Secrets of a Butterfly

Christmas wishes & fairy kisses

Happy Christmas dear butterflies, may the magic of the season stay in your heart throughout the year, love kat xxx

A little pink Christmas tree

Just popping in via my phone, I wanted to share these pictures of my Christmas tree and butterflies. I am feeling poorly with a throat and sinus infection so haven't been able to do the Christmas posts here that I had hoped, but was glad I had done my presents to mail early this year.
Have been receiving some lovely Christmas parcels from friends and that's meant so much. (thankyou)
Shall put a little message up on the blog on Christmas day, see you then, love Kat x

Harry and Aliona win Strictly

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series of Strictly Come Dancing. When it began i thought nothing could top Artem and Kara winning and falling in love on last years, but it turned out, thanks to a certain boy named Harry, not to be the case. I have enjoyed Harry and Aliona's journey just as much, and with fierce competiotion from actress Chelsee and performer Jason, it was a tight race to the finish last night.

 

Harry and Aliona won the Glitter Ball trophy, after performing 4 dances. The quick step, a show dance, the American smooth (my absolute favourite dance of theirs) and ending strongly with the Argentine tango. Harry for me has certainly been the best male celebrity the show has ever seen. From drummer in a boy(all be it now a man)band, to leading Aliona round the dance floor with such accomplishment and passion.

 

 

I have so enjoyed each and everyone of their dances, both latin and ballroom, as a couple they excelled in each. I have included pictures in this post from throughout the series. Aliona's experience coming second last year with Matt Baker, certainly must have helped her in handling the pressure of choreography to such a high standard. She is amazing both as a dancer and teacher, one of the best! and i was so happy she got to win this year - they each worked so hard and it was so much deserved.

A picture packed post i know, but i couldnt resist including so many of my favourite memories to look back on.

and their american smooth isnt on you tube yet, but this one is equally as beautiful their viennese waltz.... watch enjoy and dream away, its beautiful

love

(many thanks for the messages left on my previous post, it has been overwhelming, comforting and inspiring to hear from you and i appreciate it so very much, i have replied to each of you there in the comments xxx)

I find love in a hopeless place

 

- I find love in a hopeless place -

Where do you turn when you feel down, when hope is needed, when your reserves are low, your spirit in need of a nourishment?
When your love of life is lacking...is there a book, a person,or a place that brings you comfort?
A thought or an outlook that keeps you strong, when maybe all around you feels hopeless.

 Rhianna's lyrics to her latest track, set me wondering about hope -
and how we find it through having love to hold to, when living in a harsh reality.
Or, as Oriah Mountain Dreamer puts it in her famous poem, "what sustains you from the inside when everything else falls away?"
 
It always seems to me that the news focuses on what we have to fear, and what it is that will get worse. Instead of helping us to see where we're going right and what we can hold onto to help us make it through to something better. Its when things are bad that your attitude, your focus of attention and your beliefs, matter the most.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

 At times lately I've been feeling so much sadness in my heart, sometimes I wonder, how its all contained there without breaking.
To express helps, but just as i cannot always cry when i need it, i also cannot always find a way to write about what I'm going through either.
It isn't always possible to sum something up and place it in the context of a post.
But the past few days i wrote some things down - to do with both finding hope and feeling hopeless, here's some of what i have been feeling.......

There are times I'm happy and things I'm so thankful about and that is what keeps me going. There are things I'm sad about and things i'm very worried about, and at times it all feels so hopeless. But mostly, i try not to let my mind think much on that, i stay as much as possible in the moment and the day to day, so that i don't feel too overwhelmed.

 I try to keep a balance in all of this and not be hard on myself if things arent the way i'd hoped. I have a habit of believing that all things within healing are possible, that in itself is how i keep hope but sometimes that means I have high expectations on myself and that can feel like pressure.

