Look to Him and be Radiant: June 2019

Friday, June 28, 2019

Beauty That Points Beyond- Jessica from TelosArt {Guest Post} (AND the Giveaway!)

Throughout life I have been captivated by the visual world. As a child I would often map the layout of a building in my mind or on paper, trying to make sense of each space and how they were connected. Converting to Catholicism was a similar process of piecing together the truths I had heard growing up. After completing architecture school, where modernism was king, Catholicism encapsulated my pursuit for truth, beauty, and goodness...both in my faith and in my aesthetic.

Image Courtesy of 31Four, Inc.

“For all its rooted loveliness, the world has no continuing city here; it is an outlandish place, a foreign home, a session in via to a better version of itself--and it is our glory to see it so and to thirst until Jerusalem comes home at last. We were given appetites, not to consume the world and forget it, but to taste its goodness and hunger to make it great.”

This quote from Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection, by Robert Farrar, speaks in part to the vision behind my work. The beauty of this world is meant to give us a glimpse of the truth and beauty beyond. While we are just "passing through" the truth, beauty, and goodness still has a purpose.

Visiting beautiful churches, hearing sacred chant, even studying the geometry of seashells can point to something beyond. Something greater. I think we all want more of those reminders in our lives.

The definition of telos is an ultimate end or aim. As Christians, we are called to be a new creation. Many of my necklaces are designed around vintage medals. Taking old, vintage, forgotten jewelry and bring them back to life is not only fun, it's symbolic.

"From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
--Ephesians 4:16

This verse from Ephesians 4:16 has always been an encouragement to me, especially when I felt like "making pretty things" was trivial. But being able to design jewelry, modern liturgical calendars, and other unique resources is a joy. I'm so grateful I get to share in some creative acts as my work. Through Telos Design and the Telos Art Shop my hope is to join others in our journey of faith.

If we recognize that our lives are not the end itself, but rather a "session in via to a better version...", then truth, beauty, and goodness each play a part in that journey. And they are anything but trivial. The music we enjoy, the jewelry we wear, or the art we hang on our walls can be an opportunity for us to live for our telos.

We are all on a journey and the true beauty of this world is a means to a greater end.

I'm honored to get to share Jessica's words of wisdom with you. Please go visit her shop and social media, and join the conversation here in the comments or on today's Instagram post. And don't forget to come back every day this week for more creative wisdom from a set of beautiful women makers! Sign up for the Telos Art Shop monthly newsletter to receive a liturgical calendar download each month as well as shop updates:

Find Jessica:

Shop- Telos Art Shop

Instagram- @telosart

Facebook- Telos Design

Jessica is generously donating a set of her brand new Mysteries of the Rosary window clings to our Beautiful Things Giveaway! You'll be able to enter to win here on the blog and on Instagram,

Enter the Beautiful Things Giveaway:
You can enter the giveaway here on the blog, and for more chances to win you can enter on Instagram as well! I hope you enjoy visiting all these lovely and generous makers, and know that they appreciate you following along with them on your favorite social media tools.

The winner of the Beautiful Things Giveaway will receive:
$55 Credit towards a Doll and Guaranteed spot in 2019 from Marcy of Marzipantz
8x10 Sacred Heart of Jesus Print from Tricia of Providential Co.
Red Sacred Heart Tote Bag from Rakhi of Rakstar Designs
Set of Cards and Stickers from Shari of Catholic Paper Goods
Set of Mysteries of the Rosary Window Clings from Jessica of Telos Art
Any In-stock Stamp of Your Choice from Katie of Look to Him and Be Radiant

One winner will be chosen using random generator from combination of entries on blog and Instagram. US only and must be 18 or older to win. Winner must meet entry guidelines. Winner has 24 hours to respond or new winner will be chosen. Giveaway closes at midnight Central time Sunday, June 30, 2019. (And if you're viewing this in your email browser, you'll have to click over to the blog to enter using the Rafflecopter giveaway widget!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Q & A with Shari from Catholic Paper Goods {Guest Post}

Can you tell us a little about how Catholic Paper Goods got started? You have both a secular and a faith based business. What inspired you to incorporate what you believe into what you create?
I am a graphic designer, illustrator and photographer with 26 years of experience in the industry. Since 2000, I have run my own freelance design studio, Em-press Design (www.em-pressdesign.com). I offer logos/branding/corporate identity, corporate marketing materials, brochures, annual reports, catalogs, sell sheets, t-shirt and specialty item design, trade show graphics, custom wedding invitations and baby announcements as well as portrait and product photography. While I love that line of work and the variety of clients I am honored to help, about 4 years ago, I started to feel like something was missing. When I was little, my dream was to be an artist at Hallmark so I could illustrate and hand-letter greeting cards. In college, I majored in fine arts and received my BFA in painting and drawing and went on to graduate with an MA in graphic design/illustration. I’ve always been drawn to the crisp lines of more graphic illustration, especially combined with elegant, bold typography and/or hand-lettering.

