4.19.14 - Treasure

treasure - n.
3. any thing or person greatly valued or highly prized.
source: dictionary.com

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Treasure

I was walking down the hall when I passed one of the jr. kindergarten classes.  Every single four or five year old in that line excitedly exclaimed that it was egg day.  I look at the teacher with a curious look and she explained the duck eggs came in the mail and they were placing them in the incubator today.  I could tell by their excited faces that today was a really big deal.  

As I was walking back to the art room after supervising middle school break, I saw both jr. kindergarten classes huddled around a teacher sitting at a green table.  Realizing I had a few extra minutes before my next class I popped in to see the excitement of egg day first hand.  The four and five year olds were excitedly planning the names of each egg as a middle school helper carefully took the eggs from the box and handed them to their teacher, who marked them, and carefully placed them in the incubator.  Those eggs were treasures to the young learners.  

4.12.14 - Hope

hope - n.
5. something that is hoped for
source: dictionary.com

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Hope

It goes without saying that this has felt like the longest, dreariest winter ever.  At one point we had a combined total of eighty inches of snow.  Eighty. Inches. 

The past couple weeks we've had a couple of warm day.  Days that have melted the massive snow piles down to smaller snow mounds.  Days that have encouraged everyone to get outside a little more.  Days that have given us hope.  

Dane and I were taking Bella on one of the first longer walks of the season when I saw a tiny little flower blooming.  I always try and take a picture of the first spring bloom I see.  It's always the most hopeful, cheerful sight to see after a long, snowy winter. 

4.5.14 - Persistence

persistence - n.

1. the act or fact of persisting

source: dictionary.com

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Persistence

I was sitting at my desk, when one of the most adorable, quiet, sweet little kindergartners walked in with a box. Her outspoken friend announced it was her birthday as the little girl offered the box full of beautifully decorated, amazingly delicious smelling bakery cupcakes up to me.  I thankfully took one of the little gems out of the box while wishing the sweet little girl a wonderful birthday and asking if she had fun plans with the family that evening.  As they bounced out of the room, I set the cupcake on my desk and got back to work.  Here is where the persistence comes in...I gave up sweets for lent.  Here is this cupcake staring at me.  The sweet, sugary smell is tantalizing me, beckoning me to eat it like the cake from Alice in Wonderland. I mean look at it. This isn't your run of the mill, birthday cupcake.  There's marshmallow topping and whip cream on this bad boy!  It feels like such a waste to throw it away, so I offered it to a friend.  A special thanks to Erica for enjoying this sweet treat and giving it a good home.

3.29.14 - Ravishing

ravishing - adj.

1. extremely beautiful or attractive; enchanting; entrancing

source: dictionary.com

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Ravishing

One of my favorite places in San Diego is the Japanese Friendship Garden at Balboa Park.  It's winding path passes by quietly dripping fountains, a koi pond, bonsai trees, and beautiful flowers.  I can't explain how peaceful this garden is.  There's something about it that causes me to slow down and just enjoy the ravishing beauty of the flowers blooming along the path.  I happened to go while the cherry blossoms were blooming and loved the pale pink color of the blossoms.  It was so relaxing to stop and watch the bees buzzing from flower to flower before catching my flight that afternoon.  

3.22.14 - Radiant

radiant - adj.
1. emitting rays of light; shining; bright
source: dictionary.com

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Radiant

I'll be honest.  I had to take the past few weeks off from blogging.  Getting ready for spring break, traveling during spring break, and returning to school to finish up report cards was...a lot.  But I've tried to snap pictures along the way and see the beauty in each day, although some were easier than others.  

During the past three weeks I traveled to San Diego, CA to see family and attend the National Art Education Association convention.  I'll usually get nervous a few days before my flight, but as soon as I'm at the airport the nerves disappear.  I love speeding down the runway and that moment you feel the airplane leave the ground.  

Every single flight, I'm the touristy person snapping pictures out the airplane window.  The patterns, shapes, textures the land creates are so amazing.  This flight I was one passed over the Rocky Mountains and my breath was completely taken away by the radiant beauty of the snow capped mountains below.  

3.15.14 - Inspire

inspire - verb
4. to influence or impel
source: dictionary.com

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Inspire

I love watching little kids create art.  They haven't been constricted by art rules or the dawn of realism where everything needs to look "real."  They just create with a blissful happiness.  There are times I cringe as I watch them joyfully mix colors that I know will turn to a muddy brown/green.  In those moments I have to stop and remember that they have a freedom that many of us lost long ago.  They have an uninhibited creativity that allows them to throw caution to the wind and truly explore the medium they are using.  

Throughout the weeks I've been creating for this blog I've caught myself wondering if I should get focused in my media choices and stick to what I know.  On the other hand, I love the idea of creating with the joyful glee of a child and throwing caution to the wind, exploring all the creative world has to offer.  I don't know that there is necessarily a "right" or "wrong" answer.  There's benefits to both.  For the time being, I think I'm going to continue exploring, learning, and trying new things.  There's time for a more focused project next year, right? 

3.8.14 - Help

help - verb
3. to make easier or less difficult; contribute to; facilitate
source: dictionary.com

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Help

     Recently, I've become interested in hand lettering.  There's something incredibly beautiful about how others have taken the time to take ordinary words and creatively elevate them.  Many have wrote about how nice it is to receive a letter in an era of text messaging and email and I feel like hand lettering is letter writing's artist cousin.  When I decided to give it a shot, I realized how hard it was to actually line everything up, making it look even and clean.  I found a fantastic tutorial on the blog "A Pair and a Spare" The blogger does a great job explaining how to space everything out, get the right angle, even how to pick materials.  I've really enjoyed playing with typography and can see so many uses for it in future projects.

     The basis for this project was born out of a series of discussions and random pinterest pins. My week started by lazily searching around pinterest while drinking my coffee.  I came across one of those "faith in humanity restored" pins and made the mistake of not only clicking on it to read the whole story, but also searching for more.  Later that week I had a wonderful discussion with a coworker about the importance of serving others.  Combining these two moments encouraged me to choose a subject that would be a help to others.  I am a firm believer that small, random acts of kindness can completely change someone's day for the better.  I would also like to believe that these moments can encourage the recipient to pay it forward.  So I decided to embrace the surprise coffee movement that is happening so often.  I hope that by not only having the surprise of a free coffee, but also a little hand lettered message would cause someone to see the beauty and excitement waiting that particular day.