20 Orthodox Crafts for Lent and Other Times

With Holy Week approaching here are ways to help our littles.  Looking for a fun craft to add to your church school lesson or perhaps a Lenten retreat or just someway to reinforce the lessons of the season at home? You are not going to believe this post! I gathered my favorite Orthodox crafts, all one place, to make it easier to pick.

  Whoo hoo, let the fun begin!!

If you like what you see and wish to pin it, please be courteous and take from the source post, give credit to these incredible people who inspire us. Photo heavy post after the jump.

Special Tea Cookies

It's tea time again. Recently made these for a special event at our parish. It was an extraordinary event and a beautiful time with our ladies. We are so blessed to have them all.

If you remember I had made these before, sort of, so these were the inspiration . But since it was a tea event, naturally I wanted to incorporate, you guessed it tea.  So I decided I wanted to add my favorite flavors, Lavender and Earl Grey.

There's quite a few pictures that will follow the jump.

Surviving Lent

How to get through Lent? How to get through Holy Week? 

I have been asked these questions before, more than once, in lots of different ways.  It usually eludes to fasting as we near the beginning or end of it and the anticipation of the feast ahead.  

Isn't that Christian life, perseverance and anticipation?  So, the only way to "get through", is to do it joyfully.  Fasting is not a chore or punishment, it is but a tool.  A tool and exercise to reinforce in us perseverance and humility.

So how to get through these periods? Simple, it is the way we are to get through all the rest of the year.

Joyfully with prayer, repeating the prayer of the heart.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me, The Sinner.

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Thinking about Window Boxes: Part Three

Now if you would like to see how I got to this point click on Part One and Part Two. These boxes are just above the front yard flower beds where you can see here what I've planted.  The area below is filled with purples, whites and pinks and lots of green.

I decided to go with a mixture of classic choices and a little hardy succulent to try this year.
It didn't cost a fortune either. Bonus!

Drumroll please...

Petunias

Moss Rose (a trailing annual)

Blue Spruce Sedum ( a trailing perennial)

When thinking about it, I figured it would be nice if there was something that could be the foundation plant and that would possibly grow large and beautiful over the years, esp, since the growing season here is so short. It will also produce sweet yellow flowers late in summer to help us into the fall season.
Best thing about the above choices, drought resistance. Resistance is not futile. Couldn't resist.

Lenten Macrame Bracelet

40 Days-40 Days Lenten Recipes and Crafts!



Here is a fun and satisfying craft. Knotting and macrame is coming back to the scene, I remember my Mom completing many hanging planters.  Going to have to look and see if she still has any for the porch? I was introduced to this at a retreat last year and it can be addictive. Loving the adjustable close.



Here is one I am working on. I use a clipboard to stabilize it and make it portable. The instructions to make your own can be found in the following link,
found here.

Look at how pretty these are below. They are made with a thicker grade thread, than I am using left. Recently have been wearing the purple one and gave the others as gifts.

21 Favorite Ideas to Decorate Easter Eggs

40 Days-40 Lenten Recipes (and more)

So with Easter/Pascha approaching, a girl's thoughts turn to... the eggs of course.
It can't be recipes and food all the time.

I started thinking about all the gorgeous egg tutorials I've seen on Pinterest.

So I thought I'd share some of my favorites and some history I learned, along the way.

Enjoy and then let's get cracking!

Sorry couldn't resist.

Chocolate Fig Tarts with Almond Date Crusts

40 Days-40 Days of Lenten Recipes

This has become my all-time favorite dessert. It's Lenten, Paleo (depending on ingredients) and Vegan. The flavors of this tart blend perfectly together, whether you want it sweeter with the fruit topping or a bit more savory with almond.  The filling is rich and almost decadent-just heavenly!

I think even in non-Lenten times, this is an awesome healthy sweet treat.  Which means it's a treat, don't think just because healthy ingredients are used you can exist on this and eat it everyday? 

