My first ‘free’ autumn was spent outside and I relished observing the change of seasons up close.  Now that winter is upon us, I’ve thought quite a bit about snowflakes – and made a series of collages based on actual snow crystal photographs (see them all in the ‘inspirations’ and ‘puttin’ it out there’ sections).  Although making these small pieces required using the tiniest of paper snippets, I didn’t worry about imperfections.  After all, real snowflakes contain them too.  It’s the overall image that makes the beauty shine.  This is the same with us mortals – we all have our flaws, but our inner beauty is brought out in our own unique designs.  When I consider how many of these crystals make up a single snowball – or cover the forest – it truly boggles my mind.  Our creator is the ultimate artist!