This Holy Family set is made from old-fashioned clothespins and felt.  This set would be perfect for a Christmas project or to give as a gift. These cute little craft doll/statues can be used as a doll for young children, as a statue, or as an ornament for the tree. This craft requires the use of hot glue, so if you plan to make these with small children they will need help. Older children may be able to do these on their own if they are accustomed to using hot glue. M aterials For Mary : blue felt dress * (see felt cutting instructions) felt head covering we used light blue wooden old fashioned clothespin 4-inch piece of string Hot glue For Baby Jesus: mini old fashioned clothespin or a craft stick Scrap piece of white felt  (about 1/2 the size of the head covering) wooden ring (to help the doll stand, if it needs help) Hot glue For St. Joseph you’ll need: brown felt robe*(see felt cutting instructions) green head-covering -half the size of the one shown on the *cutting instructions. brown string for waist and head Hot glue NOTE: The instructions for St. Joseph are the same as those for Mary, just use different colors and a smaller h ead covering. After gluing on his head covering it looks a bit more masculine if you fold the sides of his head covering back away from the face and glue it in place. Add a string around the head covering, too. You may need to use a few tiny drops of glue to keep it in place. Hot glue a stick to his waist as pictured. Use a brown colored pencil to draw his beard. *Felt Cutting instructions, click to enlarge: Materials for Mary and baby Jesus: After cutting out your felt pieces, push the round clothespin head into the small head hole in the dress. You may need to add a drop of hot glue at the upper chest and upper back of the doll clothespin to keep the dress from sliding down the clothespin.  Pull all the dress parts down against the clothespin and tightly knot a string around its waist. You may need an extra hand to hold the dress down while you knot the waist string. Now, cut off the extra string ends. If the dress is too long, cut it to the correct length. If the opening on the sides of the dress are showing, hot glue it together.   Add hot glue to the top and sides of the dolls head and cover the top of her head with the head covering. Note: You may have to cut a slit in the back of the veil, (from the bottom of the veil up to the head)  so it will lay down properly. Then hot glue the back of the veil down in a way so you don’t see the cut. Now for the baby: Cut or break the bottom of the mini clothespin off so it is the correct size. OR if you don’t have a mini old-fashioned clothespin you can use a craft stick. Break the craft stick in half and hot glue them one on top of the other. Now add some hot glue to the top and side of the baby’s head and wrap the edge of the felt piece around the top of the baby’s head. Then wrap the rest of the felt around the baby, covering it completely. Hot glue the blanket in place. Then hot glue it to the doll of Mary. If possible, try to use the wrinkles in her dress and veil as arms so it can look like she is holding the baby.  If the doll has a hard time standing on its own you may need to buy a wooden ring to help it stand. If you can’t find wooden rings, you may be able to hot glue the doll to a small wooden flat shape. I hope I explained this well enough, If you have any questions please post a comment and I will respond. I hope you enjoy making these little doll/statues as much as we did!!  Take care and God bless. ~Jen-Marie

This is how my family counts down the days to Christmas. On Dec. 1 our image of Mary and Joseph starts to travel to Bethlehem. It moves along the numbers which are taped to the wall. They are traveling toward the stable. On Christmas Eve they are just above the stable. I put ours up high out of little kids’ reach, but you wouldn’t need to have it so high for older kids. This idea can be simple and easy. You could simply print off the numbers and star I have created along with this lovely coloring page  found on SuperColoring.com . Then, color the picture or just cut it out and use it to move along the numbers. Move it down by one number each day. That simple! The Art Project: OR if you like a bit more of a challenge, here’s how I made mine: I say “challenge” but it’s not really as hard as you may think! You will need: Glue scissors the Mary and Joseph coloring sheet light blue paper dark blue paper purple paper black paper sandpaper or brown paper stars (can be hole-punched, sequins, stickers, or drawn) The numbers to tape to the wall Painters tape to add the numbers to the wall  Picture putty works well for the Mary and Joseph image so it stays sticky each day as you move it. Cut out hill shapes from the sandpaper. Layer them on the bottom of the light blue paper. Add a half-circle sun on the horizon.  Layer the different colored paper, using wide strips.  Make the black area the biggest, and dark blue area bigger than purple and light blue.  Add a few dark blue strips to the top of the light blue area. Add a few light blue strips to the dark blue area. Add a few purple strips to the top of the dark blue area. Add a few dark blue strips to the purple area, and purple strips to the black area, Now cut the whole picture into a half-circle shape. Trim all the edges. Then add the stars. Cut out the Mary/Joseph picture and glue it on. Note : You may need to put a large book on top of it till it dries so the sandpaper stays down. It’s so much fun watching Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem! Have a blessed Advent, ~Jen-Marie

