MEET THE MAKERS >>Kristina Tartara

Kristina Tartara is the talent behind 3 board books we carry in our Marketplace: What Do You See At Liturgy?, What Can I Do At Divine Liturgy?, and St Ia Rides A Leaf (authored by Melinda Johnson, illustrated by Kristina Tartara). She also make My Orthodox Matching Game! Her fun, thoughtful work make her book treasures that our own children have read again, and again, and again, and again…

Want to get to know Kristina a bit better? Read on!

Introduce yourself!

Currently, I am a full time freelance children’s book illustrator in Cleveland, Ohio. Even though this has been my dream job since I was in 2nd grade, I never pursued it. I let doubt sink in and thought I could never be good enough to do it. I ended up studying to be a teacher which has been very helpful in my career of writing and illustrating books. I can’t imagine a better job than this - creating stories that help kids learn and grow.

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Who is your patron saint, and is that a meaningful person in your life?

I am cradle Greek Orthodox so I got my name because Kristina was a name that sounded the same in Greek and English. My mom does not speak Greek so she wanted it to be an easy name and she really liked it. Haha! Everyone would tell me that my name day was on Christmas but I found out in high school there was a St. Christina. She stood up for Christ and they put her in a tower. She was tortured and died a martyr. I love that we have patron saints in Orthodoxy. Someone to look up to and to try to emulate in all that we do.

How did you get started doing what you do now? 

It is an interesting story. I honestly thought I’d never really be an illustrator. It wasn’t until 2014 when I was very ill and saw what life was like without my abilities. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It was difficult to write my name and use fine motor skills, let alone create any art. My memory and thinking was challenged. In order to regain some skills that I had lost, I needed to retrain my brain. That is done by learning something new. So I took a drawing class and I haven’t stopped drawing since!

Around the same time I got sick, I was in a graphic design course. I took that in order to create Orthodox board books since back then there was only 1 board book on the market. When my kids were little and got fussy during liturgy, I wanted to redirect them to books about God rather than toys or secular books. If we are in church I wanted them to think about God and not earthly things. That’s how I got started in the orthodox market.
So my life lesson that I learned is to go for it. Do what you were made to do and find blessings in bad situations. If I didn’t get sick, I may not have tried to be an illustrator. So I thank God for the challenges I faced.

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What is your favorite part of what you do? 

Seeing kids reading my books. I love that I am able to help children experience a story through my art. And that they can learn about God’s love through my religious work. As for what part of the artwork process I like - I love coloring the drawings, specifically shading things. It is where the static drawing gets life.

What do you try to communicate with your art?

Since I work with kids books, I try to put myself in the shoes of a preschooler or 8 year old - whatever age I’m drawing for. I want the art to connect with the kids and be relatable to their age group.

What is your favorite project that you have completed? 

Saint Ia Rides a Leaf is my favorite. I got to work with Melinda who is an incredible writer and teammate. It was so much fun bringing her story to life. And we both are passionate about helping the littlest Orthodox learn about the faith and God’s love.

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What is your dream product/project for the future?

In the Orthodox world, I plan on making some greeting cards. I hope to continue to illustrate stories for Orthodox books or any other projects that might need an illustrator. In the secular world, my dream would be to create more board books and find an agent. Whatever I do, I want the art to help kids in some way and to have a positive impact on their lives. It would also be wonderful to create religious books for the general Christian market as well.

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Thanks for allowing us to interview you, Kristina! We LOVE your work, and can’t wait to see what other books, cards, and goodness you create. Glory to God!

Meet The Makers! >> Orthodox Design Co

One mission of Draw Near Designs is supporting other Orthodox small businesses and artists, and we are excited to introduce a new series showcasing different Orthodox small businesses! Today, we’d like to introduce you to the man behind Orthodox Design Co!

Andrew Ritchey, the talent behind Orthodox Design Co

Andrew Ritchey, the talent behind Orthodox Design Co

Introduce yourself!

