I Am....

My first born is 17 (and a half!). He is manly and wise in many ways yet is floundering with the many choices and opportunities he has upon him as he approaches his senior year in high school. We're thankful for the time we have this summer to explore his spiritual gifts, what motivates him, and prayerfully seek insight as to how to magnify these things through education and a career after high school graduation. It struck me today how appropriate this type of acitivty is for many of us during the church's Oridnary Time. During this time between special liturgical seasons we are called to look for God in all the moments of our lives. A fun exercise for anyone to do is to quickly write ten "I am...." statements about yourself (whatever comes quickly to your mind) then share them with someone. Do the statements reflect your gifts and motivators? Can you see God in them? How can you grow in these areas? How can you make these parts of your life more linked to your life with God?

Speaking of I am statementes, I've been trying to Twitter for Carrot Top Studio to connect with more pastors and ministry leaders. It's struck me that Twitter could be called a social network of "I am...." statements. I am doing this...., I am not enjoying this...., I am connected to this...., etc. I have yet to decide of Twitter is a good thing or not, but if you want to follow us you can do it here.

Lastly, I'm thankful we don't have to decide whether the "I am..." statements of Jesus Christ are good, bad, or worth following. I draw comfort in knowing that Jesus is the bread of life, the light of the world, the true vine and so much more!

The "I am" stole pictured here can be found at Carrot Top Studio on this page. I think I need stop bloggins so I can go find my son and get him to make his list of "I am's"....I'm sure he'll be delighted that Mom has conjured up one more actitivty to help him with his discernment!

Stoles in Action-part 2

When you see tie dye what do you feel? Maybe times of joy, a sense of freedom, or lighthearted days come to mind? This stole in action was a perfect gift for a pastor who loves his tie dye! It was a really fun commission for us to work on.

Carrot Top Studio is now offering a tie dye stole in our online store. Find one here and one here!

What else says joy? We'd love to learn your ideas....and turn them into a stole!

Stoles in Action

Because of the nature of our e-commerce art studio we rarely get to see our stoles "in action" after they leave us. Occassionaly we are sent photos...thought you'd enjoy a few that demonstrate the diversity of the ministry leaders we serve.

This Noah's ark stole worn at a pet blessing by a pastor who has a passion for animal rescue.
The tree of life stole was the choice of this pastor for his latest installation service.

And, this ordinary time stole with fleks of golds, oranges, and reds was a great choice for for this autumn wedding ceremony.

What's Going on at Carrot Top Studio?

Summer does an odd thing to me and my time in the studio. I get this urge to clean out, reorganize and set new goals for our busy fall selling season. What does that mean for our clients? A few things that might interest you:

• our eBay offers this summer are mostly ministry stoles that we just have one left of in stock and we're offering them at rock bottom opening bids! We're on eBay as seller "carrottopstudio". What else would we be?
• we're rotating selections onto our "SALE" section on the website. Check it out here!
• the stole categories on the website are becoming more defined. Have you noticed the new "peace and healing" category and "music ministry" category?
• preparations are under way to add visitation, travel and confessional stoles to the website. We'll let you know when this goes live!

What are we missing? Is there anything you've been looking for to support your ministry visually that you can't find? We'd love to hear your ideas! Add a comment to the blog or email us at jenny.gallo@CarrotTopStudio.com.

Back in the Studio

After a week in these Colorado mountains we're back in the studio. We're relaxed and feel creatively inspired by the peace of the environment we've left behind. Thanks to our clients that were patient with shipping while we shut down for a week! Back to the drawing board...

Joy

What do you think of when you hear the word "joy?" Some people think of a favorite food or having a day off of work. Others think of the book The Joy of Cooking. The dictionary declares that it is: The passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good; pleasurable feelings or emotions caused by success, good fortune, and the like, or by a rational prospect of possessing what we love or desire; gladness; exhilaration of spirits; delight. BMW (the car company) commissioned an artist to relate joy to their products...see the video titled "Expression of Joy" here. Joy is also of course a fruit of the spirit. God wants us to have joy and happiness in our lives. Sometimes we find joy in the most turbulent times, and sometimes joy just finds us. Other times we just need to open our hearts to being joyful. At Carrot Top Studio we often feel joy while listening to music. We enJOY a wide genre...everything from Bach to David Crowder to Miles Davis. In honor of joy and music we are introducing a new music ministry stole with Psalm 150:3 in mind..."Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet..." You can find this limited edition stole in our online store!

Prayer Flags

A prayer flag is a colorful panel or rectangular cloth often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas to bless the surrounding countryside or for other purposes. Traditionally they are woodblock-printed with texts and images and are connected to Buddhism. Prayer flags intrigue me because I see the similarity with worship banners and ministry stoles--all involve a religous message, color, symbols, and recognizing the invovlement of the visual and tactile in worship.

