St. Elizabeth of Hungry, was married to King Ludwig and spent her short life giving and caring for the poor and sick. Elizabeth is best known for the miracle of the roses: While she was taking bread to the poor in secret, she met her husband Ludwig who was with a hunting party. She was accused of steeling treasure from the castle and she was asked to reveal what she held in her apron. She opened her apron to reveal a vision of white and red roses. This proved to Ludwig that God\’s protecting hand was at work. Read more about her HERE . Her feast day is November 17 in the New Calendar and November 19th in the Traditional Calendar.  To make her ornament you will need: medium blue felt red felt white felt green felt tan felt brown permanent marker scissors  (these  kind work well) glue (hot glue,  felt glue ,  or tacky glue – like  this  or  this ) thread and needle for the looped hanger Cut out the shapes like those above. The red and white wavy line of felt will be the roses. Use the brown marker to make detail on the tan bread.   Glue the bread on to the blue background and add the leaves.  Roll the strips of white and red into rose shapes. Cut off any extra length which make the roses too large.  Add a large drop of glue to the leaf-area and add the rolled rose. Press the bottom of the rose into the glue. If you are not using hot glue you may need to hold it longer or use a clothespin to press it down for a half hour or so. Now cut off the extra blue background and add the looped hanger to the top. Hang it up wherever you like! St. Elizabeth of Hungry, pray for us. May God bless you all with joy! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

St. John Berchmans’ feast day (November 26) is celebrated on the same day as another saint who I own much of my faith to, St. Leonard of Port Maurice. While I regret not having an ornament to share for Saint Leonard (maybe next year), I do recommend you read ” The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved ” This was such a huge eye opener to my husband and myself. It forced us to realize we needed to do more than just be a bare-minimum-rule-following Catholic and that God was asking much more for us all! Please, take a few minutes to read it. Now for St. John Berchmans: St. John is the patron saint of altar boys, so we made an ornament depicting an altar boy. Read more about him on the bottom of this page HERE . St Leonard’s story is also told on the bottom of that same page.  To make this ornament you will need: medium blue felt black felt yellow felt white felt tan felt brown sharpie permanent marker scissors  (these  kind work well) glue (hot glue,  felt glue ,  or tacky glue – like  this  or  this ) thread and needle for the looped hanger First, cut out all the parts like those above. We used the brown marker to add detail to his face. Next glue down the black body and glue the white surplice on top. Don’t glue down the arms of the white surplice yet. First, add the black arms under the white arm and then glue down the white part of the arms.  Now add the halo, head, and cross. Cut out around the figure to remove any extra background. Add a threaded loop to the top so it can be hung up.  St. John Berchmans, pray for us! May God bless you all with joy. ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