I'm Andrew, a 19-year-old student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I am currently studying graphic design, which goes hand-in-hand with my company, and the things I do here. I live in Birmingham and attend St. Symeon Orthodox Church, where I am an active member of the congregation, serving in the Altar, singing in the choir, and staying involved with many other events and groups at the church. This is both my full time job and my side hustle - I'm technically a full-time student, but this is one of a couple of main sources of income for me since I'm getting married in November and I'm working hard to support my future and my family.

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Who is your patron saint, and is that a meaningful person in your life?

My patron is St. Andrew the first-called. He has always been a source of inspiration and a saint whose life is honorable and serves as a good role model. I try to emulate his courage in sharing the Faith and his boldness even unto martyrdom. By his prayers, may we have the same boldness and courage, and may God have mercy on us!

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How did you get started doing what you do now? 

Around third grade, I started to become a little more familiar with technology and discovered many new software and devices for creating things digitally. Around 2013 or 2014, St. Symeon was building a new temple. This allowed plenty of opportunities for me to design media to attract donors and sponsors, to create awareness, and help encourage participation in the project. After that, as I began to grow in skill and hone my craft, I was regularly being approached to design all sorts of documents for a variety of media, as well as creating custom icons for people. Before the Diocese of the South Assembly in 2017, I officially started Doxology Design, to advertise on a more professional level. One thing led to the next, and four years and one name change later, the ODC is alive and doing well, thank God!

What is your favorite part of what you do? 

I love working with clients and using my skills to bring their ideas to life. Seeing reactions from clients is one of, if not the best part of what I do.

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What do you try to communicate with your art/work?

One of the most important things about icons, in general, is that they should inspire prayer and conviction in the viewer. When I do any of my work, particularly with icons, I try to make it as beautiful as possible, to show the viewer even a fraction of the beauty that we can achieve by living Godly lives, and inspire them to "go forth and do likewise".

What is your favorite project that you have completed? 

The Orthodox Search and Find Book has to be one of my very favorite projects (ours too!), particularly because of the reaction it garnered. Another one of my favorites is probably the icon of the Theotokos (seen below). I was very pleased with how it turned out.

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What is your dream product/project for the future?

Oh, if I could go on for hours... One project idea I would love to do but that would require a team of very skilled professionals and more money than I have would be an issue of the Orthodox Search and Find Book that used a scale model of a monastery as its pictures. I had this idea while working on the first book, and I still can't stop thinking about how much fun that one would be. (oh wow!!! That sounds like it would be AMAZING!!!)

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If you’d like to see more of Andrew’s work or contact him, head over to his website: http://www.orthodoxdesigncompany.com ! He offers custom icons, graphic design work, and the book that he created. We also carry his book, The Orthodox Search and Find in our Marketplace, and highly recommend it.

ANNUNCIATION WORKBOOK

BLESSED FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION

Celebrate this great feast with your family and practice some handwriting and art along the way. This FREE Annunciation workbook has the text for the Gospel lesson of the day, a handwriting practice activity, a free-drawing activity, craft, and coloring page. Have fun, and Blessed Feast!

DOWNLOAD YOUR WORKBOOK HERE

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Irish Saints Printables

Today I wanted to share some printables with you all inspired by Illumination Learning’s Orthodox Homeschool Curriculum.

We have been using it as a guide for my Kindergartener after making a last-minute decision to homeschool her. It’s been really challenging for me, but I can already tell it’s the right decision for our family. We’ve had a lot of challenging days, but I’m really trying to appreciate the highs - one of which was getting to spend time with my husband this week exploring his family’s heritage, which is most likely Irish. We discovered that there’s a tribe of people that he could be related to known as the wolf-men. Which is terrifying but not surprising if you’ve ever seen my (Caroline’s) husband.

I created these two coloring sheets for my children to color and trace as we learn about our Irish heritage next week. We’ll use these along with some other activities inspired by the Illumination Learning Curriculum for this week to learn about our family. I thought those of you with Irish ancestry could use them as well.

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DOWNLOAD ST. PATRICK HERE

Christ is in our midst!

