Well this week I was parked for awhile with some major stamper's guilt. The kinda guilt that makes you question why you "waste" time everyday doing this "stamp" thing. 'Cause I don't know about some of you, but I love, and I mean capital LOVE!!, makin' me a cute card and playing with my paper and ink every. single. day. You really start to wonder if this is a hobby, a business, or an obsession! So I let myeslf slide into an ugly place.
On Wednesday I met with two of my dearest friends. We meet every Wednesday for coffee and Bible study and a lot of chit chat, laughing and occasional tears. When it was finally my turn to tell how my week was going, I confessed it all. Almost like an addict would. Hi. My name is Krystal and I'm addicted to stamping cards. I felt horrible about it! We are talking major anxiety! I mean I literally plan my day around blogging, stamping, and Stampin' Up! "stuff". Don't get me wrong, my family is all wearing clean underwear and eating homecooked meals most days. But I would forego cleaning my toilets, scrubbing my shower, or ironing hubby's shirts for extra stamping time... anyday!! Then my sweet friends poured lots of loving encouragement into my heart. They told me my creativity is gift from God and part of my ministry work is the cards I send to people. Oh man!! I really needed to hear that!!
That afternoon I went back through my weekly "cyber" stuff, catching up on emails and blog comments and oh my!! Can you believe I was blessed by four different (amazingly talented!) stampers with three different awards?!!
awarded me:
awarded me:
awarded me:
How incredible is that?! It's like God knew (of course He did!) that I was going to need a little extra boost this week and He lavished these sweet stampers on me. Thank you!!! You have no idea how much this recognition meant to me. I have received a few awards in the past, and if you were someone who passed it on to me previously, thank you again!!
Besides these fun awards, the other rewards I get is reading the all sweet comments you leave for me here on my blog. I was completely humbled this week by your kind words. There was this comment from Linda:
Krystal,
Your blog updates always inspire me. They remind me to delight in the Lord and for that I love your blog the most! And for your awesome ideas for stamping I thank you as you create in just my style!
Linda
I don't know if I know you or not Linda, but thank you!!! You absolutley made my day and literally put a smile on my face!!
So this week I've been encouraged to keep stamping by my dear IRL friends, my "customer" friends, my blogging, stamping, cyber world friends, and my reader friends. God is so good to me!! Another place I receive daily encouragement is the Proverbs 31 Ministries Encouragement For Today devotionals. They just help me start my day in the right heart place... most days!! :)
Sorry if you came looking for some stamping and didn't find any. But for today I really needed to tell everyone how much I appreciate them. The stamping community is one of the nicest places to be!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping!
5 comments:
Congrats!!!
Krystal, I was so relieved to read your post today. I, too, suffer the occasional guilt for stamping - is it taking away time from something God would rather I be doing....am I letting other more important things fall to the wayside, etc... I would try to tell myself that giving a card blesses others, but still I had those doubts. Thank you for sharing those doubts with us, I'm sure you've comforted more than just me! (I, too, read the Proverbs 31 devotions every day :))
I found your site via SCS and am getting tons of inspiration from the wonderful cards you have created. Thank you for sharing your talent with all of us!
(((((((Krystal)))))) I know what you mean. I realized I had been neglecting my prayer life even and had to really nip that in the bud, cuz I sure didn't neglect SA and blog surfing! Today I messed up and haven't gotten my prayer time in yet, but I will. So if all you're neglecting is laundry, you're doing good hun! lol
Your work does inspire us and for that, we thank you. :-) It's hard to properly balance my stamping life and my spiritual life and my home life and everything else that gets thrown in. I totally know where you're coming from! I'm so glad that you've received recognition for your beautiful work. Thanks for being willing to share with us.
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