Blog Redesign and Throwback Month!

Hello lovely readers!!

Were you a little worried,

when you first arrived at this blog page, thinking perhaps you had taken a wrong turn in ciber space?

Let me assure you, things may look a little different around here, but you did indeed

reach the same Gladness of Heart blog that you have {hopefully} come to know and love!

I decided it was time to update the look of the place,

make it more my own and move away from the pre-fabricated blog header and background.

What do you think?!

 {Seriously, please tell me!}

I still have a few little things to tweak here and there,

but for the most part, I love the new look!

Moving on to the next order of business:

In a stroke of irony, following on the heals of a new blog design,

I am dubbing September Throwback Month here on Gladness of Heart!

I will take you on a blast from the past with projects that I did before my blogging days,

and some that just got lost in the craziness of life and were never shared with you!
You know the type, I call them MIA projects- they happened, but then in the line
of blogging duty, they fell behind the schedule and just didn't happen.

If you are looking for a theme to blog to this month, I welcome you to join me!

This is a great excuse to show off some of your projects that you might

otherwise be a bit embarrassed to post because it was so long ago since you did them.

So what do you say, do you think you'll join me for a Throwback Month?
I hope to see you around!

Coffee For Your Heart: As You Begin...

You made it!

I'm so glad you could join me over a cup of coffee...for your heart.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then you probably missed this post.

Go ahead. Have a read.

All clear now?

Good.

Here is what I've got.

My assignment today...

share with you something I want you to hear as you step foot into a new year.

I'm sure your ears are already ringing, and mind racing

with various resolutions, goals and mantras for 2014.

But if I could throw you a line by which to secure your footing 

amidst an avalanche of encouragement for the new year, it would be this.

Glory, praise, thankfulness, recognition...

to God who is able...capable, equipped...

through His mighty power...the same power that created the stars, the earth...you...

at work within us, moving us, directing us, always active...

to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think....

sum up the entirety of your year's goals, resolutions, and dreams...He can accomplish
infinitely, exceedingly, abundantly more than that.


So whatever you accomplish this year, glory to God.
When you think you don't have the strength...remember His power within you.
Whatever you ask or think...allow Him to work...and accomplish more than you dreamed.
Give Him charge of your agenda, let Him direct you this year,
trusting that what needs to happen...will. 




I love this quote, it ministers to my heart and echos the message in Ephesians.

Accept where you are.
Let go of all that did and didn't happen.
Have faith that God is working...that He is good.


No matter the greatness you have planned for 2014,
He has more in store for you than you think...surrender to living His dream for you
...be open to His infinite possibilities and glorious accomplishments.
He's got this year handled!

{Linking up with holleygerth.com}

Top 5 of 2013 Inspirations

I know this post is a bit tardy,
but it was such a great idea to share what inspired me last year,
that I just had to bend the rules and bit and share this post.
 

Inspirations

5. My dear friend, Allyson

I hope she doesn't mind me gushing about her on my blog,
but I couldn't exclude her from my list of what inspired me this past year.
We are kindred spirits, her and I, so honestly,
I have a happiness gauge that is directly related to how she is doing!
This year she made a big step in pursuing a dream, and honestly, a God-given talent.
She leaves me speechless at times, with the pure beauty emanating from her person,
and that beauty comes through all of most when we are functioning in what we do best.
It made my heart so happy, and has inspired me to try and the do the same...
ever pursuing God's best.
I love you Ally!

4. Kristina from Eccentric Owl

I found Kristina's blog while working my way through The Thriftaholics Directory.
There she was, number 191...yes, actually, I checked out all previous 190 listings...it is a long list...I'm still working my way through it when I have time.



At first it was her vintage charm and cute outfits that caught my eye,
but I've come to value her quirky and darling posts,
with her relatable ramblings more than anything else.
She has a beautiful heart and a much needed honestly to her words that I so appreciate.
She is real, funny, sweet and just weeks away from having her first baby!
Who wouldn't want to be friends with a person like that?
And then there is the fact that she can pull off colored tights splendidly...and I hate tights,
so I live vicariously through her. :)



3. The Renegade Seamstress & The Refashionista
I know, I know, these are two separate blogs, shouldn't they have their own number?
Yes and no.
If you do your math you will see that I would more than five points,
and that just won't do, but I couldn't possibly leave either of them out.

 Besides, these ladies took an equal share towards inspiring me to enter the world of refashioning!
They were the two very first blogs I found when looking for a way to refashion some
bulky sweaters left over from my northern wardrobe.
Exactly a year ago, I found and started following their blogs,
and have been a faithful reader ever since.

Furthermore, it was my supreme honor to be selected by Beth (aka Renegade Seamstress)
to participate in her second installment of Refashion Runway!
She was kind of like, oh you know, a hero...
so that most certainly made my year!
 

2. Kristi Yamaguchi

"Why should a dream have some part of it that was so scary?
Why would I have to do something I feared in pursuing something I loved?"
 -Kristi Yamaguchi-


I used to have a fear of sewing,
but it was this very quote from Kristi, childhood hero and my absolute favorite female figure skater
(I have a Christmas ornament of her, for Pete's sake!),
that lit the fuse to my explosive year of sewing.
She really played a pivotal role in the outcome of my year
and continues to inspire me.
You can read all about it in this post.

