Thankful EVERY day!

Happy Sunday Morning! It is still dark outside and hubby is still snoozing, so thought I would use this time wisely and update my blog and upload pictures to Pinterest, before I get so busy later that time runs away from me. I have sat and tried to figure out where the year went, and I'm still shaking my head because I just don't know....Thanksgiving is next week!!!

A lot of people use this time of year to be thankful and grateful for what they have and the blessings in their lives. I believe we should be this way EVERY day, in each moment of time we should be grateful and thankful for the blessing that moment brought with it. I believe also, that each struggle we go through and each lesson we learn is a blessing too, without these struggles and lessons we would not be the person we are supposed to be. The lessons are valuable, the struggles and battles that we fight every day bring us closer to our true purpose, if we have not discovered it yet. I believe our purpose is to learn how to love everyone, yes...even our enemies. Remember that everyone's journey is different than our own, and their rocks and ruts are probably a lot bigger than what we think.

I try not to jot down in this little blog of my own struggles, but hey I admit, it happens lol. So with that being said, I had been struggling with left arm/shoulder muscle pain for a couple of months now (where when you lift your arm, it feels like you have been lifting weights)....the pain just continued to worsen until this past Thursday. I couldn't even stay longer than an hour at work, couldn't use it to drive and had a hard time turning my head to look out my side mirror on the driver's side. This was even after a friend, who has healing hands and practices Reihki, had worked on it for some time. I'm grateful that my beautiful daughter had the day off, because she was able to come over and work on my shoulder and neck for at least half an hour and bring healing and relief! I believe we may have discovered that she may have the gift of healing in her hands. I have 3 people in my life that has this gift and without them, my own pain levels would prevent me from doing what I do....make a difference in someone's life by making a hat or journal. I'm eternally grateful for them and for the gifts God gives each of us, whether it is physical healing, emotional healing, or the many talents each one of us possess!

Speaking of gratitude, let's show lots of LOVE for The Journey Continues, because there is a LOT of photo's to post from their side of the world! What a fantastic job our east coast division is doing in making a difference in a cancer patients life!!! Here are loads of photo's of the BEAUTIFUL work going on in The Journey Continues!

 

They are ALL so fabulous!!! I LOVE them, the colors, the flowers, the stitches...it's all fabulously beautiful!!! <3  Compared to as much work they are doing, my work is small in comparison. I will persevere and continue, even if it may be S L O W going in my own division right now lol! :) Here are the few hats and journals my division has created.

 

There you have it, all that has been created for our group! I have finished a hat and working on a journal for a friend's significant other who is going through treatments for pancreatic cancer right now. We will take special requests for anyone you may know that is fighting the war on cancer and battling for their lives, just send us a message or contact us on Facebook.

Much love and eternal gratitude for those that continue to support our journey in making a difference in cancer patients lives by bringing a smile to their face and the knowledge that someone cares to their heart! Until my next update, may the light of God's love touch your heart and soul and help you to Glow from Within..............<3

 

BE THE LIGHT IN SOMEONES LIFE!!! 

 

 

Lost a month again

Good Morning all my faithful followers! Somehow, another month got away from me, and I missed updating in September. The older I get the faster time seems to fly right on by! I hope this update finds everyone happy and in good health. When you are younger, it seems like you are so busy living life that you forget to enjoy the little things. As we get older, we realize how short life really is and start to enjoy the smallest things even more. I sometimes sit and think, if only I had enjoyed the little things a little more when I was younger and had more of an appreciation for life itself. I am happy to say that at least I didn't wait until I was "retired" to start enjoying the little things, because lets face it, in today's world....I may never get to retire LOL!

I believe my creativity is coming back, now to MAKE the time to work on everything I want to work on :) I always try to cram so much into my weekend, and only half of it seems to get done. Now with the holidays fast approaching, I am only going to get busier. This is all right, because I will persevere! This was a message given to me by the beautiful angel who inspired this group and what we do. YES, I believe in angels and KNOW with all my heart and soul that they are surrounding us and helping us through each moment of the day. Always look for their signs, ask for their help and thank them for their presence in your life! I am truly blessed beyond belief and I am truly grateful and appreciative of their presence and assistance with all things! I am also truly grateful for the help, inspiration and encouragement from my earth angels (angels that are in their earthly bodies).

I have a couple of beautiful hat creations from Rebekah over at The Journey Continues. I absolutely love the darker color and the light blue hat is beyond adorable! Must try this pattern out soon!! Thank you to The Journey Continues for your continued dedication to making a difference in a cancer patient's life and spreading the sunshine!!



 

The next hat and journal are going to my beautiful MIL's cousin who is fighting cancer for the second time, THIS is why I do what I do, cancer doesn't care if you've had it before, it doesn't care what age you are, and it is devastating and AFFECTS US ALL!!

 

 



The remaining photo's are what's been cooking in Hats from the Heart. My sister and I were able to make a few journey journals while I was there for a visit. The more of these I make, I try to experiment with a more efficient way of covering them (squeezing the glue bottle can be quite painful for days after). I've learned that duct tape is out, do not like the ridges that show through, I've learned that I really don't like covering them with gesso (too time consuming, too many coats required) and I really don't like putting white paper over the front and back and then covering (the spine tends to wrinkle when done this way). So I will be making a trip to Michael's to buy something called Krylon Short Cuts, it is spray paint that is safe for paper....this could be the answer to this challenge that I always have of the material being thin and the words on the composition book showing through!

I now must rush to finish getting ready for my work day because my computer seems to take forever to upload things LOL! I challenge each of you to spread the laughter, smiles, love and kindness to everyone you meet and may the light of God's love touch your heart and soul and help you to Glow from Within............<3

Where did I lose my motivation?

