"Stars in My Eyes Indeed," is a self-portrait … assemblage "story box" symbolic of the two things that have most inspired me artistically in recent years: Cloth, Paper, Scissors and Encaustic painting. This my first reader challenge (All Buttoned Up) and it has motivated me to seriously get to work. I've gained a new appreciation for buttons! I like to say I am homeschooling myself" and now have a very clear direction for the second half of my life as a "mixed media artisan." I am a commercial artist, so photography and typography will always have a presence in my projects. As with most things I love, the serendipity of discovering the 'inaugural issue' of CPS (at Joann in 2003 i think) and encaustic paintings (a class at Campbell Fold School in NC and some works that blew me away at the Winter Park (Fl) art festival) have given me the creative direction i was looking for. Encaustic is tricky, challenging, satisfying, exploratory, elusive. The magazine has become a close friend. Many thanks. Anne Kneller, Daytona Beach, FL