Secrets of a Butterfly

Blossoms of friendship,kinship and belonging

Today i'm just imagining sitting here, in this beautiful garden, beneath this blossom and its spring and its a year since Secrets of a Butterfly began and in my heart i'm feeling thankful for everything thats come along since then, and how nice it is to know friends are out there reading this and smiling along with me.

Here's what i said in my first ever post a year ago today....

hi there This is a blog where i can link up with my friends and other crafters and share what i find inspiring. usually by way of things i see ,books or clothes or magazines and recommend places to visit online. be it your standard highstreet shop, or a one off boutique. I intend to share my secrets from the ordinary to the extraordinary, the mundane to the magical. please won't you join me and we'll discover new things along the path. everyday has magic about it in its own particular way. and the best part is sharing that with others. thats what blogs have come to symbolise for me, a way to connect with others on the same "page" of life. blessings Kx

A year (and quite a few more pages)on and i'm pretty sure i've been following my original intentions and having made some wonderful friends along the way i can certainly say that its all been so worthwhile, i've also got to track my health and seen my improvements,as well as how my crafts have developed. An added bonus has been the way writing from my heart to you all has helped my emotional healing journey and how i found through where my thoughts lay and what i was discussing, it reflected alot of where i was at and gave me further pointers as to what needed my attention. a sort of 'writing therapy' through sharing here. So thankyou all for that,cause if it werent for you i'd feel i was writing into thin air.

i love our little community,and the feeling i have of belonging and being a part of something.i like how i can drop by my friends blogs when i want to and find words that touch me and lift me and how i can respond and you recieve it instantly, wherever we are around the world. You are like my fellow butterflies and we, like the butterflies on the garland below, are connected by invisible threads of friendship and care,crafting and an appreciation for the little things, that don't have to cost the earth but make life good and make us smile more often than we frown  ( :

Butterfly Garland prize draw

I wanted to give something away to celebrate my anniversary and so if you leave a comment on this Post and with your name(be sure that when commenting that i have your email address to reply to also) then i will add your name into the hat and draw out a lucky winner.you will win this beautiful butterfly garland in pinks, whites and greens. the butterflies are on a clear thread and can hang along a curtain pole or around a mirror.They're from Monsoon and are so pretty. I would ask whisper or jasper to pick a name out(like other people ask their kids) but i think they'd struggle or just eat the pieces of paper! so you'll just have to trust me to be fair, and i think you know me well enough by now to know i will be!draw will close in 14 days,smiles and butterfly wishes,and lots of luck to you if you choose to enter,kat x

Honey bears

Blessings of love on Valentine's Day,such a unique day when we all focus on love and those we care for. i feel very lucky to be feeling so much hope for a future of love with someone special i hope they come my way soon,but i know whenever they do it'll be the right timing. enjoy your loves and your 'lights'in life today as i am,kat xxx

A Merry Christmas to you

To All my blogging friends,thankyou for a wonderful year of sharing,reading,and writing,straight from the heart. Its been such a happy thing to do and i'm so glad i discovered it this year! Without you it wouldnt be possible,so thanks for listening and replying, you're a star. I look forward to getting to know more about you next year as we share in one anothers Journey. And to my penfriends old and new,thanks goes to you for your great kindness sent in the mail,you add magic to my christmas,always have and i hope always will. A merry Christmas to you and may you always have an angel by your side not just at christmas but all the year through...

With Love  Kat x

Wishes to a special little boy

   I'm thinking of you Luigi angel

This is my favourite photo of little Luigi,one of my closest friends, Anna's little boy, who is 2. I heard from her today that he has croup and is very very poorly, so if you'd like, please join me in saying a little prayer that he feels better very soon.And that they both come through into brighter days very soon. Anna is part italian hence luigi's beautiful eyes. I'm always saying he should do modeling! but its not easy when they live in Wales and anna is in recovery from ME also.

