A few weeks ago, I was telling our kids the story of the day my little brother and I got lost in the snow covered woods as we looked for a mini cedar tree. We lived on a 60 acre farm with lots of woods, and I had this crazy desire to put a small tree on our dinning room table and decorate it! Ya, I was crafty back then, too! 😉 So after telling my younger brother about my plan, he grabbed a shovel to tag along! (I was about 10, he was 8)  So the two of us wondered through the woods in search of the perfect little tree to do the job. After searching and searching we began to realize we had no idea where we were! Well, fear not – I used my knowledge of the sun to find the way back home! But it was a day I’ll never forget! Well, after sharing my story with my kiddos, my 8 year old daughter, Elizabeth, had a fetish with the idea of having a Christmas tree in her bedroom! I told her I didn’t recommend that she wander through our woods to find one! But I wandered through the Christmas section of Wal-mart and found a few miniature, sparkly Christmas trees – and I didn’t even get lost!! 😉 These little trees were made to be used in one of those miniature Christmas villages. I bought 4 trees, at a dollar a piece, and gave one to each of my youngest girls.  They decorated them with sparkly pipe-cleaners and pony beads. I helped to hot glue the parts and pieces down.  They just loved them and now they each have a tree in there bedroom. Little Naomi (with mom’s help) discovered that they worked great in her doll house as a Christmas Tree for her dolls!  Such a simple joy and without the fear of getting lost! 😀 Hope your Christmas Season is joyful and peaceful! Blessings, ~Jen-Marie

Merry Christmas, everyone!! The time of preparation and waiting is over! And what a wonderful day our Lord has blessed us with! Yesterday, our Advent Tree bloomed into a Christmas Tree!! It’s filled with our kids Boyd’s Bear ornaments and sparkling stars, which our kids made many years ago. Our tree has been “baby proof” for several years now and I’ve grown quite fond of the paper stars and teddy bears! 😉 This morning, 3 presents  for each of our 9 kids (3 gifts each – in honor of the gifts of the Wisemen) surrounded our Christmas tree and the most important present of all  lay in our wooden manger. Jesus wore a bow and a tag that read: We also were blessed with a white Christmas!! We haven’t had one of those for 10 years. The snow started late Christmas Eve, and created a bit of a concern as to our ability to get to Mass in the morning. By the Grace of God we had no problem getting our 15 passenger, rear-wheel drive, maxi van out of the snow covered drive way! I hope and pray you all had a blessed Holy Day! And now that the wait is over it’s time to celebrate! So this week I’ll be sharing a few other things my kids and I will be doing in honor of Christ birth! Blessings to you all! ~Jen-Marie

Our little Wisemen adventurers have been searching long and hard to find baby Jesus and we are about to finish up the search! This is our Elf on the Shelf Alternative: If you missed the first few post click here to learn the whole story! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 20 Caspar is at it again. He’s having fun when there is searching to get done! Balthazar and Melchior are working hard to find the infant Jesus in our toilet paper roll basket, but Caspar’s silly fun-loving side just made a slide out of the toilet paper! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 21 When entering the doll house the Three Kings first had to determine if the baby in the high chair was or was not the Infant King they were looking for! Once they came to the conclusion that the baby was just a regular baby, Balthazar and Melchior began to search the doll house for clues as to where the true Infant King was located. Caspar decided to sit at the table and have a party with his new friend, “baby”! Yes, this was my personal favorite day (after the ceiling fan catastrophe )  But if you have been following my blog for awhile you know that I collect dollhouse miniatures. So that made this one more fun for me! 😉 Searching for Jesus ~ Day 22 A grand thought occur to them!! GOOGLE!!! Google has all the information in the world! So they hoped over to the computer and began a Google search! Caspar used his staff to type the letters and Balthazar and Melchior told him what to type! “Star of Bethlehem” -No that didn’t help… “Where’s the new born King?” -A Stable! Who would have thought! Okay, I think they got all the information they need! Maybe they will actually find him tomorrow! Blessings till then! ~Jen-Marie

