Sharing Handmade Kindness

Anyone who knows me would confirm that I love card making and I love encouraging people too. It's just a part of who I am.

The power of encouragement is quite underestimated. Yet with a little encouragement lives can be changed for the better. Motivation and self belief can be gained, hope can be found  just by a kind uplifting word in a card or act of kindness. it simply sends the message that someone cares.

Sometimes we don't even know we have necessarily done anything encouraging at all! we just don't know whats going on in folks lives do we? but a simple kind word in a card can be just what that person needs to hear. it can brighten their day. Kindness can make a big difference!

I am a fan of Jennifer McGuire. She is such an inspirational woman of God. She is known in the paper-crafting industry for her creativity, card making and much more. She creates awesome videos which help card makers like me learn new techniques. Giving us ideas and inspiration for our own creativity. She reviews many products for the best companies out there but never gives the thumbs up on a product until she is sure about it.

HERE'S THE LINK TO JENNIFERS BLOG
Where you can find her work, its a fabulous resource for card makers and paper-crafters.

The reason I have mentioned Jennifer is because she has inspired me to look at kindness! 

YES KINDNESS! 

Watch this short video to hear her story about sharing handmade kindness its so inspiring

Jennifer has teamed with some top companies to create stamps etc to aid in making cards to specifically Share Handmade Kindness, A percentage of the price has been donated to charity to make an even further difference! These products are well thought out and can be very useful to have.

Remember creativity is Jennifer's job! That's why she has an awesome studio and lots of supplies! but to join in we just need a few supplies which we may already have, and a heart to reach out and bless others.

I'M IN!

I have decided to get involved in this initiative. I love to make cards for those I love and its lovely when they really like the card  or feel blessed, encouraged and loved. well that is mission complete as far as I am concerned, It gives me such a buzz to be honest and makes me smile too.

But here's the thing...

How about making cards, simple kind cards with a short uplifting message, then giving them to folk that I don't really know too! perhaps even anonymously 1 just so that the recipient knows someone, somewhere cares. I am believing for God to show me who to give the cards to, He loves that.

Lets face it there are plenty of folk around us who could do with a bit of encouragement. It's just a matter of letting God open my eyes to see them.

Therefore, I'm hoping to bring a group together, perhaps at church. or somewhere else? This group of cardmakers will be specifically to make cards to "share handmade kindness" they can be new or experienced cardmakers in the group as we will keep the cards simple and help each other along 

We would make cards for ourselves to give. BUT for every card we create for ourselves we could create another card too! its easy to make 2 or more similar cards in very little extra time than it takes to make 1 card, We would soon have a batch of cards available for anyone else to share handmade kindness too

Here's an opportunity to do a lot more than bless the folk we are close to. It's an opportunity to reach out to the community, to be kind and thoughtful to bless them.

To take our eyes away from me, me and mine. and do something amazing. I really sense the hand of God is on this, I am so excited about it and looking forward to delving in! even if the group doesn't happen just yet I am making a start!

Recently I bought three sets of stamps with matching dies, two of the sets were from the Hero Arts Stamp & Cut range....

The Hero Arts prayers and blessings sets. You can see the versatility these sets bring with the many sentiments available to mix n match them  too. and a die cut word could be the focal point of the cards. We are making simple cards so that we can make many.

Just this week I bought the Honey Bee Stamps Kindness stamps and die sets

The kindness dies and stamps allows me to use the words kind, kindness and Kindest perfect for the cards we  will be making! I am hoping to really put these products to good use in my quest to 

Share Handmade Kindness!

At the end of the day...

its ok if no-one ever tell us they appreciated the card

its about giving!

when we give we release that gift from our hands and pass it on

it no longer belongs to us, it doesn't owe us anything....

God will use our creativity.

so lets be kind for goodness sake!