A Gift of Flight...

I know I have mentioned them frequently over the course of the last year, these amazing women that have come into my life. But on this, the one year anniversary of our gathering as a community, I find myself with a heart full of gratitude.

 For me, this journey began when I ran across an blurb about Kelly Rae Roberts e-course;  Flying Lessons Tips + Tricks to Help Your Creative Biz Soar! I love KRR's art work, and she was my first introduction to mixed media art. I had her book and had read articles about her in Cloth, Paper, Scissors Magazine for a number of years before I thought to go looking for her online. I was delighted to find she was offering a class on building a creative business and jumped at the chance to learn from her. The class was full of useful information, simplified enough for a internet newbie to grasp and utilize. I learned about promoting my self and my work, about different routes to take to sell my art, and about the importance of the the connections you can make using social networking.
  But above all, and no offense to Kelly, because her content is fantastic, above everything though, was the private Facebook group that was formed as part of the class. For some inexplicable reason, we bonded. We quickly connected and grew into a huge loving, supportive and effective community of fellow creatives. We have helped, advised and supported each other through our first stumbling steps in building our businesses. We have found a safe place to share our fledgling art, and received positive reinforcement and advice when something wasn't quite right. Terrible twos to troubled teens, we have shared parenting advice, and cried for each others pain. Divorces, betrayals, job losses and rotten bosses, we have shared it all, and are stronger for the sharing. There is always someone to give you kudos over learning a new technique, and someone to understand when folks at home don't quite get us.
My Flytribe has helped me find my artistic style, and increased my confidence in sharing my art. I thought I would learn some tips and tricks, and I did. But I also found a whole other family, a sisterhood of creative souls.
As this year draws to a close, we are still going strong as we each face new and exciting challenges. We are committed to staying together and continuing to share our successes and failures, and sending out words of love and encouragement every step of the way. To honor our Flytribe community, we decided to take up a collection to sponsor a future flier by paying the tuition for the 2012 Flying Lessons. This will be the last time Kelly Rae Roberts offers this e-course, so she offered to match our contributions. We are so pleased to announce that we gathered enough donations to pay for not one but EIGHT slots in the upcoming class! Along with Kelly's eight, that makes sixteen lucky fliers! We are all just tickled at the response, did I mention they are a wonderful and generous group of ladies? If you would like to apply for the chance to win one of these slots, please go to our Flytribe Blog, and follow the instructions. 

Oh, in case you were wondering if I did any actual ART this week, I did do my ATCs for our Flygirls ATC Group. This is a spin off of about 60 of us, from the original Flytribe, that wanted to experiment with ATCs. We started our monthly swaps last November, and last I checked, we have a hostess and theme set up through 2013! This month the theme was "learning" and as an added twist, and partially because of my participation in Every Inchie Monday, we decided to each add an inchie to our packets. Here are the results;

my "learning" inchie...

and last, but not least, the theme for Every Inchie Monday is "eye", and here is mine...

Thank you Trillian over at Every Inchie Monday for inspiring not only me, but some of my fellow fliers as well. Look what you started with your teeny, tiny art! Until next time...enjoy!

If you would like to read more about our group, and some amazing posts about the art of giving, here is the list of all the Flytribe Blogs participating in this hop;

Janet Forrest http://www.tatterednworn.wordpress.com

Cat Athena Louise http://www.catathenalouise.com

Stacey Bockness Curry http://starhitchedwagon.blogspot.com/

Kris Lanae Binsfeld http://cherishdesigns.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/giving-flight-giving-back/

Renee Burke http://happilyeverafterbyreneeburke.wordpress.com

Mary Sterk http://www.justmarydesigns.com

Michelle Reynolds http://www.shellsinthebush.com

Constance Rawlins http://livingwithinyourharvest.com/2012/08/19/fly-tribe-anniversary/

Kelly Hoernig  http://www.kellyhoernig.blogspot.com/2012/08/flytribe-anniversary.html

Cindy Jones Lantier http://www.lantier.org/2012/08/the-gift-of-giving/

Kathleen Conard http://newfromoldcreations.blogspot.com/2012/08/giving-back.html

Claudia Dow http://www.claudiadow.blogspot.com

Susan M. Walls-Beverly http://susanscharmingtrinkets.blogspot.com/2012/08/flying-lessons-and-art-of-giving-back.html

Linda Barutha http://lindabaruthadesigns.blogspot.com/2012/08/giving-back.html

Linda Kinnaman http://lindakaysart.com/blog/2012/08/19/my-dream-journey-one-year-now/

Cheryl Dosseyhttp://www.cheryldossey.com/2012/08/paying-it-forward/

Sofia Dabalsa http://sofiadabalsa.blogspot.com

Jill Lambert http://jill-lambert.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-spirit-of-giving.html

Sally Rose http://sallyhow2.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-gift-of-flight.html

Ursula Smith http://EasyScraps.com/blog

Deborah Eaton http://www.deborahgeaton.com/blog/

Lori Leissner  http://www.leissnerart.com/2012/08/giving-thanks-giving-back-giving-flight.html

Creative Clearinghouse http://creativeclearinghouse.com/Online-Class-Reviews/blog/2012/447/Spirit-Giving

Lenore Angela http://lenoreangela.blogspot.ca/2012/08/giving-back.html

Katharina Star http://www.blog.katharinastar.com

Rachél Payne http://wp.me/pWRyw-10P

Sherry Richert Belul  http://www.simplycelebrate.net/cherry-blossom-soup/gifts

Deborah Velasquez http://deborahvelasquez.blogspot.com/

Shannon Etnyre http://www.livingwithumami.com

Live Laugh Love Retreats http://livelaughloveretreats.com

Kelley Miller Artworks http://kelleymillerartworks.blogspot.com/

Wini Dougall http://artloveandjoy.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/giving-flight-giving-back-blog-hop-and.html

Carol Bray http://theredpaintedcottage.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-spirit-of-giving-back-by-giving.html

Tracy Yarbrough http://chickpeastudio.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-spirit-of-giving.html

Diane Enright  http://dianeenrightphotography.wordpress.com/

Jamie Burch http://www.dancingdownserendipitystreet.blogspot.com/2012/08/giving-flight.html

Mary Cottingham http://www.barnbugstudio.blogspot.com

Susan Dietz http://flutterbeforeyou.blogspot.com

Lori Moon Studio http://lorimoonstudio.blogspot.com/2012/08/fly-tribe-blog-hop-giving-back.html

Kim Hyer http://www.apaperaddict.com

Tina Carlborg http://www.tinachicky.blogspot.com

Catherine Pistone  http://catherinepistone.blogspot.com/

Mary MacIlvain http://maryart.macilvain.com/

Carolyn Chenault http://carolynchenault.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/the-big-giveaway