Sunday Sketches: To Encourage and Inspire

Every new year we find ourselves reflecting upon the past 12 months and whether we succeeded in completing various goals. Last year, Michael (aka Mr. Toast and hubby) stumbled upon a blogger who developed a different way to set objectives for the coming year, ones that would stay with you while taking on new adventures and facing life's challenges along the way. The idea is to encourage us to not just ask questions about ourselves (as many do at year end) but to then sift through a list of words, writing down only those that make our heart jump when reading them. Eventually you find yourself choosing one word to guide you through the year to come.

In 2015, I landed on the word, surrender. For me, my focus was on surrendering the fears of feeling like I wasn't a good enough artist; to truly accept myself and what I had to offer the world... and that is exactly what I did! A year later, I'm an accomplished children's illustrator with over 10,000 followers on my art Facebook page. During this time, I illustrated four books and have three new ones forthcoming, including an illustrated cookbook. It's quite exciting, let me tell you!

Did I meet the "challenge" of my 2015 word? You bet I did, which contributed to the excitement of choosing my word for 2016. So many wonderful things unfolded last year, both planned and unexpected, that I'm looking forward to what this new word will birth for me in the year ahead. So, what word did I settle on? INVIGORATE! Although there were initially five words that sparked tingles inside my heart, invigorate tugged my creative soul the most. I not only desire to restore and strengthen my own heart but to do the same for others around me...and then some.

My hope for 2016 is to create art that will transform hearts and lives across the world—to set hearts ablaze through inspiration, excitement and encouragement. Big dreams, I know! The crazy thing? Michael chose the exact same word! Uh huh. I can only imagine how we're going to set this world on fire together.

Happy 2016, my bloggie friends!

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