Becky is leaving SBG .  I’m sad to see her go but she had a great career opportunity come her way and every one of us at SBG is cheering her on for that.  However, while we may be losing our right arm, I highly doubt we will be losing our dear friend.  We might have to take drastic measures and toilet paper her house if she dares forget us.  Some of you will surely get a kick out of that notion.  It wouldn’t be the first time that we would have resorted to such things, or at least suggested it.

On the plus side, Wendy is taking over Customer Service and has adapted to the role with no trouble at all.  She’s always been the tech wiz of the site and incredibly helpful to anyone that asks, so this is an easy transition for her.   Jenn Vogel is stepping up to manage the crew.  She’s been with us for 3 years now, so she already knows how things roll and I know she will make a lot of great changes as well.  I’m excited, and looking forward to it all.  Change is contageous and the spring has many of us feeling restless and excited for something new. 

While we have already RE-designed, we are also RE-working  and RE-structuring the site, fine tuning and RE-fining things.  We’re RE-evaluating what SBG means to those of us who are dedicated to our digital home, and coming up with ways to RE-energize things.  Lots of things in the works, starting with a little something we are calling CREATIVE FUSION.  I’m not going to tip my hand much more than that.  It’s coming soon enough.

I’ve been feeling kind of down the last few days. Somethings I think I am too much of an idealist. When good intentions for peaceful resolutions, sharing, harmony and kindness, return negative vibrations I can sometimes take these things a little too personally. I’ll stand up for what I believe in, but I am not a fighter. My biggest personal challenge may be that I tend to spend too much energy trying to bring clarity or understanding to people who are hell bent on hanging on to perspectives or conclusions that are confused, hurtful or uhelpful. I need to let things go and let others choose a path of suffering without allowing myself to be dragged into it with them. Instead of finding my own heart hurting when someone chooses to stick to their angry guns, or walk away disappointed or feeling victimized, I need to let them go and find a better place to put my attention.

My 8 year old son Kai writes me love notes. He looks at me adoringly and tells me that I am beautiful, even when I have bed head and morning breath. “You’re just the cutest thing, Mom” he says. The most recent nickname he gives me has been Mrs. Beautiful, which makes me giggle inside. He’s a really good boy, who is sensitive, polite, smart, funny, affection and charming. Sometimes I can hardly believe my good fortune. Then I realize that this is what happens when we pour our love into an open heart.

He’s at that age now where it is cool to develop your own language or write in code. He can probably write backwards ( to view secret message in mirror) as fast as he can write forwards now. He is over the moon for Pokemon and the newest DS Pokemon Game has him intrigued by the “unknown” pokemon. So he has been leaving messages for us around the house in this “unknown code” , which I am not sure is something he got from the game or from his own imagination. This is the message I found on my desk today.