Good afternoon all! As my title suggests, I have lost my motivation, inspiration, umph....I'm not sure where exactly I lost it, but I've been searching for it everywhere!! I have been struggling since June to try and get out of a creative slump that I seem to be in right now, and I can only pray it will lift SOON!! I miss being able to work on my hats and journals, and I do not want to put any type of negativity in them at all, so when I just feel "blah", I can't justify working on them. I want there to be joy, happiness and love in the hats and journals I make so that the receiver is filled with that positivity! Perhaps, now that things may be on the "upswing" in my personal life again, I can start focusing my energy on my group again. We all struggle with day to day battles in our lives, we just must try harder to not let them get the best of us. Perhaps, now that one particular battle is won, I can move forward in my journey to bring joy and sunshine to the recipients of our hats and journals! <3

We had some slight challenges with The Journey Continues, but hopefully those challenges have been resolved for the better and we won't need to revisit them any time soon! I have a really great friend who is often heard saying "It's all in God's timing", and I am now often repeating that to myself and also that God knows what He is doing, so whatever happens is supposed to! Here are some recent beautiful creations by my sis Vicky and Rebekah.

The first set of hats were created for a beautiful soul who recently was diagnosed with cancer and my sis made her young daughter a matching hat. She also created the beautiful journal below for the same beautiful lady.  The last beautiful hat above was created by Rebekah for some beautiful little girl, I just love pastel colors, and feel you can never go wrong with mixing any of those colors together.

You know, I'm always amazed when I start to update my blog, and though I may feel as I have done next to nothing as far as making hats or journals, I truly have quite a few made. The first set of pictures was made and sent to a lady in West Virginia as a special request.

The next set was made and sent to Florida as a request/donation. Now when I say that, what I mean is this: A beautiful lady in Florida collected and donated 52 skeins of yarn last year for her birthday. This year, she has a dear friend who was diagnosed again with cancer so her request was for 53 encouraging cards to be sent for her friend as her "birthday" gift to herself. So, in addition to the card, I made a journal and hat also for her. If you would like to send a card, please send me a message and I will send the information to you.

The next hat was made for a coworkers sister who was diagnosed, but who has chosen quality of life over quantity. I made this next hat and gave a journal that I had already previously made before. My prayers go out to her and hope she is able to make it back "home" before God calls this angel home.

The next few are not special requests, but are all special because they will all go to brighten a cancer patients life!

 

 

I started working on a man's hat today, but couldn't get the pattern to work out, so that work is still under way. I have stated that God keeps our group small for a reason, even if I do not know what the reason is, I am grateful for the blessings He has given me. I am thankful for those of you who continue to follow our journey, even when it seems our journey may have stalled. Much love to each and every one of you for your support and your inspiration! Until my next update, may God bless you with the light of His love and help you to Glow from Within <3

Happy 4th of July

Good afternoon and Happy 4th of July to all, especially to our men and women who have fought and sacrificed so much for our continued freedoms! We owe them so much! Even with all of the nonsense going on in the world today, all of the negativity and hate that is being thrown about....I am still grateful I live in America and I have the freedom's that I do! Remember that when you are shouting your beliefs from every corner of facebook, that someone sacrificed themselves for you to continue to have that freedom! Remember to be kind to everyone, we are all fighting battles....maybe mine aren't as big as yours, but they are still battles and we are all human, spread the LOVE not the hate! I choose to remain positive and try to stay that way, I will stumble and fall sometimes, but I'm eternally grateful to my family and friends for helping me up! God bless each and everyone of us as we go about our daily lives, sending prayers and love to all who need it (and that is everyone of us)!

I apologize for missing a month of posting, but June was an exceptionally hard month and couple that with the fact that I seem to have fallen into a creative "slump". I am working on getting out of it by concentrating on journey journals for the moment and I seem to be doing pretty well with letting the ideas and creativity flow.

I just got back home from spending a few days with my sister and helping her do some of her day to day chores. Her hubby fell off the ladder and broke his hip creating double the work load for her. I only wish she lived closer so I could do more to help her! I may have only washed dishes, vacuumed one floor, and watered a few plants but I hope she was able to rest a little. It was a quiet drive home as it was fairly early, I did want to beat the traffic for the holiday.

I have a special request for a hat and journal for a cancer patient and I'm excited to get started! I have been bouncing a few ideas around in my head while working on a baby blanket (I seem to ALWAYS be working on a baby blanket, eh?)! I'm experimenting right now with some gesso for a journal cover and some stencils, not sure I will be happy with how it turns out but time will tell.

I do have some pictures to share with you from The Journey Continues ~ A division of Hats from the Heart/My Journey Journals and a few also from myself. So even though progress may have slowed down, we are still making progress and EVERY hat and EVERY journal makes a difference in someones life!! No matter how slow we may be at times, we are still making a difference in this crazy world we live in.

Here are a couple from my sis Vicky that she donated to Relay for Life, such an awesome cause that she participates in every year, so very proud of her!

And the next few were created by Rebekah, just love the creativity of the journals and hats from them both!

The next few journals and hats were created by me. I really tried thinking "outside of the box" and using paints and paper and buttons instead of just store bought embellishments, not too bad for a first attempt at that, I think. :)

That is all of the creations I have for you on this update, but I'm hoping to have more in a couple of weeks. I'm patiently (well, impatiently) waiting for this gesso to dry, I really, really want to experiment with my paints and such LOL! I'm off to go create something (hopefully not trouble), have a blessed and safe 4th of July everyone! Until my next update may the light of God's love touch your heart and soul and help you to Glow from Within.................<3