HUGE fangirl moment for me this week. 😜 This is the man who encouraged me as a little 7th grader that I am awesome, unique and have divine gifts that I need to share. He was the first (besides mom of course) to make me feel awesome about making weird art with gum wrappers 🙂 he’s also the first speaker that I heard that made me want to be a motivational speaker. Within the last 6 or 7 years, we have had a few interactions. I sent him this notebook with his logo on it after we initially met in 7th grade. (Excuse the crappy pictures, and crappy quality of notebook– I was 12!)
Jason Hewlett Entertainment
He received it kindly, sent me an awesome gift in return, and inspired me again.
Several years later, at a youth conference (I think I was in 9th or 10th grade) the speaker we were supposed to have canceled. Fortunately, someone had connections to an awesome backup speaker. Well before the program started my friend and I went to the bathroom. We walked past a spiffy guy in a bright blue suit and I loudly told him that I liked his suit, he chuckled and complimented my…. coat… haha. Then when the program started, I realized the guy I had complimented was the speaker… THEN I realized it was Jason Hewlett!! (He had a beard so I didn’t recognize him at first). We laughed about our awkward complimenting interaction and then we were able to talk. He remembered me as the “GumwrapperGirl” 🙂 It was a tender mercy that we could talk again and I could hear another one of his inspiring messages.
Fast forward to this week. I just finished my freshman year at BYU. I have continued doing my gum wrapper art in my downtime (which, as a college student, is next to never) and I heard that Jason Hewlett would be speaking at my YSA stake FHE activity. Since the last thing I made and sent him isn’t exactly the most crafty thing I have ever made, I wanted to show him my new skills 😉 I made him a blue Christ portrait.
I was seriously giddy about this activity and SO excited to see him– my sister can attest. Before the activity started, I brought my Christ portrait to the room he’d be speaking in. He was in there getting ready and my heart started pounding! I am not one to get nervous, like ever, and so this was a new feeling haha. I handed him the portrait and said “I made this out of gum wrappers for you because I am the GumwrapperGirl!” He was excited to see me and we talked for a few minutes. He was kind, funny, and inspiring as always.
Just from talking to him, I was already on cloud9. But then in the middle of his speech, he told the large audience the story of how we met, how I made him the notebook, and then made him this gum wrapper mural. He used me as an example of what he inspires people to become. It was an AWESOME feeling, and I am grateful that he made me feel good about the talent and gift that I have.
It was a special feeling to have the person who originally encouraged a gift that I had, give me a shutout for developing, and continuing using that gift years later.
Just a great reminder to be kind to others and help them develop their gifts and talents. You never know the impact you can have on someone 🙂 Thanks, Jason!
2. Thank you, Mom!
One of the truest quotes I’ve ever heard is from Abraham Lincoln. He said, “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
It’s hard to begin with this woman. Her wisdom, kindness, humor, perspective, faith, and patience have helped me every day of my life. I don’t want to meet the person that I’d be without my mom. She has always been, and still is, the first person that I go to with my art. She is the co-artist on many of my projects because of her input, ideas, and encouragement. She has always been able to see the brilliance in my projects, even when no-one else took the time to do so. I don’t know what I would do without my mom!
3. Thank you, God!
A big focus of my art is my faith. I love depicting God’s temples, His son Jesus Christ, and other meaningful things that represent my faith. My favorite item of focus for my art is Jesus Christ. Depicting Him with gum wrappers is symbolic to me; I feel that I am somehow showing Christ my appreciation for what He does for me. Just as I turn literal trash into something more, art, Christ turns me into something more than I am capable of becoming myself. I get a spiritual high when I produce a gum wrapper mural and this is the reason. <3 #HeLives