It's called balance, people, balance!

Lenten Spring Mantle Decor

40 Days-40 Days of Lenten Recipes (and Crafts)

Need to share and send a shout out to two of my favorite blogs!

First let me thank Christina for the sweet Lamb chatterboxes. I made a few of them and put them in a basket in our church narthex for the kids to take home as a family activity. They were snatched up pretty quickly and enjoyed!  If you haven't seen these, so adorable and a great way to open some sweet discussions with the little people.

Now I wish to thank Kristi from I Should Be Mopping the Floor for posting a free Printable.

 It is so pretty and exactly what I wanted for our Lenten Mantle. 

You can see it below. 

Instead of framing it, although it would look very nice this way, I decided to do something else.

I took the 8x10 and had it blown up to 12x16, it didn't cost much as I had a coupon etc... 

Anyway, once I brought it home, used the old modpodge then a little white paint to blend in the edges. The white paper it was on was significantly bluer than my canvas. Go figure?

When I initially put it up it looked lovely but I felt it was still missing something. I played around with the vases and other things on the mantle. Then, I figured out what was missing for me. So, I added the yellow flowers to match the wall color and bring in the daffodils. I tried to match Kristi's pretty flower design. What do you think?

Too much? or Good Match?

Kristi, I just LOVE it!

Thanks!

Here's the full mantle view.

I can't wait for the Forsythia to be in bloom, maybe should get daisies next?

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I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Icon Letter Craft

40 Days-40 Days of Lenten Recipes (and Crafts!)

Now for something a bit different, being that it is the Sunday of Orthodoxy. I had hoped in this 40 days series to not only have recipes, but also craft ideas. This is a special craft to us and one of our favorites.  

An Icon Letter!

This idea came to me while looking at all the wonderful family photo letters people have made on Pinterest. It popped into my head and I ran with it. We have made these for baptisms for some special little ones. But as I think about it, it would make a great craft for church school and retreats. It can be a wonderful way to learn about icons and each child's Saint. 

The process requires downloading pictures of your icons and printing them out. We used regular printer paper and it worked just fine. I made duplicates on my processing page and made them different sizes.  Then print them out, cut them out and go to town with the mod podge.  We do both sides and once it's all dry, glue a small hanger bracket to the back. It is a fun activity, where we spend some time together and have some nice talks about the Saints and Icons too! 

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40 Days-40 Lenten Recipes: The Recap

Last year, I had a challenge for myself of not only keeping the fast, but also blogging daily for 40 days of recipes, to help share the day.  It was a challenge, I will admit, not being a daily blogger, it was tough! When I mean tough, think how exhausted Julie Powell of "Julie and Julia" was, lying on the couch. She worked, she cooked, she blogged. For me, add trying to make church services, a child and a few other important demands on my time.

Kudos to all those who post daily. You are all superwomen! For me, I am so excited that this year there is help on the horizon. The help is that of my beautiful and sweet guest writers, who will be with us to share the Lenten day. Not only recipes will be shared this year, but also Lenten crafts, activities and family time.  The purpose of this series, is not about the food, it's about helping make it easier to focus on the real things we need to focus on.  If you are new to fasting, walk before you run. If wish to join us, there is still time. Email me at preseleni(at)gmail(dot)com, to share some ways to make help this be a blessed Lenten season. Kali Sarakosti!

The remainder of this post is photo heavy, be prepared.

It will link to all 40 recipes of Lent 2013, to see recipe/posting, click on the name of the recipe.
If you like what you see, please leave a comment, don't be shy, I love reading them.

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Would you like to Guest Post for 40 Days-40 Lenten Recipes 2014 Challenge?

Last year I challenged myself to complete posting daily and offer to you all, 40 recipes for Lent.  