In 2015, I began attending the Walking With Purpose women’s Bible study at our parish and loved it. I am a cradle Catholic revert, the 1970s catechesis of my youth left me… shall we say, lacking!?! It wasn’t until I was almost 40 that I finally clued into how incredibly rich and beautiful this faith of ours truly is! It sounds silly to say that, but I honestly didn’t have even a basic understanding of it or appreciate it until a health crisis led me home. During WWP, I kept feeling a strong nudge to use my design skills for something Catholic, but I had no idea what that looked like. I asked the ladies at my table every week during our prayer time for clarity and kept asking God to please be extremely specific because I just wasn’t getting it! Two years later, I was blessed with an amazingly detailed dream with black and white hand-lettered Catholic greeting cards spread all over my coffee table. I jumped up and sketched them all out so as not to forget. I immediately started to produce all the ideas I was gifted in every free moment I could find for 6 straight months. I’m still in awe of that dream and its impact on my life.

At the end of 2017, I launched Catholic Paper Goods as an Etsy shop with digital downloadable cards, art prints, coloring pages, custom invitations for sacraments and vinyl stickers. I create everything when I can make time around my corporate design work and motherhood. This year, our family is planning a big move from the city to the country where we hope to find acreage to build a home, grow our own food and have chickens again (we had city chickens for a few years until a raccoon massacre). Oh, how I miss fresh eggs! I will also be a first time homeschooling mom to my 9-year-old son, Luke, this fall. He is a force to be reckoned with! He inspires me, helps me and loves it when new sticker designs arrive so he can plaster them all over his bike. He is so artistically gifted, it won’t be long until he contributes his own designs for the shop. Since I began to incorporate my faith into my work, I’ve never been more at peace or excited to create. The ideas never cease and I can hardly wait to keep producing them. I pray that I can continue to build and grow this new chapter and be fully open to the guidance of the Spirit. I am constantly pushed to keep creating and experimenting with new styles and this year, I’m working on more offerings for kids. I just launched the first of many saint and Marian coloring pages in time for summer break and more will be coming.

I'm so grateful for repeat customers and custom orders. The feedback I've received has been overwhelming and I'm so happy to be able to create custom designs for people, especially ordination invitations. My mission is to offer beautifully designed Catholic paper products that are hard to find or needed at the last minute and can be downloaded instantly. I have a sweet customer who recently messaged me about a last minute personalized baptism gift she needed for the the next morning and I was so happy to be able to help her!

How do you think the Church today could better use beauty to convey the truth within Her that is unchanging, while also meeting the modern culture?
I am so inspired by Bishop Robert Barron and his Word on Fire ministry. They superbly use technology and social media integrated with simple, beautiful art and design to convey the truth and that is exactly what I pray to be able to do. I am so grateful that programs like his exist, they are making our job as parents so much easier and richer. We love to watch his DVDs and listen to the podcasts of Fr. John Riccardo and many, many others. We also enjoy Catholic radio and our son is a huge fan of Catholic Answers. All of these offerings are so wonderful for a young person to better comprehend our faith and to form a personal relationship with Christ. My son knows far more than I ever did about Catholicism even in my forties! I recently turned 50 and am super sentimental (read: peri-menopausal!!). I got married at 39 and became a mom at almost 41. I’m so grateful to God for my amazing husband, his endless patience with me and especially waiting to receive the vocation of marriage and parenthood later in life. I wasn’t at all prepared for this in my twenties—God’s plan is always better than mine!

I hope that by expanding my line of digital downloadable artwork, I can offer educators, homeschoolers, young mothers and their kids access to beautiful Catholic art that will enrich their day-to-day lives. I’m such a poor planner, my goal is that moms like me who woke up and either forgot or ran out of time to prepare something for a given feast day can quickly go download a coloring page or art print, etc. and be ready for the day. Using the incredible tools of technology we have in a positive way to inspire our youth and encourage them to live out their faith (and hopefully also be inspired to create beautiful sacred art!) can only help us to grow the domestic church. I pray to design artwork and stickers that young people are proud to display in order to encourage them not to abandon ship as I did at their age, no matter what's happening within our Church, in our country or in the world.

