Inspired by...Terri Kahrs

Well, folks, it's a new year, a new beginning, a new me! Yep, I'm brand spanking new and happy and content with my life right now. I hope I can keep this positive outlook that I'm embracing because there's just so much sh*t going on that it really depresses me! I'm not big on resolutions and, at my age, there just isn't much left to give up. :) I do, however, resolve the same as last year, to surround myself with positive people and positive attitudes while I leave the sorrowful to their sorrows. They don't need me and God knows, I don't need to be dragged down. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not talking about innocent victims, I'm talking about the people that just can't find anything good in the world. I never really did understand it myself... how one could find good when there was so much evil about, always in your face, on the news, on the radio, down the street, etc., etc. I was always told there was just as much good, and all you had to do was look for it. "Yeah", I thought, "bury your head in the sand!" I was So wrong. Maybe it comes with age, this inner peace I have, or the fact that I'm finally my own person. Boy, did that take a long time!

Onward with my first page of the new year, which is a bit of a celebration for myself and the very talented Terri Kahrs of Pringle Hill Studio. I first saw Terri's work in 2011 when I joined the Calendar Art group. I loved her lively and colorful calendar pages, so I wandered over to her blog where I found more wonderful pages! She certainly had style. Then something awful happened and Terri's husband had major heart surgery. For much of the year Terri did very little art until her husband was nursed back to health. It was a blessing to read her messages about her husband's improvement and to see her begin her art again. But the one thing she never did, in all that time of caring for him and leaving her art behind, was wallow in self pity. Her gratitude was obvious in every post. She was grateful to God and grateful to her friends, and to her family. I think she's downright amazing and I'm so happy that her husband has healed and Terri is creating once again!

I wouldn't have attempted this a year ago, but I like Terri's style so much that I had to try it for myself. This was a fun page to do using flowered napkins and a free graphic from Terri's site. A sad imitation at best, but definitely made with love.