Sample back and front of a card
(click image to view larger)

Prototype of pouch to hold Abundant Homes notecards. Styles will vary.

Response to the Canticle notecards has been so enthusiastic that we’re working on a whole new set! Abundant Homes is a set of 9 notecards with envelopes, each with an image from one of my paintings on the front, and some words to contemplate on the back. Once again the cards will be bundled in a hand-painted pouch, this time in the shape of a house!

Abundant Homes
card designs and messages
(click image to view larger;
PDF, approx. 640 KB, rev. 24 Aug 2019)

In the photos below, I called in the reinforcements to help paint pouches for the Canticle notecards — we got into “St. Francis mode” and let the color flow. I’m looking forward to working with groups to make the new “house” style. See the Creating for a Cause page to see all the notecard designs, plus scarves and bags.

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

For more informaton:

• Cards for contemplation (earlier blog post about the Canticle notecards)
• 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.

Painting pouches for a cause
(At left, buddies from a couple of different Catholic
churches in Ames; at right, fellow Franciscan Associates)