A day late on posting :(

Good evening all! I am a day late in posting this, always so much happening with my "social" schedule this time of year...I think I run into myself coming and going LOL. Yesterday was donation day for the adult hats and journals that we worked so hard on all year, and I was simply GLOWING after we dropped everything off <3 I do have several pictures, but OMGness, my hubby did not get one good shot of my face ha ha ha!! I was trying to figure out a monetary value for everything donated for a receipt (something new they are doing), and as you can tell from the pictures, I was struggling with this aspect of it.

Now as some of you may know from my facebook post, I have not donated the children's hats as of yet. I struggled with the decision to not donate to where we donated them to last year, but after much prayer and speaking with two of my sister's and hubby about it, I have decided to wait to donate them and let the Spirit guide me to where they are needed and wanted. I have a contact at MD Anderson in Houston, TX, that I will be emailing this week to see about shipping them to their facility and what the correct protocol is, I will keep everyone informed of when this will be happening!

In the next week or so, I will try to post the pictures of hats and journals that were donated to <3 Hats from the Heart/My Journey Journals <3 to complete the year of 2013 blog postings. I'm running short on time this evening (again), so I must close my ramblings.

I am so HAPPY to know that what we do with the hats and journals DO make a difference in the lives of patients! When we arrived to make our donation, we had a little bit of time to wait (we are ALWAYS early) so I wanted to see what this beautiful sculptured tree in the lobby was all about, as this was new and not there last year. So I wandered over to have a closer look. This tree is covered in hundreds of multi colored ribbons and is called the "Tree of Hope". Beside this tree is a stand with a clear acrylic box with ribbons of multiple colors in it. The placard above it has the many different colors of the Cancer Awareness ribbons and states that "if you know someone who is battling cancer or has battled cancer, please tie a ribbon on the Tree of Hope in their honor". YES, I did, and YES, as they are starting to now, the tears were there. I cannot explain the feelings that I am often overwhelmed with, this means so very much to me and I will continue on this journey until I am physically unable to do so. I had the joy of seeing a patient walking by as we were donating and speaking with her and hugging her and seeing the smile on her face, this STILL makes me emotional (I do wear those on my sleeve). Until my next update may the light of God's love touch your heart and soul and help you to Glow from Within.... <3

Last minute busyness!

Good evening to all who may follow my simple little blog. I have lots and lots of pictures for this update, from me and from friends who have helped, so I'll just be getting to it fairly quickly! :) I love this time of year, and it seems that Christmas~time has snuck up on me this year, I am SO NOT PREPARED!!! :/ Time just seems to move faster the older I get LOL. I think I must try to prepare a little better for 2014! Well, we all know that isn't going to happen because someone I care about will have a baby or get married or have a birthday or something ;) and that's more than fine because I SOOOOOOOOOOO enjoy doing what I do and giving them something made with so much love! I guess I should get to the updates before I start yammering on and on and then crying.. (such an emotional crybaby I am, I wear my heart on my sleeve)

These Journey Journals were made by my friend Jen and her sister. I LOVE them! So creative and they had a lot of fun making them I think!! It is such fun to have someone to share creating with because you share laughter, ideas and spending quality time with each other! Now there are two pictures but a total of 12 journals! I'm so grateful for every one's help, I can never ever say thank you enough!!! <3

 

The next four pictures are of hats that my sister Lulu created on her loom. Now I'm thinking this little loom thing she has is pretty great, and my Baby Girl (she's 23) is wanting one so she can help make hats! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEAL!!! That makes my heart swell with pride, she is and has such a beautiful soul! <3

The pink one has little flowers in it, and the green one has little jingle bells at the top! Aren't they adorable? :) Now, I was busy also, I promise!! LOL  I made a ladies Boysenberry Cloche embellished with a bead gathering that was a "pinspiration" only, no pattern at all just looking at a picture. I like to challenge myself creatively and this did it for sure! ;)  I also made a Melting Snowman hat (as I like to call him) and I found this pattern over at Repeat Crafter Me. Some have said he looks a little drunk, but I just say he is starting to melt, because here in AZ the days are a little warmish for snow!