For a woman that is nearly 48 years old, I am pretty net savvy. I’ve been on the internet since the mid 90’s and well before most of my friends or acquaintances. In fact, most of my local friends found my early internet obsession to be a bit crazy and I remember one in particular telling me how I needed to pay more attention to my “real” friends as if the friends I had made online were imaginary. While it is true that many times the personae some put forth on the net was in fact a bit embellished and sometimes completely concocted, it didn’t make them any less real to me. Like any relationship, local or otherwise, they were all important companions and teachers. Yet, despite my early entry into the INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY (that sure dates me) , I still seem to have trouble adapting in many situations.
Take for instance my blog here. I started writing here 5 years ago. It took me a while to comprehend what a blog was. Before blogs most of us just had personal websites. Blogs simply made that more accessible to everyone, without having to learn a lot about html and other web design stuff. So I moved myself out of the personal webpage zone and into my blog. I didn’t really expect or understand the presence of random visitors and I very rarely have written in here for anyone other than myself. Over the years I have seen how other designers use their blog as a marketing tool and I get that it is a smart move. However, I have never felt entirely comfortable about posting my kits and products here. I’ve done it on and off, but nothing with any consistency. So when people contact me and ask me where to find my blog, I am concerned that they may expect me to be following the trend of using this space to post all of my new products. Truth is, that I usually don’t.
I guess I am somewhat conflicted about where to draw the line between my personal self-expression and my business. I understand that the two things are closely intertwined and in some cases that it is good and in other cases it is a little awkward or stifling even. Sure, I could open a business blog as well as personal but I’m only one person and managing as much as I already do online is more than enough right now.
Facebook is another thing that took me a while to adapt to. Again, I’ve been on FB longer than many people (besides my kids) that I know. My son’s girlfriend convinced me that it was a fun way to reconnect with people of my past. While I wasn’t sure I was so keen on that idea, there were a few people who had popped into my mind over the years that I had been curious about. However, when I first subscribed I think I was one of the oldest Facebookers online, and the only people on my friends list were my kids and their friends .
It wasn’t long though, l before I was connecting with people who I hadn’t seen, talked to and sometimes even thought about for nearly 30 years. That’s been fun, and kind of weird. The weird part was primarily just from that guy I dated for a few months when I was 18 who is still harbouring a grudge because I broke up with him. Thank goodness for blocking ability. However, I kept getting requests from people whom I did not know. Whenever I got requests like this in IM it was almost always someone you didn’t want to know either, so automatically I declined all requests from people whom I did not recognize or was familiar with. Sorry if you might have been one of those. I guess I just took the word FRIEND a little too literally. Turns out that for about a year I was declining requests from fans and customers from the scrapbooking community. Not a really bright move from a marketing perspective huh? Perfect example of how it took me a while to catch on. Thanks to FB allowing met he ability to organize my friends into groups, I now have quite a few scrappers friended. I haven’t had the time to do the whole Fan thing though. A little too much to juggle at times I think.
I tried subscribing to Twitter a few times before I finally caught on to how it worked and why I might like it. One of the reasons why I like it so much is that it doesn’t demand anything from me. I’ve heard so many people complain about annoying it can be to visit a blog that is not regularly updated. I think then that I must have annoyed most people cause doing anything “regularly” appears to be impossible for me.
The thing with me, whether it is blogging, designing, scrapping, chatting….. is that I’m doing it primarily for me, and sharing what I do just in case it interests or appeals or resonates with someone else, then that’s a bonus! All of these tools are excellent networking tools, even if I don’t use them the way that I may be expected to. I’ve met some super cool people who stumbled in here google searching for something completely unrelated to scrapbooking. I keep coming back here to post updates because 5 years later it is the longest and most detailed account of my personal history that I have actually documented anywhere. Even with many scrap pages and albums, this space seems to hold more content and I feel a personal obligation to keep writing……sometimes rambling on and dancing from point to point, and occasionally dragging a reader along for the ride.

I’ve been watching a little Dr. Oz lately. He’s ok. He’s another quirky dude that seems a little like the misfit of Television Talk Shows, but that’s totally cool by me. His humanness certainly shines through. Every once in a while I will get a tidbit of information (like a cool low cal meal) that is useful. So I watch him.

His philosophy for weight loss includes making sure you have 10,000 steps a day. I’ve been walking on the treadmill every day for a month. Brisk walk is about all I can do, and all I really care to do. Today my new New Balance shoes arrived along with my shiny new pedometer. So first thing I did was pop them on and go down and have my walk. I’m almost caught up on the first season of Glee now. I have the entire season loaded on my laptop which sits on the treadmill’s laptop stand. Glee is a great show to walk to as the music and dancing keeps me pumped. I probably should have saved Lost to watch this way, but it’s a little late for that now.

So today I used the pedometer and what I discovered is that my 40 minute walk amounts to only 1/5 of the amount of steps that Dr. Oz insists of me. So I mention this to Mick and his response is “Don’t worry. You’ll get there. Baby steps.”
What kind of encouragement is that, I ask? I have no interest or intention to walk 5 times a day for 40 minutes and I told him so.
“But pretty soon you can start running.” he says

I don’t think so. I don’t want to build up to running. In fact, I think I may send the pedometer back, either that or I am attaching it to the dog and yelling “squirrel” a hundred times a day.

I’ve had one of his books for a couple of years now.  I started to read it and it was very much in keeping with many other books I had on my shelf.   I know it is a book that I want to spend some more time with but I had not really come to know the author. A week or so ago I went in search of some of his You Tube videos.  I spent an entire night watching them and I have been coming back to them for second views.   I have to say I really love this guy.   What a weirdly, beautiful, quirky little Buddha he is.   I highly recommend BEING HERE with him.

There is a discussion going on here with regard to crediting layouts posted in the online galleries.   I feel it is extremely important to comment to this but since I know it is going to be lengthy I am just going to post my thoughts here.  If you plan on reading, I suggest you get yourself a coffee and relax. If you are not into reading about some of the history of digi scrapping, then I suggest you duck out now. 

