I am happy to be participating in the Papercrafters Unite Against Racism blog hop. I believe creating is good for the soul, that whatever you can make—cards, scrapbooks, scarves, bread, poetry—you should! Your shared creations can inspire others, bring them comfort and help them realize they are not alone.
And that's what this hop is about—it's about showing our crafty sisters and brothers of color that we are here, we are aware of injustice and we want to do better and be better...for them, for ourselves and for our children. This is a fabulous time to show love and support. The world is insane right now and we can take a minute here and just say to our fellow crafters, we got you, fam.
When someone says something racist or even just ignorant, it's our duty to say something. When you correct someone, they aren't going to appreciate you, they aren't going to say thanks. They're going to be put out, angry or belligerent. Too bad. It's time to say, that's not true. You're wrong. I won't listen to these words. I can't let you talk like that around my kids. And whatever else needs said. When someone says, "I'm not racist, but..." you can say, "I'm glad you're not racist, but that belief sounds racist. You might want to phrase it differently or find out for sure what the facts are."
I chose a powerful quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. to letter and turn into a card for my first project. I think sometimes it's easy to put people into the "other" category so we don't have to worry about them and the current adminstration encourages this mindset. Enough of that! We have to speak out now and see that what's happening to some of us affects all of us and that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
For my second project, I fell back on the cute projects I love to create...for me, cuteness in the world can counteract ugliness and I gravitate to cute stamps like this freebie from Heffy Doodle. And the sentiment is something I'd like to send everyone who is feeling disheartened and angry and afraid and alone...if I could, I'd send out loving vibes to everyone who needs them. I watercolored the bg and used colored pencil and markers on the images and fussy cut them. The grass is just a bunch of markers. This is a British post box, but the image also comes with a US mail box...I just liked this one better and I have no idea if they're blue. The sentiment is Phrase Builder Sending die set from Pink & Main.
The next stop is to hop over to see Jess Crafts here...I think you're going to like her work! You can head to the amazing co-ordinator, Justine Hovey's blog to find the full hop list.
Kristina Werner has put together a list of crafty IG accounts if you want to show some support by following. And Jennifer McGuire has put together a list of things here that can educate us on some important topics. You can scroll down two posts here to my Juneteenth blog post here to see some places you can donate to that are doing some good in the world. Other places you can donate include Black Table Arts, The Loveland Foundation, Fair Fight, Black Girls Code and The Bail Project. We have many ways that we can give our time, talent and treasure so that this world is a little more just.
Thanks for stopping, thanks for adding your support and your voice to ours so that we can make the papercrafting community inclusive and loving.
p.s. if books and reading are your thing, like they are mine, you can see a list of books on racism on this blog post at Books Make a Difference.
Happy Saturday,
Chark
Chark