Here are a some Wisemen Activities and Ideas Most of these are printable, a few are not. First Palette  has the temples for these Wisemen Here is a crown your kids can make and wear! Go to  DLTK  for the instructions I liked these, they are nice and easy! 😉 DLTK  also has a 3D star project: Click here DLTK  has this cute Three Wise Men Song, too! We always give our kids little gifts on the Epiphany. So I thought these were a cute and easy idea to wrap the gifts.(Sorry the website shut down) This cute craft idea came from:  Mollie’s Mom  I gotta try this!! Here’s a coloring page form Sermons 4 Kids  They have a great selection of coloring pages Be sure to stop by and see them all! The Wisemen page is  here . Making Learning Fun  has these pages: Here is a coloring page: Here is a magnet page: Dibujos Para Pintar  has these coloring pages: Here is a easy  crown craft  from our blog:

On with the search for the Baby King: (If you missed the first post click here to see it) Searching for Jesus ~ Day 5 After no luck the first 4 days, Balthazar, Melchior, Caspar, and their camel checked in a baby wipe box. Nope, no baby in the *baby* wipe box, but I’ll give them a “A” for thinking “outside the box”. Hee Hee!!! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 6 Caspar is a daring fellow and after meeting a friendly pommel horse gymnastics athlete, he decided to take a break from searching and give this neat talent a try. He’s got good form! What do you all think? Should we give him an 9.5?? I think we better wait to see his dismount! Not far away, Balthazar and Melchior were checking out another candle and trying an acrobatic feat of their own!!! Wow, I’m not sure how they got into that position, but that’s got'a hurt! The true question is how will they get down! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 7 Oh boy, now Caspar did it!! He managed to get himself trapped inside the medal basket which he was using  as a pommel horse the night before!! But with quick thinking Melchior grabbed the nail clippers and tried to break him free! Good thinking Melchior!! The search will continue tomorrow!! Blessings, ~Jen-Marie

Wisemen Adventures ~ The Search for Jesus is over! The moment you have all been waiting for this week!! Our Wisemen have finally found Baby Jesus!! I know you were all beginning to wonder if the wisemen were actually going to find the newborn king – it was a lot of nail biting – edge of your seat moments, but they finally found him! Hooray!! I have to tell you, our house is kinda sad to see them succeed, only because we will miss seeing them each day! Oh well, we have next Christmas to look forward to! I hope your family can join us in the fun!  We have been posting all the adventures our little wisemen have had as they searched for the infant Jesus. It’s our Elf on the Shelf Alternative, and our kids have LOVED IT!! If you missed our other “Wisemen Adventure” posts this week   Click here  to read all about it and see the entire story!

All Saints day and All Souls day is upon us. It’s the time of our Liturgical year when we remember the entire Communion of Saints!! But what is the Communion of saints? Well, first I’d like to answer a question I’ve heard many times…. What is the difference between All Saints day and All Souls day?  All Saints day is a day is when we celebrate ALL the saints in Heaven. It’s a day to pray to the saints and ask them to intercede for us. This includes ALL the saints, even the ones that we don’t realize are saints. Not all holy people who have died and gone to heaven are canonized by the Church. There are many holy people who have died and gone to heaven but have never been acknowledged by the Catholic Church. Even though they are not canonized, they are still saints. So we celebrate them all and ask for their intercession. All Souls day is a day we focus on prayer for those who have died and are suffering in Purgatory. These souls need our prayers to help them to get into Heaven. This is a special day dedicated to prayer for these needy souls. I’ve been teaching my kids about the Communion of Saints, which includes both the saints and the souls in Purgatory. Actually, there are three groups in the Communion of Saints: The first group includes all the saints in heaven. This group is the part we almost always think about when someone mentions the Communion of saints. We call this group the Church Triumphant . So what does triumphant mean? Normally, when we say someone is triumphant we mean that they won or succeeded in what they were trying to do. For example, a runner is triumphant when he wins a race. The second group in the Communion of saints is the Church Suffering.  This group is made up of the poor Souls in Purgatory.  These are people who have died in union with God’s teachings, but are not yet holy enough to enter into Heaven. They need our prayers to help them become pure enough to enter Heaven. They cannot enter into Heaven without our prayers, so always be sure to remember the Souls in Purgatory when you pray.  All Souls Day is coming on November 2 and it might be a great time to take the kids to a cemetery and say a few prayers or a Rosary for the souls who are most in need of prayers. This is a great visual reminder to them of who they are praying for. Now the third group is one we all know well, but often times don’t think of as “saints”. The third group is called the Church Militant and it’s made up of living people here on Earth who strive to follow God’s will. This group can include the Pope, bishops, priests, and anyone who is living their lives the way the church teaches. All of us can belong to this group, but we must do as the saints in Heaven have shown us: we must live for God and try to do His will in all things. To help teach my kids about the Communion of Saints I created a few bulletin boards:  I made this first one a few years back. It hung in our church’s entryway. The top is a white cloud with pictures of saints. In the middle was an artist idea of what Purgatory might look. I added the thorns around the picture. On the bottom was a collection of pictures of the parishioners in our parish. It was a big hit with the parishioners as they tried to find those they know. I also added a few pictures of the churches in our area, too. Next was one I made for a talk I created for the kids of our local Catholic homeschool group several years ago. Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” All three groups in the Communion of Saints make up the branches. God is the vine that gives us all our life and grace. This vine is split into three parts. The first part starting at the Holy Trinity, has leaves that contain pictures of the saints. The next group were just images of “souls”, they are just average looking people who appear to be sad. On the last section I added images of the pope, our bishop, and a few different churches. These were a great visual  help when teaching about the Communion of Saints. Printable Activity Page I also created a printable activity page that helps to teach the kids about The Communion of Saints” Here are a few of our finished pages: There are 4 different pages to pick from. To create this page have the children title and decorate each section as follows: The top section should be titled Church Triumphant. Have the children draw or color around the clouds in this section. They could also use glue or a stapler to add some cotton. Now they can paste on a few pictures of their favorite saints.  Older children can draw saints. The middle should be labeled Church Suffering. The children can draw pictures, add photos, or write the names of those they know who have died. Have the children draw or color sharp rocks or thorny branches around the pictures and names. This is to symbolize their suffering.  Remind the children that these souls need prayers. The bottom is for those who are living and striving to do God’s will. Draw or color grass, houses, trees, flowers, then have the children draw or add pictures of the Pope, bishops, as well as, family members. Teachers: All pictures for this project could be brought from home as a homework assignment. Download the Page Here: May all the Saints in Heaven pray for us! And hope you all have a blessed All Saints Day! ~Jen-Marie