I made a flat Advent ”wreath” for my kids. The first one I made was created with felt material. I added magnets to the back so it could be hung on our refrigerator during the Advent Season. After my 10 and 8 year old daughters saw it they wanted to make one, too! So we made another, this time with paper! Below are the instructions for both the paper and felt projects. These both include removable flames so they can be used year after year!  You will need: black or dark blue paper or felt (we used sparkle dark blue on our felt version) purple paper or felt pink paper or felt green paper or felt red paper or felt yellow paper or felt glue:~hot glue if you are using felt-glue stick of you are using paper tape (optional) purple crayon or oil pastel   OR a  purple Sharpie marker for felt pink crayon or oil pastel OR red Sharpie marker for felt orange crayon or oil pastel for paper OR orange Sharpie marker for felt – if you don’t use glitter paint black pipe cleaner (aka:  chenille) scissors glitter glue if you are using paper fabric paint if you are using felt (we used: gold glitter, metallic gold, and glitter red)  First cut out your three purple candles and one pink candle. They are just simple rectangles. If you feel extra creative, add a curved top to each.  Add glue to the back, but try not to cover the ”no-glue” area – shown in the picture above. This middle area will need to be loose/free so you can add the "stick” which will hold the removable flame. This ”no-glue” area is important for both the paper and the felt versions.  After attaching all four candles to the background, (I used black for the paper version and dark blue with sparkles for the felt version.) Cut out a green wiggly oval to make the base of the green area.  Glue that down so it covers the bottom for the candles. Using crayon or oil pastel create a dripping wax look to the paper version of this project. If you are using felt, use markers to add this wax detail. I cut out a few extra felt pieces to make it look more 3-D-ish, but you could just draw on the wax drips with the markers, if you like. Now, cut out some holly leaves. Fold a green paper or felt rectangle in half and cut out the shape that is shown in the above image on the left. If you feel that’s too complicated just cut out long pointy evergreen-like needles and glue those on the green area below the candles.  If you are using paper, glue down one half of the holly leaf and don’t glue down the other half. This will make a leaf stick out and look more interesting.  If you are using felt, glue down the center of the holly leaf and not the sides (as pictured above). Now add a few holly berries among the greens.  We added glitter glue as a boarder around the paper project.  I used metallic gold fabric paint to the border of the felt project. I also used gold glitter and red glitter paint to the flames and stars which I’ll talk about below. Creating the Removable Flames If you are using paper: Cut out flames from yellow paper and color them with an orange crayon or oil pastel.  Tape or glue a small strip of black paper to the back of each flame. You may want to fold the black paper in half to make it stiffer.  If you are using felt: I used a short piece of black pipe-cleaner (AKA: chenille) and glued it to the back of the felt flames. After that I covered the flames with red and gold glitter paint.  They look MUCH better in real life than in these pictures!  Now you can add the flames to the top of the candle by pushing the black strip of paper into the top ”no glue” area of the candle…. …or push the pipe cleaner into the top of the felt candles. I created a small pocket on the back to store the flames when they are not being used. I also added magnets so it can be hung on the refrigerator.  Above is the finished paper project. Above is the finished felt project. I created the stars by cutting out the star shapes from yellow felt and covering them with gold and red glitter paint like I did with the flames.  There you have it! A piece of artwork perfect for the season. The felt version could be a great heirloom! Enjoy! May God bless you all with joy! ~JenMarie

St. Francis Xavier is patron saint of foreign missions. He is a co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He preached in Africa for a short time, but spent the later part of his life preaching in India, Japan, and the Philippines. His feast day is Dec. 3rd (new and traditional). Read more about him HERE and HERE . Because St. Francis is the patron saint for missions we created a world. It shows the areas which St. Francis preached. We also added a torch which symbolizes his spreading the light of the Catholic faith.  To create this you will need: gray felt light blue felt yellow/orange felt dark brown felt green sharpie marker blue sharpie marker scissors  (these  kind work well) glue (hot glue,  felt glue ,  or tacky glue – like  this  or  this ) thread and needle for the looped hanger First cut out the shapes like those above. We used the green marker to draw a simple out-line of Africa, Asia, Australia and the area of the Philippines.  Glue the earth onto the gray background. Add the handle of the torch and the flame. Then add the top of the torch handle. Cut out around the earth and torch to remove any extra gray background. Add a threaded loop hanger to the top. That’s it! St. Francis Xavier, Pray for us. ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

St. John of Damascuc (Damascene) has a long and interesting story, but I’ll keep it short: He was taught by a monk and became very knowledgeable on the faith. He often wrote about many various topics of the faith. In particular, he wrote 3 publications on holy images and the respect that they should be given. He also wrote music. Some of his songs are used in the Mass today. His feast day is Dec. 4th (new) and March 27th (traditional). Read more about him HERE and HERE . We have included three symbols on St. John’s ornament. A music note, a scroll, and a ”holy image”. These are all symbols of his writings. To create this you will need: light blue felt dark brown felt off-white felt black felt a variety of different colored markers to draw the image  OR cut out a religious image to add to this ornament instead of drawing one. black sharpie marker scissors ( these kind work well) glue (hot glue, felt glue ,  or tacky glue – like this or this ) thread and needle for the looped hanger Cut out the parts like those above. We used a black marker to add dots to the sheet/scroll – to make it look like writing. Draw your saint/Blessed Mother image on a rectangle piece of off-white felt. If you don’t want to draw an image just find a small, suitable, image to use and glue it onto the light blue background. You can add clear Mod-Podge over top to make it more protected.   After gluing down the image, add the 4 brown felt pieces to form a frame. Then, add the music note and written sheet/scroll. We curled ours on the end to look more like a scroll, but that’s not necessary to do.  After every thing is glued onto the light blue background, cut off the extra background around the three symbols. Add the threaded loop to the top to hang it up. That’s it! St. John of Damascus, pray for us. ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

