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Gulf Pine Catholic
•
July 18, 2014
Our Lady of Victories parishioner creates and
sells Stella Marigold Art
ByAnna Sharp
As a practicing Catholic, one often utilizes sacramental objects to aid in inspiring good thoughts
and increasing devotion. A sacramental is a prayer, action, or item, which, through the prayers of the
Church, can assist us in receiving God’s grace. One popular sacramental is the scapular, Latin for
shoulder
, most commonly seen as the “Brown Scapular”, worn with faith and appropriate intentions
to inform others that, “Whosoever dies wearing this scapular, shall not suffer eternal fire”.
Andrea Smith, parishioner, organist and cantor of Our Lady of Victories parish in Pascagoula,
specializes in hand-embroidering her own scapulars as well as various hand-made Catholic products.
She sells her products on her online store, StellaMarigoldArt, created through the website, Etsy, and
encourages customers to “follow” her on her Facebook page, as well.
The name of her store stems from, “Stella Maris”, which means ‘Star of the Sea’, a title given to
Mary that is appealing to most Gulf Coast residents like herself and, “Marigold”, the flower which
in medieval times translated to, ‘Mary’s Gold’. Smith says, “On the back of my business cards is
a painting of the Blessed Mother and Infant Jesus, with the phrase: ‘She is His star and He is her
gold’”.
When she was younger, Andrea often found herself making dolls, doll clothes and gifts with her
sisters, especially enjoying sewing small, intricate designs. The idea for her online store came to her
while reading posts on a Catholic forum where someone had shared a picture of a hand-embroidered
scapular, asking where one could purchase something of the sorts. Attempting to create her own
scapulars, Andrea succeeded and was very pleased with the amount of hard work that was put into
her project, as well as the supportive response from her family, so she created her shop on April 24,
2013.
Andrea never uses a sewing machine, she creates all of her items in her shop by hand from the
best materials she can find, such as, 100% Merino wool felt, 100% woven wool, metallic thread,
and DMC cotton embroidering floss. Her paper dolls and greeting cards start as pencil and paper
drawings and then are painted through a computer program or with high-quality watercolor pencils.
She prices each scapular by how many hours it takes to make it, the most basic of her designs taking
about three hours to complete.
Andrea also encourages her customers to request any special design that they wish to have. “I am
very grateful for my customers, who are always so generous with their appreciation of my work,”
says Smith, “they inspire me to work harder and to grow closer to God. I hope that my products, in
a small way, can help them do the same.”
You can visit Andrea’s shop at
and also can visit her
Facebook page, StellaMarigoldArt, where she posts updates about the shop, notifications of new
items and other information.
Photos by
Anna Sharp
These paper dolls of Saint Lucy, left, and Saint Cecilia,
right, are two of the paper dolls Andrea designed and
painted using either a computer program or high-quality
watercolor pencils.
Andrea Smith holds two scapulars she created out of the
best material she can find and hand sews each one.
Displayed are some of the many designs of scapulars
Andrea has created. She encourages her customers
to request a special design they wish to have.
