The Gift of Papercrafting...

I wanted to share a few early morning thoughts.  Yesterday I posted my first shaker card and while that was exciting and special to me, I sort of passed over the most endearing and special moment of that experience.  Since I truly believe we are here to share our creative gifts - I think they don't always come in the form of a 'finished piece', but that they come in other forms as well.

I mentioned that my grandest daughter made her card first - but what I didn't explain was that this was a truly 'giving' moment for her.  She is 4, and in pre-school.  There is a boy in her pre-school who is having a hard time seperating from his mom.  Instead of getting easier, it seems to be getting worse.  At first it took one teacher to pull him away and sit on the floor with him - this week, we watched three teachers trying to get him in the front door of the elementary school, while the mother scurried away. 

Lexi watches this with tears in her eyes, feeling his pain.  Since I am the one who takes her to school each day, I hold her and explain, that he is just scared because he doesn't know anyone and that he doesn't know yet how much fun school is.  Lexi then hugs me and goes off to sign in and starts her day - seemingly not thinking more about it.

After school, we eat lunch and lay down for a nap - or a talk - or watch a movie.  Then, we are 'creative girls'.  This week we have baked cookies, made/canned applesauce, brought in the cabbage and broccoli harvest, painted with apple stamps we made ourselves and her favorite thing of all - go to the studio to make cards or scrapbook pages.

Making our shaker card was exciting for her, as we didn't get a nap that afternoon - she just wanted to talk about how we were going to do it, what colors she was going to use and finally we just gave up on the nap and got creative.  When Lexi's card was done, she asked for me to write the little boys name on a piece of paper, so she could copy it on the envelope.  Then she had me write in the card, "Feel Better"  "Your Friend" and then she signed it 'Love Lexi'.

Yesterday, she gave her card to her 'friend' and was so proud and happy that he told her it was beautiful and that she was his best friend.  When his mom came to pick him up, he was sitting next to Lexi in her cubby and didn't want to go. 

My point of this long winded piece, is that the gift of papercrafting is not just something we do for a challenge - or a card we need to get in the mail for a birthday.  In my case, it's teaching a grandchild how important it is to give of yourself and reach out to someone who may just need a friend - in the form of a card - or a plate of cookies - or just putting yourself out there. 

I'm very proud of my first shaker card - but not nearly as proud of the time I spent with a 4 year old girl and her gift to a friend!