The feast of the Immaculate Conception is on Dec. 8th – nine months before Our Lady’s Birthday (Sept 8th). This is a celebration of the day God created Mary’s Immaculate Soul! Our Lady of Lourdes introduced herself to Bernadette as ”The Immaculate Conception”, but what does ”The Immaculate Conception” mean? It means that Mary NEVER had a sin on her soul. It means that when St. Anne conceived Mary, she was created without the stain of original sin on her soul. God prepared Mary’s soul to be worthy of being the Mother of God. Mary, the Immaculate Conception, is often called the ”New Eve”, because she was created without sin just as Eve was. But unlike Eve, Mary was willing to follow and trust God throughout her life. Sadly, Eve choose to sin later in life. Because Mary chose to never sin, Jesus was able to be born and later died to save us from our sins! Because ”The Immaculate Conception” chose to remain sinless and because she said ”Yes” to God, we are all able to enter heaven! Here is a liturgical ornament for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It depicts St. Anne pregnant with Mary. Mary is symbolized through her Immaculate Heart. To make this you will need: pink felt light blue felt black felt red felt yellow felt white felt tan or peach felt gray felt orange fine-point permanent marker yellow fine-point permanent marker scissors  (these  kind work well) glue (hot glue,  felt glue ,  or tacky glue – like  this  or  this ) thread and needle for the looped hanger First, cut out the parts like those above. You can add the orange marker outline to the halo now if you wish. Note: St. Anne’s hands are missing from the above picture. Glue down St. Anne’s body. Don’t glue the top part of her body till you have added her arms in the proper spot. Glue down the arms and then finish gluing the upper part of her body. Add her hands to the arms. Now add her halo and then her head.  Next add her gray hair. Now, add her belly and veil.  Now, add the Immaculate Heart of Mary to her belly.  If you haven’t already added the marked parts, do that now. Add orange to the halo. We also added a few yellow dots to the flowers on the Immaculate Heart. These are hard to see in the picture, and this step is not necessary.  Finally, cut off the extra background and add the threaded loop to the top so it can be hung up.  There you have it! 🙂 Our Lady Immaculate, pray for us. May God bless you all with His joy. ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

St. Ambrose is called the ”Honey-Tongued Doctor”. He had a way with words that calmed many angry situations. He is a doctor of the church and because of both of these facts, we created an ornament which depicts a honey bee. The bee is a symbol of wisdom and they make honey!  St. Ambrose is also the patron saint of candle makers (workers of wax), Ya, we have lots of those these days! 😉 Anyway, he’s also the patron saint of students, bee keepers and learning.  His feast day is Dec. 7th (new and traditional). Read his story HERE . You will need: light blue yellow felt white felt black sharpie marker orange sharpie marker brown sharpie marker blue sharpie marker scissors ( these  kind work well) glue (hot glue,  felt glue ,  or tacky glue – like  this  or  this ) thread and needle for the looped hanger Cut out the parts as shown above.  Use black marker to add the strips and a black head to the bee. Use the brown marker to out-line the candle. Use the orange marker to add detail to the flame, and use a blue marker to out-line the bee’s wings.  Glue down the candle and the flame. Then add the bee’s body. Finally add the bee’s wings. After everything is glued down, cut off the extra blue background. Use a blue marker to add an edge to the background.  Add a threaded loop to the top so it can be hung up.  That’s it! St. Ambrose, pray for us! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth!

