Books we love!

I don’t know about you, but I almost always get my kids books for Christmas and birthdays. Plastic toys certainly have their place in my home (why does it seem like that place is always under the couch?!), but I never regret giving books!

Recently I read the newest book by Melinda Johnson, The Barn and the Book. What a sweet story! (I’m not going to lie, I teared up at one part…but you’ll have to read it yourself to find out why!) The book is a sequel to Shepherding Sam, and while they’re both chapter books, they’re meant for young readers (I think even 3-5 year olds would enjoy hearing them read aloud). The spaced out print and engaging story makes it feel like the book flies by— always encouraging for little ones who are just adventuring into the world of chapter books.

Disclaimer: My 3 year old is definitely NOT reading herself a chapter book— she just enjoys the pictures in the book. And cat snuggles.

Shepherding Sam and The Barn and the Book both center on a group of children whose parents take them to visit a nearby monastery, particularly Sam, a boy who isn’t thrilled about these visits and doesn’t fit in well with the other children. He finds a buddy in Saucer, a relentlessly cheerful Corgi at the monastery who adopts Sam as his personal project. I particularly liked the relatable cast of characters— from the bossy girl who always knows what the Right Thing is, to the sweet and uncertain Sister Anna who has the (she thinks) unfortunate, and definitely challenging, task of corralling these children in Sunday School class.

This set would be a perfect St. Nicholas Day gift for a child!

I especially liked that while the setting is clearly Orthodox, the storyline itself feels like a story, not like a “lesson” that you’re supposed to be learning. I think that is so important for the children growing up Orthodox in America right now— to have resources around them showing the everyday lives of other Orthodox children, where Orthodoxy isn’t necessarily the main focus, just the background of the story, just like them! Often, being the only Orthodox kid in school or a friend group can make it feel like there just aren’t many other kids out there like you (or at least that was how I felt at a school where there was only 1 other Orthodox family). Reading about kids whose parents bring them to monasteries (like mine did) and celebrate the holidays differently than other churches (midnight services, anyone?) is refreshing and encouraging! Both of these books would be a sweet gift for Christmas or St. Nicholas day, and can be found here (just $20 for both of them!): https://store.ancientfaith.com/childrens-fiction

Some of our other favorites are these little books by Potamis Publishing: http://orthodoxchildrensbooks.com/eng/

The Story of You by the Orthodox Children’s Press (my little girl will ask me to read “the book about me!”) and right now there’s a free shipping promotion!: https://www.tocpstore.com/product/the-story-of-you

So many good board books for little ones (my daughter particularly likes “What Do You See At Liturgy”): https://store.ancientfaith.com/toddler-books/

We sure are blessed to have so many great resources for our kids these days!!

Pricing your work and buying intentionally

Good morning, friends! I’m taking a moment while my little girl sits beside me and plays with noodles, beads, play dough, and pipe cleaners to talk a little bit about the difficulties and importance of pricing your work, and why handmade goods sometimes cost more than the average Amazon search results. It’s the middle of November, and if you’re anything like me, gifts for Christmas are on your mind (and possibly already tucked away in the corners of your closet)! We have been adding items to the Marketplace and our Shop to help you find Christmas gifts for a variety of people on your list, and with everything from coloring books to baby quilts to soaps to mugs available, I want to address the most common question we get from our Marketplace vendors— how do I price this so that it doesn’t have sticker shock, but I will still get paid for the time and materials this took?

Pricing these handmade, completely unique princess flip dolls was a challenge (and the price will be going up soon, shhh!)

The most expensive item in the Marketplace at the moment are the cross-themed baby quilts, and the woman who made them typed up a break-down of the costs, time, and pricing. Even just a glance at this can tell you— the price of $75 which she chose for most of her quilts basically just pays for materials. She wanted to price them low enough to, in her words, “be a blessing to those who want a handmade quilt.” We work with the nicest people, right??

Such attention to detail!

Why Do Quilts Cost So Much?

Costs for making a 44” x 44” Baby Quilt.  More elaborate designs take longer to sew and assemble.  (In real time, it generally take me about 1-3 weeks to complete a baby quilt, depending on difficulty level.  This doesn’t include time and supplies needed for sewing machine maintenance.)