Here are some ideas to help you celebrate the feast day of “The Holy Name of Mary” (Sept 12). Waltzing Matilda:  Most Holy Name of Mary Plans 2008 Another Post 2009 Just Another Day In Paradise : Most Holy Name of Marycraft and dessert  Cottage Blessings: Mary’s Holy Name Lantern More ideas from  Waltzing Matilda Family At The Foot Of The Cross:  The Holy Name of Mary A few ideas from: Shower of Roses

I love saint medals! I kind of have a collection.  Funny thing is, I always wear the same medal around my neck -24-7. My mother gave it to me when I was about 8 and I’ve worn it since.  The rest of my medals are in a box packed away. But I decided it’s time to make use of some of them, and I thought I’d share a few of my ideas with all of you. Perhaps something will inspire you. 1. Use Medals as Zipper Pulls They could be used on purses, coats or jacket zippers. 2. Ceiling Fan Pulls A few months ago one of our ceiling fan pulls was accidentally hit. It swing up and hit the light fixture breaking the glass. So I removed all the heavy pulls that came with the fans and replaced them with light-weight saint medals. -No more broken light fixtures!!  3. Curtain Tie backs Use them to decorate your curtain tie backs. 4. Decorate Candles I found this idea on Pinterest.  -from DustyLu And this is from Tiffany at Family at the Foot of the Cross 5. Use them to decorate gifts and cards 6. Decorate Baskets 7. Hang them on your key chain 8. Hang them on the ring that keeps your kids flash cards together 9. Hang them on spiral ring notebooks 10. Use them to create a bookmark (with two medals and a ribbon) These are all great ways to have a constant reminder of God and the way we should live. The images of the saints can speak of their story even when we are just doing our daily duties. Do you have another idea on other ways to use and decorate with saint medals?  Feel free to share your idea in the comment area. God Bless. ~Jen-Marie