Lacy over at Catholic Icing had a yummy idea of how to explain the Holy Trinity to kids by using a Snowman as a model. I love the idea of the three parts of a snowman (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) creating one God! Sadly my new healthy diet does not include those delicious powdered doughnuts!!  So I thought I’d share the Snowman Trinity Art project I did with my homeschool Art Co-Op. A few weeks ago, I was searching for a project to help teach the kids in my class about light direction and value I found this fun art idea at a lovely art blog called  For the Love of Art . The snowman, representing the Holy Trinity in its three parts, shows the light direction through its shadows and shading with the dark blue paper as its medium value. Here’s a step by step on how to draw this: On dark blue paper, use white to show the light areas anddark blue to show the dark areas. (A crayon, colored pencil, or oil pastel will work) Look at the finished snowman: Notice the light side and the shaded side of the snowman? Notice the shadow on the ground? You can see which direction the light is coming from. Here’s another one: He’s too cute! Okay, my oldest daughter and son went a little crazy on me! I guess the Holy Trinity could hold some of those signs!?! (My kids read a little too much “Calvin and Hobbes”) Well, I think they got the point! And they had a great time! It was easy for them to do! Even the kids who have a hard time learning art did a great job! Give it a try and have fun! God Bless! ~Jen-Marie

We played a game at our All Saint’s day party a few years back called “ Simon Peter Says “. It’s just like “ Simon Says ” but Simon wears a miter and is called “Simon Peter” in honor of our first Pope. Simon Peter tells the other kids to kneel and pray, genuflect, make the Sign of the Cross, lie prostrate, along with the normal Simon Says commands. I don’t use this game at our All Saint’s parties anymore now that the number of kids has gotten so large, but it works well just for fun on our family game days! We made our miter from a large white shipping envelope and gold-trimmed ribbon. Enjoy! God Bless, ~Jen-Marie

I grew up in what most would call a “large” Catholic family. I was born fourth in a line of five kids. It didn’t seem “large” to me, but the open-eyed, mouth-dropping expressions on people’s faces as we all walked into a public area made me realize we were a little different. I was okay with that. I actually liked having my brothers and my sister around, even as annoying as they were! Now, to put things in perspective you must understand that I only had one brother younger than me and I almost never saw babies. As a teen, I had very little experience with young children or babies. So taking on a babysitting job was just not really my thing. My older sister took babysitting job after babysitting job, and she loved it! She loved the kids, she loved the babies, she wanted to be a teacher, and I didn’t want anything to do with kids! At this point in my life I imagine God laughed, and laughed, and laughed!! For the Almighty has a plan, it may not be the plan we like, but it’s the plan we need for our salvation. At the tender age of 17, I was discerning whether or not God was calling me to become a nun. I loved my God, I trusted Him. And since being a mother just didn’t seem like my thing I figured He must want me to be a nun. I prayed for guidance, oh how hard I prayed!! Then God hit me over the head with a spiritual 2×4!! I had a saints book laying on my bed while I was praying. The book slid off the edge of my bed and landed on the floor. I picked it up and a holy card fell out from in between the pages. It was a very old holy card that my mother found years earlier in the crack of one of the horse-hair plastered walls in our old Civil War farmhouse. She had given it to me, but I never really looked at it before that particularly special day. It was a picture and prayer to St Gerard the patron saint of mothers!! As if that wasn’t enough of a blow, I continued to read the card and at the bottom it said his feast day was October 16….that very day that this happened was Oct 16!!!! Oh, that hit hard! God doesn’t use a megaphone to tell you his plan but that day He got very close!  At that point, I said to God “Well if you think that’s best. But I would need to find a good guy to marry first. And those seem to be a bit hard to find.” I’m sure God laughed again because He knew how and where I’d meet that guy. And just three months later there he was! At the age of 20, I married the man that God sent to me, a sweet man, though we both had some growing up to do! We were both open to whatever God’s plan was and we left the door open in all ways for God to send us children. So God decided it was time to give us a crash course in parenting!! Just one month after we were married I became pregnant with our first! Eleven months after our first was born I delivered our second. And it continued like that for 13 years! I had 9 babies and three miscarriages in less than 14 years! The past 14 years of my life have been a huge struggle! Pregnancy after pregnancy, while learning how to be a homeschooling mom was hard. We live on one income, money’s tight, the house is in need of constant repair, the vehicles rarely run, stress is up and time is short. But God has taught me more about life, love, and faith through my children and husband than being a nun ever could have taught me! Now, I’m not bashing those who become religious… Not a bit!! But God knew I needed these kids as much as they needed me! Sure I had a choice to not have my kids in machine-gun style, but once again I let God do the driving in my life. And He’s proven to me time after time that not taking the easy roads in life can often be the most learned and scenic route of all! This past week was a huge turning point for us! I’ve had a medical problem during those past 14 years of having babies which have just forced me to get a hysterectomy. So God has made my ninth baby my last. After talking to the doctor about my personal situation he said that my large number of babies in such a short time was not the reason for my problems. That being said, God’s plan of giving me my babies one after the other was his way of giving me as many babies as He could before I had to get a hysterectomy at the young age of 34. God’s ways are always the right way! I may not have been a great baby lover in my teens, but it’s my children that have brought me to a point of understanding God’s love for each one of us! Each and every one of my children has taught me so much. They are truly a blessing! Sure learning to be a mom was and is hard, and following the way God has laid out for me was and is even harder, but as I look back on how things are unfolding I see that God had a truly important reason for doing things the way He did them! So when I see the reality of abortion in our society it seems so wrong! My kids saved my life, they didn’t take it! They have been my inspiration! I will admit that I faced each and every pregnancy with fear and trembling, but God always gives us the strength we need to make it through the tough times in our lives. To live out God’s plan is the only way to live a happy life, so there was no choice if you want to be happy! God is the choice ! Put God in the driver’s seat; the road is rough, the view is great, and I’m told the end is beautiful! God Bless. ~Jen-Marie Pray the Rosary to End Abortion!