I.  Materials for a Baby Quilt include:

Fabric for the top—2 yds @$13/yd = $26

Fabric for the backing—2 yds @$13/yd = $26

Batting—2 yds @$13/yd = $26

Fabric for the binding—1/4 yd @$13/yd = $3.25

Thread—1/2 spool @$6.50/spool = $3.25

Cost of Materials = $84.50

II.  Making the Quilt Top includes: 

1. Choosing the quilt design & fabric, 

2. Washing, drying, ironing & cutting the fabric, 

3. Sewing into blocks, rows & combining all, ironing seams in between,  

4. Sewing on borders

Cost of Making the Quilt Top @17 hours @$10/hr = $170

I just love these colors together!

III.  Assembling the Quilt Sandwich includes:

1. Cutting the backing fabric,

2. Cutting the batting,

3. Layering the backing, batting and quilt top,

4. Pinning the three layers together,

5. Quilting the 3 Layers on Sewing Machine: 

(Charged by square inch in a simple, all-over design)

1,936 sq. in. x $0.015 = $29.04

Cost of Assembling the Quilt Sandwich  @6 hours @$10/hr  + the Quilting Charge = $89.04

IV.  Finishing the Quilt includes:

1. Trimming the edges of the quilt, 

2. Measuring the fabric needed for binding,

3. Cutting the binding fabric,

4. Sewing the binding fabric into strips,

5. Ironing the binding fabric,

6. Pinning the binding to the quilt sandwich,

7. Sewing the binding to the quilt sandwich,

8. Tying off remaining threads,

9. Making & sewing a Name Patch &/or hanging sleeve on the back of the quilt. (Optional)

Check out this unique Jerusalem cross design!

Cost of Finishing the Quilt @4 hours @$10/hr = $40

Total Time of Labor for Baby Quilt Assembly = @27 hours

Total Cost of Baby Quilt Assembly = @$383.54

*If my labor is my gift to you, but I include materials and the $0.015 charge per square inch, the cost comes down to $113.54.  Finding materials on sale also can help bring the price down, but good quality fabric is going to cost more than cheap, thin cotton. Also, this is not taking into account the time it takes to fix problems with the machine, wash and dry the fabric and finished quilts, and the upfront costs of a sewing machine, iron, etc.

The princess flip dolls are similar— the woman who makes them said she averages 12 hours of work per doll. Y’all, she is making way under minimum wage for these. I just want you to know that there is a reason for the pricing of the original or made-to-order items, and really the price should be much higher! And this isn’t even taking into account the benefits like significantly less packaging waste, incredible care and attention to detail, and the unique, high quality items lasting for years (generations!).

The sweetest St. Elizabeth the New Martyr!

With products like our Royal Saints coloring book, the Orthodox Children’s Calendar, or art prints, etc, the pricing is different. On one hand, you have to consider the amount of time each product took to create— for instance, each drawing for the coloring book took 5-7 hours. Each painting for the calendar took 20-30 hours, and total the calendar probably took more like 450 hours total. For real. PLUS the cost of printing the actual product! Generally speaking, artists price work like this by taking the cost of production and multiplying it by 3 (possibly 4 for items like the calendar that require vast amounts of time to create) to get retail pricing (for instance, a coloring book that costs $5 to print would be priced at $15.) That gives you room to offer wholesale discounts and have a sale every now and then, while still keeping prices reasonable.

In addition, when you choose to spend your money with small businesses and makers, your money is going straight to other families. There’s no money being lost to advertising or CEO’s exorbitant salaries. The people you are supporting are active members of their churches, parents, and students, often putting their income towards the same things you most likely do— kids’ expenses (so many expenses, AMIRIGHT?!), traveling to visit family for the holidays, and tithing to their churches. Not to mention, the genuine happy dances every time someone places an order!

So all that to say THANK YOU for supporting the small businesses and artists who work hard to share their light and love with the world. We try our best to price things fairly and reasonably, and the money that you choose to spend in the Marketplace or Shop is going right to the people you would probably be friends with in real life (because they are all SO NICE!).

www.drawneardesigns.com

Lord's Prayer Printables + How to Teach Prayer

How is your family prayer routine going at home?