I have to both believe in my abilities and my hopes for a well future and yet not allow that to become too great a feat to achieve. I also need to be careful not to feel I'm letting people down or that I'm not letting any feelings of not being good enough drain me. Hope is a strange thing in that you can have too much of it, and that can lead to disappointment and yet too little and that too is not a good place from which to live.

Having hope as i see it, goes hand in hand with believing in yourself - and that is something so multi layered, that it stretches across many areas of your life. So to, believing in there being a reason to everything you're experiencing. Sometimes I need to remember though that despite all the supportive beliefs, and the hope, its ok to feel my feelings about the harsh reality and get upset about the despair of making steps forward only to be knocked down again. It can feel like bullying, it can feel so very hurtful and yet you have to pick yourself up carry on, seek the goodness.
So feel feelings, cry, feel down, but always take from the day the best of it, make a way that is as full of light as you can and be yourself in as many small ways as you can.

I share - I read - I continue to hope
I give - I receive - I continue to believe
I find - I feel - I continue to heal

I see as i'm writing, that I need to stop and appreciate myself, appreciate that though some outlooks feel like a necessity, they are still a choice that i make.
And that it takes courage to make those choices, to continue to believe and be optimistic and to feel the world as a good place to be.

 What would life be worth, if we didn't have love.
That to me is where hope springs from, that's what nourishes it.
The choices I've made in my outlook, in the healing I've journeyed through,
they've all brought me to where I am today.
Nothing, no moment of it, is ever wasted.
But none of it, none at all, would ever have been bearable without Love.

 My life is in my hands to an extent, but it is also about something greater than myself
of which I'm an inseparable part - Love.
Sensing this can either make us feel scared or supported, depending on our deeper belief in life.
I do my part and I trust in the timing and unfolding of the rest.
I trust it to Love.
In this I feel much less pressure and much less, like its down to me alone.
As this year closes, I am in a stronger position, I'm wiser, I'm more grounded
 and I'm still as in need of "a life more lived" as I ever have been.

                                            *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

 We carry within our hearts a great love, a compassionate presence
that encompasses us and is within everything.
I think it's that part of me, that supports me, that cherishes me and that makes it all possible. When i am quiet and still, and when i go within my deeper heart, i feel it... thats where the hope comes from, because it's where it was never lost.
If I'm in touch with that place in my self, then it communicates to me without words - that it is all alright, that I can trust, that I am safe and that it's somehow right to believe in dreams, in better times becoming real.

That's what dries tears.
That's how I find Love in a hopeless place. Or how it finds me.

Love Kathryn

Tanneke Photography - moments of grace

Tanneke Peetoom - her photography takes my breath away

These are photos of her daughter, who models with such grace and natural ability.

I discovered her through Instagram and made this collage for my stream there, and she has a website Tanneke Peetoom
You can also see an overview of her work here
love & blessings

Enchanted wood - white wolf by my side

Enchanted Wood, is a category of posts upon my blog, where we can revisit and reawaken the connection to nature and the mystery that lies there within.
The photographs i gather, can take you inside of them, into another world, where you can rest a while, feel the enchantment about you, and begin to remember your self and your dreams beyond ordinary reality.

Take steps into the Enchanted Wood, hear its forgotten whispers with your heart and breathe in its peacefulness.

White wolf by my side
ever be my guide
In the medicine cards Wolf is teacher, the guidance of which can be read here
I have always been drawn to wolves, they are one of my power animals, they combine both family loyalty, within the pack, and also hold a desire to be an individual.

Todays enchanted wood post is made with respect for all animals and for the wisdom they share by example. Medicine cards by Jamie Sams, tell us about the representation of particular animals that cross our path, or who we share an affinity to. I have gained much from them over the years,
love

photo credits:

wolf by Laura Gommans, snowy trees by Dewberry Parfum, lit christmas tree by Aileenzakka
forest and girl in blouse by Stephanie
all other photos from the magical photo stream of Nikka

A teacup or two

Hello lovelies,
today i am catching up on some posts that i have wanted to get together to share with you. This pretty package is my order from Susannah Tucker's etsy shop. Isnt her packaging so lovely.
Here is the photo block i chose of vintage teacups...

