A Heart a Day Challenge

I jumped into the A Heart a Day Challenge with Mr. E this month and it has been such a plus to my personal well being.  I can't believe I have never done anything like this before but believe me, I'll hop on the bandwagon again.  I think one of the hardest things about teaching art is that we tend to lose ourselves in the process.  We become so busy with lesson plans, classroom management, grades, school politics...the list goes on, that we often set our personal needs aside.  After all, we got into this art teaching thing because we loved to be creative and make art, right?  And yet, in that process, the first thing we tend to loose is our own art making.  Thank goodness for all our colleagues out there that recognize that we need to take care of our own creative needs as well.  This month has had me thinking hearts thanks to Mr. E.  A few days have felt particularly challenged as I have tried to not become mediocre with my heart making.  Often I have felt like I am all over the place and I am sure if you looked at the full gamut of the last 18 days you might recognize that as well.  Mostly, I have really enjoyed this challenge.  I look forward to making something new every day and have started to challenge myself to pick up new materials and take some chances with things I don't have a comfort level with. (translate: what do I do with all those gelli plate prints???)  I honestly am not looking forward to February 29th and this challenge coming to an end.  So what am I doing about it???  Well, I'm following blogs, twittering on Twitter and in search of my next challenge.  I'll stay on board for as long as I can.  If you have a great challenge you can recommend, please let me know.  If you haven't done this yet, jump on board.  It's been a great experience!