An active game to teach about sin and the need for confession. Are you looking for a fun way to teach kids about sin and the need for Confession? Well, I’ve created a new game to help teach the effects of venial sin, mortal sin, and Confession. It’s not a board game, but an active game where the kids walk along the “Life Path” and follow what the cards tell them to do. Along the way, they can help the souls in Purgatory. Then at the end of the “Life Path” (at death), they see if their actions on the “life path” are actions that send them to Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell. This is a game that I created (with some help from my loving hubby) to teach our kids about sin and confession. Our kids loved it. So I shared it with our local homeschool group. The parents and their kids loved it, too. It’s a game designed for 2nd graders and up. Even the homeschooled teens enjoyed this activity! Younger children played, too, but needed assistance. Every one of the kids, young and old, wanted to play this game again and again! It’s a perfect game for those who are receiving their First Penance and First Holy Communion, any RE class, youth group, or a fun party, like an All Saints Day Party! So I want to share this fun game as a printable e-file for purchase. This E-file comes with instructions, cards, and signs for heaven, hell, and purgatory.  You need to supply the “Life Path” which could be 3 – 2×4 boards or painter’s tape, and 2 carry bags with 5 lb. of dried beans, sugar, or any other dry 5 lb. item in each. Also, the bottoms of 5 half-gallon milk jugs are used to hold the cards, but this is optional. It’s only $4.99 to purchase this e-file.  FAQ Here are a few of the most frequently asked questions….. 1.How many kids can play at a time? It can be as many kids as you like, but this game works better in larger groups. The players are all independent players. Only the “souls” in purgatory need the help of the other players. The homeschool group I did this game with was about 40 kids of all ages! If you have a helper at each card area. (About 4 helpers) You can have about 6-8 kids physically playing at one time. If it’s just one person in charge, the number of kids on the “life path” will need to be less depending on that person’s ability to manage them. A group of young teens should be able to do this with only one teacher/parent.  2. About how long does the game last? It can be as long or as short as you like! For each child, the game will only last a few minutes, but the fun is in replaying and trying again! If it’s a large group of kids, they can line up at one end of the game’s “life path” and when it’s their turn they play the game. Then they get back in line to play again! If the line of kids waiting to play can stand beside the “Life Path” it can be fun so the other kids can cheer on those playing! It’s kind of a fast-moving game. 3. If the moms help the smaller ones, is it a game they could play? Yes, but you may need to make their “journey” a little easier than the card says. Kids younger than 7 don’t seem to understand the concept as well, it’s just a fun game to many of them! Here are some reviews from our old Store page: Parental Note: This game does mention hell and the children can end up in “hell” in the game. It is meant to show the severity of sin. If you feel your child can not handle this concept at this time please consider another activity or game.

