"Celebration Of Hope Give-Away!"

“Celebration Of Hope Give-Away!”

What is HOPE?

Webster’s dictionary definition: A feeling that what is wanted will happen; desire accompanied by expectation.

Emily Dickinson’s definition: Hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes with out the words – and never stops at all.

January 16 th. marks an anniversary of Hope for me. 2012 is the sixth anniversary of when I had surgery to remove advanced stage uterine cancer from my body. The plan of attack was a complete hysterectomy followed weeks later with several rounds of chemotherapy and then radiation treatments.  It took months for all the treatments to be completed but I have always felt that God guided my Oncology Surgeon’s hands and he removed all traces of the cancer during the surgery. The team of oncology specialists could not be sure the cancer was gone and highly recommend the additional treatments. I agreed to their treatment plans and we will never know for sure if they were needed. I know what I believe. I believe God, prayers, and the support of family and friends carried me through the battle.

For many people after being cancer free for five years they say you can call yourself a survivor. When I reached my five-year anniversary I thought I would be in the clear, however my oncology doctor told me that I am a survivor but perhaps after another five years have passed I may be in the clear. So every year in the spring I have an MRI or a CT-Scan. I cling to the HOPE that the cancer will not return. You may think why doesn’t she wait to celebrate until after the yearly test. Because I believe it was taken care of on January 16, 2006.

Let’s get on with the celebration! I’m giving away a $10.00 gift certificate, like the one pictured below, to “The Shabby Cottage Studio.” Many of you are familiar with Gail and the Shabby Cottage Studio. She has an awesome collection of images and mixed media supplies, and on-line classes to purchase. I would love a gift certificate from her store and I think you would too. To have a chance at winning this fantastic prize you must be one of my followers and leave a comment on this post. Sweet Gail is going to mention my give-away Monday on her blog and if you would like a second chance to win my gift visit her at Shabby Cottage Studio blog and leave a comment on her Monday post, click here. You have until January 31 to enter. I will collect the names from the Shabby Cottage Studio post and from my post to pick a Hopeful Winner. Good luck everyone!

I hope you win!

The  digital collage at the top of the page is one I did about my cancer journey some time ago when Gail use to have the Mind Wide Open Challenges.

The collage at the bottom I created for this post. I used three images from Gail's shop. They are called; Orange Roughy Paper, Sheet Music, and Fairy World.  I changed the color of the background sheet, Orange Roughy to a more pink hue, I added the music and the fairy image, and the quote from Dickinson, I adjusted filters in my Photoshop Elements 7 program to merge the different images and achieve the final effect. I learned how to do this by taking some of Gail's on-line digital classes. She is one of my angel friends who contributes to my art therapy without even knowing how much joy she brings.

I'm also linking this post to Beverly's Pink Saturday Party at "How Sweet The Sound"  click here.

One more thing, Hope you all have a Happy Pink Saturday!