Here is a fun and simple craft I made with my kids on a snowy day. We discussed the Holy Trinity and we also talked about the Sign of the Cross. We used the snowman as a symbol of the Trinity. The snowman is three part in one person, like the Blessed Trinity. I also tried to add a little bit of symbolism to the snowman: Top ball: crown – symbol for God the father Middle ball: red scarf – Red for Jesus blood Bottom ball: pure white – symbol of a white dove (Holy Spirit) Download printable Instructions below. To make this craft you will need: 3 white styrofoam balls – we used:1.9 inch (48mm)1.4 inch (35mm)0.9 inch (22mm) 4 inch strip of red felt 2 inch strip of yellow felt 2 round toothpicks orange marker black sharpie marker scissors white glue — if needed or desired Download the Snowman Printable Instructions Here: Cut your red felt strip so it looks like a scarf. We added fringes to the ends. We cut the yellow felt to make a crown. My kids thought the crown was cute! 🙂 Flatten the bottom of the largest ball. No need to cut it, just press on it to flatten it. You can push it onto a table top to help flatten it, too. This will allow the snowman to stand. Using a toothpick connect the balls together. We used half a toothpick between each of the balls. If the child makes the hole to big (often because of wiggling it or because of multiple attempts) You can add a bit of white glue to the hole to help keep it together. After all the parts are together, sit him on a table and press down on his head and stomach so all the parts are better pressed together and feel more stable. Use an orange marker to add color to the tip of a toothpick. Break off the tip and use it to make the snowman’s nose. Use a black sharpie maker to make the eyes and mouth. This may need to be done by an adult, depending on the age of the child. While holding down the head of the snowman – so it doesn’t fall off – wrap the scarf around his neck. If you desire you can glue the scarf down, but the styrofoam often just holds it anyway.  Then, add the crown, you may still need to hold down his head while adding the crown. We displayed our snowmen on our table for a few days! Aren’t they cute! The kids also ate some white/vanilla cotton candy for a fun snowman treat! 🙂 It was some great crafting and learning fun! May God (all 3 in 1) bless you with joy! ~Jen-Marie

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity’s feast day is March 7th. These two saints were unlikely friends, one wealthy and the other a slave, but both were strong in their faith! They were martyred together around the year 203. St. Perpetua wrote a diary of their stay in prison and so we have a fair amount to information on them. Read about them HERE . There is also a wonderful video available called: “Catholic Heroes of the Faith: The Story of Saint Perpetua”. This cartoon video is a fairly true story of these amazing women, so some parents might consider it to be a bit graphic – for a cartoon. But all in all it’s a great video! In honor of this special day my oldest daughter Rachel, has created a coloring page, which she wanted to share with all of you. The above picture is her drawing and she used watercolor paints to add all the beautiful colors to the drawing. Download This Coloring Page Here: Enjoy! Have a blessed day! ~Jen-Marie

I know I said I wasn’t going to post any Easter activities, but I forgot that I had already promised my 10 year old that I would post a coloring page which she created. A promise is a promise, so I’m posting Elizabeth’s wonderful Easter coloring page! And she is very excited to share it with you today! 🙂 Elizabeth modeled her Jesus figure after Playmobil and Lego people. The tomb behind him, was made to look like Legos. Download This Coloring Page Here: I hope you like her cute coloring page!  Personally, I think she did an awesome job! – But I’m her mother! Have a blessed Holy Week! ~JenMarie (and Elizabeth)

This children’s craft project is a great craft for Holy Week and Good Friday. It uses clothes pins to create Jesus and brown paper for the cross. Materials: Printable instructions (below) 2 sheets brown construction paper small 1 inch circle of yellow paper small piece of white paper 3 clothes pins taken apart with metal center removed tissue (1”x 2” piece) tape glue (white glue and/or hot glue) colored pencils (brown, black, red and orange) scissors -*Download the Instructions Here*- Instructions: Fold the construction paper every 1 inch to make a flat 1” x 9” long stiff vertical cross section. (Fold in one direction, not back and forth like a fan ~ It’s like rolling up the paper but flattening the roll as you go.) Tape the end of the paper to one of the flat sides. This side will be the back of the cross. Cut the other piece of construction paper down to 9”x7”. Fold it like the first but to make a 1”x 7” horizontal cross section. With a brown crayon or colored pencil add some brown lines lengthwise to each section to create a wooden look to the paper cross parts. (This only needs to be done on the front of each cross part.) Tape the two sections together on the back side to create a cross. Glue two clothespin parts back to back to create Jesus body. Then add the two clothes pin parts to create his legs. (see image below) Hot-glue works best for this. White glue will work, but can be a more time consuming and difficult. With the brown pencil draw hair on the head of Jesus. With black, add two lines for his eyes, a smaller line for his nose and a longer line for his mouth. Also, add over-lapping x’s around his head to create a crown of thorns. Add some red for blood. Cut out a small 1” x 2” piece of tissue to rap it around Jesus hips. Glue it on the back side. Cut out a 1” circle of yellow paper and color the outer edge with orange and glue it down at the center of the cross sections where the two parts intersect. Glue Jesus body and legs to the cross placing his head at the center of the halo. Add the arms to the cross as shown in the pictures. Color some red on his feet and hands, then add a black dot for the nails. With a black pencil write INRI on the white paper and draw a brown square shape around it. Cut it out and glue it to the top of the cross. Your cross is complete! You can tape a looped string to the back to hang it up. Or just use some sticky putty or double sided tape. God Bless! ~Jen-Marie

