This Mom's got a lotta love to share

Bad grammar aside, my little piece of the American dream is called With Love from Mom. You can find me at http://www.withlovefrommom.com or shop directly at http://www.withlovefrommom.etsy.com .

What it's all about, my friends, is a little dream and a prayer. I love to craft. No, I'm downright addicted to it. But I'm a stay-at-home Mom and my crafting addiction nearly led to a craft budget crisis. It's not like I don't have plenty to do with my day, so spending my husband's hard earned income, and my kids' college funds, on piles and piles of fabric, scrapbook paper, and beads that I found little time to get to was just so unfair.

But for those who craft, or anyone who has a hobby, you know what a release it is, what a need you have to express something with the work of your hands. For me, it's calming. And when an astute young seminarian recommended I try making twine rosaries as an economical crafting outlet that would do double duty as a conduit to better prayer, I was hooked... or knotted, I guess :)

As it so happened, about that time I was needing to get out of the house after having had my second child and staying at home full-time. So I took a little class at a local craft chain store and learned how to chain beads together with wire. After the class, as I browsed the aisles looking for beads to take home and practice, I seemed to see everything in groups of six and ten, so the first stash of beads I took home became a rosary... and so it has continued.

My business, then, has a three-fold mission. First, my goal is to pray more. I'm happy to report that I'm pleased with my progress in that area, but have an infinitely long way to go. Second, I want to support both my crafting habit and those who are called to vocations. Again, these things are going fairly well. In 6 months, I've raised over $100 for my cause, and haven't spent a dime of our family budget beyond the wee bit of capital with which I started (and believe me, it was a WEE bit). Third, and finally, I hope to inspire... through the inspiration given me by the Holy Spirit and worked into the chains of beads I produce... someone who wouldn't be so inclined to pick up a rosary, to do so, and to fall deeply in love with a devotion that has provided so much strength in my life.

Now that I've talked enough, I'm off to help another blogger with some code, and then I'll be back with my little gallery :)