Just wanted to share a cute Advent idea! This year we decided to decorate our tree for the Advent Season! Our tree is decked out all in purple: purple balls, purple bows, and purple tinsel! I also made large purple letters to hang on the tree. The letters spell “PREPARE”. (I know they kind of look white in the picture, but they are purple.) Why Purple? Well, purple is the color of sacrifice and preparation.  And that is what Advent is all about – preparing yourself for the coming of Christ! One great way to prepare yourself is through sacrifice! Maybe doing extra things to help others or giving up a favorite food! So yes, Advent is really about prayer and sacrifice, not celebration! We as Catholics are meant to start celebrating the coming of Christ on Christmas, not before. I know that’s hard, we struggle, too! But it’s a challenge I feel is important to help us build a stronger relationship with God. Since the Christmas season doesn’t actually start till Christmas, I thought this Advent Tree idea was a perfect idea for our family. I first learned about this Advent tree idea at Tracy’s blog “ A Slice of Smith Life “, hop over and visit Tracy. She has a great blog! The kids love our Advent tree! I even bought pink ornaments to add to the tree for the third week of Advent. We plan to redecorate our tree Christmas Eve, and cover it with our typical silver and gold star-shaped ornaments! But for now we wait and prepare for the coming of Christ! Click here to read more about our Manger. Hope you are all having a blessed Advent! ~Jen-Marie

I’m most likely getting this out too late for most of you to use it, but I thought I’d post it anyway. This is a coloring activity for Advent. My oldest daughter, Rachel, drew the coloring pages with the Advent Wreath, the manger, and Baby Jesus. She had hoped I’d share them with all of you. For this coloring page activity, the kids can color the Advent wreath, candles, manager, flames, and Jesus. Then they can glue one flame to a candle each week. On Christmas day they can add Jesus to the manger! I’d like to thank my second oldest daughter, Rebekah, for coloring the Advent wreath and Jesus images.  She did a great job, as always!! 😉 We accompanied Rachel’s coloring activity with our family’s Advent Prayer Chain.  The Advent Prayer Chain doubles as a countdown to Christmas! If you want to make one, too, you can access our free download below. Print it onto colored paper (I used red and green). I cut construction paper down to a regular size sheet of paper and placed it into my printer. Worked great! Then cut on the dotted line to make the strips, which you will need to create the chain.  We used a stapler to attach the ends together as we made our chain. We turned the prayer intentions to the inside.  Each night as we are saying our evening prayers we remove a chain link and say an extra prayer for the special intention listed on that chain link. Download the printable prayer chain here: Since Advent is so short this year, there are more chain links on the printables that you will need. So just pick the prayer intentions you like best and use those to make your chain. Hope you have a blessed Advent! ~JenMarie

The feast day of Christ the King always falls on the last Sunday of ordinary time, before Advent begins. On this day we celebrate Jesus as Creator, Savior, Head of the Church, and Ruler over all the Nations! This truly makes Jesus King of the Kings! Although His throne does not sit upon the Earth, He will remain King over the world for all time. Praise be to Christ the King! I created this simple art project for my kids to make for this wonderful feast day, and I thought I’d share it with all of you: You will need: Jesus is King printable (Download below) green and white crayons Pencil or a black crayon 6 to 7-inch lid to trace a circle blue paper black paper scissors glue stick glitter/glitter glue, sequins, and/or gems (all are optional) Print out this free printable: Trace or draw a 6 to 7-inch circle on the blue paper using a pencil or black crayon. Use the green crayon to add some green to the circle to make it look like the earth. Don’t be too picky about this since most of it gets covered by Jesus. Cut out the images and “Jesus is King of the whole world!” words from the printable sheet. Glue down the earth, the Jesus image, and saying as shown above. The children can “crown” Jesus now if you wish or say a prayer and have them all “crown” Him all at the same time. Use the white crayon to add dots for stars on the black area around the Earth and the letters. It will look similar to this one above. Stop there or you can take it a step further: Have the kids decorate the crown with glitter/glitter glue, sequins, or gems. Jesus Christ is King! And may God bless you all! ~Jen-Marie

Okay, this was not what I planned to do today! But with a little help from my 8 year old, it kept the little kids happy while I worked with the bigger kids and finished up some school! I saw Tiffany’s post over at Family at the Foot of the Cross this morning and I showed it to, Elizabeth, (my 8 year old) she was sooo excited and jumped right on it!! So with my 8 year old in charge of craft time with the little kids, I hopped into a school day. She handled the little kids okay…I had to step in a few times to help, but the tilmas turned out great!! Feel Free to use this download if you need a coloring page with Our Lady: Check out the directions to make this at: Domestic-Church.com Hope you are all having a great day! God Bless. ~JenMarie