What Saints inspire you most?
I have so many favorites, it’s hard to narrow them down, but St. Dymphna and Pope St. John Paul II are very special. St. Dymphna was of great comfort to me when I went through a medical nightmare as a result of a horrible reaction to a prescription medication many years ago. I experienced mild brain damage that caused severe depression and anxiety and I prayed to her fiercely during the full year it took me to recover from it. I recently completed an illustration of her for her feast day in gratitude and it's one of my favorites so far.

Pope St. John Paul II is special because he was the first Pope I witnessed being elected. I was 9 years old and attending Catholic school at the time, so we had a front row seat to the process and I was fascinated. His smile and gentle demeanor were such a comfort to me as a child and young adult. Even during my time away from the Church, he held a special place in my heart and his pontificate shaped me profoundly.

What projects for CPG are you dreaming about?
I’m designing an ongoing series of downloadable Saint trading cards that I hope will be helpful for educators and homeschool moms. I also want to expand custom invitation offerings to include personalized wedding invitation templates and I’d love to eventually offer t-shirts and more physical products. Most of my items are instant downloads, but I can ship actual prints upon request. I'd like to hear from your readers about specific products they would like to have, I know there are so many ideas out there and I’d like to bring them to life! For example, a customer contacted me asking for a small card to accompany a Mass card for the deceased that explains why Catholics pray for the dead/have Masses said. I was happy to be able to offer her a few versions that are now in the shop. I’m putting the finishing touches on custom portraits of priests either for their ordination or jubilee, they are a more modern style like the saint series and I hope they will make a fun, unique gift. I realize many of my ideas aren’t original and there are many other Catholic artists offering similar products, but I love that we are all so different and offer our own unique styles in how we convey our faith artistically.

I'm honored to get to share Shari's words of wisdom with you. Please go visit her shop and social media, and join the conversation here in the comments or on today's Instagram post. And don't forget to come back every day this week for more creative wisdom from a set of beautiful women makers!

Find Shari:

Shop- Catholic Paper Goods
Etsy- Catholic Paper Goods
The Well- Catholic Paper Goods

Instagram- @catholicpapergoods

Facebook- Catholic Paper Goods

And on Friday I'll be hosting the Beautiful Things Giveaway, an amazing collection of lovely items to bring the beauty of the Creator into your daily life. Shari is giving away this awesome stack of Catholic cards, prints, and stickers! You'll be able to enter to win here on the blog and on Instagram, so check back Friday, 6/28/2019, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart!

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Creating with the Holy Spirit- Rakhi from Rakstar Designs {Guest Post}

In a world that craves the true, the good, and the beautiful, is a joy to host the fourth Why Make Beautiful Things series here at Look to Him and Be Radiant. You can read the original post with my thoughts on beauty here and read all the guest posts in the previous series here. Today I have the honor of sharing the work and reflections of Rakhi from Rakstar Designs maker of original and creative Catholic works of art across media. I think you'll enjoy reading her wisdom about the WHY behind her creativity. We'll be featuring guest posts all week, and a huge giveaway of beautiful things on Friday, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. We'd love to hear from you here or on Instagram why YOU make beautiful things- Chime in on today's post!!

"The purpose of art is nothing less than the upliftment of the human spirit.' ~ St. John Paul II

One of the images of my father etched into my memory is of him with a camera around his neck. He was a seasoned amateur, and he loved capturing the moments of our lives. How grateful I am to the trail of memories he left behind for our family to cherish, and for my family to know him long after he has left this world.

From him, I developed a love of film photography. I loved the mechanics of a camera, the click of the shutter, the accidental effects of double exposure - everything. Sadly, it was not a love that was pursued for a long time as I sought after “more gainful” education and employment. If I had it to do all over again, I would have definitely indulged my creative side with more formal instruction.

Creativity is embedded in our souls, though, and no matter the outlet, it finds a way to blossom forth. Whether it is belting out praise music in the car and shower, making a beautiful meal, writing a heartfelt letter, or creating a product with my hands, I come to life when I am creating. We – you and I – were created to create. From the moment life was breathed into us, we were imbued with the Creator Spirit – the Ruah – and commissioned to make of this life a beautiful masterpiece.

