Monday Inspiration Celebration: holiday edition

If ever there was a week when inspiration was desperately needed, it was this past holiday weekend! At times it felt like the Grinch was trying to steal my Christmas, but thanks to so many creative and generous angels out there, Christmas spirit persevered here in Whoville and a merry time was had by almost all.

Okay, so a quick laundry list: after eating a boot, a slipper, a holiday ornament AND most offensive of all, the leather cover to one of my art journals, I declared Moose dog was not fit and took him in for more extensive (read: expensive) diagnostic testing. As I was waiting for the vet to call, it occurred to me that the recent rash of leather-binging had transpired in the two week period since he had been on medication to reduce inflammation in his stomach. Bingo! If ever EVER a doctor or veterinary wants to prescribe prednisone be very very wary! Basically, we were living with Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde in canine form. We are attempting to reduce his medication but in the meanwhile he cannot be left unattended. I mean, I had nothing better to do in the days leading up to Christmas, right?

Then the Husband went down Christmas eve and he went down hard. The highlight of our family dinner was Cowgirl running downstairs and shouting "Daddy threw up ... on the floor!" If you need a way to clear out party guests, you might try that line. Guaranteed to work.

So Christmas day was a quiet affair with a trip to the 24 hour Walgreens, removing the sockings which were filled with food products every time I had to leave the house and make sure no shoes were lying about ... thank goodness for chocolate and alcohol!





And in spite of all this, Cowgirl declared this holiday to be the best one yet! I have to agree. Crazy as the weekend was, so many have come out in support of my video entry for the Ford Global Challenge and Half the Sky Foundation and I am sitting here stunned by the generosity of so many. Thank you seems so small and so I am bestowing Angel status upon these shining souls who truly light up my world:

First there is Karen who has been drumming so much support on Facebook for me as she continues to cheer me on in emails and messages;

Connie for her continual support of all of my creative endeavors. This month she has been running feature pieces on all the artists who have participated in Fearless painting and today is my turn. And in my hour of need, she put out a special post to inform her readers about the Global Challenge.

book and card by Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday

Marisa - whose book "Who are you going to be today Olive?" is all about being oneself and knowing that we each are special and have gifts to share (Cowgirl loves it!) - blew me away with her blog post for me about Half the Sky;

Mindy of Wishstudio immediately and enthusiastically replied to my email with an offer for me to write something for her blog this (I will keep you all posted!) Do check out her amazing giveaway of three scrumptious package sets of beautiful goodies sure to ease the transition into the New Year.

There are so many more angels in my life - indeed the air around me is churned up by the beating of all those wings - please know each and every one of you who has reached out to me via email, snail mail (oh my, YES! I am loving the mail!),or a comment or on Facebook has truly touched my heart and encouraged me to continue on.

And now for the visual inspiration from the previous week!






A beautiful postcard from Kristen in honor of us both declaring our intention for 2011 is to Shine!






This beautiful calendar by Sarah Ahearn which will provide me with a year's worth of inspiration;







Cowgirl's art - a new box the fairies gave her for Christmas (I figure if she is going to become a hoarder, at least she can hoard in style!)

And the best holiday gift of them all -






Made by Cowgirl at school, a tile depicting our family (sorry for the Photoshop blur of our name) and best of all, she gave us all bodies!

We all have the week off to recover and art projects abound so we are ringing out the old year and ringing in the new in an arty way. Hopefully I can return to the master bedroom after 3 nights in the guest room, although this morning's wake up call makes me want to linger a few nights more: I heard the door open and a little voice call out "where are my cuddles?!"

Now it is your turn: do tell, was Santa good to you this year?

Note by Kristen Walker

(Shameless plug: This is the final week for voting for my video over on the Ford Focus Facebook page. I have a chance to win $10k for an incredible charity and so far I have over a hundred votes! You can vote everyday, so if you like my piece and want to support Half the Sky Foundation, please take a moment to pop over and vote ... and then vote again tomorrow!)