Wisemen Adventures ~ Days 17 to 19 This is our Elf on the Shelf Alternative: If you missed the first few post click here to learn the whole story! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 17 Meeting new friends is always good, but these friends are a bit odd! Particularly the hairy one! I’m not sure they can understand a word he’s saying! Balthazar and Melchior are asking for directions. They had hoped that these strange strangers will have an idea of where the Infant King is hiding.  Sorry no luck, let’s see if Caspar fared any better…. Caspar has engaged in a friendly light-saber battle and he’s winning against two Jedi!!WOW! Way to go, Caspar! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 18 Balthazar and Melchior are checking out the pencil basket in our school room! That Balthazar is a spry older fellow! Look at him scale that basket! But, where is Caspar? Oh no, Caspar! It’s not a pool and that ruler is not a high dive! Don’t jump! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 19 Today we found them in the DVD cabinet looking through the movies! Balthazar and Melchior are looking for a clue as to where to find baby Jesus. They think they may have found something that could help. Caspar became distracted by Zoe in her tutu! He made himself a tutu from a hair-tie and a cut-up tissue! He really does like tissues! He is one crafty fellow! 😉 They don’t have much time left to find baby Jesus! Let see what happens tomorrow! Blessings till then! ~Jen-Marie

The search continues… Searching for Jesus ~ Day 11 Today we found the wisemen searching through the knick-knacks above my kitchen cabinets. This one was hard for the kids to find since the kings blended in with the stuff so well! That made it interesting! Balthazar and Melchior have teamed up to look inside of the tin cans. But Caspar has his eye on that fun little antique car!  Good thing we hid the keys, or he might have taken it for a spin! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 12 While looking for baby Jesus in our mini pool table, Caspar was still having a grand time! Balthazar and Melchior are likely to get hit with a ball as Caspar makes a shot! Searching for Jesus ~ Day 13 Ah yes, the junk drawer! We all seem to have one! It’s the drawer that holds all the little broken things that need fixed and other stray items that need a home.  Balthazar and Melchior are digging through ours looking to find the infant King. Caspar seems distracted by the idea of finding a new staff No luck again, maybe tomorrow will be better! Until then, ~JenMarie

Five years ago, my husband and I bought the house of our dreams or is it the house of our nightmares?!?!? We have had to fix or replace almost everything in or on the house – roof, floors, siding, plumbing, electrical, etc…  Everything has just been going bad – sometimes even after we have already fixed them!! During this past 5 year we have felt like the devil has been on our back. Everything we did just seemed to be met with difficulty. My father, who is a excellent carpenter and electrician, has been helping us on recent projects (since his retirement) and commented that he has never seen such simple projects turn into such horrible, time consuming problems. So after 5 years of dealing with these crazy construction catastrophes we decided it is time to fight back! We have had the house blessed after we moved in, but we wanted to do a little more than that.  So we decided to dedicate our home to St. Michael – and St. Michael’s feast day just seemed too appropriate! I found these prayers to purify & protect a home on this website:   HERE These prayers were originally published by order of His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. They are wonderful prayers!  I printed them out so our kids (the ones who can read) could follow along as we prayed them.  My husband and I wanted to have a small memorial of our dedication. So we made a ”sign” to place in the ground in our front flower garden. We used a wooden cross stake and a laminated picture of St. Michael to create this sign. Jon (my husband) used a staple gun and hammer to attach the picture to the cross.  We chose a cross because of Jesus’ cross and also because to looks a bit like St. Michael’s sword, but you could use a simple straight stake or stick.  We only stuck the nails through the clear laminate sheet so the rain wouldn’t destroy the picture: So after attaching the picture to the stake, we read the prayers (as directed) and than all 9 of our kids and Jon and I took turns hammering the stake into the ground.  With St. Michael’s protection, we pray that we may have a better year. May our home be filled with God’s Grace and may our hearts be filled with God’s love. St. Michael, Protect us! ~JenMarie

Happy feast day of Bl. Mother Teresa! (September 5) I made a copywork sheet for my kids which includes a very nice quote of hers. “If you ever feel distressed during your day, call upon our Lady. Just say this simple prayer: ‘Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.’ I must admit this prayer has never failed me.” — Blessed Mother Teresa I just loved this quote it’s such a real reminder that even saints had bad days and had to ask for help. So many times in my days I forget to ask God or Our Lady for assistance. Oh, how I need to remember!! Download this copywork page here: Anyway, here is a picture of the copywork sheet I made (download above): Mother Teresa, pray for us. ~Jen-Marie

