Blessed to give

Each year it is a tradition for our church to visit the local hospital and sing Christmas carols.

This year was no exception.  I can't put into words what a joy it is to do this simple service. 

It's not fancy. A group of us go, we knock on patients doors and ask if they would like us to sing and if so, we just sing. No 4 part harmony or anything, we just sing familiar carols like Silent Night, Joy to the World etc. 

it's amazing how simple familiar Christmas carols can touch peoples hearts. I know some patients shed a few tears. I always think: "I'm supposed to be doing this as a service to the people who are in the hospital but seeing their grateful hearts and hearing them sing along makes me always feel like I am the one being served by them!

Here's a couple of pictures of us as we are making the gifts that we give to the patients and of us singing. 

We gave away all the ornaments we made  but here is a picture of one similar, I got the idea from one we made at Founders Circle. Super easy and super cute. Just curl some all is calm dsp and then use the wonderful wreath framleits to cut out the words and I used the adhesive transfer sheets to adhere to the ornament. 

My Baby's Crafting Thoughts

One of my very important roles in life is to be a mom.  I have three fantastic and beautiful children.  It amazes me that my "baby" boy is now 7 and seems to be very grown up.  I just thought I would share with you conversations I had with him yesterday.

N: "Mom I need string"
G: What kind of string do you need?
N: " I need string that is sort of thin and not too wide.  It also needs to be very strong"
G: "I do have string like that but I need it for my stamping classes.  If you look at the catalogue you can tell me which string you want and I will order it for you so you can have your own."
N: I need it now for my Beyblade case.
G: "let me look and see if I have an old retired ribbon"
At this point I am still not getting why he needs string but I don't let it bother me since my children do all sorts of things.  I wouldn't have been surprised if he decided to use the string to wrap up his beyblade so he could sell it in some kind of pretend store that he was setting up.

Lo and behold of course I found some old ribbon.  He then showed me his beyblade case and clearly directed me what I should do.  It turns out his zipper pull was broken and he had a plan for fixing it.
Check it out. I was very impressed with his solution to his problem.  He now has the cutest beyblade case around.

Since I started being a Stampin' Up! demo when my "baby" was less than a year old, he has grown up with stamps and crafts around him. 

Yesterday I got a glimpse of what he thinks of it all as I heard him talking to his friend who had come over for a playdate.  

I'm in the basement making this beautiful home decor piece and I hear him coming down the stairs.

N: "You want to go downstairs?  Okay but it's really dirty down here because my mom crafts.  See she's crafting now.  She does a lot of crafts that's why it's dirty."

I suppose neither he nor his friend were really put off by my dirty, crafty basement because they promptly set up a spider man pop up fort in the corner and connected it with my craft tables which they were crawling under.  

My day ended by buying a frame for the home decor piece I created and then taking my daughter out for a dessert date at Kelsey's.  (like I needed a chocolate lava brownie but I figured it would be rude for me to go on a dessert date with my daughter and just watch her eat her dessert.  ha ha)

It really was a super Sunday.  I'm so thankful for my family and crafting with Stampin' Up!  

Want to copy and create your own pretty home decor piece?  Here's some of the key supplies you'll need.  click any of the images to take you to my online store

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