What I have come to understand is that despite the lack of formal training, creating is for me a charism. It is something led by the Holy Spirit, that makes my spirit come to life, that helps me to share the good news of the Gospel with the world. That my work is focused on lettering is only by God’s design, and by a friend’s invitation to take an online course with her. It is then that Rakstar Designs as it now exists came to life.

I have squirreled away quotes and words and phrases since I can remember. I have journals full somewhere in boxes from my high school years. To take words and create a thing of beauty to remind us of our identity as beloved children of God, fearfully and wonderfully made, called to cling to hope and share with others the love of Christ, to find joy and laughter in the middle of our pain, to know that we are not alone in the struggle – it is a holy privilege. This is my goal with all I create.

I earnestly pray when I create that what comes to life shines light into darkness. As my pen and paint hits the paper, as the beads and medals are strung together, as the broken pieces of glass are arranged or the clay is molded into its latest form, or even as I am doodling on my iPad, I pray that someone, somewhere, will come to know how much they are loved and known and seen. I pray that in the middle of grief and loneliness, even if just for a moment, they will know they are held in the Father’s hands. Some days that someone is only me, and I am grateful for that grace too.

My Etsy shop began on a whim after taking that lettering course. What it has grown into is more of a ministry. Every time I want to throw in the towel (because running a small, creative side business is hard and sometimes discouraging), someone reaches out to share how they have been touched by my words or my work. It breathes just enough life back into me to keep going, and reminds me that ultimately I don’t do any of this on my own. Creating is a prayer that unites me with the Spirit and draws me out of myself and into relationship with God and others. I create because it is a connection back to my Creator, who is beauty and truth and goodness and mercy and love.

I'm honored to get to share Rakhi's words of wisdom with you. Please go visit her shop and social media, and join the conversation here in the comments or on today's Instagram post. And don't forget to come back every day this week for more creative wisdom from a set of beautiful women makers!

Find Rakhi:

Shop- Rakstar Designs

Instagram- @rakstardesigns

Facebook- Rakstar Designs

And on Friday I'll be hosting the Beautiful Things Giveaway, an amazing collection of lovely items to bring the beauty of the Creator into your daily life. Rakhi is generously donating this gorgeous brand new Sacred Heart tote! You'll be able to enter to win here on the blog and on Instagram, so check back Friday, 6/28/2019!

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Mirroring the Creator- Tricia from Providential Co. {Guest Post}

In a world that craves the true, the good, and the beautiful, is a joy to host the fourth Why Make Beautiful Things series here at Look to Him and Be Radiant. You can read the original post with my thoughts on beauty here and read all the guest posts in the previous series here. Today I have the honor of sharing the work and reflections of Tricia from Providential Co. maker of candles and prints featuring Saints and quotes in an iconic style that is both modern and traditional. I think you'll enjoy reading her wisdom about the WHY behind her creativity. We'll be featuring guest posts all week, and a huge giveaway of beautiful things on Friday, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. We'd love to hear from you here or on Instagram why YOU make beautiful things- Chime in on today's post!!

I’ve always loved being creative. From my youngest memories I was making things, pretending to have my own businesses, and finding great joy in serving others with what I was making. In particular, I remember making a really crazy card for my mom with loads of peach-colored Kleenex. Weird media, but I was so thrilled putting together little flowers and twisty vines and gluing them down on this piece of cardboard on which I had lettered her name and a ridiculous amount of kissy lips. My business savvy was there too when I monetized my bubble lettering “business” in middle school – offering glitter add-ons for 25 cents.

When high school came around, I felt it necessary to hide my love of drawing. I was in the “cool” group and a cheerleading captain, caught up in all kinds of nonsense. Upon graduating, however, I re-embraced my love of art and enrolled as a fine arts major in college. This decision evolved further after I moved to Houston and decided to go to art school. My counselor there encouraged me to pursue graphic design, and I realized I could make an actual career out of all those days of crafting, making comics and zines, and drawing countless portraits of imaginary people.

It was a few years after art school that I realized God had been pursuing me as well all along. Did I make the connection between Him and my love of art at that time? No. That part took a lot longer, but I fell deeply for Jesus and I was baptized as a 22-year-old. Sadly, I came to the wrong conclusion that I needed to give up being a designer to “really” serve God and had a brief stint as a teacher. I loved my students, but it was like a critical part of me was shut off. I missed being a full-time designer more than I ever expected.