In my neck of the woods many churches are gearing up for a week of vacation Bible school. When my children were younger I often found myself in the art room at our vacation Bible school. If I were planning the art projects this year I think I might be apt to translate the Buddhist concept of prayer flags into mini worship banners. My home church is in the center of our community on a road heavily traveled each day. Wouldn't it be exciting to see these mini banners stretched along the roadside? I visualize the sculptural like display being added to each day....almost performance art! They would serve as a personal connection to each child as they soak in the love of God during the week and would maybe intrigue the passers by of our building to wonder what was happening inside--and maybe a seeker would even come inside to find out!

Icon of the Trinity

Russian icon of the Old Testament Trinity by Andrey Rublev, between 1408-25

We're pondering upcoming Trinity Sunday. Wondering how artists have represented the mystery of the Trinity we did a little research and found Rublev's icon of the Old Testament Trinity. This icon is based on a passage in the book of Genesis concerning the visitation of three angels to Abraham. The three angels can be interpreted as a sign of the Trinity. We love this notion that the sovereignty of God arrives in hospitatlity.

Carrot Top Studio's 4th Anniversary!

It's been such a fun four years at Carrot Top Studio we felt the need to celebrate! We are so grateful for our many clients that traverse the globe and celebrate what they believe in many different faith communities. You are great encouragers, are full of wonderful ideas, and are fun to collaborate with on designing ministry stoles and worship banners.

This year's celebration stole is being offered at $40.00 + 4.44 S&H. There are only FOUR available so don't delay your order! Buy it here.

The celebration continues with FOUR additional stoles hidden throughout the website with their price reduced to $40.00 + 4.44 S&H. These are only availabe at this price until June FOURTH. Search for them throughout our stole selection here.

And if you follow our blog or our Twitter posts you know that our staff has a sweet tooth.  So we'd like to share our favorite Carrot Cake recipe (what else would we make for this celebration?) from the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book. Enjoy the recipe!

• 4 large eggs
  
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 2 t. vanilla
• 1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed, light brown sugar
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 t. baking soda
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 1/2 t. salt
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. nutmeg
• 2 1/2 c. finely grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1 cup shredded or flaked coconut, sweetened or not
• 1-8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 9" round cake pans.

Beat eggs with mixer and add the oil while the mixer is running. Add the vanilla, then sprinkle in the sugars. You will have a thick, foamy, lemon-colored mixture. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices in a medium bowl. Add these dry ingredients to the eggs and oil in your mixing bowl, mixing to make a smooth batter. Add the carrot and nuts, then the coconut and pineapple. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes. The cake is done when a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack, then dust with confectioner's sugar or frost with cream cheese frosting (recipe follows).

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 6 T. unslated butter, at room temperature
• 1-8oz. pkg. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 t. vanilla
• 4 cups confectioner's sugar
• 2-4 T. milk

Combine butter, cream cheese, and vanilla in mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Add the sugar gradually, beating well alternately with the milk until frosting is of a spreadable consistency.

Red for Pentecost

Pentecost Sunday approaches so I'm thinking about the color red. Technically, red is used only for the Sunday of Pentecost, although some churches use red for the Sundays between Easter and Pentecost Sunday. The red symbolizes both the fire of Pentecost as well as the apostles and early followers of Jesus who were gathered in the Upper Room for the empowerment from God to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world.Here are a few other interesting bits of 'red' trivia:

• As a former painter I know that the pigment in paint is a special one. Originally the pigment was squeezed out of insects and because of this tedious process there was an industry that traded and bartered for this precious item.

• Wearing red coats was the exclusive right of the nobility in medieval times and the red robes of kings, cardinals, judges and executioners announced their power over life and death.

• The hair of the Virgin Mary and the robes of Angels were depicted red in medieval paintings.

• Red is included in some colorful phrases: Paint the town red, to see red, in the red, red-letter day, red-neck, red tape, red-hot, not worth a red cent, caught red-handed, red-carpet treatment, better dead than red.

• Pentecost stoles are our second best selling item at Carrot Top Studio. Because they are typically only worn once a year we've found this very itneresting. Maybe it's because psycholigcally red is teh most emotionally intense color?
  

Happy Pentecost!

Commissioned Ministry Stoles

Last week we blogged about stoles that had been commissioned as sets. We of course also accept commissions for single stoles. Here are some of our past projects. We hope they'll inspire you!

An Ordinary Time stole designed by the pastor's husband who is an artist...we translated his drawing onto fabric.

A baptism stole that was used in a worship service for a child adopted from Guatemala.

A stole for a wedding officiant that includes a poem she wrote.

Another wedding officiant stole. The butterfly images echo her business logo. 

A communion stole for a children's ministry pastor to wear when she teaches about the sacraments.

We'd be glad to help you with a commission--simple or complex. Please contact us for more details at jenny.gallo@CarrotTopStudio.com.

Another Commissioned Stole Set

Here's another example of a commissioned set of ministry stoles. These were created over a year's time and were presented to a newly graduated seminarian. The stole designs were all connected with the use of the circle as  symbol of God's eternal love.

Advent stole: the light of the world.

Christmas stole: the birth of a king.

Lent stole: a different type of crown for our King.

Easter stole: Christ reigns the ruler of the world.

Pentecost stole: the Holy Spirit dwells among us.

