The best things in life are often FREE... :) I'm very excited to share a new project under the name Kindred. I've teamed up with Heather "Ez" Pudewa from Creature Comforts because we share many of the same dreams and passions and feel as though we are kindred spirits, though we've never met in person we have a strong online (and telephone) friendship that really means a lot to us. We thought it would be fun to work on mini projects together, collaborating with artists in the process, and sharing the results with all of you. That's what Kindred is all about...

The first and current project under Kindred is called, "Wallpapered Together.? Through this project we hope to:

• Bring a seasonally curated selection of art and photography to your desktop on a quarterly basis.
• Show our ongoing support of the independent online community by sharing the work of 5-8 accomplished and budding talents per quarter (at no charge to the artists or to you).
• Share some of our favorite talents with the many friends we've made online over the years - a little way of saying thanks to you, our blog readers.

The artists participating in this season?s lineup of wallpapers were asked to create around the theme, "Winter: Dreams." We see winter as a joyous time but also a resting period, when nature takes a much needed break, people slow down, much hot chocolate is enjoyed by warm fires, and time is spent considering plans for the new year...dreaming of what will come. The artists who have joined us for the launch of this exciting project are listed below. You can find their individual desktop wallpapers along with more information about them, their inspiration for the image, a few dreams of their own, and of course download instructions here.

• a. Jennifer Causey, Freelance Photographer
• b. Samantha Hahn, Illustrator, Surface Pattern Designer, Blogger, Art Teacher
• c. Marie-Klara Gonz?lez, Architect
• d. Tara Hogan, Ink and Wit, Designer and Illustrator
• e. Kerry Pitt-Hart, Lush Bella, Designer/Maker & Art Educator
• and of course, f. Heather "Ez" Pudewa, Creature Comforts, Blogger & Photographer

Many of you, like us, may have your own kindred spirits online, those who encourage, share, motivate, comfort... Kindred is a mini celebration of such friendships formed inside the delicate and vast online web, showing the power of friendship and how kindred spirits can pull together to do creative and fun things all in out of love for art and design. Happiness truly comes from giving and receiving, Kindred is our gift to share with all of you. Enjoy!

A special thanks to Jen, Samantha, Tara, Kerry, Marie-Klara for helping us with the launch -- we love your wallpapers and couldn't have done it without your participation!

See the wallpaper gallery and download your favorites right here.

Psst: You can expect additional desktop wallpapers in a few months, our Spring release of Wallpapered Together will be sometime mid March. Summer will release in June and Autumn in September. Stay tuned!

(images from kindred)