This flower is part of a bouquet from Tulipwood in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The bouquet sat on our dinner table and I looked at it everyday. Each flower was beautiful and I wanted to paint them all! When I painted this one I was thrilled with the end result. When looking for inspiration in the things around us we often look at photographs, landscapes, items that mean something to us, or from something that we read or heard. We often look beyond the things that are part of our everyday lives. What if you paid attention to what you see everyday and if you looked at smaller parts of the ‘thing’ you found inspiration in. Does it look different to you? Does it bring forward a new idea? Inspiration can be found all around us, even in places that may seem too familiar to be inspired. Keep you eyes and heart open. Look at things from a different perspective. Look at each individual piece of something rather than taking in the whole, as I did with this bouquet of flowers...I found inspiration in each individual flower rather then all of the flowers together.

 This time of year seems to be filled with birthdays.  My cousins, godmother, friends, partner, goddaughter, and nephew.  It seems to be never ending.  I am not kidding...in the span of 1 month there are over 10 birthdays for family members and close friends (and also my own).  Good Thing I like to make cards!  Making a card doesn't have to be complicated or time consuming.  You don't have to have fancy supplies either.  Some of my favorite cards are ones my partner made for me with white paper, coloured pencils, and a pencil.  He would not describe himself as creative.  What I like most about these cards is that he took the time to make them and he thought about what he said in them.  They always make me smile. 
If you are in the middle of a busy birthday time of year like me I want to offer a quick and easy birthday card - 2 ways.  It can defiantly be done with things you have at home.  Take a piece of white paper and fold it in half, cut it to the size card you would like.  Get out your crayons, paint, coloured pencils, whatever you have on hand and draw a balloon in a colour the birthday person will like.  Everyone can draw a balloon right...this is a perfect card for kids to do for their friends too.  You can either stop here or take it to the next level.  Rip or cut a small part off of the card straight across the bottom front.  After you do that, pick a colour that will look good with the balloon, put the colour across the bottom of the inside of the card so when it is closed the colour shows below the portion you ripped or cut off.  Done. 
I hope you give it a try and have fun with it!