Ours is FINALLY showing some sort of form and the kids are somewhat focused…sometimes. But, honestly, I’ll take it as a victory because a few month ago, my kids were rolling on the floor and trying to run out of the room pretty much every night of evening prayers. I can say it’s by the grace of God and our beautiful church that got us where we are today with our prayer rule.

Our evening prayer routine finally started to click in our kid’s minds when they were able to realize that the prayers we are saying each night are prayers found in our services. And I truly believe that God allowed them to make a connection cause they were an unruly bunch - ha! Below are a few tips that work with our family, and some that I’ve gleaned from other mom’s in our community.

1. Choose your battles. This one was the most difficult for me. My husband and I wanted to pray every night as a family, but the kids saw it as a time to goof off while mom and dad were pre-occupied. We didn’t want to aggressively force them to pray, and give them a negative association with prayer time. So we chose to not fight the “You have to pray NOW” battle. Instead, we were diligent in implementing our rules that the kids have to be quiet and respectful, and near us while we’re praying. Kids under 2, we let sit at our feet and read or sometimes quietly play. It took 2 years, but hey, here we are. Did I mention that our oldest child is a bit stubborn? - ha!

2. Pay Attention. I think this is jut basic parenting, but if we’re sensing that the kid’s can’t handle a lot of prayers on a particular night (i.e: they’re especially rambunctious, tired, or just low on motivation), we let the kids pick one prayer and then say the Lord’s Prayer. We are so excited to grow our prayer time as our kids grow, but right now, we just do what our family can.

3. Let them Choose. We let our kids choose a prayer as part of our rule each night. This is a great time to suggest some of the Memory Exercises from our Orthodox Children’s Calendar, or some of the Liturgical Hymns of the season. This way the kids are actively participating. It also gives us as parents the opportunity to teach our kids new church hymns (Before Thy Cross is STILL being requested at prayer time over here) which they can have reinforced later as they attend services.

4. Let them Discover. How cool is it the first time your kid recognizes a hymn from your prayers at home, while they’re in church? We try to gently guide our kids into the realization that what we’re praying at home mimics the church services. We may mention that we’re saying a particular hymn during our prayers because it’s a particular church feast. However, in church, we like to let the kids themselves make the connection. Sometimes, I’ll ask my 3 yr old, “Have you heard this song before?” or I’ll say, “Do we know this song?”. It’s a joy to see her face light up as she puts the two together in her mind. She’s started making the connections more frequently without my assistance now, and it’s been so edifying for both of us.

What is your family prayer time like?

What habits or resources have been helpful for your family?

What is prayer time like with grade schoolers or teenagers?

Leave your answers in the comments below!

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We hope your prayer time as a family is blessed this month! Please enjoy this free writing-exercise for early grade schoolers and pre-k kids. Just click the link below to download and your kids can practice writing and reciting the Lord’s Prayer.

DOWNLOAD GRADE SCHOOL PRINTABLE HERE

DOWNLOAD PRE-K PRINTABLE HERE

Royal Saints - A Coloring Book

    Perhaps we can look to Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr, who lived a royal life through and through: the daughter of Princess Alice of Britain, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and ultimately Grand Duchess of Russia. From the beginning, her personal matters were very public, and along with the gowns and jewels came a very real sense of moral responsibility. Ultimately the glamour of her life abruptly ended with the assassination of her husband, the Grand Duke Sergei. By choice, she had her valuables sold and given to the poor. Giving up ball gowns for a monastic habit, she founded a monastery and hospital and, while she still had her royal title, freely gave up all of the benefits in return for a life of prayer and ministry. The Bolshevik’s ultimately took her earthly title by throwing her and the nun Barbara into a mine-shaft. The light of Christ burned on as the local villagers heard her singing hymns hours after being thrown in that wretched hole. She may have left royal life, but she never left the court of our Lord. Researching a story like hers, I think, “This is what I want my children to imitate.”