This FREE DOWNLOAD is a copywork page with a quote about Our Lady’s Holy Name, Mary. This download contains three versions for: Beginning Writer Middle Writer Experienced Writer Choose the one that works best for your student! At the top of each page is an area for the kids to draw and decorate the Holy Name of “MARY”. The page reads: “Men do not fear a powerful hostile army as the powers of hell fear the name and protection of Mary.” -Saint Bonaventure It’s a perfect quote! See how it speaks of the power of Our Lady’s name! So this is a great copy-sheet for the feast of The Holy Name of Mary. (Sept. 12)Download these pages below! It’s Free! Download the Copywork Pages Here: So don’t forget to call Mary by her holy name whenever you need help! God Bless! ~JenMarie

A few weeks ago, I posted about an ”Our Lady Star of the Sea” craft which I made (with a little help from my kids). That craft included a glass bottle or jar. We’ll I’m sure many of you are like me and don’t want your kids to have a glass jar or bottle in their bedroom! So, after my craft-lov’n, 9 year old daughter kindly asked to make one of the jar crafts for her bedroom, I decided to make a kids-save version of that craft.  You will need: images of Our Lady Star of the Sea Sand Paper (we used 150 Grit) Twine or Raffia glitter glue (silver) small shells white glue scissors pencil or pen with a point First decide on the size you want your finished craft to be. Choose the sizes in the files which are listed above. I made ours with the ”6 on a sheet” file so I could get a large number out of one sand paper sheet.  Six small images fit nicely on a regular sized sheet of sand paper. Cut the sandpaper a little bigger than the image(s) Oh, and in case you don’t understand why I’m using sandpaper: It’s to resemble the sand on the beach. We had a little misunderstanding at our house about that. 🙂  Cut the edge of our sand paper boarder to have a rough edge. (If you wish) Next use the white glue to spread glue the back of the Mary image and then glued it to the sand paper. If you would like to add a twine/raffia hanger to your craft now is the best time to do that. Use a pencil or pen to carefully poke a hole in each of the top corners of the craft. Be sure to leave plenty of space from the corner so it doesn’t rip. (Tip: I always do this on carpet – it’s much easier!) Tread your twine / raffia through the holes and tie a knot in each end to keep it from sliding back out the hole. I have decorations on the craft which is shown in these pictures, but believe me, it\’s much easier to add the holes and sting before the decorations!! 😉  Now, add your decorations!! This can be your way – your style! I added glitter glue around the edge of my picture.  Then I used more glitter glue to glue on a twine bow and small shells. My craft-lov’n 9 year old and her three little sisters each made one and had a blast! I’m excited with how sweet these look – my kids did a great job! They are now the newest decorations hanging in their bedrooms! All made with tender love and care! Our Lady Star of the Sea, Pray for us! Till next time, take care! ~JenMarie

Rebekah wanted to be Bl. Imelda Lambertini, but she did not want her picture posted, so Elizabeth said she would model the Bl. Imelda costume. Thanks Elizabeth! Blessed Imelda is an amazing saint that had more faith in her short life than most people have even after living 90 years!! Imelda wanted to be a nun at the tender age of 9. She was allowed to live with the Dominican sisters, but was not treated kindly by them. She desired to receive her First Holy Communion but was refused. At that time children did not receive their First Communion until the age of 14.  When she was eleven years old she attended the Ascension Day Mass with the other nuns. All the others had received their communion and Mass was over. The nuns were preparing to leave when they saw what appeared to be a Sacred Host hovering in the air above Imelda, as she knelt in prayer. The host was glowing with a remarkable light! They called for the priest. The priest give the Host to Imelda. Imelda was filled with such love that she died at that very moment! Read more about her amazing story here . Our Imelda is dressed in a white robe and had a white veil, which is actually a pillow case. I used a headband to create the look of a Host hovering over her head. To make this hovering Host, I folded a decorative foil paper in half (back against back) and cut out two star shapes like above.  I twisted two silver pipe cleaners together (to make it stronger) and then hot glued them on the back of the star shape, like in the above picture.  I added more hot glue to the silver pipe-cleaner and laid the other star shape on top making sure the star shapes covered each other.  I added a felt circle to each star shape, and used a black pen to make the cross. Then I wrapped the pipe-cleaner ends around a white headband. I also added a little bit of glitter glue around the host to make it look more interesting. It worked great!! She can comfortably wear a shining Host above her head! Bl. Imelda is an amazing young lady! I try to remember her as I go to Holy Communion! She has shown us how we take our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament for granted. Blessed Imelda, Pray for us!