Our parish priests put forth so much effort for us! They have a life of sacrifice, stress, and heartache with very little appreciation from we parishioners. We need to show these devout men that we are thankful for their sacrifice and living witness. How? Host a Card Shower! For those who don’t know what a card shower is… It’s when a large group of people join together to send cards to someone. Each individual should take a few minutes to send a store-bought card or a hand-made card to your parish rectory. Normally, the time frame for this would be over the course of a week or month. As the host, you simply need to get the word out!! I tried to get a Card Shower started for our parish priest. Of course, I had to recruit a few helpers. First I typed up, printed off, and cut out some slips of paper to distribute to parishioners. They looked like this: Then I gave a stack of them to a few people to pass out secretly after Masses with the hope that the papers would make it into the hands of parishioners who would send a card.  Distributing them can be a challenge if you are trying to surprise your priest, but that’s part of the reason I kept the fliers small! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ This is a perfect activity to do during February for St. Valentine’s day!!! After all, they don’t get a card from a wife! ~OR~ How about in June for Father’s Day!! We are all their children! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ My kids each made a card for our priest.A few years ago I was lucky enough to acquire some wallpaper samples. They worked well for this.They also used construction paper.Here are a few pictures: I helped my 3 and 4-year-old girls make these. We used wallpaper, old holy cards, and other pictures. Get the word out! Start a card shower for your parish priest! And tell your friends to host one for their priests! Let’s show them we care! God Bless! ~Jen-Marie

Thank you for all your prayers! The surgery went very well.  They had a hard time waking me up after the surgery. Then, I couldn’t keep anything I tried to eat down. So the first 24 hours were rough. I’m feeling much better now and I’m ready to go home!  Of course, I must consider that my belly will suddenly have a gigantic target on it when I see all my little darlings! You know how young children have a built-in sensor for an adult’s most tender spots, and then they have to pounce on it!! 😉 By God’s grace, I was able to keep my one ovary. So I won’t go through early menopause, I’m very happy about that!   Thanks again for all your prayers! And in a few weeks, I hope to be conquering the world….or at least my “Things I need to do” list! 😉  May God bless all of you for your kindness! ~Jennifer

Okay, tomorrow is my big day. I have surgery in the afternoon. As for today, I started fasting after breakfast!! Yes, that’s correct, it’s 30-hour fasting for me! I’ve had several people tell me that can’t be right, but I triple-checked. So, if I make any silly mistakes while typing this I have an excuse! 😉 While I was preparing for this surgery over the course of the last few weeks I decided it was time to re-pot those poor old inside plants that were in desperate need of a bigger pot! After all, I’m likely to forget to water them over the next few weeks after the surgery, and they would die from lack of water in those tiny pots. Well, my husband,  my mother, and many of my friends say I can’t do anything simple…I think they are trying to compliment me! (I think!) So, being me, I had to spice it up a bit!  I took a wire hanger and cut off the hook. I bent it into a heart shape on the top.   Then, I twisted the bottom together and cut off the ends. I pushed the bottom into the dirt close to the stem of my newly re-potted Rose Mary . Then I took two-branched and wrapped them around the metal heart shape: one around one side and the other around the other side.  I added a little statue of Mary, which I had bought a while back at the dollar store.    And that’s it! Now I’ll have something pretty to look at while I recover! ☺ May Mother Mary help me these next few days! Please, pray for me and my family in this time of struggle. God Bless. ~Jen-Marie

Noreen at “ Rosary Mom ” has graciously given me the Liebster Blog Award! Noreen is such a sweet lady, who is always ready to hand out a kind word or two! (Except to those who would kill our sweet unborn babies!!) She truly desired this award and I’m honored that she thought of me to pass this award to. Thanks so much Noreen!  Now it’s my turn to pass it on with these simple rules: Add the award to your blog. Thank the giver with a link back to them. List your top 5 picks and let them know they\’ve been given an award by leaving a comment on their blog. Hope that your followers will spread the love to the blogs you\’ve spotlighted. My picks are: Erika at  Raising and Teaching Little Saints Gardenia at  My Little Flower Holly at Three Sided Wheel CeAnne at Sanctus Simplicitus Tiffany at Family at the Foot of the Cross ***These are all Catholic bloggers who witness to the faith in their daily lives. They try to bring their family and those who read their blog closer to God and to a better understanding of the Catholic faith.  There are many blogs out there that are deserving of this award, and I’m sure these ladies will all pass this award to other blogs who are also just as worthy of this honor!  God Bless! ~Jen-Marie