Now the next several pictures are of the Journey Journals that my sister and I created this weekend. 16 of them to be exact!! LOL We were very busy! We then sat down hole punched these little business cards my honey created for me, threaded ribbon through them and wrote the name of who made the hat on each card. Then my sister, my daughter and I attached a card to each hat, so the patients can at least put a name to the person that cared so much! No last names were used just first names only!

I still have one more man's hat to make, and I'm disappointed that I didn't make my 80 hat goal, but I did make 60 and that is 20 more than I made last year! So overall, I'm pleased with where I am and how far this journey has and is taking me! I try every day to be a better person than I was the day before. Some days are better than others, after all I am human and I fall down so much, but I know that I can always count on my hubby, kids, sister's, or friends to help me back up to try again tomorrow! My gratitude knows no bounds, I feel gratitude in the depths of my soul for EVERYONE who has helped in the past, those who are helping now, those who have donated something (whether it was time, money, supplies, hats, journals, inspiration or just a shoulder to lean on) and those who continue to support me in my never ending quest to give something back and give sunshine to those who so desperately need it in their lives! <3 Go to my contact me page if you wish to join us on our journey!! Until my next update may the light of God's love touch your heart and soul and help you to Glow from Within...<3

Preparing for our donation.

Good evening all! It always seems to me that after Halloween, the holidays just sneak up and whacks me in the head, to state unequivocally that I am OUT OF TIME!!! Seriously though, time seems to move faster through that hour glass every year that I get older. It calls to mind a song by Kenny Chesney "Don't Blink" and all the lyrics that go along with it. When you are young, time seems to move slowly and you "can't wait" to turn a certain age, to do certain things and before you know it, your babies are grown and moved away and perhaps having babies of their own. Yes, I sit and think of how quickly time is moving and I look back on my life and ask myself (as I am sure we all do), Where did the time go? I hope and pray that my children take the time to appreciate life and all it has to offer and truly enjoy the little moment's that all too soon become a memory in the pages of Life's scrapbook.

The time is fast approaching in which I donate our hats and journals to MD Anderson and Cardon Children's Hospital, and I am busily trying to get as many hats and journals made as possible before that time. I have made three hats this weekend, but still have not completed any journals yet. I'm hoping to cover the notebooks that I have next weekend and hopefully(fingers crossed), my sister can come for a weekend of Journey Journaling creation in the next couple of weekends. So on with the pictures of the latest additions. This ladies Silver Sparkle beret, was the never ~ ending beret!  LOL I thought I was going to be working on it forever, and it did take me a week to finish! The pattern can be found over at Yarnspirations.

I did make a few adjustments to the pattern, but I always seem to do that anyway. :) The next hat is a man's fall themed striped beanie. I found this pattern over at The Laughing Willow and the stitch is called a camel stitch. It was very easy to make and I love just the touch of fall color mixed with the chocolate brown of the hat.

And lastly is the cutest hat EVER!! Prepare to have cuteness overload, because this hat is that! This is a "pinspiration" only, so a picture and my own imagination. Now when I got the basic hat made, I feared it would not meet my standards because I put the "icing" too far down on the hat, but it turned out WAY better than my expectations! A little girl's gingerbread hat....What do you think?

I am working on another hat, and tried really hard to get it finished for this update, but the hands and wrists said enough and I put it down for the evening. I only have a top hat to make for it, but I cannot see black yarn in the evenings at all, so must wait to make his top hat for another day.

Oh my goodness, I almost totally forgot to put this in here! I have these cards that I will be attaching to each hat with a ribbon before donating them. I will be putting the person's first name on it that created the hat to let the patient's know who made it. My wonderful hubby created these for me after I only mentioned I was playing with the idea in my head (he is so good to me)! The printing of these cards was donated by someone he used to work for, a kindness that does NOT go unnoticed (a thank you card will be making it's way to him soon).  They are very simple, but I don't want to take away from the beauty of the hat or act of kindness itself.

