Mission 2 accomplished! February’s activity was decorating/creating Gratitude Journals. I’ve always considered myself a pretty grateful person – I mean, we have SO MUCH to be grateful for! But sometimes I still find myself getting lost in those thoughts of “life will be better when…” or “I will be REALLY happy/satisfied if I can just…” Anyone with me? So I’m curious to see if a daily practice (of writing down 3 things that I’m grateful for) might allow me to settle into the perfection of today.
A friend of mine that couldn’t make the journal-making day wanted some instructions…so I figured I would share with all of you as well! Here’s a really simple and economical (less than $5/journal!) way to make your gratitude journal. (Sorry the pictures are so small…just playing around with Picnik after being inspired by Lisa’s recent post.)
 |
1. Choose your favorite fabric! (100% cotton works best) 2. Cut the fabric so that it just covers both sides of a journal – you don’t want too much hanging off the edges otherwise it will be too bulky when you go to glue it. (Journal purchased at Michaels for $1.50.) 3. Glue the edges and center of one side (I used Arlene’s craft glue) and then fold the fabric over it & press firmly into glue. |
 |
4. Make a couple snips at the top and bottom centre edges so that the fabric will lie nicely. 5. Wrap the edges of your fabric in (much like wrapping a present) and glue. 6. You’ll likely need to trim the centre (snipped) piece so that it sits nicely. |
 |
7. Cut out a piece of card stock big enough to cover the inside of your journal (front & back) and glue down (covering up edges of fabric). 8. Using Rubber Cement, glue your favorite gratitude quotes onto the card stock. |
 |
Et voila! |
 |
Meet my headless friends and their creations! (I didn’t ask permission to post their photo so figured I’d better chop their heads off – haha!) |
Here are the quotes that I used for inspiration:
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."
-Melody Beattie
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."
-Melody Beattie
As the months pass and you fill your journal with blessings, an inner shift in your reality will occur. Soon you will be delighted to discover how content and hopeful you are feeling. As you focus on the abundance rather than on the lack in your life, you will be designing a wonderful new blueprint for the future. This sense of fulfillment is gratitude at work, transforming your dreams into reality.
- Sarah Ban Breathnach
Thanks so much for sharing this how to. Know all about the 'things will be better when...' gremilns. i uesd to keep a gratitude journal and found that it really is powerful...there's always SOMETHING to be grateful for, even in the crappiest of days. Often find myself telling my kids this when they are in the everything is wrong place. I've started to try to do a weeks worth of what I'm 'grateful fors' and find it's really reminding me to look at the beauty of the simplest of things.
ReplyDeletei am so with you. and i am really loving seeing you here. the hard part is i always realize how much i miss all of you. but then if i reflect on the gratitude part, then i fill up with such happiness knowing that no matter the distance. you are each right here next to me. can you feel that too.
ReplyDeleteso blessed to have you.
It looks so easy! I shall add yet another thing to my list of things I want to do someday. ;)
ReplyDeleteSo glad you had your second event!