On one hand, I resonate very deeply with much of what Jenn (the original poster ) has had to say about being burdened down with the process of crediting that it can hinder her creative process.    When I see how things have evolved with a zillion elements being used on every page, I can be overwhelmed just reading the list of credits and I can’t even imagine the organizational process necessary to track this info.  I don’t suffer from this myself though because when I do create a page, I actually do use my own creations 99% of the time.  When I do use something of someone else’s, it is rare and very easy to remember and acknowledge.

I am actually grateful that Jenn has opened up this topic for discussion because much of what she thinks and perceives is off-base and I think we could all benefit from some greater understanding.  However, my biggest issue with her position is that she is that she is pitting designers  and scrappers against one another into  an US and THEM situation, and this is hardly fair or of any use to either group.  It is also an ongoing problem that I would like to see resolved.

I’ve been involved with digital scrapbooking before there was a “digital scrapbooking” and I’ve watched this very process evolve.   I think taking a look at the history is beneficial here.   In fact,  I will probably cover more than just the topic of crediting in this little historical review. 

Prior to industry when we were all just learning how to use our software, there were no elements or background papers to purchase.  We made each page from scratch ourselves, pixel by pixel. Initially we were mingled in amongst paper scrappers and we would post our layouts saying that they were created 100% digitally.  This attracted other digital artists and it also intrigued some paper artists as well.  However, typical of a world where we habitually segregate and separate from people or things that seem unlike ourselves, we started to get flack from many of the paper artists who tried to suggest that what we did was not “true scrapping” or “true art”.    That was pretty crummy to be told something like that when you had poured your heart into what was clearly genuine and authentic memory keeping.   However, it gave rise to a reason to create a community for ourselves and so we did and there were many benefits to our collecting together in one space.  While there had been some yahoo groups of “computer scrappers” that had been previously established, the first digital scrapbooking site was born in January of 2003 and that was Scrapbook-bytes.  All other sites created since SBB  have been built on this format,  from software choices (for forums and galleries) as well as procedures and content.

  As a community we started donating some of the elements created for our very own pages, into a pool.  So in the early days it was assumed that everything was indeed created by the scrapper that was sharing her layout in the gallery for show and tell.   We were all just a bunch of giddy kids happy and excited to say “COME LOOK AND SEE WHAT I DID!”   We all rushed to go see because every layout was filled with inspiration to learn new techniques and we were all pretty eager to share and learn from each other. 

 As elements became available in the pool you might occasionally find yourself posting a layout that had an element on it that you had not created.   It felt like the honest thing to do would be to share the credit with the person who actually made that element. I  for one would feel guilty or dishonest if I were to post a layout and have people believe I was claiming to have made it all by myself.   

Plus, the point behind developing the community was to help and encourage one another through the learning process.  There were only about 300 of us when we first gathered at SBB and most of us commented on every layout that was ever posted in the gallery.  That was pretty easy to do considering it could take some of us days to create one layout, considering we were having to build every element.  (This was all PRIOR to any element ever even being scanned.  That was to come later. )

Soon the freebie pool wasn’t enough to feed the hungry new digi scrappers and a light bulb went off in my head.  It went off in a couple of other heads as well because there were a few of us who launched our first CD’s and downloads within the same first year.  The digital scrapbooking industry was born within months of the birth of the community.     

My lightbulb moment came when I shared one of my digi layouts with an online friend, who was also a paper scrapper.    She told me that if she were to have created that same page using physical elements that it would probably cost her $15-$20 considering how many “metal” objects I had put on that page.  I made my first visit to a Scrapbooking store shortly afterwards. I had never been a paper scrapper so this was a real eye opening experience for me.  I decided that I could sell the same page I had made for  just under $5 and what a sweet deal that would be considering how much similar tangible supplies would be.  To top that off it would be especially appealing for a digi scrapper who could use the elements over and over again and even alter them or change their colours.    I myself would never have been able to afford to scrap at all if it were not for teaching myself how to create these things digitally and making my products more affordable for other digital scrappers  (who were mostly all my friends) seemed like a natural thing to do.   This low price point later became a real bone of contention amongst designers in the  industry, but I will talk more about that later.

