Sometimes Inspiration Comes from the Most Unlikely Places

Inspiration is all around us-waiting to be captured. Art is everywhere too-not only in museums. Art is in food, music, nature, and so much more. Inspiration enables each of us to become artists in our own way.

Laura Ballerini is a designer who started much of her creative journey at The Calgary Herald in Canada. She now owns her own digital design boutique and seamlessly weaves together an unlikely array of stories about her inspiring mother, museum visits, online shopping, designing in the dirt, and many other adventures (including a visit to Graceland). Some of these essays are funny, some poignant-all are memorable snippets of universal experiences meant to spark our awareness and awaken us to the rich fields of design all around us. Ballerini's stories encourage the reader to embrace the following:

1. 1. Appreciate art and design around you. It's everywhere including how we dress, talk and interact with the world. It's not just a painting hanging in a gallery, it's also the leaves hanging on a tree and the necklace around our neck. It's arts and crafts, music, dance and so much more.
   2. Find your own creative outlet. We are all gifted. Albert Einstein was a brilliant musician; Louis Pasteur a talented painter. But they were known for their skills in math, physics and chemistry. Honing our creative thinking makes us better in all aspects of our life.
   3. Nurture our own inner badass-not by riding a motorcycle with leathers and a bandana but by standing up to the bullies; having the confidence to say "Yes, I can" when the world says "I don't think so"; and losing your inhibitions on the dancefloor at the family wedding! Life is short and we need to bravely embrace all aspects of our creativity.

The essays span over Laura's 40+ years in the design industry and are viewed through her unique creative lens. Her discovery: We are all artists in our own unique way-in the kitchen, in our gardens, and in our relationships.