I hope this finds you all in good health, wonderful spirits and preparing for Thanksgiving with much anticipation of good food and good times with family and friends. Until my next update, may the light of God's love touch your heart and soul and help you to Glow from Within..... <3

Halloween is simply my favorite holiday!

Good Morning all! I just LOVE Halloween, it is quite simply my favorite holiday. Now, I know most would say WHAAAAAAAAATTT??? Why isn't it Christmas? Well, as children, we weren't allowed to dress up and go trick~or~treating, or go to Halloween parties either...maybe that is part of the reason why. I love the fall, and the multitude of colors it brings (well not to the southern part of AZ) and the cooler temperatures. I love the witches, skeletons, pumpkins and ghosts (must be my darker side coming out). Now, I do love Christmas also, but it comes in second to Halloween. With that being said, I have created a couple more Halloween themed hats for <3 Hats from the Heart/My Journey Journals <3 and I might have some fall themed hats for my next update. We shall see what the next couple of weeks holds in store for me, as I always fly by on a wing and a prayer! ;)

The first hat I have for you, was a challenge in itself!! This hat was made from a pattern I found over at Moogly and it is actually for a "big boy's cabled golf hat". Yes, I turned it into a man's golf hat. Not exactly sure I was real happy with the resulting hat and might have to adjust the pattern a bit more to my liking in the future. Here is my version of the Cabled Golf Hat for a man.

After the challenges of the above hat, I found I needed something a little more simple to work on, so I chose to make a little girl's Ghost hat. This creation was inspired by several pictures I've seen all over the internet, but I used no pattern for it. The color scheme was from my internet inspirations and the rest was simply out of my imagination.

This morning, I decided to go even simpler than that and create a little boy's pumpkin hat. I found this pattern over on Ravelry , where you can find all kinds of free patterns for all kinds of things! Now if all the hats were as quick and simple to make as this one was, I would have at least 100 hats made by now!! :D

That is the extent of my creations for this update, but I have one other creation picture for you. This is a fleece hat made by a beautiful lady, Deb, for our project.

One day, we will meet in person! Quite possibly when donation time comes up...oh my, that is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!!! :D I'm running out of time, and I fear I won't get my goal of 80 hats done before the time is here....but it is all good because I just created hat #54! I know that each hat and journal that is created, by myself or by another beautiful soul, will bring smiles and sunshine to the patient that receives it. I am so BLESSED, and I am eternally grateful for the kindness that God has brought into my life from everyone who has contributed in making <3 Hats from the Heart/My Journey Journals <3 successful and ongoing!

This has been quite a lengthy update, but when I forget to update on a regular basis, it becomes that way LOL! I am off to finish my nephew's Chain Chomp Hat (even if it kills me lol), so that I can mail it and get started on another side project...2 baby blankets, Christmas presents, Journey Journals and more hats of course!! :D  Until my next update, May the light of God's love touch your heart and soul and help you to Glow from Within....<3

I love Fall!

I just absolutely LOVE fall and the cooler temperature's it brings! Yes, we do have fall in AZ, just not so much that you can actually "see" changing of leaves unless you travel to the northern part of AZ. It is just beautiful in the mornings and you just want to sit on your patio and enjoy it and watch the hummingbirds as they fly busily about getting ready to migrate south. I hope ours don't migrate, but I will enjoy them until they do. At the start of my vacation, I spent the night at my sister's and when we got up the next morning (amidst trying to get the car packed), we took the time to feed the hummingbirds from our hand! It is the MOST amazing feeling (other than giving of yourself to others) to have a little hummingbird land on your hand to feed ~ I was blessed to have the same one land on my hand 3 times!!!! :) Here is a photo for you to enjoy!

So hard to stand still because you are so excited by it!!! While on vacation I was also blessed with a dragonfly on my thumb, that picture is a little blurry so you will have to just take my word on it LOL Yes, that was pretty cool and amazing too!!

