Honest Scrap

Juliet from Crafty Green Poet has presented me with the Honest Scrap Award. I am so very honored to receive this special award for telling it like it is.

Please do be sure to visit Juliet's wonderful blog, which is filled with her amazing photos of the beautiful Scottish countryside along the Water of Leith near Edinburgh. Juliet is also an accomplished poet who shares my passion for the arts and environmental causes. I know you'll love her, and her blog, as much as I do!

I found the best quote yesterday:

"If I create from the heart,
nearly everything works;
if from the head,
almost nothing."
~ Marc Chagall

This is something I was painfully aware of yesterday.
:0)
But today is another day, and I'm focusing mostly on finishing a few art pieces which will be gifts. So I won't be posting anything new until those pieces are finished, since I'm on a strict deadline.

Special thanks to everyone who commented and e-mailed me! You and your words brighten up my days!

Thinking Pink

The talented and kind Julie Mitchell, at When the Spirit Moves Me, recently presented me with the Kreativ Blogger award. Julie is a dear blogger friend and fiber artist who makes the most beautiful Spirit Figures and Art Dolls. Please visit her blog (here) to see her gorgeous creations, and to read about her life and her many interests.

Thank you Julie!

As you probably know by now, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Mammograms, like colonoscopies, are something we don't enjoy, but they are well worth the temporary discomfort.

I've had at least one every year for since my twenties, since I am at very high risk. Everyone should follow their own doctor's advice on when to begin having mammograms, and how frequently to have them.

Here are a few links you may be interested in:

- for breast cancer symptoms and diagnosis, breastcancer.org has some easy-to-understand information and links (here)

- to find out your personal risk of breast cancer, cancer.gov has a simple on-line assessment tool (here)

- to find out what you can do to help prevent breast cancer, the National Cancer Institute (cancer.gov) has some terrific information to get you started (here)

- if you cannot afford a mammogram or have no insurance, liv.com can help you find a location in your state that offers free mammograms (here)

- and for information about inflammatory breast cancer, a type of cancer which cannot be detected by a mammogram, the IBC Research Foundation (ibcresearch.org) has a very comprehensive website here

Domestic Witch and The Deborah Award

I've been a bad, bad blogger.

I've been avoiding passing on two lovely awards I received, because I cannot possibly narrow down the list of recipients to just a few of my favorite blogs. So, please, any and all of you who visit me here, please take these awards and place them on your blog. Each of you, and each of your blogs, is special to me in a very different way.

The Domestic Witch Award was presented to me a while ago by my dear blogging friend, the wonderful art doll artist, Sue Barton from Barton Originals. Please click here to visit her beautiful blog, which is full of gorgeous art and inspiration.

The Deborah Award was presented to me just a few days ago by another dear blogging friend of mine, the talented artist Silke Powers. Her blog, Metamorphosis, is also filled with her lovely art, as well as photos of her beloved Savannah, Georgia, her travels, and her delicious cooking. Please be sure to visit her blog as well. (Please click here.)

And so it goes, people who will probably never meet in "real" life, connecting in ways we never could have imagined just a few years ago.

Pretty amazing, this blogging.

Two more awards!

I was recently honored to be one of the first recipients of the new Stroke of the Brush Award, which was created by my wonderful new blogger friend, kj, in honor of her two blogger friends, Soulbrush and Snowbrush.

Thank you so much kj! KJ's blog is so much fun to visit. She shares wonderful words and images of her life in New England, and provides wisdom and advice on how to live your best life.

The Stroke of the Brush Award "recognizes and celebrates the willingness to take risks, speak honestly, act with integrity, and in the process create and share colors and/or words that stroke our curiosity and brush aside our differences."

It was incredibly difficult to narrow down my list, since there are so many worthy blogs on my blogroll. I have chosen the following six blogs, which represent the great variety of wonderful blogs and talented bloggers on my list. So it is my great honor and priviledge to award the Stroke of the Brush Award, in no particular order, to:

Silke at Metamorphosis
Grace at Through My Hands
Jennifer at At the Table in My Sunroom
Delwyn at a hazy moon
Angela at Letters From Usedom
Audrey at Stage 3! Who Me?

I was also recently gifted with the One Lovely Blog Award by Jennifer at At the Table in My Sunroom. Thank you so much, Jennifer!

Jennifer's blog is a feast for the eyes and mind, with incredible photography and thought-provoking posts. Please be sure to visit her beautiful blog!

I am very pleased to give this award to four beautiful blogs I've recently discovered:

Jackie at Teacher's Pet
kj at Options Associates: For a Better World
Soulbrush
Marion at Dragonfly's Poetry and Prolixity

Please be sure to stop by these blogs if you have not already done so. Each is unique and beautiful, as are the bloggers who blog on them.
:0)

I'm going to be a bit scarce in Blogland this next week. My husband, Mr. C, has taken some much-deserved time off from work, so we'll be spending some quality time together. I'll be lurking, reading your posts and commenting whenever I have the opportunity, though!

See you again soon!
:0)

The Bella Sinclair, Golden Heart, Mermaid, and Valued Follower Awards

Thank you so much Silke at Metamorphosis for honoring me with the Bella Sinclair Award. If you have not met Silke yet, she is a sweet, generous, talented mixed media artist who lives in beautiful Savannah, Georgia.

The Bella Sinclair Award was just recently created by the incredible Ces at Ces and Her Dishes, to honor her friend and artist, Bella Sinclair, who recently suffered the tragic, unexpected and untimely death of her husband.