Hi, everyone! Happy Solemnity of the Annunciation! I just wanted to let you know that we have two NEW coloring pages to share! Download them below. Download This Coloring Page Here: Download This Coloring Page Here: I hope you are all healthy and safe! I’m praying for you all! Please, pray for us! ~JenMarie

The month of January is dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus and Jan. 3 is the feast day of the Jesus’ Holy Name. I’m was excited to share an e-file which I added to our Download Shop . It’s a perfect project to help your children meditate on Jesus and His many names! I worked on this file for over a year. I collected names of Jesus and tested the sizes of the letters and the boxes to be sure that this is usable for many ages and levels. With this e-file children can create the name of Jesus which is covered with lots of other names of Jesus! Names like: Unchangeable One The Way Bread of Life Great I AM Light of the World and many more – it’s 122 names in all! This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! The kids can cut out all the “Name of Jesus” boxes, arrange and glue them on the J-E-S-U-S letters. So what’s the goal of the teacher: To get the child(ren) to see beyond the typical names of Jesus and to be reminded of the many wondrous levels of God, both human and divine! The goal of the child: To fill the large letters that spell the name JESUS with as many “Name of Jesus Boxes” as they can. Who can do this:              Ages 6 years and up. Many young children will enjoy gluing these names onto the letters, but they will need adult help to read the names and some help to arrange the boxes on the letters. There are larger J-E-S-U-S letters included in this file for younger children. The “regular“ sized letters are for more skilled individuals, ages 10 and up. This can be used for a Religious Education class, a retreat, a youth group, or camp as well as, fun at home! It can be done in a group or alone. This is a fun puzzle for adults, too! After the puzzle is complete: This makes a great decoration when it’s complete. It can be used to decorate a shelf, wall, bulletin board, or other areas in your room or home! Here are few ideas on how to use it in your home décor: This file also includes an “Ice Breaker” game for youth groups and other religious functions, as well as, other ideas, like a daily devotional. This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! Thank you for your support and God bless! ~JenMarie

The March winds are here! So for Saint Patrick’s feast day, I made a fun project that can spin in the cool spring winds. This St. Patrick Mobile is double-sided so it can spin around and it will always look good. The swirly snake (a symbol of St. Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland) will dance as the mobile twists from the gentle breeze that is blowing through your windows! To make this you will need: mobile printable crayons or colored pencils scissors hole-punch glue stick string, ribbon, or yarn (green is a great color to use for this) Here’s a peek at the printable sheets: Download this St Patrick Craft Here: After printing out the pages they will need to be colored. This is the fun creative part! The children can color and decorate the pieces however they want. (Do you like the St. Patrick drawing in this printable? My oldest daughter, Rachel drew it!) Color any design on the snake, too! After coloring the pieces, cut them out. Also, I recommend that you color the back of the snake. This just looks a little nicer on the finished product. Now, cut along the spiral lines of the snake to make a coiled spring.  Use the hole-punch to make a hole in the marked area on his head. Glue the two ovals – back to back. Then, glue the two Trinity clovers/shamrocks back to back. Use the hole-punch to add holes to the marked areas, on the top and bottom of each piece. Use your string/ribbon/yarn to attach all the parts together. Note: The pictures of our finished project show a white ribbon above the oval.  This was just something we add, but it’s not necessary for the project. Now, you have a two-sided mobile – Ready to spin in the March wind! Hope you enjoy it! My kids sure do! God Bless! ~JenMarie

