Here's Hopin!

I really can't say THANK YOU enough to Sizzix and my designer friend Eileen Hull for the opportunity to be a part of such a great blog hop! 

I really had no expectations regarding this hop at all, but it's given me sooo much more than I ever expected...... What you ask???

It gave me permission.....yep...permission to create....to create "ME" projects...what I wanted to do...products "I" wanted to use...and make what I wanted to make. Permission to just DO...and if necessary...FAIL and say...well...I tried...and move on.

It's during this process that I believe I've really grown as a designer and as an artist.

Life for me is very stressful right now.  Im dealing with so many raw emotions - and on the outside...I can put on the game face and be happy...but all while on the inside, my heart is breaking.

CANCER! It's an ugly - ugly - ugly word!  Disease...just plain icky-ness with lots and lots of sticky-sticky garbage piled on top!  As many of you know...my Mom is suffering from all the sickening effects from ugly ugly cancer.  I would be lying if I said it hasn't taken it's toll on me....and especially on my Dad.

So during all these hops the past few weeks, I've written stories to go along with my project designs...stories about my life growing up...happy memories...take me away from reality for a moment stories.....

I've used this hop as a form of art therapy.  I allowed myself to write off all the ugly emotions I was feeling at the time.....yanking them outta my brain...and replacing them with happy memories.....and empowering thoughts....and making projects that I can look at and feel good about....

This multi-media painting simply titled "HOPE" is just a small snippit of a larger painting that I created last week.  It's one piece in a collection of paintings focusing on faith, hope and love.  It's multi-layered and textured (just like my life) and respresents so much of what I was feeling at the time.  It really was MOOD changing!

While I don't believe that if you immerse yourself in art or buy all the craft supplies in the world you will be healed....I do know that art allows you to escape for a time, helps to relieve stress - which we all know has a TON of health benefits...and above all it gives you the ability to look thru the windows of life, refocus and see HOPE at the end of the tunnel!

 I am once again smiling...because I FEEL like SMILING...and Happy..despite stress....

So here's Hopin!  Hopin you can also find a sense of relief thru art and just get a little respite...

I hope you come back for more!...(which is code for....sign up for my newsletters!!!) shameful self-promotion isn't it?