But I opened up my project box last night.

I put away various threads and beads from things that were actually completed before I stopped creating and threw away a couple things.

This is what I was left with.

These are the partially finished pieces. There's canvases intended to become 6"x6" squares and some ATCs. There's even a piece that's really almost done that I just hadn't been blogging about while I was working on it, but now I can't even remember when the last time I touched it was.

Maybe I can go check out Michael's new bead aisle tomorrow and find a focal point for it.

I hadn't thought of myself as an artist for a couple months, but I definitely wasn't done yet.

I couldn't give up crafting and creating, even if it seemed easier to do so in the face of other pressures and the loving neediness of a small child.

I needed to make space for them in my life in some form or fashion, even if it didn't feel like it did before, when I was immersed in thoughts of layers and colors and was doing something about them nearly every day.

So I am trying to start fresh, with a new mindset and much more relaxed set of expectations.

And with a new blog.

You can still find all my old entries at http://www.artbybethrobinson.com/journal but just looking at my category list and the many months of what I'd done before made me feel depressed, not accomplished. So here I am again.

I've circled around back to the beginning of my journey. Okay, I have a higher skill level and many more books and other supplies. But it's basically me and needle and floss again, looking to see where my next steps will take me.