I love looking at a pattern and thinking about the original source of inspiration. Very often motifs and designs are borrowed directly from nature. I'd like to stop and thank these creatures for sharing their beauty with us. Since it's Valentine's Day, I'm sending my love out to them. I liken it to a gourmand practicing mindful eating—with every bite, imagining the field where a vegetable was grown, or the chicken who laid the egg that is on the plate. Ok better stop me because I might get deep now.

Having some gratitude for nature's offerings is important! When I stop to think about each creature, plant, rock or sky that inspired a design it just fills me right up. How lucky we are to get this all for free!?

Here are just a couple of examples that compelled me to look deeper.