Caroline

St Mary of Egypt Coloring Page

To celebrate the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, here is a FREE PRINTABLE coloring sheet of St Mary of Egypt!

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For further resources:

Here is a recording of Frederica Mathews-Green reading the life of St Mary of Egypt. Perfect to listen to while coloring!

Here is a written summary of her life to read and ponder.

Saint Patrick of Ireland

Blessed Feast of St. Patrick! We hope you and your family enjoy the day and celebrate with some time together. You can share his story while you color the printable below.

THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK OF IRELAND:

Saint Patrick, the Enlightener of Ireland was born around 385, the son of Calpurnius, a Roman tax collector. When Patrick was sixteen, he was taken captive by pirates. He was brought to Ireland and sold as a slave, and was put to work as a herder of pigs. He prayed during his solitude on the mountain, and lived this way for six years. He had two visions. The first told him he would return to his home. The second told him his ship was ready. Setting off on foot, Patrick walked two hundred miles to the coast. There he succeeded in boarding a ship, and returned to his parents in Britain.

Some time later, he went to Gaul and studied for the priesthood and was eventually made a bishop. He was entrusted with the mission to Ireland.

Saint Patrick founded many churches and monasteries across Ireland, but the conversion of the Irish people was no easy task. There was much hostility, and he was assaulted several times. He faced danger, and insults, and he was reproached for being a foreigner and a former slave. Despite many obstacles, he remained faithful to his calling, and he baptized many people into Christ.

Saint Patrick is often depicted holding a shamrock, which he used the shamrock to illustrate the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Its three leaves growing out of a single stem helped him to explain the concept of one God in three Persons.

Saint Patrick died on March 17, 461. No one knows the place where Saint Patrick is buried. Saint Columba of Iona (June 9) says that the Holy Spirit revealed to him that Patrick was buried at Saul, the site of his first church. A granite slab was placed at his traditional grave site in Downpatrick in 1899.

Blessed feast!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE

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Advent Calendar Ideas

In the Orthodox Church, the Nativity Fast begins on November 15 (Gregorian calendar), and we wanted to share some fun ideas for journeying through the season.

Advent Calendar!

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We released the first ever reusable, 40 day, felt pocketed Advent Calendar, and it is a great backdrop for many activities with your kids. Here are some ideas!

For little ones:

🌟A felt star is included with the advent calendar. This can be glued onto a popsicle stick, and moved day to day, until the star is over the Nativity scene on Christmas. This a great visual for little ones as they can watch the star getting close to Christ

You can put something in the pockets, like…

📖a short Bible verse to commit to memory each day

💗note with an act of kindness to do (“Tell your sibling something you love about them.” “Choose 5 toys to donate.” etc)

💰some coins and have an almsgiving jar nearby for your little one to drop them into (then donate the money together after Christmas!)

🍬a little treat

☦️wrap up a little icon for them and put it in the Nativity scene pocket to be opened on Christmas Day

For older kids:

📖separate the Christmas story in the Bible up into 40 sections. Memorize 1 section per day, and recite it with the previous ones. By the end, you will have the entire Christmas story memorized!

✏️a note every day with something you love about them

😊and all of the above ideas!

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And of course, there’s the incredible Welcoming the Christ Child set. This is a book that starts with Creation and has a reading and discussion questions for every day for each of the 40 days, culminating with the Nativity. Each reading is a story from the Bible, and demonstrates how they all point to Christ. The beautiful illustrations from the book have been made into an accompanying ornament set. The ornaments fit perfectly in the large advent calendar pockets! This is a wonderful resource that can be used year after year.

This is a beautiful, joyful season of the year, and having special traditions to celebrate personally or with your family can add to the richness of the “little Lent.”

“Your Nativity, O Christ our God, / Has shone to the world the Light of wisdom! / For by it, those who worshipped the stars, / Were taught by a Star to adore You, / The Sun of Righteousness, / And to know You, the Orient from on High. / O Lord, glory to You!”