I was able to get 3 hats completed this past weekend, but unable to get to any Journey Journals. I just simply ran out of time, it waits for no one that is for sure! A really great friend stopped by for a visit on Friday and brought me a donation of journaling "stash" as I like to call it :). I am surrounded by the most amazing people in my life, whose kindness knows no bounds! Thank you Mo from the bottom of my heart for always giving freely to this project that means so much to me! <3 

Can hardly wait to dig in and make some Journey Journals, maybe next weekend I can devote some time to the journals! I still have a couple of hats and a baby blanket to get done as side projects for family and friends (when do I NOT have side projects happening?). On to my new creations.

This is a ladies winter white slouch hat with just a touch of color that I finished up on Friday evening. I found this pattern over at Meladora's Creations and she has a ton of great patterns. The picture does not do this hat any justice, because the white yarn has a sparkly thread running throughout.

The next two hats I created were with a Halloween theme in mind, because this is just my favorite holiday! It may come from never having the opportunity to dress up and go trick~or~treating on Halloween as a child, but I just love this time of year. I do have to dig out my Halloween village and get it set up and decorate too!!! And who doesn't love candy corn?? SQUEEEEEALLLL!!! :D 

 

Or Frankenstein???? The below pattern was found over at A Chicks with Sticks blog and the above pattern, I am sorry to say that I forgot to grab the link on that pattern. I did add a bow on the Candy Corn hat to make it for a girl, and the buttons for the bolt's on Frankenstein's neck were originally blue LOL I bought a silver sharpie and my daughter colored them for me and I then spray glazed them and voila....bolts on the neck!!! :)

I will sincerely try my best to always add a link to where I find the pattern's for these hats, but sometimes I will forget to grab the link, for this I offer my sincere apologies to those that have allowed me and others to use their patterns! And my heartfelt gratitude for being allowed to use them for the creating and giving of these hats!

I must get busy and find a man's hat to make, and fold some clothes and prepare for the coming work week (it is Monday tomorrow already?). Until my next update may the light of God's love touch your heart and help you to Glow from Within...<3

Back to working on hats and journals!

Happy Monday evening to all! I have been remiss in updating my blog for a few weeks, but I am back from vacation with lots of goodies to update you on! I am working on a ladies winter white slouch hat, so far I am loving the new stitch! First things first though, my vacation was AMAZING!! Though I missed my wonderful hubby the whole time I was away from him, I loved spending a week at the beach with two of my sisters and Aunt's and Uncle...and then having a family get together at my Aunt Debbie's house for more family visiting! My Dad's family is rather large (he was one of 9), and of course through the years it has expanded beyond belief! I can not express my love and gratitude enough to my Aunt Debbie and all of those involved in paying for the condo at the beach and letting us stay at her house until we left. It was a very emotional and amazing trip! I would be typing all day if I put everything down that is going through my heart and brain, so on to sharing some pictures of hats that my beautiful niece made and donated to <3 Hats from the Heart/My Journey Journals <3. Oh and a journey journal that my sister Vicky made while we were in Florida, and my latest creation a man's hat. My oldest sister Lou and I picked up all the following pictures from my niece Eve on our way to Florida, these were all created by Eve and they are simply fabulous!!!

Aren't they just great? I love them all!!! <3  Next up is the journey journal that my sister created. It is simply ARRRRRRRRRR~some LOL

 

And the last picture I have for you is a hat that I made on Saturday. It is a man's hounds tooth beanie, I believe it turned out fairly well for being creatively "challenged" on Saturday. LOL

 

 

 

I may do a couple more like this as I really liked the stitch and how it looked. That is it for the pictures, so even though I was on vacation I still had some pretty great updates for you all! I found the pattern for this pretty cool hat over at Elk Studio Handcrafted Crochet Designs and thank her for sharing the pattern.

 

Hoping to continue the momentum and even if I don't reach my goal of 80 hats for myself for 2013, I feel that I am and have done a pretty great job so far. This includes all the help I have gotten from my sister's Lou, Vicky, Joni, my niece Eve and a pretty great lady Debbie helping make hats also! It also includes all of the numerous monetary and supply donations that I have gotten from too many people to mention, just know that your kindness means the world to me and each patient that receives a hat or journal. "No act of kindness, no matter how small....is ever wasted" ~ Aesop

 

Until my next update may the light of God's love touch your heart and soul and help you to Glow from Within......<3