An invitation to meet our new sellers...
We’ve recently had several amazing sellers join our fab Cheerfully Given seller community so thought we’d take the time to introduce them and show off their inspiring products.
We’re entering the world of Scripture postcards today with Inez Padiachy and crosscenteredscribbles, hearing about how Inez's combined love of sending letters and her longing for others to hear about Jesus kick-started this great business.
It’s great to speak to you today, Inez, and we can’t wait to hear the story behind crosscenteredscribbles.
Can we start at the beginning? Where did crosscenteredscribbles come from?
I started crosscenteredscribbles on a year out after leaving school. I wanted to create cards that I could send to my friends that started conversations about Jesus!
I love doing graphic design in my spare time so decided to set up a website and create an online store and it just took off from there!
I seem to remember you saying your heart was creating designs that could be sent to anyone, not just Christians?
Yes! My initial idea was to create gospel-focused postcards that could be sent to anyone no matter what age/background etc and it just kept growing into lots of different products!
Do you have any stories of customers being able to share your cards with non-Christians?
One of my favourite stories is from a lady who sent one of our postcards that says ‘continue in prayer’ to a friend of hers who was having a hard time.
The recipient of the postcard wasn’t a Christian but after receiving it prayed to the Lord for help and hung the postcard up in her corridor because she liked it so much.
The lady who bought the postcard sent me a message telling me how long she’s been praying for this friend and to think not only does she have a bible verse on her wall but also the fact it encouraged her to cry out to the Lord was amazing and exactly why I started crosscenteredscribbles!!
That is amazing!!! I love how God can use simple objects to draw people to himself.
My favourite item is the Psalm 1 enamel pin because it’s a great item to put anywhere that is a subtle way of proclaiming faith whilst also looking cute!
Cute and telling a great message, love it! So the question we get so many different answers to: where do you find your inspiration?
I always read my Bible before I start creating, I just feel so full of joy and inspiration after spending time with the Lord it’s like a natural outpouring! I love a lot of the botanical imagery in the Bible, plants, leaves, trees etc!
Presumably it’s quite easy to tie faith and business together with your mission of sharing Gospel-centred items?!
Given all of my products are gospel focused, it’s been such a blessing in terms of trying to keep challenging myself to think creatively about how to make the gospel more accessible and available to as many people as possible through my designs!
What a great way of looking at it. I wonder if we sometimes can get lazy and stop trying to find creative ways to share God’s love story with those around us. That’s a real challenge to me, you’ve issued there.
Thank you so much for joining us, Inez, and sharing the heart of crosscenteredscribbles - and issuing that, perhaps unintentional, challenge.
If you want to find out more about Inez Padiachy and crosscenteredscribbles, you can go to her Cheerfully Given shop here.