am attempting has allowed me to downplay the reality of my artistry.  So, in the spirit of self-realization and moving forward in this life I have, I have made some crafty goals for 2016:

1. TO CREATE MORE. I mean really, to just get in there and do it. To get inky and covered in paint and try and fail and succeed and enjoy the process.
2. TO SHARE MORE.  Hand in hand with my technology realization comes the fact that I have been less inclined to share my work as I haven't known what to say.  Some of that comes from my technological over stimulation or moments of low self-esteem.  So my goal is to just put myself out there.  If I inspire one person then I have accomplished what I set out on this blogging journey to do.  Should there never be a day where I've inspired another, then that is perfectly okay as I have created a wonderful time capsule of my creative hobby and the joy that it has brought me.

Ultimately, my slogan for the year is essentially JUST DO THE DARN THING!  There is a shorter form to this, however that short form slogan has already been coined by a company who I am certainly not trying to associate with.  But that's it.  Two simple goals with the ultimate objective of uplifting myself through creativity and perhaps one or two others in the process.

So, in honor of my goals, I am here to SHARE something I CREATED and absolutely love.  Today's card was inspired by a set of Papertrey Ink sentiment stamps that I've had since I got back into this hobby last year.  Before I get to the card, I have to take a moment and say how much I  L-O-V-E  PTI's sentiment stamps.  They have the majority of my favorite word stamps out there.  Unfortunately, due to shipping, exchange rates and duty, it is a rare occurrence for me to shop their stamps but whenever I get the opportunity, I love to pick up a sentiment set or two.  This set has been very useful for me over the past year.

To create my background, I blended some distress inks onto a piece of cardstock.  Once done and dry, I stamped my sentiment in black and rounded the corners of my blended piece.  The feathers are part of a stamp and die set from Stampin' Up and which I stamped, heat embossed and die cut before tying them together with some gold thread.

To create a frame, I mounted my blended piece onto some black card-stock which was just slightly larger around to create my mat.  After adhering this piece to my white card base, I popped up my feathers on the front using some foam tape and added some black glass beads for a bit of subtle shine.

This is a card that makes me smile, which is very appropriate with a sentiment like this!  Thank you so much for following along on my little creative journey and learning with me.  It really does warm my heart and I love hearing back from those who stop by my little corner of the internet.

Here's hoping you always have a wonderful reason to smile.  Sending big hugs and wishes for a happy and prosperous new year to you and yours.

Thanks again for all of your support.

With love,