One of the cards opened flat
to show front and back
(click image to view larger)
   

Sample pouches, back and front. Pouches are hand-painted and designs vary; one pouch per set.
(click image to view larger; see note below
about new Portiuncula style pouches)

The Sisters of St. Francis have taken pictures of the Canticle sculpture (inspired by St. Francis’s well-known Canticle) and I’ve had them made into notecards. Each card highlights a symbol from the artwork with a reflection to contemplate.

The cards are sold as a set of 8 with envelopes (one of each design), bundled in a watercolor-paper pouch (pouches painted by me or by my able assistants!). Proceeds from sale of the cards will go toward awareness of human trafficking, starting with support for Lila Mae’s House, a project started by Franciscan Sister Shirley Fineran with the goal of creating a “place of healing” for trafficking survivors.

Update: We’re making a new style of pouch for the Canticle cards, representing the Portiuncula chapel restored by St. Francis. The updated design sheet (PDF) linked below has a sample. See the Creating for a Cause page to see all the notecard designs (including the separate Abundant Homes set), plus scarves and bags!

You can order products to benefit Lila Mae’s House online at Shop to Shelter for Lila Mae’s House (external website, shoptoshelter.com).

I so enjoyed creating the Canticle of Creation sculpture and highlighting the symbols Francis and Clare so loved in nature. From the card in the photo above:  “The Canticle of Creation sculpture is an ongoing celebration of life. Francis and Clare knew that God loves us so much to create an ongoing evolution of life. It is for us to marvel and be inspired at the dignity of all creatures.”

For more informaton:

• An abundance of notecards (later blog post about the Abundant Homes cards)
• River to River episode about human trafficking from Iowa Public Radio (article and podcast). Sister Shirley Fineran, founder of Lila Mae’s House, is one of the guests, along with a survivor of human trafficking and a former investigator.

Canticle of Creation
card designs and messages
(click image to view larger;
PDF, approx. 726 KB, rev. 24 Aug 2019)

Painting lots of pouches
to bundle the card sets
(see note above about
new Portiuncula style pouches)