Now, one of the most recent sources of inspiration for me,
which I know will carry into the new year, has been..

1. Tom Hiddleston

 

“We all have two lives. 
The second one starts when we realize that we only have one”  

-Tom Hiddleston-

 Like millions of other women the world over,
I have to admit I'm quite star struck with Mr. Hiddleston.
Aside from being a great actor,
I'm captivated by his classic Hollywood charm, gentlemanly conduct,
deep intense personality, and the way he speaks...honestly, have you listened to this man?
His sentence structure and vocabulary has me swooning...no one talks that beautifully
in this modern era, and it comes from a cultivated, refined place in a person.
And, sop my puddled self off the floor, he can dance.
*sigh*
All that aside,
much of what he utters is poetically quote worthy,
 the above quote being one that has been reverberating in my head since first I read it.
I think this year marks the beginning of my second life.
Or at any rate, at least the awakening of it.

So really, I discovered that words are what inspire me most.

I have always been drawn to them, and my heart speaks best and deepest when

flowing through ink and pen...or keys and screens, as it were.

I'm not much for resolutions,
but I have determined this year to indulge more in words...
not just any words, mind you,
but strong words...
deep words...
rich words.


Words are such a beautifully powerful tool of expression,
yet we use the same few hundred over and over,
and those which we do use often aren't the clearest or most expressive.

It is my aim to read more classic literature and poems
this year-- something I have always enjoyed, but
stopped doing once out of school.
I always feel much smarter and richer for having read
Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, or a well crafted poem.

If I could only do one thing great,
I believe I would choose to be a master of words.
An all encompassing medium with can reach out and touch people everywhere.
They can be the the steely sword delivering the fatal blow to an army of lies
or a healing balm which brings life to fractured, shriveled souls.

Yes,
I think I shall aim to be a master of words.

What about you?
I would love to know what inspired you this past year,
and what is propelling you into the new one. 

January Refashion Month Blogging Party!

 

 Happy New Year everyone!

The beginning of a new year is one of my favorite times.

A time to wipe the slate clean, start afresh and separate yourself 

from anything in the previous year that would hold you down.

And, as person who exhibits OCD traits, 

I'm am so excited that we are now in an even numbered year! 

Yay! I can breathe easier now.

Having established all this,

I would like to share with you a fun way to get the year started off

on the right foot...and what better foot than the one on your sewing machine!

Some of you may remember Magda who blogs at House of Estrela

from Season Two of Refashion Runway.

 Well, Magda is hosting a month long refashion party of sorts,

January Refashion Month,

with guest posts the blogworld over bringing you their best refashions,

tutorials, and how to's!

This is such a fun way to bring together a community of 

talented ladies and bloggers!

I am excited to be part of this month's line up

and look forward to checking in day to see what the rest of the ladies

bring to the sharing table!

I hope you will check it out and follow along too!

Follow this link to see the very first post of January Refashion Month.

Memorial Day Makeover!

A problem.

 

Yes, that is what I've had lately... or rather, one could more aptly put it...a lack of motivation

when it came to sewing.

 

Why is that, do you ask?

 

Well, because the sewing machine was stuck in a dark, dingy corner of our computer room....

there were always people trying to squeeze past me into our library/play room

and the clutter from my 'wall neighbor', the computer desk, inevitably flowed over onto the sewing table.

 

Not a fun or well ordered work environment. :(

 

I realized one day that I needed to put in a request for a change.

With a growing list of sewing projects and no desire to work in that dark corner,

 something needed to be done.

 

The long and short of it is, I got my wish!

 

 Before

 

Just plain ol' white walls.

This is just before the color went up...all the nail holes filled in, drop cloths down and furniture covered. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the family and myself spent pretty much the entirety of yesterday painting the computer/sewing room.

 

 

 

The color starting to go up!!

 

 

 

 

Happy painter. :)

 

 

 

 

A shot from up above...the pretty, yet poorly illuminating chandelier that will soon be replaced.

 Hooray for better lighting!

 

Originally, we were aiming for a nice peachy color,

but once we got it out of the can and up on the wall, it was a lot more pink than we anticipated.

 

Of course, we realized this after we had painted all the walls.

 

With one can of color left, we got creative.

Using some brown paint we had on hand, we slowly mixed it in with our original pink-peach

until we got a more toned down and comforting color.  

 

Leaving one wall the original shade, we preceded to repaint the other three.

We were much happier with the results the second time around.

After

 

 

 

This is the end result.

 

 

 

The wall to the right is the original brighter color, the wall the piano is against

is our modified color.

Can you see the difference?

(Please ignore our dust...we were still cleaning and rearranging.)

 

We also did some custom mixing for the trim color...a little of the original wall color...some white...and a little bit of brown.

The look of the room turned out different than I had envisioned it, but all in all I like it. 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so excited to have a pretty, more friendly working setup for sewing!