St. Agnes’ Feast day is January 21! Today we have two printable pages to share with you! One is a coloring page and the other is a Word Search! Both have a short story about St. Agnes! This is a more “G” rated version of her life and is intended for younger children but is also great for any age! St. Agnes was born in 291 A.D. in Rome, Italy. She was very beautiful and kind. Agnes loved Jesus and gave herself to Him. Because of this, she refused to marry. Many men wanted to marry her but after refusing them they accused her of being a Christian. At that time it was illegal to be Christian. After being arrested she was treated very badly but still remained faithful to Jesus and kind to her captors. She was later beheaded and died joyfully as a courageous martyr at the age of 13. Feast Day: January 21 Patron saint of: Young girls, gardeners, engaged couples, those abused, and more. Symbol: lamb, palm branch The two printable pages are free to download. Download the St. Agnes Pages Here: I hope the kids enjoy them! God bless! ~JenMarie

For several years I’ve seen references to Jesse Trees. This year I felt it was time to check into the whole story behind these Advent trees and to see what they are all about. After reading up on the meaning and history of this Christmas tradition I created some printable ornaments. I did have A LOT of help from my oldest daughter, Rachel! She shared her artwork so I could create these little ornaments! Rachel’s Jesse Tree artwork will be featured in St. Mary’s Messenger Magazine , too! The beautifully colored samples in our pictures were colored by my daughter, Elizabeth, who was thrilled to help! Thank you, both! And now we have it in Spanish, too! All thanks to our huge helper, Dr. Luzondo! What is a Jesse Tree? A Jesse Tree represents the family tree of Jesus Christ. Each ornament represents a story from the Bible that tells about God’s people before Jesus was born. Each Story shows God’s salvation plan and tells how He guided humanity to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. The tradition of the Jesse Tree dates back to the middle ages. The name “Jesse Tree” comes from Isaiah 11:1, “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” Jesse is the father of King David. The savior was to come from David’s family line. What is the tradition? During the Advent season, a Bible Story is read which relates to Jesus family or God’s people. After the Bible story is read and discussed, an ornament is placed on a tree – the Jesse Tree. This was often done from the beginning of Advent to Christmas Day. Traditionally the Bible stories corresponded with the readings from Daily Mass so the number of ornaments and the stories that were read changed from one year to the next. This meant that new Jesse Tree ornaments needed to be created each Advent. Because of this, there are many versions of the Jesse Tree. Sadly our version does not follow along with the daily Mass readings, but our version was created to be simple and easy to use at home and in the classroom. Ours begins on Dec. 1, continues till Dec. 25, and it can be used the same way every year. You will need: printable ornaments – printed on stock paper (Download below) colored pencils or crayons cutting tools – scissors – OR – 2 ½ hole punch (perfect for cutting these ornaments) a tree – see tree instructions Hanger Material – one of these:  string and needle – tape or tack-putty-  stapler –  metal hooks a Bible ENGLISH - Download the English Jesse Tree Here: SPANISH - Árbol de Jesé: What tree should I use? You may like to hang your Jesse tree ornaments on your Christmas tree or you can create a tree just for these ornaments. If you want to create a tree, there are many different ways to accomplish this. For example: create a tree shape from paper and attach it to a wall (use tack-putty) or add a paper tree to a large bulletin board. You could also create a tree with evergreen branches or bare sticks and branches. Use an indoor fichus tree or branches from a craft store. The options are countless. Just look around and see what works for you in your situation. How do I create the ornaments? With these printable ornaments, the Jesse Tree can be a fun, easy craft! A group of children can divvy-up the ornaments and they can all color some!  After the ornaments are colored, cut them out. A 2 ½ inch hole punch is the perfect size to use on these circles! That would make this cutting job very quick and easy! How do I hang them? If you plan to hang these on a 3D tree, use a needle and thread to sew a short piece of thread through the top. Knot the two ends together. Then use the thread-loop to hang this on your tree. You could also attach metal hooks to the ornaments. If your tree is flat (on a wall or bulletin board) you can tape, tack-putty, or staple the ornaments to the tree. I saw different versions on other sites. Why so many versions? Historically, there are several different versions of the Jesse tree based on the Bible readings for the year. The version which we have here is just a simple home/school version that is meant to be used year after year during the month of December. The readings do not coincide with the Mass readings for the day. If you want a version that works with the daily reading this is not it. I’m sorry we can’t help you at this time. Each day from Dec. 1 to Dec. 25 read the Bible story and discuss it. Then add the corresponding ornament to the tree. Twenty-Five scripture readings are listed on the printable ! Just grab your Bible or find a website with a Catholic Bible! For the Catholic crafter who likes to work with felt… Elizabeth and I are currently working to make felt versions of some Jesse Tree ornaments! You know how we LOVE felt ornaments!! If you would also prefer to make felt ornaments you might like to hop over to Jen at Faith and Fabric ! Jen has just released an ebook with her felt Jesse Tree ornament patterns. These are gorgeous little felt ornaments! God Bless you all with a joy-filled Advent season! ~JenMarie

