kindness is ALWAYS possible

i love this quote from the dalai lama, though i have to admit it makes me feel a bit sheepish to realize that, in the times i am not particularly kind, it's because i've made the choice not to be. yikes! not super-proud of that, actually, so i've made myself a little journal page reminder:

(my photo of a carving of the boddhisatva avalokiteshvara at the metropolitan museum of art; hand made text paper with gilding from thailand; digital paper: landscapeART paperie #6 by anna aspnes, o'scraps; for the digital cloud/thought bubble i cannot for the life of me find the credit, and i apologize, if anyone recognizes it, give me a shout! :) patterned paper: pink paislee; vintage ledger paper with spray ink, stamped with a studio g lotus and then machine stitched over all the stamped lines; rub ons: dove of the east + basic grey (recolored with chalk); adhesives: staples gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i was inspired by the current color + technique challenge on the zeus and zoe blog; the colors being brown, white, yellow green and grey; the technique being sewing; the whole thing being hosted by my lovely blogging friend and art-journaling heroine, sandi taloumis, and you HAVE TO go and see the page she made for this; g'head... i'll wait... see--how awesome is that??! even the palette thingie she made for the challenge is beautiful, isn't it?! NOBODY uses paint and product together the way sandi does, she is remarkable and inspiring in every way and if you're not reading her blog you are MISSING OUT!!!

so you can see i've used the colors pretty straightforwardly, but i want to point out my stitching "innovation" (if it is one? it's definitely something i've been wanting to try, i THINK i thought it up myself, but i won't swear to that!) i stamped the beautiful studio g lotus that mari sent me some time ago in black ink on a leftover bit of misted ledger paper, and then carrrrrrrrrrrrrrefully machine stitched over all the lines. i think it came out really beautifully, so i'm currently thinking rather obsessively about what other stamps i can do this with! here's a closer photo, so you can see it better:

my other inspiration for this page came from the current prompt, "kindness" at a year in the life of an art journal, where my lovely friend linda brun is on the DT; as always the page she made is glorious; and i love the site itself in which you're encouraged to go in ANY direction with any of their prompts; i'll definitely be going back there again for both inspiration and ideas! 

speaking of inspiration, i hope ♥YOU♥ will find some today... or failing that... maybe a cupcake, instead??!?!?  :) :) :)