My hope was that it would help that ever present question, "what are we going to eat?" and I am always trying to answer that question. In fact, it is the question that led me to discover blogs in first place. Admittedly this season always brings with it, a sense of excitement and renewal. I am looking forward to Lent this year and returning to cleaner whole eating.  This year's lenten offering to you all, will focus on easy and healthy recipes and few other surprises.

Drum roll...offering 5 guest post openings . 
Would you like to be that guest?

If you would like to be a guest, please email me.  To be considered, please submit either a tutorial or recipe with at least one clear picture of the finished food item or activity.  If submitting a recipe it must be vegetarian or vegan to be considered. 

40 days Recap will be posted soon!
So send me an email and come over to Share the Day!

How to Paint a Bench Ombre-Style

I picked up this bench last summer at a yard sale. 

End of the day and $20, yippee!

By now you know my affinty for Anthropologie.

I even pinned an inspiration.

I had great plans, I wanted to ombre it!

It sat for a long, long time on our very sad front porch, 

looking sorely out of place.

So many things had to take priority over it.

But finally, huge big grin. 

I had 2 hours, yes, I said it, 2 hours to myself!

I had 3 spray cans and 2 hours.

I washed it, got all the little spider babies out of it.(ick)

Sanded it a bit, I admit, should of sanded it more.

But I couldn't wait to get to the fun part.

I sprayed the white parts first, back top and bottom.

Using primer/spray mix, worked great! Easy-peasy.

Then next color, mid-blue, on the middle sections.

Last the dark blue on front middle.

To get more of the effect I would go over the transition parts with each color,

while lifting the spray can away from the piece, while spraying.

I wanted the darkest section at the very front.

Finished it with spray sealer, after it dried in the sun.

Turned out exactly as I pictured it!

Not often that happens, at least in my world.

I had a little left in the cans and decided to paint this cute pot to go with it.

Also moved some pillows from indoor to outdoor.

The pillows were sprayed with outdoor fabric protector.

Pretty, pretty, happy, happy.

Fall here we come!

How is your front porch starting to "fall" together?

Don't you love how the color deepens and changes with the light.

Smiling wide, baby, Smiling wide.

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Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Jennifer Rizzo , Shabby Creek Cottage, I Gotta Create

Fleece Crochet

Ok, I love fleece , the way it feels, it brings back a child comfort.

Making fleece blankets is so easy, esp. for kids.

We've made scarves, blankets, shawls this winter.

So sometimes we knot, above we knotted it short on one side, to make it look like a bow tie.

Sometimes we weave it, it's like crocheting it.

This here is the other side of shawl.

I learned it here, Lynn you are a genius!

And sometimes I fringe it.

Definitely easy.

Chunky fringe, thin long fringe, depends?

For a family picture this past Christmas, 

I made green scarves for the guys and the patterned one for the girls in the tribe.

Not perfect, but didn't Voltaire say, "Perfect is the enemy of the good."

There's no Nirvana fallacy in this house.

Lots of fun!

I think I'm going to get some Valentine fleece, who couldn't use a heart scarf?

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Paper Rose Christmas Wreath

Wanted to make a paper rose wreath for our beautiful teen niece.

This isn't it, but it's the starting point.

This wreath was used as a centerpiece for a baptism.

It was made with a wreath form inside.

I then had wrapped different gift-wrap paper from our baby shower inside a layer of tulle. 

Finished it off with blue ribbons and teddy bears. 

Each centerpiece was special.

They were on the tables surrounding hurricane lamps.

It really looked beautiful.  

So I started by deconstructing the centerpiece.

You can see it in the picture below in the back.

I wanted to make paper roses and decided coffee filters were the way to go.

So I searched for some tutorials/patterns.

I found the exactly what I was looking for here. 

Make and make and make.

Glue and glue and glue.

To finish it, 

added a purple sparkled pointsetta 

and a beautiful matching peacock.

These pictures are with different flash settings, I really like the glow in this one, but the detail of the  flower  and peacock in the one below. Which one do you prefer?

She loved it!

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Not just Purses.

