Summer Girls...

The piles, stacks, and files of paper in the sewing room have been neglected for awhile. So it was time to put my hand back to cardmaking and other paper crafts. I made this birthday card for a friend using an ArtChix image. The vintage girl looks so fresh and pretty ... just perfect for the start of Summer. Looking at her, I can almost feel the beach breeze!

       And my new "job" also involves some papercrafting. I've been involved since April in helping to coordinate a crafting and sewing program at a nearby women's prison. The women who enroll in the program are part of a faith and character development initiative, also called betterment program. They will report to the program daily, and while there, will develop skills to craft and sew items of use to community organizations. So far they have started crochet hats for patients undergoing chemotherapy, begun to learn cross-stitch, and sewn some simple four-patch quilt blocks. We've also done some cardmaking. Many of the participants are women of faith. Despite the limited supplies, one of them designed a card like the one below (my version of her design). They call the design "Praise Girl" to express their gratitude for the opportunity they have to learn new skills and produce useful items that can benefit others. Isn't she cute? I just had to make one, too. The new volunteers who come to oversee the program are finding it very worthwhile and rewarding, as do I. So helping to get the program operational has taken quite a bit of time and been my focus recently, but I believe it's time well spent.