craigdailypress.com

Women at First Christian Church gather weekly to share each other's company and a hobby they enjoy.

They create scrapbooks while socializing and sharing their faith.

"We mainly started because I don't have time at home," Haley Barber said. "I need to set aside time or it doesn't get done."

She has been scrapbooking for 14 years and is working on a memory book from a trip she and her husband took to St. Martin.

She had attended other churches that held scrapbooking meetings and thought it sounded like fun. The group started meeting in August and will continue through the end of the school year. Barber said the group usually includes two to six people and is informal.

"We usually have just a really short five-minute devotion," she said. "It's very low-key."

Teresa Carrick, who has been scrapbooking for nine years, said the group has a religious feel.

"Church is so much a part of our lives that it's a part of this," Carrick said.

But Barber said anyone is welcome to join the group, regardless of religious affiliation.

"It's more for the fellowship than anything," Barber said. "I think of it like the old-time quilting bees where the women got together and just visited. We just laugh and socialize and have fun."

The women often eat dinner at the church, then get to work, sharing craft tools and giving each other suggestions for their projects.

"Sometimes we do get more things done than other times," Carrick said.

Some people come and work on other craft projects.

Kathy Kuehl likes to crochet. She said it's a good way for her to devote that time to her project.

"If you stay home and try to do the project, you've got other things you need to do," Kuehl said.

Barber also says that getting together with other women on Wednesday nights is fun.

"This gives me a night out, too, just for myself," she said.