It dawned on me that God made me to be a creative. It was there from the beginning, being nourished by my loved ones, and as a place of solace when times were tough. It was deep down part of my identity, because it was ultimately God behind it all. He is the source and this is one place where I meet Him. He is the reason for all of the excitement when I’m inspired, and the feeling of accomplishment seeing a creative process through. I mirror my Creator when I create – how insanely cool is that?!

There are some pieces that I’ve made that come to be without my often-over involved-mind getting in the way at all, and there are some that have felt like a mini labor/giving birth, at least mentally. All in all, I’m doing what I believe God wants me to do, with the skills I’ve built over my lifetime. This is not just for me, no. This is a channel through which I can get to know Him better, and a way for others to (hopefully) be attracted to Him who is the source of all beauty and all goodness.

I'm honored to get to share Tricia's words of wisdom with you. Please go visit Tricia's shop and social media, and join the conversation here in the comments or on today's Instagram post. And don't forget to come back every day this week for more creative wisdom from a set of beautiful women makers!

Find Tricia:

Shop- Providential Co.

Instagram- @providential_co

Facebook- Providential Co.

And on Friday I'll be hosting the Beautiful Things Giveaway, an amazing collection of lovely items to bring the beauty of the Creator into your daily life. Tricia is generously contributing an 8x10 print of her stunning Sacred Heart image. You'll be able to enter to win here on the blog and on Instagram, so check back Friday, 6/28/2019, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart!

Monday, June 24, 2019

Art & Wonder & Saint Dolls- Marcy from Marzipantz {Guest Post}

There’s a moment while I’m making dolls when everything’s assembled – the limbs, the face, the whole body – all put together, but I don’t know what it looks like because it’s inside out, and in that moment I feel a lot of uncertainty, anticipation, and sometimes a little nervousness. I assemble the dolls inside out so that the seams are not visible when it’s finished, but I leave a little section unsewn, just a small hole, easy to sew by hand when the doll’s completely finished. And I pull the rest of body through that hole to flip it right side out, but there’s a lot of fabric that has to fit through. (I admit I sometimes think about the pangs of childbirth when I’m performing this operation, especially if I have a particularly stubborn doll!)

There is something about the whole process of making dolls, my little handstitched people, that makes me think about the formation of a new person in the womb. I have an idea of what I hope the doll looks like, but I can’t see it yet. Step-by-step the doll gradually comes together. Then the moment of truth, the “flip”, and I can see how it all fits together. It’s a teeny bit like the nervousness and anticipation of an expectant mother. Is it a boy or girl? Whose eyes will she have? Whose nose? Each creation is different and unique. Each one put together with care. Each one eagerly awaited, anticipated, hope for. And each one – at least this is my prayer for all my dolls – an artful reflection of the wonder God has made.

I am a mom to six. I stay at home with the children. My husband is a high school teacher. So, as you can imagine, there are limits to our budget, and I am always looking for ways to save or make money from home. And I’ve tried almost everything: babysitting, online tutoring, couponing – like extreme, full-time job couponing! – knit-and-crochet shop, break-of-dawn paper route, miscellaneous direct sales gigs. Like I said, almost everything. While all these things allowed me to stay at home and it was a boon for our family financially, for me it often left me drained and worn out.

Several years ago, I discovered some beautiful handmade dolls on the internet and thought how wonderful it would be to have similar dolls, just as beautiful and appealing, but of saints. But, I couldn’t ever find exactly what I had in mind, and even if I had, I was sure we wouldn’t be able to afford it. Then, one Christmas, after years of drooling over Instagrammed heirloom dolls, I received a sewing machine and decided to take the plunge and try my hand at this doll-making thing.

At first, I was excited just to make something fine and beautiful for my children, but I discovered just how much I enjoyed the creative process itself. I had always enjoyed crafting, but sewing was an entirely new endeavor for me. The only other times I had been around the sewing machine was cutting up fabric for my mom when I was eight and making a couple pairs of curtains for the boys’ bedroom on a machine borrowed from a neighbor. As it happened, sewing dolls turned out to be my “blue-flame passion.” (To borrow Jennifer Fulwiler’s apt phrase from One Beautiful Dream.)

After making the first few dolls for my children, I started wondering if I could do this to help with the family finances. I already knew I loved the work. It left me full and happy, complete. And it certainly fed my soul more than cutting out coupons. Thus, Marzipantz Shop was born.