Would you like more information on how to commission a stole? Contact us at jenny.gallo@CarrotTopStudio.com. We'd love to hear your ideas!

Commissioned Ministry Stoles

When Carrot Top Studio began four years ago we didn't visualize commissioned stoles as part of our repertoire. But when clients started ask for unique, one of a kind stoles we were thrilled with this type of creative challenge. Occasionally we have the added treat of doing a series. The following collection was commissioned by a seminary student preparing for minstry. The collection is bound together visually by the use of silk that is hand dyed by woman entrepreneurs in a ministry connected with our home church in Pittsburgh, PA. Every time we use this colorful, silk we make a donation to La Femme de la Croix to help grow their project which in turn goes to further their education so they can rise above poverty. We hope you'll be inspired by the follow:

An Advent/Lent stole symbolizing the story of the old and new testament and life cycle of Jesus.
This stole celebrates God bringing order out of chaos, the seven gifts of the Spirit, the anointing power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove.  
A joyful stole for Christmas and Easter that includes hummingbirds as a symbol of the Resurrection and a recollection of its imagery in the Native American culture.
And last but not least a stole for Ordinary Time that celebrates creation.

Curious about commissioning your own stole or set of stoles...or maybe this would be the perfect gift for the newly graduated entering into ministry? Contact us (jenny.gallo@CarrotTopStudio.com) with your ideas and to inqure about details of the process.

Pentecost Banners

Looking to make a Pentecost statement in your office, chapel, or mediation area at home? Carrot Top Studio currently has two small Pentecost banners in stock. More details here.

Baptism

If you follow the lectionary you know that this week one of the themes that emerges is "baptism." It is found in Acts 10: 44-48. As an artist I tend to think visually. So I've searched out a baptism piece of art from history. This is "I Baptize Thee" by William Johnson. It was painted in 1940 and rests in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum of Art. The preacher and congregants stand in a creek or a pond to symbolize crossing the River Jordan into a new life.   I think the energy in the forefront of this painting matches the excitment felt by Peter and Cornelius when it was discoverd that God's plan included both of them--two people from very different backgrounds. That is Good News!

In need of a stole for baptisms? Find the collection at Carrot Top Studio here.

When Did You Draw Last?

The former art educator in me loved listening to a recent NPR interview with author and illustrator Mo Willems about getting adults to draw.Why do we stop drawing? It's such a natural expression as a child. It's a prewriting activity...and we certainly don't stop writing! Mr. Willems has interesting suggestions on how to keep adults drawing. He speaks about having "family draw night". This involves  the family around a table with paper in front, someone dictating a theme and then the drawing begins. Thinking about this I get a lovely vision of time spent together. I bet a lot of good things come from this activity beyond the creative activity of drawing...family bonding, great conversation, learning more about each other, and a time of relaxation and sabbath. How does this apply to our faith communities? I see drawing time incorporated into Sunday School classes of all ages, Bible studies, confirmation lessons, leadership meetings, staff meetings and MORE! An added bonus for those of us that crave a simple life....the supplies for drawing are so easily attainable! Go dig through your drawers and set out the pencils, pens, crayons and paper (you can even go green and doodle on your unwanted junk mail!) O.K. I feel I can put my soap box away for the moment. Happy drawing!

Liturgical Orange?

If you follow this blog, you know that Carrot Top Studio is fairly traditional.We love following the liturgical calendar as we offer ministry stoles to help make visual connections through color and symbol to those that you minister to.  For example we've just finished prepping our Pentecost inventory.  Our website has a few new offerings and the fun bargains are always on eBay. We think we're fairly creative but I don't think we've ever figured "orange" into the liturgical line up. But never fear! Someone else has come up with a way. If you need a good laugh you should check out the swine flu vestments here. I actually laughed out loud...hope this has provided a little joy moment in your day also!

Rainy Days!

It's raining outside our studio...has been off and on for a few days and we have a few more ahead of us.  Our raspberry patch loves the rain at this time of year. So we're thankful. We like being inside to get a little more stitching done on new Pentecost designs. So we're doubly thankful. Abby, the studio dog, is really the only one that's not too happy--she'd rather be basking in the sun. The showers do though make me wonder what it really would have been like for Noah and his family on the ark.  ....and as the clouds periodically break I'm always keeping an eye out for a rainbow!

*Only one Noah's ark stole left in stock....a portion of the proceeds go to an educational fund for women in Haiti. Buy it here!

The Top Five Reasons For Using Confimration Stoles from Carrot Top Studio

5-The banjo sing-a-long for confirmation 2008 was a flop!

4-The confirmands slept through their last lesson because it was just a lecture!

3-You’re a last minute planner and you know Carrot Top Studio will ship quickly!

2- The pictures on Facebook of the kids in their stoles will be awesome!

1-You know that people usually remember the dessert no matter how great the meal was therefore creating confirmation stoles at the end of confirmation will be the ultimate culminating activity! 

Happy Earth Day!

This quilted wall hanging was spotted years ago at Camp Crestfield. A lovely statement for Earth Day--which is really an everyday celebration. How are you celebrating today?