Hello! Just wanted to share a coloring page of St. Therese the Little Flower of Jesus! My daughter, Elizabeth (age 12), drew this image of St. Therese over a year ago. We used it on one of our Little Flower club meetings. The page also contains a quote by St. Therese: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” I love that quote! It’s such a good reminder for us all! Download This Coloring Page Here: Enjoy! ~JenMarie

If you have been following our blog for the past few years you already know about our super fun Saint Themed Guess Jar games! Here are the jar ideas and labels from 2013 and 2014! This year I made a few new jars again! These jars were a great hit at our party again this year!! Download ALL of our jar labels (our old ones and our 6 new ones) below!! The Guessing sheet is also included in this download! Download All The Sets of these Guessing Jars Here: Here are our 6 NEW Jar labels! Our Lady Undoer / Untier of Knots – Twizzlers St. Dominic – Rosary Beads All Saints’ Halos – Butterscotch Hard Candies St. Lucy – Eye Candies (Ours were bubble gum, like those pictured here.) St. Tarcisius did NOT have butter-fingers!!! – Butterfinger Bars St. Lawrence – Red Hots Ironically, my daughter, Hannah won this one at our All Saint’s Day party- which is appropriate since Lawrence is our last name! 🙂 Enjoy!! May you all have a blessed All Saints’ day! ~JenMarie

