Away for a Bit...

I have a crazy couple of weeks ahead, so I'll probably be away for a bit. I'm heading down to St. Petersburg with my students first thing tomorrow morning for our state Student Goverment Conference, then home for two days before I leave again for An Artful Journey for five days. You know your life is crazy when you actually have to take time off work and go out of town to get some art time. :-) In the meantime, why not revisit some of my favorite posts? I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day, however you choose to spend it.

Angel on the Metro Revisited

I may have shared this picture with you before, but I thought it was appropriate for today's post. I took it down in Boca Grande in June of 2008, and I’ve always seen an angel’s halo in it. Do you see it?

I received the most interesting and wonderful comment over the weekend. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may remember my “Angel on the Metro” post. It’s definitely one of my favorites. If you’ve never read it, go take a peek. If you have read it, read it again! It’s a wonderful story! :-) The comment I received was on that post (which is over a year old), and it read:

Kelly ~ I met Franklin Fung Chow yesterday - in San Francisco's Chinatown. We only shared a brief 'how are you and where are you from?' conversation before he took off in the opposite direction from where I (with a small group of people) were heading. It seems that Franklin Fung Chow is a friend of one of my friends, Leland Wong. A few of us were having lunch and spending some time with Leland yesterday, and he introduced us to several people, including Franklin Fung Chow. Franklin also gave me a calling card - the same one he gave to you that day. I didn't see gossamer wings under his jacket, but I did see the kind twinkle in his eyes. When I got home, I decided to 'Google' his name and came upon your blog. Thanks so much for sharing the story of your encounter. It just goes to show how special even the briefest encounters with 'strangers' can be, if your mind and heart are open to any kindnesses they have to offer.

Now how cool is that? I still think of Franklin often, and I still carry around those two special little envelopes in that little pouch in my purse. We’ve exchanged a few emails and he’s snail mailed me his “Chow Lines” newsletter a couple times. It truly is wonderful what angels you can come across if your mind and heart are open to them.

Time for February Free Bling!

Random.org picked number 22 out of 56 entries for January’s Free Bling winner, so congrats to Jennifer from Ontario, Canada! February’s entry is an 8 x 10 print of my “Florida Flurries” photograph. I took this photo in the 100 Acre Wood and added some textural interest to it. To be eligible to win, simply visit either of my Etsy shops (here for jewelry and here for photography) and leave a comment in the comment box below with the link to your favorite piece along with a way to reach you and where you are from. Or email me with the subject line FREE BLING and let me know what your favorite piece is and include where you're from by midnight Thursday, March 4, 2010. Want two entries? Tweet, blog or Facebook this giveaway and leave a second comment with the link. The next winner will be drawn via random.org Friday, March 5, 2010. Don't want to miss a single Free Bling Friday? Click here to sign up for free weekly email reminders or subscribe in the reader of your choice in the right column over there. Be sure to join my Facebook Fan page over there in the left column for Fan specials!

I Finally Cracked the Code

I think I finally cracked the art journaling secret code! I’ve been struggling so much with this. Part of my struggle is that I'm a writer...and when I get started I tend to really get going, and I just didn't see how I could do that in an art journal. But including just a few words here felt just fine this time. The other part of my struggle lies in a bit perfectionism. This is far from perfect. But I'm okay with that! I had a bit of a crappy day on Monday. I was grouchy when I got home, and after feeding the girls dinner and giving them a bath, I snuck downstairs for a little quiet escape time and did these pages. I just played. I even broke down and played in the really pretty journal I’d been hanging onto waiting for the right inspiration to strike. Well, it wasn’t inspiration; it was frustration that ultimately cracked the spine and slapped the paint on there, but it worked! After an hour of playing, most of my frustration was gone and I went upstairs, hugged my babies, tucked them in and kissed them goodnight, and then chilled with DH for our Monday night ritual: Antiques Roadshow. Yes, there I said it: I’m an Antiques Roadshow geek. I definitely think I’ll be doing more of this. :-)

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

A big thank you to everyone who made a purchase over the past few weeks in support of my fundraising for Haiti. Thanks to you all, I’ve had $427 in sales, all of which will go to the Red Cross Haiti Relief fund. This picture is just one of those that I’ve sold over the last two weeks. My contribution is just a drop in the bucket for what’s needed to bring the Haitian people relief, so please keep shopping at the Hearts for Haiti Etsy shop. As of today, that shop has raised more than $25,000 and new items are being added daily! Talk about the power of the Handmade Movement!