Now the sewing machine has its own wall space and no more dark corner!

Yay!

 

Next up, getting that space organized and pretty-fied!

 

I hope y'all had a great Memorial Day. 

 

What 'Seams' Impossible

 

Have you ever tried to learn something new and it just. didn't. make. sense?!

 

It feels like learning an alien language...

 

fitting a square peg into a round hole....

 

trying to pretend you could live without chocolate...

 

some things are just impossible.

 

 

 

That was me when it came to sewing.

 

Honestly, I can't count the times I tried to learn to sew over the course of my lifetime.

 

I think of several occasion where mom and I even made a special shopping trip.

We picked out pretty material, a simple pattern, all the necessities.

 

Needless to say, it ended with a red faced, tear stained me

and a head scratching mother who couldn't understand why I couldn't get it.

 

After numerous tries, I gave up.

Accepted the fact that I would never be able to sew,

even though I really, really wanted to.

 

Since then I admit I have had moments of temptation...

it is quite inspiring when one of your friends can whip up beautiful clothes practically in her sleep.

 

But, I always remembered those tearful episodes, and mentally chided myself.

Some things just weren't possible.

Until one day...

A number of wonderful factors came together that changed all that.

One, I received some great advice and inspiration from one of my childhood heroes,
Kristi Yamaguchi.

There was a magazine lying around our house that had her smiling face on the cover,
I picked it up and read a great article she wrote about facing fears.

She said something that struck me right between the eyes,

"Why should a dream have some part of it that was so scary?
Why would I have to do something I feared in pursuing something I loved?"

Sounds so simple, I know.
But for me, that moment, it was a profound thought.

I realized fear was my big stumbling block when it came to sewing.

I was afraid of that machine, with all its buttons, bobbins, knobs and levers.
The scariest part was threading it...so many little holes and twists and turns.

It made me dizzy.

But no more.

Armed with Kristi's words and a determination to face this fear,
 I sat myself down in front of that machine, already threaded from mom's previous project,
...and...just...stared.

For probably 5 minutes, I mentally threaded that machine several times,
memorizing each little detour the string took on its way to the needle.

Then....*gulp*...I unthreaded the string, and soon it was weaving its way through the
eight-sequence maze until it was safe through the eye of the needle once again.

And you know what?
It made sense.


Everything fell into place.

It was like a veil was lifted,
the blinders were removed,
the hieroglyphics made sense.

I was still a beginner, I didn't know how to read a pattern yet, or how to sew a dart,
 but the hardest part was over.

I had faced my fears.

I had forgotten that...
“With man this is impossible,
but not with God;
all things are possible with God.”
Mark 10:27

There was no doubt in my mind that He had made it possible.

And the fun part?

It was Valentine's Day.

What a lovely gift...


"There is no fear in love.
But perfect love drives out fear"
1 John 4:18 



Ready!

So...
 

Did you notice the new look?

 

Yeah, I spent quite some time trying to clean up the place.

 

I have to say, I am thoroughly pleased with it now!

 

I am one of those people that is slightly (ok, maybe a lot?) perfectionistic.

 

If I don't totally love something, if it isn't quality- then I don't want to spend time on it.

 

That is kind of what this blog was- I couldn't really commit because I didn't feel really connected to

 

the space- it frustrated me.

For a long season, I let things sit...gathering dust and making me sad.

But that changed.

Finally, I got fed up with it and set my mind to making things change.

Thanks to the help of some lovely blog design sites like

Shabby Blogs and The Cutest Blog On The Block,

 

I have a new look and layout that I love!

 And now I have some specific, although varied,

subject matter that I intend to blog about.

Now I have a focus...but be warned, it is a large lens...

 

I don't know about you, but I'm excited!

 

So, enough tinkering, I'm ready to blog!

 

 



A Blog is Born

Hola mi amigos! :)

Well, the other night, somewhere between 1:30 and 4 a.m. I couldn't sleep so I decided to make this blog.  Or maybe, I stayed up and made this blog and that's why I couldn't sleep??

Soooo, some of you know and follow (thank you!) my other blog Streams in the Wasteland, so you may be wondering, why another blog?

Well, Streams in the Wasteland was designed as a devotional blog, a more serious minded and spiritually based place for me to share my spiritual thoughts and verses the Lord has been teaching me on. A very good thing and I intend to keep it up.

BUT, for quite a while I have had other things which I have wanted to share in a blogging style that is more daily living, light, fun hearted and not-so-deep. And THAT is gonna be the purpose of THIS blog....a more lighthearted place to share the simple goings on of normal life, from recipes, family news, pictures, projects, funny stories, and other randomly wonderful stuff that I want to share with you.

I hope in the days and months to come Gladness of Heart will be...well...just what it says! A place of lighthearted joy and sharing. :)

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20-- Then I realized that is is good and proper for a man to eat and drink and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him-- for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work- this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keep him occupied with gladness of heart.

So, welcome, and thanks for coming by. As long as you are here, I wanted to share a little something with you that gave me some heart gladness today! Enjoy this song!

~*~