As odd as that may sound to some of you now,  this repeat usage and alteration was common for us in those days.   In fact, it was almost a necessity given how few choices there were and how slow the process of designing was .  Keep in mind that Photoshop and similar image manipulation programs were actually fairly new to everyone,  and most of us were teaching ourselves how to use it, driven by this new found passion.    

Where ever there is a need there is a lighbulb moment going off for someone and more and more new designers started popping up.  Within the first year there were probably only 5 or 6 of us.  By the end of the second year it was probably closer to about 300 and it has continued to grow and expand beyond anyone’s capability of counting.   With personal computers a part of so many homes, digital scrapbooking started to become extremely popular.  Even the paper based sites that balked at our original entrance into the arena were starting to jump on the bandwagon. 

 Back to credits.  Crediting a layout continued as industry blossomed.  The idea that it was simply the right thing to do continued to exist for most anyone posting their “Look what I did” layout.   Perhaps things are different now because most scrappers probably don’t assume that you actually made the elements that are on your page.  In fact, I posted a couple of layouts recently myself and was scolded by a community member who reminded me I had not posted credits.    I suppose it never occurred to her that I did in fact make everything on the layout myself.

 I can’t speak for what other designer’s put in their TOUs but I do not require any sort of credit of anyone.  I live my life by my conscience and I do what I feel is right according to my conscience.  At  the end of the day ,  I am accountable to myself to abide by my conscience, and I know that is the case for everyone.   I think most designers , however, feel  very much  the same way I do on this topic.

Does it help us when you credit us?  Of course it does.  Does it help the community when you credit?  Of course it does.   Does it help you?  Yes it does.   If you like a designer and you want her to continue working and creating more stuff that you enjoy, it really helps to support her.  So many excellent designers have lost interest or enthusiasm in this craft because their inability to get the word out about their products hinders their sales.    

Is it mandatory to credit?  Not for me..and probably not for most designers out there.    I can’t speak for everyone though because  the industry (like all industry) has become an entity all on its own.   Our human conditioning regarding competition in industry isn’t something that seems to be able to be changed all that easily.  There was a time when I was rather idealistic about all of that. I remember seeing competitive nastiness rear its ugly head very early in the game and my repeating a mantra over and over again for people to  see that “this pie is really big enough for us all to have a slice , and that is isn’t necessary to be eating off of each other’s plates.”   I’ve always held the ideal high that we can make greater gains by cooperating with each other  rather than competing but not everyone sees things this way.

I am sure there are some people that suggest that credits would be appreciated and I am sure there are others that even make it a stipulation.   Really it is our right to choose any terms as it is equally the right of a customer to choose to agree or not to agree by these terms when they purchase.   There are a lot of comparisons drawn to tangible craft items not requiring credits on the end creation…. but not everyone is on the same page with that comparison.  Others may compare more closely to software licensing, because there is no tangible product here at all.  The end user is actually only purchasing the license to use, not an actual object.  They don’t actually own the art they are using.  They purchase the license to use it.

Like Jenn, I too am a person whose skin may crawl at the idea that there might be any rules applied to my hobby .  However,  there are no rules applied to the creation of the art, or the creative process.  The rules she is speaking of are applicable only in the publication of that art.  So the rules are not about the crafting or creative process at all.  They are about the community, and the publication of work, either in print or online.

Publication is something that many of us scrappers went after.  When we submitted our layouts to magazines, we were required by the magazine to state what all was used in the creation of our layout. This was something that existed before digital and still exist now for digital as well as paper layouts .

I would assume that this is for as much a courtesy to the readers of the magazine (as the intention is supposed to be helpful and informative) as it is as a protection for the publication as well.  Release forms need to be signed before they can print your work and I suspect that credits are part of that legal process .  In some cases published layouts actually bring in money for the artist, where other times it is not part of the process.  Credits are required in either case. 

However, despite the fact that Jenn is off-base regarding the rules,  I can understand how closely tied the creative process is with the community factor.   I have lots of layouts I have never had need to publish to the community but for some time it was really important to me to get the praise, the applause and the encouragement.  It was also  equally important for me to be in there helping others with the same.     I personally wouldn’t want any of my customers to feel that they couldn’t post a layout with my stuff in it because it was too much of a burden for them to remember what they used.  I want them to enjoy their community and allow it to inspire their ongoing creative process.  At the same time I am awestruck by how some really amazing methods have been developed to make this process easier.  Am I missing something here or has anyone had a lightbulb moment over this one and created a product to simplify further? 

