I grew up in a family of crafters – some sewed, some crocheted, my grandmothers were in to embroidery and quilting, and I’ve gone the route first of decorative painting, then paper crafting. My daughter went into knitting. No matter the media we chose, we enjoyed creating. My mother was always creating something small for gifts to share with friends and church members at the holidays. She could sit down and whip out a casserole carrier or table runner in no time flat, then hand deliver it. You see, crafting gave her joy in her heart, and sharing with others blessed her soul.
Over the years I’ve been able to pair papercrafting with service projects in our community. We’ve sent cards to the nursing home and hospital staffs during COVID, get well cards to the children’s hospital in Columbia, MO, and to families who are patients of hospice. These are just a few we have been involved with, and I know my friend Pam has helped our children at church with cards to share with church members. I want to quickly share what may be our last service project of 2023 – 24 Nativity samplers for our elderly and home bound members of our church family.
Did you love the O Holy Night DSP from the Holiday mini catalog????? It was beautiful and there was a gorgeous night scene that was perfect for a 12×12 sampler. It would be perfect to make 24 samplers to send home with our elderly members and shut-ins to have a visual reminder of Christmas Eve on display. Of course, the very day we wrote the grant and got immediate approval was the day we realized that the paper was sold out!!! Pivotting would have been possible by switching to a background from the Space DSP and adding a desert scene below, but that was our last resort. I knew I had 8 or 9 packages of the DSP so that gave us the 16-18 of the needed backgrounds. By begging and borrowing we were able to gather the supplies needed. With the help of a good friend we spent a couple of hours running the nativity dies out of gold foil, and with supplies gathered, our team was ready to start the assembly line creating.


In just over a couple of hours we finished and framed the 24 samplers, and they are ready to distribute this weekend to our church members. Plans are to add an Easter sampler this spring as well.



So I encourage you to use your crafting skills as a way to serve others. Whether packaging cards to give to a friend who loves to send them, a home decor piece to bring others joy, or treat bags to hand out to others – your crafting talents will feed your soul as well.
My mission statement is “to create community thru crafting from the heart” – I strive to live up to it.
Until next week, have a wonderful weekend, find time to craft and create, and God Bless!

Wow… what a sweet labor of love! Those are so beautiful! If I lived closer, I would have loved to help make those. What a great reminder to use our creativity for others. : )