Guest post by Fran Riley for Crafting the Sacred’s series on Ancestral Threads.
I’m Fran and I’m proud to be guesting here, and honoured to know the lovely Jo, wise spiritual woman that she is.
I’m going to take you through how to make a mini table top shrine to honour an ancestor.
I made this tabletop shrine in honour of my Grandmother Barbara. I enjoyed remembering her as I worked and will place it with a lit candle in the corner of my room on November 1st and 2nd for Dia de los Muertos — the Mexican traditional time to remember the dead.
Making a tabletop shrine is very easy and you don’t need to be an ‘artist’ to do it. You also don’t need any posh artist materials — kids stuff is fine. 
You can cover the front and back of your shrine with a background paper. Choose your paper and then cut loosely around your shrine shape, leaving about half an inch overlap.
Glue your paper down with white kids glue. Now flip your card over and cut some flaps in the overlap, glue these so they hug the curve.
When you decorate the back there is no need for the overlap, just trim the paper to the right size.
When you have your background done you are free to paint, collage, write and embellish in whatever way you choose.
Now have fun decorating and collaging. You can use photos of your ancestor, poems they liked, lyrics to music, colours you associate with them…anything at all. Let yourself meditate on them and see what occurs to you. Remember, there is no wrong way to do this.
Continue layering and embellishing your card until you have something that pleases you. Don’t be surprised if it ends up differently from your original intention — the creative process has ways of its own! I hope you enjoy this process.
Photos courtesy of Fran Riley
Fran Riley is an artist, art therapist and adventurer who is passionate about bringing out the creative and sacred in us all. She is currently in Mexico as she spends the year traveling around the globe.
Connect with Fran: Website | Blog | Twitter
Hi, I'm Jo Crawford of Crafting the Sacred. I help creatives manifest the work they love with equal parts 
Thank you Fran for sharing this fun creative project with us. I’m looking forward to making my own over the weekend just in time for Dia De Los Muertos.
I liked your little shrine Fran so spent some time looking at your website, which I loved.
Thanks Jo, for introducing this artist.
cheers
Kat
(K.Bonato)