I'm hoping they both can still have a great christmas, if he is feeling more stable by then.lets keep our fingers crossed for them. 2 is just the age when they begin to take in alot more of what its all about. But at the moment that is not the concern its much more important that he simply improves and doesnt need to go into hospital. Above is a cute picture that Anna sent on her phone, exchanging photos this way is how we keep in touch and how i can see Luigi growing up. He's like a nephew to me so its very special to see these. And i met him when he was 4 months old, at that time(feb 06) i was still too ill to be able to leave my bed so he came in and lay next to me for a time...And here's anna and i after we both were in recovery using LP and she visited me here in October 06  We live at opposite ends of the country,i live in the northeast almost into Scotland and as i mentioned anna is just over the border into Wales. We 'met' 12 years ago, well i say met, we actually started writing then, through a scheme i ran putting people with the same illness in touch. We didnt actually meet in person or speak on the phone until some 9 years later, but that hasnt stopped the friendship growing, us supporting each other or being an important part of each others lives throughout everything since. Sometimes in the midst of what is a terrible experience of illness and when all your barriers are down you meet the most special souls, kindred spirits really and with them you share a friendship that goes beyond the need for words and any distance between you in miles, doesnt matter. I feel very very lucky that during the years i have formed a handful of these closest of friendships,they are like diamonds,sparkling and precious and priceless.

here's Anna with Luigi... and i couldnt resist another cute picture of him to share with you of him wearing the fleece i sent as part of his birthday present.

Anna's box of goodies to me for christmas actually arrived this morning...arent they gorgeous. Thankyou so so much honey.

so i had intended to do a post on the two of them about christmas,so its doubled up as a prayer and get well soon message for Luigi too as he's in my thoughts.i will of course keep you posted on how he's doing. good news hopefully will follow soon. thankyou for your christmassy comments lately i've tried to respond and thankyou but if i missed anyone then please count this as your thankyou, you're the best! love Kat        XOX to L and A

Flowers for my Angel

It is my dear friend Jo's birthday today,on earth she'd have been 39 this year. As it is now, she's in heaven, and an extra special guardian angel that i'm privilidged to have by my side. I chose these flowers at a florist today for her. We always sent each other nice flowers so i think its a tradition i'll keep up.here is one of the last photos jo texted me,she's holding a 'me to you bear' i sent her christmas 05.She was very ill here and in a hospice but she never lost hope and never stopped caring about other people, she was a definite angel in all respects. When someone like that has been in your life you are never the same and you never forget them. I often hear her voice in my mind and know how she would feel about things that are happening. There were long periods when we could'nt be in touch because one or other of us was simply too ill to text or talk. And so this is just another spell, it maybe longer than the rest but we are still very much connected and supportive of one another and i know one day we will give each other a massive hug and be able to spend time together. it doesnt matter to me how long till that day, because i know we are still with each other even now.i feel her love for me and i treasure it. I love you Jo jo take care,have fun now that you can sweetpea and keep enjoying the flowers, God bless K xxxxxxxxx

Surprise parcel

I answered the door to the postman this morning and was given a brown paper package. Inside was a red shiny box and inside that was the most beautiful Willow tree called Chrysalis   which is very appropriate considering everything i lived through and everything thats been transforming for me like a butterfly becoming free. I just had to do this post to tell my friend Jenny who has also been on an amazing transformational journey very similar to mine for a year too, that her gift made me shed a few tears(in a good way)and i will treasure it always. The card she sent is the double of Bailey who i refered to on my previous post just yesterday! Thanks so much J it was so kind of you and hope you see this and the horse picture that i posted for you on here the other day

You rode a horse then a bike,what next ,maybe a motorbike!

Pictures for Annie

Hello again i just wanted to post this collection of pictures for my friend on the Isle of Wight who is having a particularly hard time health wise and has been for quite a while now. You are always in my thoughts Annie and i'm wishing i could come see you and give you a hug,i know what youre going through and i keep you in my prayers. It will get better for you treasure,keep believing,very much love Kitty XX