The style:

    When the three of us met to discuss style, we looked at an assortment of artistic imagery of saints. Orthodox icons are always a centerpiece in terms of guidance and church teaching, but we didn’t adhere to the exact line work or inverse perspective that icons require… Marian painstakingly drew every saint included in the coloring book with incredible detail and precision. The saints are shown during the royal season of their life; Some look similar to icons, while others are taken from actual photographs of the saints. The borders were drawn by me, and I used a style I would describe as “modern folk art.” Each border tells a story with plants and flowers from the region, hobbies of the saint, or important pieces from their life. As a team, we talked a lot about how we wanted this coloring book to be a tool for parents and a source of discovery for children. The pages are perforated so the saints and their stories can be torn out and shared.

In writing the saints' lives, we decided to go with a style of language that would read like a story for young children. Dialogue was included in certain instances to give the reader a sense of each saint’s own voice and spirit. The stories read more like a work of literature with a definite sequence over the course of the saints' lives. The narrative style lends itself better to early literacy skills that are appropriate for many young children. Caroline integrated the two artistic styles with manuscript lettering and made the pages flow seamlessly from one saint to the next. The arrangement of each page shows an ebb and flow from the image of the saint to the story of his or her life.

What we love:

    The impetus behind the work we do at Draw Near Designs is almost always multifaceted. The guiding questions are usually: Is it beautiful? Is it educational? Would we buy this for our own children? With these guidelines, the coloring book has turned into something that can be used in multiple ways. I envision it as a homeschool resource during our morning readings and as an engaging coloring sheet later in the day. Many of the saints we chose were married to one another or somehow related (eg. Abigail and David, Emperor Justinian and Queen Theodora, The Romanov family and St. Elizabeth). There’s a real opportunity for making connections, inferences, and predictions from one story to another.

Take a look at the drawings, read the stories, and notice the humanity that is woven throughout this coloring book. These were real people who lived lives as kings, queens, and emperors… but they also extended their roles as leaders beyond earthly barriers into saintly examples. I pray that through their lives, my children might learn to separate the wheat from the chaff in our modern culture of all that glitter and shines, and notice Godly virtues that allow us to glow from the inside out.

Welcome "The Artful Educator" to the Marketplace!

If you all haven't already seen The Artful Educator online (or in person!), we are delighted to introduce you to this phenomenal wife, mother, entrepreneur, and Orthodox Christian!

By day, Kim Votruba-Matook is a mild-mannered mama and Director of Content & Branding for a community-building start-up. When she hears the call of a curious kiddo or senses the need for creative consult, she becomes The Artful Educator (not-so-coincidently the name of the graphic design company she founded in 2015)! Fueled by black tea, chai lattes and macaroni and cheese, she spends all the time she can creating and sharing educational art to inspire a love for learning wherever she goes. She continues to hone her superpowers of transforming two tiny humans into responsible global citizens as well as her ideas into delightful and artful educational tools. And when she can, she has dance parties in her kitchen because she knows every moment matters and can (and should!) elicit joy.

Kim's bright and bold educational art can be seen at www.theartfuleducator.com.

We asked her to explain a bit about the mission behind her business, and here's what she shared: 

"The Artful Educator’s mission is to help families engage in learning at every opportunity. Everything in this world has inherent beauty and a story; they can inspire a meaningful conversation with the children that you cherish.

 Our philosophy is simple:

1. The (limited) time we have with our children should be valuable, meaningful and fun for all involved.

 2. Educational opportunities are everywhere. Sometimes we need help finding them. 

The Artful Educator™ sets out to solve a challenge I faced as a life-long learner becoming a mom. When my son was a newborn, I started looking for educational nursery decor and all I found was the standard “A is for apple” items. I didn’t really understand why a letter was being reduced to a single item. Life is so beautiful and complex, why couldn’t I share that in a positive way with my newborn son through art? Since I couldn’t find what I was looking for, I created it. 

My products encourage a world of wonder through art infused with educational content that is easy to incorporate into a daily routine. It’s called the Artful Alphabet™.

The Artful Alphabet™ is exactly that. All the letters of the alphabet are designed as a mosaic of objects that start with that letter (A includes asparagus, Alabama, ant, ampersand, etc.). Then all those letter-specific items are filled in with a color that also starts with that letter (A in Aqua, B in Burnt Sienna, C in Chartreuse, etc.). So, from far away, you see an alphabet letter. Then when you zoom in, you see the one to three dozen items that form the letter and can inspire educational conversations. It’s educational on myriad levels; families can engage with the art at whatever level their children are ready to enjoy.