I think it serves us best to remember that we are all human, which means we are flawed and doing our best.  I remember in the early days seeing a lovely layout posted at 2peas.  It had one very gorgeous element on it that everyone was commenting on.  The element had actually not been created by the scrapper.  She had obtained it from the pool of freebies, yet, despite everyone’s comments about how lovely that element was, she didn’t step up and say “hey, I didn’t make that” ..she just allowed people to praise her for something she had not done.    Then along came the person who actually made the element and she reacted by commenting herself that she was the one who deserved the credit.  My goodness what an awkward mess that was, from both parties.  I mean…we can all understand both sides here, right?  Not exactly the most mature way of handling things but maturity comes with experience and we have to be able to give each other  the room to grow. 

Creative teams is another idea that was adopted from the paper world.   My first team consisted of my best online buddies.  It was kind of a natural to want to continue to give them my products for free. I wasn’t about to charge my friends.  It didn’t hurt any that they were great scrappers too and it really inspired me to make stuff because I was really thrilled each time I saw my products used in uniquely creative ways.  I would be MORTIFIED  though to think that anyone felt obligated to make a page with my stuff, simply because I gave it to them for free.     I have always been a pretty eclectic in my design style so I knew that not everything I created would appeal to everyone.    One of my CT buddies did seem to start creating layouts that looked like they were more of an obligation than a natural inspiration.    You can tell when a layout isn’t authentically inspired, and I knew that the stuff she was using wasn’t  fitting to her personal style.  She was extremely apologetic about the layouts too, knowing that they were not coming together for her.  I  actually couldn’t deal with notion that she was creating out of obligation and so I relieved her of her “duties” to create on my behalf.  Anyone who has ever been on my CT over the years knows that I have never required anything from my CT except that they should only use my products if authentically inspired to do so, creating genuine scrapbook pages, and that they should only post those layouts in places that they were already a genuine part of the community.  Sometimes though a friend may want to spare my feelings by not telling me she wasn’t digging the product. I’m all about the honest in a friendship but I get that not everyone rolls the same way I do. 

When the first few teams started, who could have imagined where we would be at today?  Thousands of designers with thousands of CT members!!!!  This too is a process that has evolved and changed over the years, but it would be foolish to lump everyone into the same pot assuming that all designers put a lot of rules and restrictions on their CTs with the end result being layouts that are not truly authentic.

Back in the days when we were all Simple Scrappers by necessity, none of us could ever have imagined the layouts or kits of today that sometimes have as much as 30-60 elements.  WOW!   Things have changed a great deal beyond the seeds that this was all grown out of  and that means many benefits and it sometimes means problems or challenges.     It doesn’t mean that designers are sitting plotting as to how they can suck free advertising out of our customers.   I mean, despite the fact that Jen stated that this is not the case in the world of tangible products, this is not actually true.  Plenty of people buy products that sport logos or branding, and strangely enough are often proud of the fact, and will spend more money to have the logo displayed to prove to the world that they are hip, trendy , rich, upwardly mobile, fun, or whatever that brand represents to them.  Having studied and worked in advertising prior to my career as a digital designer I know perfectly well how this works.  Yet, while the idea of tucking a Levi-ish tag to the side of each of my elements that says MAYA  amuses me, I can assure you that I will never be forcing my customers to advertise on my behalf. 

Interestingly enough Jenn feels that there are two times when you should post credits.  The first is when you have used a template or have scrap lifted.  I am assuming that this perception is born out of the fact that she is seeing the layout as the only significant or worthy portion of the piece worth noting.  Certainly she couldn’t be suggested that there was no art put into the elements or the paper designs?   Since templates are actually part of the industry, she couldn’t be suggesting that by simply purchasing the item she should not be under further obligation to credit.  Clearly what is important to her is the layout  aspect to all of this, and it is in this area that she would feel dishonest if she were not to share that a template was used or that she had scrap lifted.    Further, she goes on to say that you should “toot your own horn” if you made things yourself.   Imagine that.  We have come full circle into assuming that you didn’t unless you say you did.   I suppose that is one way of handling things given how things have changed, HOWEVER……

What I would like to know then, is how does this community and industry continue to sustain itself?   

