10 months of weekly discipleship meetings with three wonderful ladies just wrapped up. To say thank you, each one received the only thing I knew how to give that I could make (and not end up in a crafting disaster). As a designer, there’s this expectation – thanks HGTV – that we’re crafty. I tried once to make custom t-shirts with my girl scout troop. The iron-on decals I printed from a kit after laboring over the graphics peeled off within minutes, and our signatures in Sharpie bled through the fabric. There are two corner hutches from the unfinished furniture store in my blue room. I painted those so proudly and craftily while I was expecting my first child. About 2 years later the knots in the pine wood bled through because I didn’t take the time to truly prime/seal them as they needed only because of the fumes. So now the knots are part of the ‘charm’. So when it came time to want to give a labor of love, I didn’t want to pass along my skills in craft, lest they take the route of my previous attempts. What I really know is permanent, in a very controlled black ink sort of way, coming to life with the personality of each subject. I left them framed on my mantle today and the comment, without realizing it was her house and a gift, was ‘that looks so much like my house!’. I am grateful to these ladies and have spent time in each home. It was an honor to be able to bring their dwellings to life in a way I knew how and also something that I know will be lasting.