As Ces wrote: “I designed this award to celebrate art in the blogs and to honor the value of friendship, sisterhood, sharing and caring. It is to be awarded to the gifted, accomplished, eloquent and talented blogger whose friendship and influence inspire us to do our best. That I named it after Bella Sinclair is because she epitomizes all of these things. She is an inspiration to many of us.”

I am incredibly honored to give this beautiful award "celebrating art, inspiration, friendship, sisterhood, sharing and caring" to:

Angela at Letters from Usedom

Delwyn at a hazy moon

Jan at awake is good

Jackie at Teacher's Pet

Janet at Just Me and My Art

Lola at aglio, olio & peperoncino

Margaret at MargaretPANPipes

Natalie at Musings from the Deep

Rosaria at sixty-five what now

The Mermaid Award was given to me recently by Lola at aglio, olio & peperoncino. Lola is incredibly talented and insightful, a world traveler who works in the film industry and writes her fascinating blog from Rome, Italy.

I am delighted to give the Mermaid Award for “alluring, amusing, bewitching, impressive & inspiring blogs” to:

Beate at Beate Knappe mixed media art (this is the first blog I ever read!)

Sallymandy at the blue kimono

Silke at Metamorphosis

Katelen at The Poetic Artist

Sophia at where there are no chickadees

The Golden Heart Award was given to me recently by the wonderful Delwyn at a hazy moon. Her blog about her life in Australia is filled with stunning photography, poetry and art.

I am so pleased to give the Golden Heart Award, for “caring, creative souls” to:

Annette at A Wisp of Creativity

Diantha at Living Your Potential

Michele at Artistic Buffet

Renee at Circling My Head

And last, but definitely not least, I was happy to recently receive the Valued Follower Award from the insightful Sallymandy at the blue kimono. Her blog is filled with wisdom, art and scenes from her beautiful native state of Montana.

I give this award to all of you who visit my blogs (including A note from your Mother) on a regular basis. You know who you are, and I am so honored that you take the time to stop by. I consider each and every one of you my dear Blogland friends, and I treasure you all!


Please be sure to visit each of these wonderful, wonderful blogs, if you have not already done so. They are a feast for the eyes, mind and spirit!

7 blogs, 7 things, and 15 beauties

I've finally gotten together the list of blogs I'll be passing the One Lovely Blog Award and Kreativ Blogger Award to!

What a challenge it was to pick only 15 beautiful new blogs for the One Lovely Blog Award, which was bestowed on me last week by Cheryl at Lizzy Frizzfrock. Each blog I selected is beautiful in its own unique way. While these blogs might not all be the newest blogs in Blogland, many are new to me, and I hope you take a look at them, if you haven't already.

Jan at awake is good

Diantha at living your potential

Marissa at Welcome to Marissa's Flower Patch

Rachelle at The Mirage Writer

Juliet at Crafty Green Poet

Lisa at Creating Art in the burbs

Michele at Artistic Buffet

Gina at Artistic Dreamer

Angela at Letters from Usedom

Carolynn at A Glowing Ember

Delwyn at A Hazy Moon

Sarala at blogaway

Lynda at Peripheral Vision - Inner Sights by Lynda Lehman

Joanne at Whole Latte Life

Beth at Tangled Sky Studio

For the Kreativ Blogger Award, which was presented to me last week by Jan at awake is good, I needed to choose seven creative blogs/bloggers and list seven of my favorite things. First, I'm happy to pass the award on to these wonderful bloggers who continue to inspire me with their creativity:

Paula at self taught artist

lulu at my pink turtle

Liz at cherokeefox

Susan at . . . A Walk In The Park

Rosaria at sixtyfivewhatnow

Flor at Flor Larios art

Martha at An Artist's Journal

Please feel free to do as you choose with these two awards, pass them on, keep them, or just know that I have bestowed them on you because you and your blog are special to me in some way!


Finally, seven of my favorite things:

1. SPRING - I love to see and hear everything coming out of hibernation after the long Winter. I especially enjoy seeing the first tender green shoots of plants against the dark soil. . . and the smell of mud! And the robins, I always listen for the song of the robins.

2. NATURE - I love everything about being outdoors, including taking long walks in a warm, gentle rain shower.

3. TRAVEL - I love to travel, especially to places with natural or historical beauty. I really like anything that's very old, like Roman or Native American ruins, structures from the Middle Ages, rock carvings, worn cobblestones, rugged mountains and any wildlife. I also love to go where the locals congregate and try local foods.

4. ART - I love art of any kind, from primitive rock art to the most modern experimental art, from miniature paintings to huge metal sculptures.

5. MUSIC - I enjoy many kinds of music, from classical and opera, to jazz, to dance music, to contemporary and alternative music.

6. BOOKS - I LOVE BOOKS! Our two children thought they were growing up in a library when they were little, we have so many books. As a literature major in college, I always loved short stories and classic literature, but I also have amassed a collection of hundreds of cookbooks. This passion of mine to collect and read so many books started when I was very young, and I still have many of my German and English children's books, as well.

7. MY FAMILY - I never understood just how much you could love another person until I met my dear Mr. C and we had our Little C and Miss Kat. They mean the world to me.

Hugs,
Angela Y

Surprised by Awards

This week I was totally taken by surprise by two of my dear blogland friends who presented me with these awards:

Thank you so much Jan, at Awake is Good for the Kreativ Blogger Award. You are such an inspiration to me. Your wisdom and insight have helped me in innumerable ways. And your posts always give me just what I need, before I even know I need it. How do you do that?

And thank you Lizzy Frizzfrock, (I love that name!) for the "One Lovely Blog Award." You have such a wonderful talent for finding the most interesting subjects for your beautiful photographs. I do so envy your talent!

I will be passing on these awards soon.