RevIval: The Ave Maria Tee Story.
@storyboardc.com
When I first designed the original Ave Maria Tee last August, I had no marketing plan in place — just a desire to find faith in design, to let creativity lead me closer to Jesus through Mary in a renewed way.
Now May 1st—the start of the month of Mary— feels like the perfect time to reintroduce the Ave Maria Tee.
I poured myself into the project: sketching ideas, building a small online shop attached to my blog, and using my retail marketing background to craft simple “Catholic Style” edits for Instagram.
A handful of faithful friends bought the first tees, and I was so encouraged. But when I tried to share it more widely, I found social media discouraging—I just stepped back, completely unsure of how to connect with others in that space.
Still, the Ave Maria Tee never left the shop—or my orignal heart intentions.
In prayer, I kept coming back to it. And I was reminded: this endeavor isn’t on my timeline. It’s on God’s.
the school of grace
On January 1st, I began listening to The Rosary in a Year podcast with Fr. Mark-Mary through Ascension Presents. It quickly became part of my morning routine—something that transformed and renewed the start of each day, re-rooting it in prayer and reflection.
What I appreciate most is the pace. It isn’t rushed or overly produced. Each episode feels simple, faithful, and bite-sized—creating a quiet space to pray with Mary and reflect on the life of Christ in a whole new way.
Fr. Mark-Mary’s short reflections often stay with me long after the episode ends. They’re not entirely focused on lofty theology, but woven with his real-life stories—struggles, beauty, and surrender.
It wasn’t long before I started thinking about the Ave Maria Tee again—not with pressure, but with peace. The podcast helped me reconnect with why I made Her in the first place. It wasn’t to launch something big. It was to share Mary with others—in a new, but deeply personal, way.
The Meaning Behind the Design
The Ave Maria Tee wasn’t just inspired by a visual idea—it was born from a longing and a simple prayer to find faith in design and a deep desire to carry something sacred into the everyday. It’s not meant to be on trend or build a brand. It began quietly, with my beloved childhood Mary statue.
She’s about six inches tall, carved from light golden stone, and stamped “Made in Rome” on the bottom. I like to imagine her tucked in the corner of a Vatican gift shop, lined up with rows of other Marian statues, waiting for the right soul to pass by.
That dear sweet soul was my friend Golda— who was one of the two elderly sisters that my mother and I would visit weekly in their little apartment from our Parish. Where she eventually brought her back to Florida and gifted her to me on my first Holy Communion.
That statue has followed me ever since— even now as she is tucked away in my storage unit back home in Minnesota.
She isn’t on my dresser or my bedside table these days in Texas. But, somehow, she’s near. Mary’s presence has a way of staying with me, even in the unseen places.
And that is a part of why I made this shirt.
This design is a reflection of that longing:
The design came to me like a flash of a camera. I drew from my own Mother’s deep faith and the deep faith that she gifted me through her example: like the worn pages of her Pieta Prayer Book, the mid-century Catholic books from TAN Publishers, and the sacred images that hung in our home.
I wanted to create something different than what’s often found in the Catholic market—something not overly trendy or in-your-face devotional. The design draws from a mid-century, cut-and-paste style—subtle, nostalgic, like a tee you might find in a thrift store.
Working in luxury retail, I regularly see T-shirts priced in the hundreds or even thousands, many with little thought or meaning behind them beyond a brand or trend. This is not that.
This is a design with quiet reverence—like a prayer, made wearable. A way to bring Mary into the everyday.
#wearhershareher
The Ave Maria Tee was made to be quiet, but often it speaks louder than I expected.
A glance, a question, a conversation I never would have had otherwise.
That’s what #wearhershareher is about: Bringing Mary into the everyday, and and letting her presence start the conversation.
If the Ave Maria Tee sparks a moment, a story, or a connection, I would love for you to share it.
Tag me in your photo, your reflection, or even just a few words with #wearhershareher, and let’s start a little Marian movement together.
Love, Cynthia