A Few Last Reflections

Here are a few final reflections for the start of 2016.

 "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.  Begin it now."     Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary."     Steve Jobs

"Beauty is the sense of life and the awe one has in its presence."     Willa Cather

"We have a tendency to obscure the forest of simple joys with the trees of problems."    Christine Collange

Whatever your creative pursuits, we wish you the fun of learning something new and the joy of creating in 2016!

Quotes and Reflection

The look back and and forward continues with these quotes and works from 2015.

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working."     Pablo Picasso

"Let a joy keep you.  Reach out your hands and take it when it runs by."     Carl Sandburg

"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.  The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out."     Ray Bradbury

"And so the hand of time will take the fragments of our lives and make out of life's remnants, as they fall, a thing of beauty after all."     Douglas Malloch

What creative endeavors do you have in store for 2016?

Welcome 2016!

A New Year is always time for reflection on the year just ended and the one about to begin.  Time for resolutions, trying new things, and continuing to work on "old" things.  With that in mind, over the next few days we're sharing some quotes from Lesley Riley's book "Inspirational Quotes Illustrated" along with some photos of our work from 2015 - an attempt at looking back at what we've accomplished along with some inspirational words to keep moving and creating in 2016.

"It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: It would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg.  We are like eggs at present.  And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg.  We must be hatched or go bad."    C. S. Lewis

"Look not too far afield...Answers lie within.  What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."     Henry Stanley Haskins

"It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else."     Erma Bombeck

"So you see, imagination needs moodling - long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering."     Brenda Ueland

Inspirational Book

I received a wonderful new book for Christmas - Lesley Riley's Inspirational Quotes Illustrated. 

The book contains 130 quotes that Lesley has been collecting for over 50 years.  Each page contains a different quote, each illustrated by artists from varying backgrounds - collage, paint, quilt & fiber, beading, paper, watercolor, digital art.   A nice feature is that the pages are perforated so you can post or frame your favorite quotes. 

I have to say that I started reading it while riding in the car and was completely absorbed, page after page.  With one pass through, there were several pages that spoke to me more than others.  Of course I didn't have anything with me to mark them, so it will take a second equally enjoyable read to find them again. 

If you are looking for some new inspiration or motivation in the new year, this may be the book for you!