I’ve seen complaints regarding CTs and CT layouts.  I’ve seen complaints regarding credits.  I’ve seen complaints about  community sites that allow advertising, catering more to the needs of the advertisers than the community.  I even resonate and understand some of the core issues here.  However, what I have not seen are viable solutions.   Our entire industry was built out of community.  Generally speaking, designers can not afford to purchase costly advertising space in magazines, and we have pretty much proven by trying, that it doesn’t bring back the expected return when we do invest.  Our pricing was set on the fact that promotion was word of mouth and I believe everyone (complainers included) have benefited from the low price point for many years now. 

Community websites need to be built, maintained and paid for.   Most of the community sites are actually FREE for members to use.  I am fairly certain that if membership fees were put in place to pay for costs that there would be complaining about that too. 

I think that the problem with posts like Jenn’s is that it instigates rebellion rather than solution.  As I stated earlier, it creates a picture where designers are on one side and community members on the other.  However, the wholistic reality of all of this is that we  are actually all on the same team and that we support each other to keep it all spinning around.  We need each other here.    If Jenn’s  successful in convincing everyone that credits are no longer necessary, what does she propose instead?   If her favorite designers are no longer able to get the word out about their designs, and their sales drop off, why would they continue to design?    

I just want to reiterate that I actually do understand and relate to a great many of the complaints shared and as a site owner, I do want to make sure my customers and community members know that we ultimately want them to continue to love and enjoy the craft that has inspired so many of us.   Believe me when I say that as complicated as it is for Jenn to keep track of all of the rules and regulations of the various  sites and designer TOUs it is that much more complex to keep  track of the needs of the entire community .   Digital Scrapbooking is a billion dollar “cottage industry” now folks!!   With an industry of this size and a community of this magnitude there is bound to be some challenges, and growing pains.    Constructive criticism and solutions are much more palatable and useful than complaint and rebellion. 

I know that many of you actually feel that it is still the right thing to do, when it comes to giving credit where credit is due, and that you will continue to abide by your conscience and do just that.  Others may have a different moral code and if they are right with themselves at the end of the day, that is truly all that matters.  There really is no need to prove a point or convince others that their way is the right way.   However, now that this is out and on the table as a problem for some of you….what is your solution?

With the first month of 2010 coming to a close, I have to give myself a bit of a pat on the back because I have stuck to my goals so far in keeping on track with the Art Journal Carvan at SBG and have taken a photo every day (although some were a little lame)  for Project 365.  I am not going crazy on the self-praise though because I haven’t managed to properly schedule in time for some regular new product creation. I suppose time isn’t as much of a problem as is transitioning to the type of mind-space I need for that type of creating. 

I am truly loving the liberty of creating “personal” pages entirely for my own amusement and it takes a true shift of thinking for me to design for others.  This is not to say that I don’t love designing kits and digi products, because I do, and ANYTHING I create is joyful for me, however, there are limitations to what I can do when it is for sale for public consumption. 

On the subject of Gossip.

Play

My Favorite Time of the Day

An Exercise in Simplicity

When I created this page on simplicity last night I spent a great deal of time in silence just looking at the page, watching my thoughts arise and resisting the tempations to splatter elements all over it, or add more of this or that. There are a lot of hidden layers in this PSD of pieces that seemed like a good idea at the time but when visible seemed to defeat the purpose of the exercise.

In the early days of digital scrapping we didn’t have elements that we didn’t make ourselves, and so many of our scrapbooking pages looked a lot like this one…without a lot of layers, shadows or textures, yet every layout I created was as much of a joyful meditative experience as the more complex pieces I can do today.

Last night was a very peaceful one for me and was a reminder about how it is the process of creation that heals and teaches and that the outcome is simply a bonus or a by-product.

I chose the simply image of the butterfly to represent the concept behind chaos theory, which is that a butterfly flapping his wings on one part of the planet, can actually cause a typhoon on another. With that in mind, it becomes ever more crucial to simplify our thoughts and our lives as every action causes a re-action….or like a pebble tossed in the still waters, there is always a ripple.

Part of this week’s intinerary for the Art Journal Caravan was to contemplate the  word “mend” .  The whole itinerary was so incredibly inspiring this week and my head flooded with ideas for multiple pages.  However, all weekend long I struggled with the process unable to put even one of those ideas into the works. 

The situation with the earthquake in Haiti has really been at the forefront of pretty much all of my thoughts this weekend.  So for me the most obvious piece would have something to do with mending Haiti.     Haiti really needs our love and support right now.