A Most Wonderful Unexpected Gift...

With all  of the sadness going on in the United States, and around the world today, I want to share a little part of joy. I want to share one of the reasons why I love our crafting community sooo sooo much. As some of you know, Tim Holtz held a wonderful challenge. The Tattered Floral Challenge. I had seen it when it was 2 weeks into it's inception, after someone who has dubbed me the "Flower Whisperer" ( Cathi O'Neill ) pointed it out. lol...I started looking at all of the entries, going to each individual blog to see the closeups and details, and I was blown away...They were beautiful!! Then I came upon this particular entry. The one that belongs to Lynn Stevens.

I thought to myself...How can I top this??? This piece of art just struck me as gorgeous. And then perusing Lynn's blog, I thought, Now this is a true artist. Her talents are amazing!! You really must go check out her blog. But I went on to thinking, this one is going to win for sure. I fell in love with the piece, and I was inspired to make my own..But I didn't get around to it. 

Then the winners were announced...I was doubly shocked...I had won!!!...But Lynn's gorgeous entry was not among the 5. Shocked....But this is not the reason I write this entry into my blog....

The reason is because I want people to know that our community is a great one. Artists and Crafters have a heart like no other. We share our ideas, we teach what we know and sometimes, we give away what we have to to makes someones "Happy Mail" all the more special. Lynn, sent me that ever so wanted "Happy Mail". 

I had left her a message on her blog telling her how inspired I was by her gorgeous entry. I wanted to let her know that it was a Winner in my eyes. I still do believe that. I saved a picture of her entry on my laptop in a folder I call Antebellum Inspiration. Only the most gorgeous projects I find out there, make it into that folder. For future inspiration. I was planning on making my own. I wanted a piece like that to adorn a beautiful Wire Dress Form that is in my scrap studio.

Then one day not to long ago, I got a message from Lynn....She wanted to give me her beautiful Tattered Floral Lace Necklace. Her exact words..."It's Yours"... wow..I was happy dancing around the house. The generosity from one crafter to the next is just amazing sometimes. I never expected that. It was a gesture that meant a lot to me.

So I want to say a public Thank You to Lynn for her generous gift to me. And I want to share with all of you the detailed photos I took of her beautiful entry, and it's new home around the neck of my wire dress form.  I am sure you will agree that it is a winner. I love it to pieces!!! 

Be warned, to show you every detail, this is photo overload!!!