The objects within each letter prompt discussions about geography, nutrition, the animal kingdom, sports and activities, among many more topics, totaling 675 points of conversations at a glance. The Artful Alphabet™ currently takes the form of flashcards, placemats, wall art, drawstring bags, and note cards (with inspirational quotes!) to help adults and kids truly be surrounded by educational opportunities. 

Through The Artful Alphabet™ (my original art), educational opportunities in everyday life are illuminated and showcased as meaningful points for conversation. Small things – from apricots to marbles to zippers – can and should give us pause in our busy days and bring the focus back to our relationships with the present moment, the world we live within, and each other. I also want my art to serve as an affirmation that everyone has a unique perspective and story to tell. Everyone, regardless of age, should be confident that their experience and connection with the world is enough and absolutely worth sharing, especially with the next generation. It is paramount that families authentically connect with eye contact, conversation and shared experience. Art and education can inspire this; they can provide myriad perspectives and interpretations, while sparking storytelling, curiosity, and wonder for the world."

Anyone balancing parenting and working knows the balancing act it can be, not to mention owning and running your own small business (trust us, sometimes it's a madhouse!). We asked Kim to share a struggle she faces as a mother and entrepreneur, and what her favorite part of it is. 

Her biggest challenge: "Being kind to myself. There are definitely days when I work hard on and in my business and I don’t make a sale. I struggle with negative talk on those (and most days) because I always think there is something more I could be doing for my business and as a mom. That was actually the inspiration for my quote cards! I needed something to counter all the negative talk in my head so I found encouraging quotes for every letter of the alphabet and printed them! I use them any time I need a boost! Building a business takes time; I need to be patient with myself, pray more for guidance, and focus on the joy I feel when talking about my passion for empowering families to learn and connect together through educational art!"

And the best part? "Freedom and flexibility with my time. While I am certainly not making as much money as I was when I had a full time job, working part-time, freelancing AND growing The Artful Educator may sound more complicated and busier, but the huge difference is I CHOOSE when to work. That is am amazing feeling! This means the schedule I set for the day is more likely to be completed because I am in control of it (through God’s will, of course!) Waking up and knowing that I can spend time with my kids without always needing to rush out the door is so so so wonderful. Then I can work when I need to, juggle what I need to, and then know I’ll have time to play, read and cook with my two littles (who are 4 and 2 by the way!) is amazing. My life feels joyfully full and I am happy. This happiness emanates and positively connects with my husband and kids and that joy exponentially increases. Of course we have our off days, but ultimately being a mompreneur has been a constant lesson in time management and priority ranking. What is most important is my family, my faith, and my well-being. This new flexibility in time has helped me re-center my life to make sure these three foci are always at the center of my world." 

Welcome Kim and the Artful Educator to the Draw Near Designs Marketplace! 

Welcome "Taste and See Studio" to the Marketplace!

We are delighted to share a new vendor in the Draw Near Designs Marketplace: Taste and See Studio!

Based in Wilmore, KY, Taste and See Studio is run by Geoff Whiteman, a member of St. Athanasius Orthodox Church who is a mission specialist with OCMC, responsible for missionary care. Geoff and his wife, Kriss, also lead marriage enrichment workshops and raise their son, Patrick. Geoff and Kriss do incredibly impactful work, and we are grateful for the opportunity to help support them through their participation in the Marketplace! Please take a moment to check out his website and learn more about his unique ministry to missionaries at http://www.resilientmissionary.org/. 

Besides balancing work and family, Geoff also creates beautiful prayer ropes that he offers in his Etsy shop, Taste and See Studio (https://www.etsy.com/shop/tasteandseestudio). Several varieties of his prayer ropes will be available in the Draw Near Designs Marketplace! We are especially excited about the adjustable child-size prayer ropes, and matching adult size adjustable prayer ropes. In addition to being handmade with prayer and love, these prayer ropes feature a beautiful olive wood cross from Jerusalem. What a treasure, and a perfect Father's Day present! 

