Meet the Makers: Sarah Hopkins of Hope Filled Blessings

An invitation to meet our sellers...

We have an amazing community of creatives and artists here at Cheerfully Given who love Jesus and are passionate about sharing Him through unique and excellent designs.

So we decided to take the time to introduce them and show off their inspiring products!

Discover how Sarah Hopkins found a real passion for hand lettering Bible verses people could display in their homes, bringing Hope Filled Blessings to all who saw them.

Shall we start with the basics? Who are you and what does daily creative life look like for you?

Hello, I’m Sarah, the artist behind ‘Hope Filled Blessings.’

I live in Nottingham with my husband and have two wonderful daughters. I was a primary school teacher for many years, but now, alongside Hope Filled Blessings, I spend most of my time volunteering for my local church, where I am on the leadership team.

I love anything creative and am so blessed to be able to incorporate my love for art with my love for God's word. Through my artwork, it is such a privilege that people get to be blessed and encouraged by the beautiful truths of God's word being displayed on their walls.

I began hand lettering Bible verses in 2016 when a friend commissioned me to create her a piece with her favourite Bible verse to display in her work studio.

Many commissions followed on from that one, and I discovered a real passion for hand lettering Bible verses that people could display in their homes, bringing hope filled blessings to all who saw them; hence the name of my shop was born!

Lockdown provided me with a little more space to explore the possibility of turning my designs into prints and cards, and I opened my Etsy shop in 2020. I have been very blessed to see my business grow and develop.

I donate 10% of my profits to support the work of Tearfund, which does incredible work for God across the world.

I am passionate about God's Word and sharing the beautiful promises in the Bible with others. When I am working on a Bible verse design, I completely immerse myself in the truths of God's Word and will often find myself praying for the people who will be receiving it.

It is such a tremendous blessing to know that God's living word is being displayed in people's homes for many people to see through my artwork.

It can be quite scary putting your artwork out into the world.

Still, I was very aware that God had a purpose for my pictures and that if I were willing to step out and make them more widely available, He would use them to minister to people and speak into their lives through the beautiful truths of His promises being on display on people's walls.

I have received many messages from people saying how my prints have impacted the lives of both Christians and those who don't yet know Jesus as their Saviour. What a privilege it is to partner with God on this mission!

My drawing and creative space overlook our back garden, so there are plenty of opportunities to watch the birds and enjoy the changing seasons.

I work with watercolour, fine art pens, and my iPad for my designs and hand lettering. I love the precision of the fine pens and the gorgeous colours and beautiful effects that can be achieved with watercolours.

My favourites are the prints and cards featuring the verse Joshua 24:15, 'But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.'

I love painting the sunflowers and enjoy personalising this with family names. It makes a lovely wedding, anniversary or family gift.

I am continually developing my watercolour painting skills.

Learning how to paint bird’s nests was a fun challenge, which I then used to illustrate Psalm 84:3, creating a special gift for a lady for whom this verse had particular meaning. (It was an emotional moment when it was presented to her, a verse that had such powerful significance for her.)

I was blessed to work on three designs for our local Betel community.

They were Bible promises that had been spoken over the guys in the Nottingham community and which are to be displayed in their lovely new building.

I'd never had my work printed so big, so it was very exciting when the A1 prints arrived! I'm looking forward to seeing them framed and on display.

One lady who had to spend long periods in the hospital was gifted a framed copy of Psalm 91:4, 'He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings, you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart”.

She took this to the hospital and had it by her bedside throughout her treatment, a constant reminder of God's promise.