St Joseph

Mondays with Mary stays up 

Monday to Monday - you can go here

and here for the posts

or click on Mondays with Mary tab above.

I have been working on a few St Joseph shrines

the past few weeks.

I took an old holy card and created a lacy paper border

As you can see the frame has been distressed

and crackled to add to the vintage feel,

but also to act as a foil to the beautiful

lavender, blue and pink hues of this

beautiful St Joseph and Child statue!

On the back of the shrine I added an old

image of a holy card which I scanned and distressed

I covered the back of the shrine with pages

from a very old Bible

I used pearls everywhere to add to the

sensual feeling of the colours and lilies

Although these paper lillies are not

St Joseph's they are the exact same colour

as the lilies held in St Joseph's hand

I added a tiny rosary with a connector

with St Joseph lilies on the back!

I used vintage measuring tape and yard sticks

every where to bring in the carpenter aspect.

I sell very few of these shrines as I am working

on a Mystical Mary Tarot Deck.

It may seem like a strange combination, but

when I see the Saints and Holy Ones, I

also see the Great Stories of Humanity and the

archetypes as set out by Jung, Campbell

and others.

And here is one of my absolute favourites :

St Joseph the Good Father
Here you can see how I emphasizes the carpenter
and worker ethic of St Joseph.

I used many vintage wood pieces
and the shrine is standing on wooden feet.
I also used many miniature tools of the trade.

as well as a child's ABC blocks to
show how in touch this Holy Father
is with his Child and his level of devotion

PritiLisa sent me one of her old vintage
books a while ago.  This was a text book
for masonry workers.  I used the creed
of the masons as the background page in this
shrine.  The rest of the papers are from
old Bibles.

I like to layer in my shrines as I feel that
it all adds to the energy and feel of the
shrine and so increases its emotional
and spiritual value in our understanding.

I had collected these miniature tools and
tool case over the years and had been saving it
for the perfect piece of art - and here it is!

I hope these shrines inspire you almost as much
as they inspire me.  To me they just speak of
such incredible Divine Love for us and our
personal stories as they are echoed in these
Holy Stories.

love to you
Hettienne

St Anthony wearable altar shrine

A beautiful Italian vintage holy card of St Anthony and the baby Jesus - 

you can recognize the style and colouring of this Italian image - 

set between two pieces of glass and soldered with lead free silver solder.

 On the back of the image I placed a piece from a vintage Bible 

and on top of that I cut out a piece of the Litany of St Anthony and

 I also included his holy medal - all of this edged with vintage rickrack trim. 

On top of the small shadowbox I added a piece of vintage enameled jewellery of flowers - these complement the colouring of the holy card and the lilies and roses.

The altar is suspended from an unusual double sided rosary connector. 

The beaded necklace contains fresh water pearls, pink pearls to match the colouring ofthe card,

 swarovski crystal, a piece of a rosary which I brought back from Saintes Maries de la Mer, 

auroraborealis beads and many sterling silver findings and crystal rondelle. 

The necklace also includes very old miniature rosary pieces that I found at an auction.

 Underneath the altar hangs a beautiful rosy cross, a miniature blue enamel medal of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a tiny blue enamel Miraculous Medal that I brought back from Lourdes and one of the very small rosary connectors that I also used in the necklace.

part of a rosary that I brought back from

Saintes Maries de la Mer

tiny Our Father beads found at an auction

Every wearable altar, shrine and pendant carries the signature of the artisan (me) 

engraved on a sterling silver leaf, or on the back of a sterling silver hand cast icon, 

hanging on the necklace.

Each one of my pendants, shrines, paintings and other sacred art are first infused 

with a mixture of holy water which includes holy water from Lourdes and 

water from the grotto of Archangel Michael in Monte Sant'Angelo, 

and then infused with holy relic oil of more than 53 Saints & pure essential oils. 

A mixture of one hundred oils are used, including frankincense, myrrh, spikenard, agarwood and rose. It is also immersed in blessed pink dead sea salts, 

infused with rose petals steeped in holy oil of a third relic of 

St Therese of Lisieux and it is packaged with blessed salts, frankincense and sprinkled with holy water collected form many sacred places in the world. 

So it becomes sort of holy object to be handled with reverence and care.

blessings

Hettienne