Checking in and sharing #thedailymarker30day

Happy Saturday! I hope you have a nice weekend planned where you are. I have loads of work to do in my crafty cave this weekend so I probably won't be going anywhere, but that's just fine with me. Looking forward to crafting,  and some time with the hubs. Lately we have been so busy we're like passing ships! I will have lots of projects to share starting on the 14th with the new Papertrey Ink September release. Lemme tell ya, it's all gorgeous…and hint: Ho Ho Ho! 

I've been going through some personal stuff and trying to get all my scattered parts together and doing lots of self care, reading, praying, planning. I still go back and read all of your nice comments on my post from a couple of months ago where I opened up about my thoughts and struggles. You guys have no idea how much your kind words lifted me up!! I am going for some counseling, and trying to get my hormones straightened out (being a girl is hard!) and generally trying to embrace this new person I'm becoming lately. I guess we truly never do stop growing and changing. 

I have had some amazing and cool work opportunities lately, and yesterday I set up private photography lessons with a local creative for later in the month. I talk about these things because I believe it's important to publicly express gratitude for what I have been given. I work hard and I hustle, but I know that everything I have is provided for me. I have found the following to be true: The more freely you give – of your time, talents, love, kindness and money – the more you will receive. It all flows from God, and who am I to stop the flow of His grace and goodness by keeping it for myself? Even though I do not have much right now, I have more than I need, and more is coming my way, of that I'm certain. 

I had a situation happen this week, where a huge corporation contacted me and wanted to use one of my photographs for their business. They sent an agreement and terms document that basically said that they could use the photograph however and wherever they chose with no compensation and no guarantee of crediting me for the photo. What????? So I sat down and wrote a very lengthy email to the female CEO of that corporation asking her to explain that to me. You know what? She personally wrote me back. And right away too. This is a lesson – if we do not value our work, our art, ourselves, no one else will. Never shy away from standing up for yourself. As creatives we lose this somewhere along the way. I am fighting hard to be a person who works on behalf of all of us to be paid for our work. Soap box over. I'll keep you posted on this. 

If you are anywhere in the path of Irma, please know that my household is praying for you. In my former corporate life, one of the things I did was to be part of the National Catastrophe Team for a major Insurance Company. I was on the ground in Miami the day after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 (25 years ago almost to the day) and stayed to help for ten weeks. They gave us our Florida Insurance licenses in an airplane hangar in Palm Beach – hundreds of us at these long tables in the middle of the night. It was incredible, the things I saw and did. It's an experience I will never ever forget. I credit this experience with making me an even more grateful person. I became a Red Cross Volunteer as soon as I got home and have been one ever since. That hurricane changed my life, and I don't even live in Florida. It's inexplicable the devastation that is left behind from a hurricane and how long it is before life is normal again. You can't imagine having no home, no power, no water, no food, no street lights, no street signs, no cleared roads, National Guard people with guns driving around protecting everyone…. The things we take for granted every day. Truly. Please be safe and take good care if this is affecting you right now. I'll be thinking of you for sure. 

One thing I worked on this week was participating in the awesome Daily Marker 30 Day Challenge put on by Kathy Racoosin! CLICK HERE to go to her blog and see the details. She encourages us to color and create every day for 30 days. There is a Facebook Group where you can share your work, and you can also share on Instagram with the hashtag #thedailymarker30day. It's open to EVERYONE and I strongly think you should play along!! Sometimes I feel like when I sit down to create I have to finish something, or go full out. This week I have been relaxing and coloring bits and pieces to put on cards later. NO pressure, just fun. I've tried out a bunch of different mediums – pencils, Zig Markers, Distress Inks, Copics…. The other thing is that I have been using stamps that have been waiting on my desk!!! YAY!!! In posting my coloring projects on Instagram and Facebook, I have been trying different ways to style them, and photograph them to make them interesting and artsy. (Secret? I really loooove taking pictures of projects!!) 

So I'm sharing three of my coloring projects from last week! What are you working on in your studio??? Leave me a note!   

For this first one, I used a beautiful stamp from Impress Cards and Crafts! I used Zig Markers and water to watercolor the beautiful image on watercolor paper. I think eventually this will end up being a shabby chic sort of card but you never know! Haha. 

For this one I combined several Flora and Fauna Clear stamp sets to stamp onto an envelope! I watercolored with Mini Distress Inks and water. How cute is that snail? She has eyelashes!! It's so fun! Happy Mail is Snail Mail!!  

For this one I used some beautiful stamps from Impression Obsession designed and drawn by my friend Lindsay! She is amaaaazing and it's so special to use her stamps! I colored on kraft cardstock with Prismacolor pencils for a pretty effect. 

Thanks for stopping by today! Love you, mean it. XOXO