As I mentioned above, I did not have a lot of previous experience with sewing, so I had to learn by studying how my own clothes were constructed, and I am still learning to this day. Each new doll design requires a new pattern with new challenges. I’m always tweaking, trying out different ideas and techniques. I’m always picking up tips from others with years more experience than I. For me each new design is like a puzzle that I am trying to solve in order to capture that unique look or feel I’m hoping for. Sometimes it’s a different clothing article that I need to create a pattern for. Other times hunting down that perfect fabric choice to match the saint or character. Or it might mean a new measure of hand-stitched details and embroidery.

When I’m making a saint doll, I don’t always start out knowing a lot about that saint, so preparing to make a saint doll isn’t just a design project but also a research project. I like to look at the traditional representations of the saint and read a little about their lives. It has been so special to learn about all the saints I’ve made. Or to use the language of iconographers, all the saints I’ve “written.” But usually at some point in this process, I catch a vision of how the doll should look and then it is just a matter of bringing it into existence. I love how Madeline L’Engle puts it in her book, Walking on Water:

"The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birthgiver….I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius, or something very small, comes to the artist and says, ‘Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me.’ And the artist either says, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord,’ and willingly becomes the bearer of the work, or refuses."

Sometimes the vision presents me with something difficult, that I haven’t tried before, that I don’t have a pattern for yet, and I know how much work that will mean. But part of the process is accepting that work and moving forward faithfully.

My goal with my shop has always been to create items that help cultivate a beautiful childhood and encourage a greater love for the things I love: the saints and inspiring literary characters. At least where the saints are concerned, I would love if the dolls could be a sort of child’s version of an icon – to encourage a devotion to those saints, and a rich sense of the communion of saints that are cheering us on our own walk of faith. There are so many toys readily available that, while fun, aren’t especially appealing to look at. Loud colors and cartoonish characters. My goal has been to make dolls that represent the saints beautifully and artfully and would be something even the adults enjoy looking at.

But I have learned over and over again that those sparks of inspiration, while they can be overwhelmingly beautiful, feel impossible to bring to fruition. Despite all the compliments and praise I received from others, which truly humbles me, I have never felt that I crafted something that perfectly reflects my original vision. I wonder if all makers and artists feel this way. Always a little too self-critical. But for me, it feels like my work is just falling short, almost but not quite. It reminds me of St. John Paul II’s “Letter to Artists” when he writes:

"All artists experience the unbridgeable gap which lies between the work of their hands […] and the dazzling perfection of the beauty glimpsed in the ardor of the creative moment: what they manage to express in their painting, sculpting, their creating is no more than a glimmer of the splendor which flared for a moment before the eyes of their spirit."

That “unbridgeable gap” can feel disappointing, but it is part of the artist’s struggle. To acknowledge that all artists and makers experience this provides some bit of a consolation.

My other consolation is the joy my dolls bring to others. I love to hear the individual stories of my customers. I love when they tell me about their devotion to a particular saint. I love seeing the pictures they share of their children at play or hearing stories about how their little one can’t sleep without their saint doll. Every time I learn that one of my dolls has somehow inspired or comforted or moved a child, I am filled with gratitude. For me, it is a privilege to play some small role in creating beauty in this world and encouraging beauty in childhood too. As someone trying to make beautiful things, the joy comes not only in the creation but also in sharing beauty with others.

Beauty touches the heart in a special way. It is always pulling us further, deeper, higher, even if it does fall short. Perhaps even because it does fall short. For it still points our eyes and hearts upwards to God who is the source and summit of all beautiful things, who is beauty itself. That longing in our hearts that we feel when we see or hear something beautiful pulls us towards God and is only ever satisfied in Him. Our restless hearts echo with beauty’s call.

I'm honored to get to share Marcy's words of wisdom with you. Please go visit Marcy's shop and social media, and join the conversation here in the comments or on today's Instagram post about why you make beautiful things. And don't forget to come back every day this week for more creative wisdom from a set of beautiful women makers!

Find Marcy:

Shop- Marzipantz Shop

Instagram- @Marzipantz

Facebook- Marzipantz

And on Friday I'll be hosting the Beautiful Things Giveaway, an amazing collection of lovely items to bring the beauty of the Creator into your daily life. Marcy is generously giving away a $55 credit towards the purchase of one of her dolls AND a coveted guaranteed spot in one of her releases in 2019. You'll be able to enter to win here on the blog and on Instagram, so check back Friday, 6/28/2019, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart!

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