Our favorite aspect of the Draw Near Designs Marketplace is the chance to support other Orthodox Christians' small businesses, and we are thankful to all the individuals who choose to shop in the Draw Near Designs Marketplace for making this possible!

"Old Calendar" Orthodox Children's Calendar 2019- FULLY FUNDED!

The "Old Calendar" Orthodox Children's Calendar for 2019 is fully funded!!!

From April 10-May 10, Draw Near Designs hosted a crowdfunding campaign to fund the printing of a special edition of the 2019 Orthodox Children's Calendar with Old Calendar (Julian Calendar) dates. We are delighted and overwhelmed with gratitude to share that through the support of Orthodox Christians from all over the country (and Canada too!), the campaign was FULLY FUNDED! Some people took advantage of the opportunity to add a saint of their choosing to the calendar, some got to pre-order their calendars at a discount, and others chose to generously donate to the project. We truly felt honored to have the support of so many! 

Thank you to EVERYONE who pre-ordered, donated, and helped spread the word about this project. Last year we had frequently questions about an "Old Calendar" version of the Orthodox Children's Calendar, and we are so pleased that this year we will be able to say make that available. 

Crowd-funding UPDATE

 

Hello all! (Abigail here) I hope everyone has had a blessed Bright week and is still enjoying the Paschal season! We are still singing Christ is Risen as loud as we can in our house, and enjoying all the meats!

In Draw Near Designs news, we are 12 days into our (30 day) Old Calendar Crowd funding campaign! We have raised $605 of our $3,338 goal. (18% funded). We have 18 days left and 82% of our goal to be raised.

This project was brought to us again and again by people who follow the "Old Calendar" (Julian calendar) to PLEASE make another version of the Orthodox Children's Calendar better suited to their family's' needs. 

It was clear this was something important to the folks writing us and we wanted to give this new sprout of the calendar business a healthy start. For us, the most responsible avenue was to do another crowd funding campaign and find out if there were enough "backers" to support this new venture. There are 18 days left to help decide the answer to that question!

So just to revisit, here are the ways a person can back this project:

1.) Pre-order the calendar ($25)

2.) Pick tour saint and add it to the calendar ($80, and your saint will appear on the old calendar and new calendar version).

3.) Make a donation (you entire donation will go towards this project).

All people who pre-order will be the VERY FIRST to receive the calendar once it's ready to ship!

If we do not meet our goal by May 10th, all backers will be refunded for their purchases. Want this project to get funded?! SPREAD THE NEWS:

-post a link to our site on your social media pages

-tell your friends that are Old Calendar to order during this window!

-order a copy for yourself, your friends' Christmas presents, Godchildren, etc!

Well, I'm off to put the babes to sleep! Thanks for participating in this process with us! Wishing you a blessed week!

FREE PRINTABLE - Pascha Cards

Hello Everyone!

I hope you're all having a great Holy Week thus far. I know personally, ours has been exhausting already and we haven't even gotten into the thick of it yet... But that's what I love about Holy Week! It's so tough and you're working so hard to prepare your house/kids/mind/spirit/church/everything for Pascha! Then the feast comes and it was all totally worth it and it's just a teeny tiny glimpse of what our Royal Banquet will be like in heaven. I was just thinking today about how awesome this opportunity is. To get to live out the resurrection each year and fast and push ourselves spiritually is such a beautiful blessing from the church. It also dawned on me this morning as well that we get the opportunity to adjust our fasting and Holy Week practices each year. So maybe after Holy Week this year, we look back and say, "That was a little too much for the kids." or "Maybe we didn't need THAT much food for Bright Week..", or "I felt like I was so distracted by my phone/tv/work this past Holy Week." These are some things I have found myself saying in Bright Weeks past. 

Well, Lord willing, next year we have the opportunity to do it all again and focus more on what's important. I try to be graceful to myself as I think about what I would have done differently each year, but also earnestly ponder adjustments for next year to make Lent more meaningful for our family. What a blessing from the fathers to look the death and resurrection of our Lord in the eye each year, and to ponder the final judgement, but then have the freedom and grace to grow even more in the next Lenten season. It's like annual practice for the Last Judgement. I know, I know, that's the point. But today, I got to think on it for a bit and mull over the beauty of it for about 3 whole minutes before being called away by crazy toddlers. 

