by Sue of SueRunyonDesigns

I would love to share this story with you because I have been so blessed by it, and I think others will be too.

I am new to Etsy and on-line social networking. After 12 years of being in the corporate world, God closed that door early this year. I have experienced all the emotions that come with leaving a job: fear, anger, insecurity, as well as some freedom to rediscover who God made me to be.

One of the first items I made for my Etsy shop were little needle felted sheep. I wanted to convey how comforting it is to live in the care of The Great Shepherd. As sheep we often daily wander away, and we need the Shepherd to help lead us back into His fold. With this, one of my favorite Shepherd verses is: Isaiah 40:11. "He will feed His flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young."

It was one of these sheep that I made that was featured on an Etsy Treasury where a wonderful godly women found my shop. Her name is Jennifer. God led Jennifer to my shop and to purchase one of my sheep. I received such joy from this, and since then we've be communicating off and on.

Jennifer shared with me her passion for the country of Latvia and how she heard of a family from my home town that I know of through my children; that would be traveling for a missions trip to Latvia. Jennifer knew that the family needed to raise money for their trip, so God led her to donate everything out of her shop to the Petrick family to help raise money for their trip.

I was able to meet Nichole Petrick (the mother who will be taking her 3 small children to Latvia), at a restaurant where she was our waitress! I shared with her our mutual connection of Jennifer, a woman we have only met on-line. She broke into tears right at our table and shared with me how blessed and overjoyed she is to be a recipient of such generosity. Everyone at the table got teary-eyed as we reveled in God's abundance. How small acts of faithfulness are being turned into tremendous acts because God is behind all of them. So now, I have a connection with Jennifer and with Nichole as we share this common story. When we feel overwhelmed, or like we are not be "useful" for the Kingdom of God, we recall this story of God's faithful leading and weaving of our lives together for His greater purposes.

The story, I'm sure will continue to unfold as the Petrick Family goes to Latvia in a few weeks; but I just had to share as their prayer letter and photo card card came home from church today to be placed on my "prayer wall" (refrigerator)...the verse that is leading them???


Praise be to God for His mercies that are new everyday!

by Jan of PearCreekCottage

Do you have a blog?  If so, have you ever used it to promote another CAST Team member?


Promoting your team mates is a win/win situation for many reasons. Sure, you give them a little bit, or a lot, of exposure depending on how much traffic your blog gets. You also give them links to their Etsy shop and hopefully other links to their twitter, facebook, blog or other sales venues where your friends and followers can find them. Providing links is also a great way for Search Engines to find them. The more quality links to a shop the higher it will rate with Search Engines. One blog feature can have long lasting benefits.

We feature a CAST artist every Wednesday on our blog. Thanks Cindy of cksilver and Joy of JoyfulHandKnits for the great features they do. We are also very diligent in promoting and linking to many CAST shops in other features throughout the entire week.

But did you realize that promoting someone else can also have great, long lasting benefits for you too? Most likely someone that you have featured will go out and tell their friends and followers that they have been featured and bring new traffic to your blog and maybe even to your shop. It can bring fresh, new traffic to your own shop. Frequently, the blogs that feature a lot of artist have the highest number of followers.

By Phyllis Ducey of pfdoriginalartworks

Friends come in many packages. I have friends that took years to build…years of tears, years of laughter, years of thoughtfulness and years of being there for each other. Some friends we were born with like our moms, dads, sisters and brothers. I moved four years ago and I have good friends in the making that will need a few more years of building memories to bind us tight. I have work friends who may spend more time with me than my husband. Oh and speaking of him… he too is my friend of 38 years. And there are also accidental friends. They are the ones we first met and thought “I don’t plan to see them again.” Sometimes they are the best, because as they are unwrapped slowly, cautiously with trepidation…then they suddenly surprise you with their unique inner beauty. My best friend was one of the accidental ones.

Recently I have opened a few new packages… they were wrapped in Etsy paper. My first one, who now is very dear to me, I have never seen her face nor heard her voice, but we became friends when our shops were new and we decided to do a trade. Then I joined two Etsy teams. The initial one I joined the tie that binds is our love of creating. Together we celebrate the artistry we each possess. They are a wonderful group of artists that I truly am enjoying getting to know.

The next package I opened was the second team I joined, the CAST team. It is the one that I felt instantly bonded to. This team is bound by God’s words and the Word – Jesus. My fist day on the thread I felt surrounded by friends united by our love of God and by our love of His Word. I found them to be a group who wish to encourage and be encouraged in knowing God better and bringing His Word into our lives daily. I think it is amazing that God has blessed us with a technology to create a network of friends throughout this strange world, don’t you?

The work of our hands is a gift from God. We can use this gift to help us to meditate on the God’s word day and night. Below are some of our wonderful CAST team member’s items for your enjoyment and encouragement.

Glass tile pendant from NewHopeBeads

Romans 8:28 from Ifrogcrafts

Psalm 91 plaque from CreationsbyCurry