“Me Time” is a hot topic these days. Everyone needs me-time, wants me-time, or doesn’t have any me-time. As a busy wife, mother, employee, and farmer, I do still manage to hammer out occasional me-time (thanks Mr. Fix-It!)–and then suffer crushing mommy-guilt for it, usually. (I mean serious, from floors to faces, there is always something around here that needs to be cleaned or fed or patched up or tied down more than I need a book and a cup of hot tea.)
But no more!
I’m working to reconcile meeting my own needs with my priorities as a Christian wife and mom. What am I saying? Well, what if my “me-time” outlets magically coincided with my family priorities? What if I could accomplish me-time and get To-Do list stuff done at the same time? Awesome, right? Enter….Christian Paper Craft!
It’s an on-line forum for scrapbooking, card making and papercrafting along with a creative inspiration blog that basically uses crafting as outreach for God. Founder Cindy Coutts puts it like this…
“This is a labor of love for Jesus and obedience to share his gospel with those who are lost, those who have strayed from the faith, and to strengthen, encourage and embolden the body of Christ to share the message of salvation with others through our gift of paper crafting.”
Sending cards to soldiers, making treats for teachers, preserving family history, these can be ministries–not just hobbies! Works for me!
Here’s a card I collaborated with my family on for my great-grandma’s upcoming birthday…
The colors are much softer and more…warm and mellow in person. More pink. The picture doesn’t really give the same effect, but I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I ended up making an envelope out of matching paper because it was thicker than a regular paper envelope, and that button sticks out a lot. (Note to self–the post office is rough with your cards!) I inked and sanded and inked and distressed and inked those numbers!
I’ve had a To-Do list of projects for a long time. It’s usually miles ahead of where I am at any given moment. But I revisited it over the weekend in light of my new ministry view for my hobby and re-prioritized a little. I’ll still never get ahead of that list, but I’m so excited when it all comes together and I can leave working-mom-guilt, terrible-homemaker-guilt, and can’t-commit-to-teach-Sunday-school-guilt behind!
I do have something to offer!
I do have a ministry I work in.
And it is a labor of love, ’cause boy, I do enjoy it!