It took several days of brainstorming, but I finally came up with a new table game for our All Saints day party – Saint-themed guessing jars! My first thought was to make a guessing jar that had “3 Musketeers” in it and call it a “Holy Trinity Guessing Jar”.  Then I (with my husband’s help) tried to think of all kinds of candies and crackers that could be a symbol or have a meaning that centered around a saint. We came up with several – some are not included here, but maybe I can add them to a future post. Basically, these jars are filled with candy or crackers that have a saint theme. The kids (and adults) can guess how many candies or crackers are in the jar. The person with the closest guess wins the jar! It’s simple, saint-inspired fun! These could be fun for any Catholic event, like youth groups or a CCD/RE class. Check them all out in our downloadable file!! Download ALL of our jar labels (our old ones and our 6 new ones) below!! The Guessing Sheet is also included in this download! Guessing Jar Label Set - Download Here: Our jar ideas included: The Holy Trinity Guessing Jar In my opinion, I think this is the tastiest jar listed here! To symbolize our 3 in 1 God,  I put 3 musketeers mini bars in this jar. St. Nicholas (Candy or Money) A jar for St. Nicholas could be filled with candy coins, but they can be hard to find so you may prefer to put Christmas mints in the jar. ~OR~  If you are doing this with older kids, teens, or adults you may like to add pennies, nickels, and dimes to the jar and have them guess the dollar amount. Choose the correct label below. This jar would be great for a Christmas party! St. Francis Guessing Jar The jar for St. Francis could be filled with animal crackers. St. Peter Guessing Jar St. Peter’s jar could be filled with fish crackers of Swedish fish! St. Isidore Guessing Jar St. Isidore could have a few different candies in his jar. Pumpkin candies, Runts , fruit-flavored candy, or any produce themed candy will work! Personally, I like Runts , but I didn’t have any so I used some cute Raspberry gumdrops! Our Lady of Mount Carmel Guessing Jar Yes, I know that Carmel and caramel are not the same things, but they sound much the same and they tend to wear the same color! 😉 So in this jar, I added caramels. You can use several different varieties of caramel candy: Rolos, caramel creams (like ours), or plain caramel squares. St. Kateri Tekakwitha Guessing Jar This jar was filled with candy corn and candy pumpkins. Doctors of the Church Guessing Jar In honor of all the Church Doctors, I filled this jar with Smarties – because the Doctors are known for being so smart about God and the faith! St. Andrew Guessing Jar For St. Andrew I added those fun waffle pretzels because they look like fishing nets! You could add Chex mix, too, since Chex can look like fishing nets also! St. Thomas Aquinas Guessing Jar Because St. Thomas Aquinas was called the “dumb ox” in his youth, I added Dum-Dums to this jar. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Guessing Jar St. Elizabeth Ann Seton started a school for girls in Maryland in the early 1800’s so letter cookies seemed to be appropriate for her jar! St. Catherine of Alexandria Guessing Jar St. Catherine was condemned to death on the spiked wheel, but, at her touch, the wheel was miraculously destroyed (although later she was martyred by beheading). Those little wheel pretzels seemed appropriate for her jar. The PDF files which include the labels for these jars. NOTE: The St. Nicholas money guessing label is only available in the image at the top of this post. It is not included in the PDF files. The other labels are in the above download. How I created these jars: After Jon (my husband) and I made our list of saint themed candies and crackers, I started cleaning out used peanut butter jars (We eat a lot of peanut butter at our house!).  I saved the jars for when I would need them. If you want you can buy some jars at the dollar store, Walmart, etc. Next, I created the labels for the jars. (Those labels are free to print above.) When I put these jars together for the party, I first added as many of the candies or crackers to the jars as I could (without cracking or breaking them). I counted them as I added them. For larger amounts of candies/crackers, I filled the jar then dumped it out onto a clean surface and separated them into groups of ten. Then after I counted them I put them all back into the jar. Each time I finished counting the contents for a jar I wrote the number down on a slip of SUPER SECRET paper so I would remember the number. After I added all the food to the jars, I closed the lid and I used clear shipping tape to attach the labels to the jars.  I also added a few strips of tape around the lid, too. (Just to be safe.)  I made one sheet for each of the jars so our guests could write down their name and guess. Our printable guessing sheet is available in the download above. Just write the name of the saint themed jar at the top so you know what jar belongs to that particular page. Anyone want to guess how many candies or crackers are in these jars? Sorry, but if you guess correctly, I’m not mailing the jar to you. You will just have the privilege of saying you got it right! 🙂 God bless! ~JenMarie *UPDATE* Nov 2, 2015 We added 6 more labels to the download! Here are images of those:

Hi Everyone! Here are a few Stations of the Cross printable! One is a lift-flap notebook page and the other is a Stations of the Cross mini booklet! I used the notebook page for my younger kids. And we added these to their notebook (3 ring binder) which holds the many other pages we have made during the school year. The mini booklets were great for my older kids, but also loved by my younger kids. They can be carried in their pocket or purse during this Lenten season as a reminder to meditate on the Stations and Christ passion whenever they have a few free minutes. Download These Station Pages Here: 1. Lift-Flap Notebook Page To make the lift-flap page you will need: Printable Pages – (download above) crayons or colored pencils (optional) scissors glue or tape Color the images. Cut out the rectangles along the dotted lines and cut between the station’s title boxes.  Glue or tape the top of each section in the proper place on the sheet which includes a black and white image of each of the stations. After you have it all glued down you can lift the flaps and see an image for the station’s title. 2. Stations of the Cross Mini Booklet The other file I’ve listed in the members area is a mini booklet! It’s small enough to be carried easily in a pocket or a purse! You will need: Printable Pages – (Download Above) colored pencils or crayons (optional) scissors stapler Just color the black and white pictures (optional). Older kids often prefer it uncolored.  Then, cut and fold the pages as directed in the pdf file. Instructions on how to fold the pages and assemble the booklet are included in the PDF. Both of these projects are easy to create, take very little time, and are not a huge mess to make! ●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬●✿●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬● Hope you are all having an enlightening Lent! Please pray for me and my family. I’m praying for all of you. ~JenMarie