You might remember I recently finished a little project for two important somebodies.  

I'm currently working on a few more for a couple more somebodies special. 

Christmas is coming after all.

I thought I would share with you how to make the sweet little squares,

 to me they look like little byzantine crosses.

It's an old pattern. 

Handed down from our Mom.

So, it is very dear to me and one of my faves.

Love you Mom.

*****

You start with a chain of 6 or 8 (depending on how big your want the center to be)

and join it into a ring.

Chain 4, then triple crochet into the ring.

Repeat three more times.

Chain 5 then start triple crochet , 

join with slip stitch to center and repeat.

When completed fourth set of four triples, 

join last with another slip stitch to the first and then fasten off.

*****

I decided to make more so that my amazing cousin,

 could have something to match her girls.

So I blocked a scarf.

Then stitched them together.

Then added a simple border of single crochet.

I loved the result, mistakes and all.

 I hope she does too!

Here they all are together.

What do you think?

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Hair Decor

I found this beautiful ring and bought it for my niece.

It's a little too big for her to really wear as a ring, so I decided to make it into a ponytail holder.

So I opened my sewing box and removed the ring part, snip snip.

Added some thread to anchor the pony elastic.

This was harder than I thought.

I actually had to cut a needle short enough to thread it through as it was on an angle.

Initially meant to bend the needle but it snapped off and so... I went with it.

Added pony elastic.

Here it is finished.

Something to make her smile because she makes us smile so much.

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Angry Bird Party Slingshot

Making the slingshot, not as difficult or as costly, as I had initially thought it might be.

Used 2 boxes (6 tension elastic exercise bands) found for $5 each box and had 2 bungee cords and last used a mesh laundry bag from the dollar store for the middle.

Wrapped bungee cords around the trees, tied double bands to bungee cord then to red band, which was in turn tied to laundry bag.  Made two holes on each side so it made a small basket/cradle for the birds.

This was fun for young and old.

It also turned out to be fun exercise, 

pulling the tension on the slingshot and of course going and gathering up the birds and pigs after complete annihilation was achieved and then setting up for another round.
You look over here to meet the rest of the birds and pigs.

This was so much fun.  

Kids had a great time, and we did it again for our church youth group. 

It's easy to set up for us now, 

and when the weather is good, we have taken it out several times to play. 

It's a great way for some family fun and to get the kids off the electronic game. 

Another plus was we were able to incorporate some physics/critical thinking discussion into it and no one was the wiser (shhh!) We were just having fun-right??

Do I hear a cheer for fresh air!

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Easy flag banner

Flag banners are all the rage, for our most recent celebration, 
I wanted to add some to the backyard tree line.  Something fun, something colorful, something cheap, something not too time-consuming.  

Have I mentioned before my sewing skills are minimal, I'm sure I have.  
It's on my to-do list.  

I've made fabric banners in past, 
I will admit last one was made with stitching glue, 

yes, stitching glue and proud of it!

It worked just right.

  

I use that flag banner on almost every family celebration and sometimes just for fun.

Anyway, back to this years decorations, needed something not time or cost consuming, after looking at some options decided on my materials.  

Scissors, hole puncher, paper cutters,
 twine from hardware store and colorful cardstock paper.  

First I measured the trees the easiest way I could, 

I tied one end of twine to one side and strung it across to the other tree.  

Cut the twine.  
I cut the cardstock into triangles as large as possible and making two on each sheet. 

It went pretty fast.

Then using hole puncher, punched two large holes on each and passed twine through each. Day of event we strung them up and spaced the flags apart, placed a paperclip so they wouldn't twirl or move side to side.  They turned out pretty good.  Added the color needed,  for under $8.

Then while I strung them and when it was time to take down and then re-string for a later occasion, used a piece of cardboard to wind it up and keep it from tangling.

The birds and pigs made more of the decorations, as well as the Birdy Bags and the Birthday water and the Toothpicks.

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Shared here.