Desert Beauty

I am so grateful for the beauty of the desert that surrounds me. This time of year, the prickly pear are covered in bright red fruit.  In the spring, they are covered in beautiful and delicate yellow flowers. Second post for today because I started a day late! :-)

30 Days of Gratitude

Well, I've been away from here for a long time, since last February to be exact, and keep thinking about starting up again but it doesn't happen. I finally decided that doing a gratitude post every day for the 30 days of November will be a good way to get back in the blogging habit. I hope you might consider doing something similar with your month, whether it be posting a photo a day to a blog, Flickr, Instagram or somewhere else, it gets you thinking about all there is to be grateful for in your life. I would love to have your company on this month-long journey.

Today I am grateful that I live in a place where there are roses blooming in November. We may not  have all those gorgeous fall reds and oranges but we have roses and I love the color of this one! Taken with my iPhone and processed with my favorite app, Glaze.

So are you with me?  If so, please leave the link to your blog or Flickr photostream so I can stop in for a visit and see what you are grateful for.

Bring the Inside Out

I signed up for Kim Klassen's new class Beyond Beyond and decided to try to get back to regular blogging along with taking this class.  Today's assignment was "bring the inside out".  These starfish were originally outside but I keep them in a big bowl in my family room, so they were brought out by the pool for this photo. I also applied two layers of one of Kim's new Downton Abbey collection textures called "Sybil".  

Speaking of Downton Abbey, Jeff got me watching it and we've been watching it together.  I'm totally hooked! We have the first two seasons on DVD and are partway into the second season.  The third season is currently on TV, so we'll probably have to buy it so we can get caught up before the next season starts. It's fun to have a show that he likes to come over and watch with me.  He get's dinner out of it and I get the pleasure of his company!

Liberate Your Art

 
For the past few weeks, I have been participating in a postcard swap. Kat Sloma of Kat Eye Studio created "Liberate Your Art 2012 Postcard Swap".  Artists of all types were invited to "liberate their art" by printing an image of their work on a postcard. Many different types of artists participated from photographers to painters, sculptors and jewelry designers.  We sent off five self-addressed postcards to Kat who distributed them over the course of the next five weeks.  Such a great way to connect with artists from around the world!

The photo above is the shot I decided to send.  It is an Icelandic Poppy taken in Virginia at Monticello last May and the word art is by Ali Edwards.

The first postcard I received was from someone I knew!  I met Cyndy Ireland Bresden at Camp Shutter Sisters last year and will be seeing her again at Oasis this year.  Her postcard was of a lavender flower and had a recipe for Lavender Lemonade on the back.  Bonus! 

You can see more from Cyndy on her blog at studiomphotos.blogspot.com and on Instagram at cyndyib.

Next I received this wonderful postcard from Dawn Pietzsch.  Her blog is called girlunwinding.wordpress.com.  Each Monday she posts a new "Natural Mandala" that she has created. I looked up the word "mandala" and it translates to mean "circle". She creates these circles out of natural things and they are stunning!

You can follow her on Instagram at dawnsrays.

Then I received this one that is my all time favorite flower, the white peony with the fuchsia center, from Michelle Gyauch Dzema.

Isn't that just stunning?  You can see more of Michelle's work at michellegd.com and you can follow her on Instagram at michelle gd.

I did receive two postcards which didn't have any website or blog information on them, unfortunately. But at the end of the swap I received this wonderful postcard from Kat Sloma, the organizer of the swap!

I knew I wanted a way to display all these wonderful cards and did a bit of research and found this display piece at Pier One:

You can see that there is still room to add more photos.  It is available at most Pier One stores and you can also find it online here.  I have it hanging on a narrow wall between two closets in my office and love looking at it every day!  Several of the postcards you see displayed are from other members of Focusing on Life who participated in the swap.

And finally Kat did a blog post and video of all of the art she received and distributed.  It's wonderful and I hope you will take a few minutes to watch it.  You can find it here:

This is was so much fun and ended all too soon.  I really enjoyed opening my mailbox and finding these little pieces of beauty waiting for me.  I will definitely be doing it again next year!