Childhood Cancer Awareness Month September • #CapturingColour Gold
I love the connections we make through the internet. It brings people together, unites people for amazing causes and points you towards like minded people. One of those people is Anna. With her wild locks, divine cheekbones and effortless eye for detail she has a gallery to fall in love with. Her creative captures, her ability to freeze and recall a moment draws me in every time.
And for the past week we have been united in our quest for gold. To spread the word about our niece and nephew and raise valuable funds for research into childhood cancer. Last year we lost my cousin's little boy, my second cousin technically I suppose, but to me he was my nephew, a to lose him will always be the most painful experience my family has ever experienced.
Anna's little 2 year old niece is fighting a battle too, at Great Ormond Street Hospital, against Leukaemia. My heart aches when I scroll through Anna's feed, her love for her niece so raw and unconditional.
And then I feel this love for a complete stranger, a little boy called Max. Like my nephew Skye, he looms against cancer. He has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for childhood cancer research through play, encouraging everyone he can to create loom bands. And this month he had the support of a very famous celebrity, who is using her powers and influence for good.
For every post of tweet shared on Instagram and Twitter celebrating the month go gold with #honestlovesmax Jessica Alba's business The Honest Company has donated $1 to the Max Love Project in America. And last week Anna and I joined forces to turn the #capturingcolour gallery gold to show our support.
I raided my gold props, might have realised I have way too many pairs of gold scissors for a normal person, and looked for autumnal flashes of sparkle wherever I went. Anna has down the same, devoting almost all her feed on Instagram this month to the #gogold campaign.
And my heart was filled with joy at all the lovely people who took the time to tag their golden captures.
Before Skye died he set up Blue Skye Thinking. A charity which my cousin and her husband have vowed to keep going, not only in tribute to their extraordinary boy, but to help even just one family not go through the agony they face every single day. Lynne's photo combined the blue sky with the golden camera clips. A wonderful #capturingcolour moment.
The boys headed to school with more than a little glitter on their hands, the gold ribbon in support in a glitter tattoo. Luckily their teachers thought their pride for their cousin was more important than the no tattoo rule.
If you want to get your own pack of glitter gold ribbon tattoos you can find them here on the Blue Skye Thinking Shop as well as some amazingly thoughtful Emily McDowell cards. If you know someone who is having a hard time with the C word then these are the cards to send.
I love the different themes and the weekly challenge for the #capturingcolour gallery but I also love how people are using the hashtag just to celebrate colour of every shade.
So from now on, there will be one week at the end of the month for a weekly challenge, and the rest of month will be to bathe the gallery in anything colour you like. So show me what colours excite your day, do you need a canvas of white to calm you down, or in the mood for soulful black, or are you a fan of candy pink?! Each Monday I will continue to share a grid of favourites, I hope that it helps share more amazing accounts to add to your feed.
And if you do spot any gold, there are 2 days left to join in with #honestlovesmax and raise $1 for every post tagged.
I love spreading love. Love and kindness. It is good for the soul. And if you haven't signed up for the surprise project swap pop over now, sign ups close in 2 days!
#capturingcolour is a monthly theme on Instagram. Tag your colourful photos to be featured next week. I will share a round up next Monday :)