Behind the Art with Melissa and a Sneak Peek of October!

Hi everyone!

Well, it's the last day of September.

I'm here to close out this month with one of my pages using the THRIVE kit.

When I was browsing for some inspiration, I was immediately drawn to this quote from Maya Angelou:

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."

I love that!

And oh how I would have loved to have met Ms. Angelou. I have a feeling I would have left her presence ready to conquer the world.

One key element of that quote grabbed me. "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.."

oooooooooh... there is a difference!

To me, surviving means I'm hanging onto the board, in the ocean, trying not to drown.

THRIVE means, I'm turning that board into a monster sailboat and getting the heck out of dodge. 

There is an attitude shift when I think of THRIVING versus surviving. I can't even capitalize that word. To show that attitude, I had fun using the smile face wood veneers in the kit. I wanted to use as much color and sass as possible in this layout. I got messy with the ink. I pulled the brightest colors. I layered to my hearts content.

You might even say I was THRIVING creatively. 

Interestingly, I used blue on blue for the main word. THRIVE. Why? 

Not because I am hiding, or unafraid or embarrassed... because I love the idea of understanding that being ME... is thriving. I don't have to do anything but be myself 100%. I can be bold. I can be daring. I can be crazy. But, the bottom line... I am who I am. I am not a victim. I did survive. But... now I'm thriving. Deep in my soul kind of thriving.  

I chose an "off in the distance" photo. I love that smile on my face. It's a smile of contentment, opportunity and optimism. 

How about you? Doesn't THRIVING sound so much better than merely... surviving?

And now....

to switch gears a bit..

It's time to give you a little glimpse at what we are diving into in October! I'm here to give you some visuals of what will be in the kit. And tomorrow! Oh tomorrow... full reveal. It's a FUN one! You're going to need some good ENERGY! ;)

Thanks for swinging by and we will see you tomorrow!

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