This week I’ve turned my blog over to my readers (again — this summer 12 of you shared your gardens here). Today, though, instead of gardens, I have 6 brave, creative women sharing glimpses into their sketchbooks.

You’ve quieted your mind and listened to the whispers. Your heart longs to learn something new, to be creative, to craft a different life.

Now what?

Today marks the half-year point for Sips of Inspiration, but instead of going ahead with my next interview, I wanted to do two things.

First I want to revisit my WHY. And second I want to check in with you, my dear readers.

I am so grateful you are here!

I’m delighted to be sharing another Sips of Inspiration interview with you today. This month’s conversation is with Ishrat Khawja. Ishrat hand-dyes beautiful yarns in her home in the UK.

Last month I wrote about taking a social media break. I looked back over my time on Instagram and also touched on the way blogging has changed over the years. I want to spend a bit more time considering blogs and blogging, giving the topic its own post (I’ve written about blogging before and will most likely write about it again).

Back in November I deleted Instagram from my phone.

It was a snap decision. To take a break from social media and blogging until the new year. I’d been getting more and more uncomfortable on Instagram. Frustrated with it. The idea of taking time and space for me sounded pretty good.

My friend Ruby recently wrote a blog post about reclaiming the word creativity and it got me thinking. To be honest, it fired me up. I love discussions like this. I love thinking about and talking about creativity. I wrote a response to Ruby on her blog and then I thought I’d take my thoughts and craft them into a blog post of my own to extend the conversation.

Starting this new blog has been so energizing. Although a fresh start wasn't my intention when I moved to blogging on my website, it's been a surprising consequence. The thought of having a fresh space to craft into whatever I want has filled me with ideas. I'm excited to share some new posts with you. But first I wanted to talk a bit about blogs and blogging.