Wishing you all a blessed Holy Week! Here are some Pascha cards that I made for our kiddos to color and decorate. If you like the illustrations, they are from our Pascha to Pentecost coloring book available here. 

LINK TO CARDS HERE

"Old Calendar" Orthodox Children's Calendar

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

We are excited to let you know that we are going to open up a window for pre-orders for this Old Calendar version, April 10 - May 10!

A little backstory: this all started back in December of 2016, when Marian Adams literally had a dream about collaborating with Abigail Holt to create a calendar for Orthodox children-- something with activities to keep them involved, and in a format that was easily accessible to children of all ages. She approached Caroline Gann and asked her if she would be interested in jumping on board as our graphic designer, and we were off! We launched a Kickstarter to fund the printing costs, were fully funded in a week, and sold out of the amount we had originally planned on printing before we even sent it to be published. The Orthodox Children’s Calendar includes original illustrations of children interacting with their faith, saints’ days with original drawings of those saints, and it highlights fasting periods, American holidays, and church feasts. There is an additional page following each month with a craft, recipe, and memory verse that correlate with the month. Draw Near Designs is the company that we founded along with the calendar, and now it includes other educational materials for Orthodox children.

Our original calendar was based on “New Calendar” (Gregorian calendar) dates, and one of the most common requests we got was “Is there an Old Calendar (Julian calendar) version?” So this year, we are leaving the answer to that question in your hands! In case you don't know, the Julian ("old") calendar celebrates church feasts and saint's days 13 days apart from the Gregorian ("new") calendar.

Last year, we launched a crowdfunding opportunity on Kickstarter to gage interest in a “New Calendar” Orthodox Children’s Calendar. The idea was warmly received, the Kickstarter was fully funded within a week, and before we even went to print we sold out the original amount planned!!!! It was incredible! This year we are hosting a 30-day crowdfunding opportunity to measure support for an “Old Calendar” version for 2019. We decided to offer our own crowdfunding opportunity in lieu of a Kickstarter for the simple reason that we wanted to save our supporters money. So, we will open up a month long pre-order window at our website, running from April 10 (Bright Tuesday)- May 10. If we raise $3338 in pre-orders for the Old Calendar version and donations, then we will make it! And if we don’t, then the pre-orders and donations will be refunded, and we’ll have our answer.

We will update our blog (www.drawneardesigns.com/blog) and social media weekly (on Facebook at Draw Near Designs, and Instagram @draw.near.designs) with progress towards the pre-order goal. If you are passionate about this project and would like to give a monetary donation, look for the DONATE option at the bottom our website, and any amount you put in there will go directly towards the goal. You will also be able to donate an additional amount when you pre-order the calendar, or if you would prefer you can mail a check to Draw Near Designs at 3005 Boaires Ln, Louisville, KY 40223. There will be a banner on the website to give updates on our progress, and other special donation opportunities like adding a saint to the calendar! 

Here’s a breakdown of the amount we need to raise: the total amount needed is $3338. 60% of that is the printing costs of 250, spiral bound, 52 page, full color calendars.  23% of is shipping costs (shipping the calendars to your homes). 10% is graphic design costs and 7% is taxes and fees.

So it’s pretty simple-- if there is enough support to fund a printing of an Old Calendar version of the Orthodox Children’s Calendar, we are happy to do the work and create it for you! Additionally, this pre-order window actually offers the calendars at a discounted rate ($20/calendar + $5 shipping), compared to the retail price of $21.95 + $5 shipping from last year. So all you folks who wanted an Old Calendar version-- help us make this happen! Pre-order copies as Christmas gifts for all the children in your life (they will ship to you in the fall, PLENTY of time for Christmas), tell your friends, and if it’s really important to you, consider a monetary donation. If you have any questions, please send us an e-mail at drawneardesigns3@gmail.com.

As always, THANK YOU for your support! We can’t wait to make this calendar available to even more families and children.

In Christ,

Caroline Gann, Abigail Holt, and Marian Adams