Believe it.

Today I needed to revive my creative juices a little, and nothing is better at that for me than pulling out my art journal! I love playing with my paints. I never know what I'm going to end up with, I just go wherever it leads me. But I did have one thing in mind from the start - I was inspired by Steve Cummings' awesome win for Team MTN-Qhubeka on Stage 14 of the Tour de France!

Here's how my page came together:

• white gesso base
• painter's tape stripes, painted with black gesso
• Hero Arts Old Letter Writing in black Archival ink
• Hero Arts Texture and Shape "stain stamps" in Unicorn White ink
• yellow acrylic paint splotched on with a paintbrush
• teal acrylic paint splotched on with bubble wrap
• quote spelled out using various letter stickers
• a Tim Holtz bicycle stamp added with black Archival ink
• fleur-de-lis added with red acrylic paint, to balance out the red a little

I am so thrilled that Team MTN-Qhubeka won today. This is their first Tour de France - and they are the first African-based team to ever ride in the Tour. I mentioned them at the start of the Tour - they support bringing bikes to villages in Africa, which is so wonderful. The team wears black and white striped jerseys, so that's where I started with my background.

Not only did they win today - but they won on Mandela Day!! How absolutely perfect is that? I wanted to use a Nelson Mandela quote on my page, so I did a quick Google search and found this one. It just seemed all-around perfect - for Mandela Day, for MTN-Qhubeka winning the stage on Mandela Day, and for the Tour de France in general.

. #MandelaDay victory for @TeamMTNQhubeka at @letour! *We cant believe it! ;)* Report: http://t.co/EH4ubhtTA4 pic.twitter.com/bNTv2yjD6z

— Team MTN-Qhubeka (@TeamMTNQhubeka) July 18, 2015

I loved today at the Tour.