I love these blocks because they are so versatile, they go on the wall, or stand neatly on a chest of drawers or mantel shelf. For now, i tucked mine in beside the snowy owl (smiles)

Susannah is a lovely friend too, and also included a selection of her other pictures, including one of her mini prints sets, which are for scrapbooking or placing on inspiration boards. They are like fairy size pictures. I wish i had a doll's house and i could frame one for the wall there.

I am so inspired by her range and would love to develop my photography into little products to sell someday too. See Susannah's full range at etsy and her blog here.

Hope to be blogging about some christmassy-ness soon, i have been less well for a few weeks and things have been getting to me emotionally a bit at times. To help me, with not being able to get out over the christmas this year, i got a new pink tree and have some pretty pics of that to share soon.
love and wishes

Handmade treasury - Sorbet shades

A collection of prettiness....i do love looking on Etsy, especially around this time of year, when all the artists and crafters have such goodness in their little shops. I have done some christmas shopping from etsy and the like, for a number of years, and they are always the gifts that i love to give the most, unique and heartfelt, and just that little bit different to what you can find anywhere else. I really owe the online markets so much for their inspiration and for the prettiness that they bring into my world...

Girl in crochet top and bunny ears by Eleanor Hardwick at flickr,   butterfly mobiles by BabyJivesCo,  heart from Dottie Angel's shop,  dress up knitted doll by Laura Long,  cushion by Raumseelig at dawanda,  squirrel from Myko Bocek.

love and pastelly wishes

I love Fryd - JOY

Jeanette's blog frydogdesign, has given me much JOY in 2011

So it was with real DELIGHT that i learnt she had made a calendar that would be coming to me free with my copy of Mollie Makes magazine in December.

And my it is very BEAUTIFUL,

i find it SO inspiring.

And i am so HAPPY to see a blogger i admire being in print!

I love the colour combinations Jeanette uses at her blog and the calendar is very in keeping with her style.
Even down to the wonderful little quotes she adds (smiles)

This is the back cover which shows all the pictures for each month...

And below is the front cover, many of the photos feature Jeanette's own home, and her little treasures or decorations

And my collection of Mollie magazines....

 

Thank you Mollie Makes for gifting us with such a lovely lovely free gift,

it will be used all year, and is already hanging upon my door awaiting 2012's start.

If you maybe are interested in having a calendar of your very own,

you could buy the current copy in any larger supermarket in the UK,

or to get one posted to you look at the website newstand,

they ship internationally too.

And here for offers on subscriptions   And here for  the Mollie Makes blog

much love

I love Mollie Makes

Mollie Makes weekend!

One of the best things to come about in 2011, has to be the publication of Mollie Makes magazine. No ordinary craft magazine, this is a world of creativity, full of stylish designer/makers, presented in a beautiful way. And with many recognisable names from the world of blogs, it can feel like a home from home (smile).

I flicked through my growing collection, and picked out a few favourite images from with the pages, to give you a taste of what the magazine is all about. As certainly when it comes to magazines, i am such a visual person, i like to see beautiful content, and this magazine has so much of it!

Its for anyone who loves the handmade worlds of etsy, or who knits, sews, does paper craft, crochet or embroidery. Who likes to attend craft fairs or who has their own craft business.
Its all in there, every issue featuring up and coming or established makers and designers. Showing inside their inspiring homes, or how they have set up their creative spaces.
There are projects too, that are easy to have a go at, clearly printed patterns, and often a free kit is included to make something, such as a corsage.
I like the little features on handmade sellers, or upcoming books. And i also like seeing all the adverts for online craft shops and haberdasheries.

And this little motto, sums up just what the magazine is all about...

Tomorrow i shall share some pics of the calendar that comes free with the current issue of Mollie Makes. If you are interested in buying a copy, you could try newstand, or myfavouritemagazines
or full subscription here
love