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This month Michelle, over at the GPP Street Team site, said “This month’s challenge is inspired by Valentine’s Day.  We get to celebrate the love we have for partners, family, and friends.  I hope you also indulge in some self-love…like taking a day, or just a few hours, to enjoy some creativity time.  I’m thinking it will be interesting to reflect on all the things we love.  People in our lives, things we like to do, places we like to visit, food we love to eat, art supplies we can’t live without – that kind of stuff.  You can make lists of favorites, or focus on a singular subject.  You can be serious and sentimental, or simple and sweet.  You choose.  Make some declarations.  This will give us a chance to get to know you better, and maybe we will learn about something that we will love too.”.

I thought about all kinds of things I could honor; pets, family, art supplies, work, travel. But in the end it had to be Tony. Why? We’ve been together 20 years this year and love being a couple. When we were in Italy in 2010 one of the artists we traveled with said “You two are so devoted. Every time I look round you’re keeping an eye on each other. You really support each other”. Yes, we do. We are each other’s biggest supporters, most loyal advocates, best friends…

I have spent the afternoon looking at, and thinking about, what inspires me. I have flicked through old art journals, magazines, art supplies and read a few blogs. Here’s some thoughts on what inspires me. What inspires you?

• Distress inks
• The beach
• Tim Holtz
• The old freezing works
• Martha Marshall
• Pastels, especially Unison
• My pets
• Michelle Ward and Green Pepper Press
• Acrylic paints
• Tina Mammoser

As many of you know, I have to really limit my art making time this year, due to other commitments. But that doesn’t mean no art; that wouldn’t be good for me, or for the people around me. I’ve been following Tim Holtz‘s blog lately as I really like his style. I loved his 12 tags of Christmas but didn’t have the time to tackle them. I already have a few of his Distress Inks and love using them so hopped on Ebay and did some shopping. Guess what turned up in the mail this week? That’s right – pretty little things in bottles and stamp pads – gorgeous temptations to get my hands dirty…heaven 🙂

This month, over at the GPP Street Team site, Michelle asks us to turn to-do into ta-da! Instead of coming up with a whole lot of resolutions for 2012, she suggests celebrating our successes from 2011.  Although I do have some specific goals in mind for 2012, I was more than happy to look back over 2011. I had a quick shot at it a few posts back, but Michelle was suggesting something a bit more, well, rigorous. I have done two lists – the public one is seen here on the layout that’ll go into my personal album – it’s A4 layouts, unlike my usual 12x12s, and is designed for stuff that’s important only to me. I record things like my reaction to huge world events, changes at work, personal  goals or disappointments. Anyway, behind the patterned paper there’s some other ta-da’s listed, ones that are a bit more personal, tucked away for me to remember in years to come. My scanner has decided to cut one edge off no mater what I do – sigh…