Advent - Part 3

Advent (from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming") is a season of the Church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus; in other words, the period immediately before Christmas.

Some time ago, I read on a blog (or two?) somewhere (maybe it was you Jessica) about having the word "PREPARE" displayed on the mantel during Advent.  I thought this was a really neat idea, but since I don't have a mantel I felt really challenged as to how to make this happen.  I thought about sewing a banner to hang, but since most of my sewing projects don't really turn out I was reluctant to go that route.  I wanted to use the wooden letters as that seemed like the easiest option, but I was really at a loss as to how to display them.  I thought maybe I could display something in another part of the house, but this is our main family room, and a focal point, so I really wanted to do something over the fireplace.

Well, today it came to me and here's what I came up with:

The whole thing measures about 34 inches.  I would have opted for a less modern font on the letters, but options are limited at the craft store.  I painted them with shimmery gold acrylic paint, and outlined the letters in a thin strip of gold glitter (which doesn't show up well from far away).  I just hot-glued the letters to the ribbon.

As you can see in the next picture, my late 1960's fireplace has a 'hood' over it instead of a mantel.

 

This is a close-up of one of the letters. 

 

 I am very excited at the possibilities this opens up for other liturgical seasons.  On Christmas Day, I will replace the word PREPARE with REJOICE.  Maybe for Easter I will have ALLELUIA.  What fun!  I can finally have something displayed over the fireplace!

Now, I just need to figure out a way to put my Christmas village up there.