Here is another felt doll/statue! It’s Our Lady of Lourdes and she’s perfect to make and/or display on her feast day- Feb 11th. This doll/statue is a project that will require some assistance from older crafters who can use a hot glue gun to add the gold trim to Mary’s veil.  Or if you sew, you could sew it on, too! Materials: white felt dress * (see felt cutting instructions) white felt head covering  * the head covering for this doll is floor-length so don’t follow the pattern. Make it long enough to cover her head and reach to her “feet”.   wooden old fashioned clothespin 6-inch piece of blue ribbon gold ribbon for the edge of the head covering 2 tiny roses for her feet ~we used the gold ribbon to make them, but you can buy some.  wooden ring (to help the doll stand, if it needs help) Hot glue *Felt Cutting instructions: Materials: After cutting out your felt pieces, push the round clothespin head into the small head hole in the dress. You may need to add a drop of hot glue at the upper chest and upper back of the doll clothespin to keep the dress from sliding down the clothespin.  Example: Pull all the dress parts down against the clothespin and tightly knot the ribbon around its waist. You may need an extra hand to hold the dress down while you knot the waist ribbon. Make sure the extra is hanging in the front of her. (as pictured on the completed doll) If the dress is too long, cut it to the correct length. If the opening on the sides of the dress are showing, hot glue it together.  Example: Add hot glue to the top and sides of the dolls head and cover the top of her head with the head covering. Note: You may have to cut a slit in the back of the veil, (from the bottom of the veil up to the head)  so it will lay down properly. Then hot glue the back of the veil down in a way so you don\’t see the cut. Now, cut the front of the veil so the corners are rounded. Add some hot glue to the front edge of her head covering/veil and add the gold ribbon. Now for the final touch add two mini roses to the bottom edge of her dress, as pictured. If the doll has trouble standing on it\’s own hot glue a wooden ring to the bottom to stabilize her.  Now you’re done! I’m sure she’s beautiful! May God bless you! ~Jennifer

This ring toss game would be a great game for an All Saints Day party or St. Valentine’s day!! This is a good game for big and little kids. It’s not as easy as it looks! You will need: 2-liter bottle (empty) sand to fill the bottle wooden dowel rod (about 2 feet long) painters tape or duct tape clear shipping tape red and black paint rings to toss (or large plastic lids) cardboard (for hearts) labels for rings and heart hot glue scissors paintbrush To make the heart, first, place the dowel rod into the top of the 2-liter bottle. Add the sand to the bottle, but be careful to keep the dowel rod as centered as you can while adding the sand. Use the painter’s tape or duct tape to tape up the top of the bottle and wrap the tape around the dowel rod to secure it. Paint the whole thing black. While that dries, cut two hearts that are big enough to cover the bottle. (Need one for each side). Paint them red. When the bottle and hearts are dry hot glue the hearts to the bottle. Add a label to the heart = “How Many Virtues Can You Add to Your Heart?” Now create and cut out the virtue labels to add to the rings and use the clear shipping tape to tape them onto the rings. ( I bought my rings at the dollar store, but if you can’t find any rings at the store you might be able to use some large plastic lids from oatmeal or butter containers. Just cut the middle out of them.) Now, let the kids toss the rings to see how many virtues they can add to the heart. If they get two in a row onto the heart have them take a step back! God Bless!~Jen-Marie

I made this for my kids so we could celebrate Our Lady of Lourdes feast day (Feb 11). It’s made with a paper picture of Our Lady of Lourdes, a half sheet of black construction paper, a bunch of cloth roses,  and a batch of “No-Bake Chocolate Cookies”!  YUM! These were my favorite cookies when I was a child and all of my kids LOVE them, too! No-Bake Chocolate Cookies 2 c. sugar 3 Tbsp. cocoa 1/2 c. milk 1 stick of butter 1/2 c. peanut butter 1 tsp. vanilla 4 c. quick oats Combine sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter in a saucepan. While string, bring it to a boil for 2 minutes; remove from heat. Add peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until peanut butter is melted in. Add the oats. Stir until well mixed. Use a tablespoon to drop onto wax paper and allow to cool. (About 3 hours) Makes 2 dozen cookies. After making the cookies and letting them cool, I placed a half sheet of black construction paper on a small pizza pan and placed Mary in the middle. You could glue her down to the paper if you wish. Then I arranged the cookies around the edge of the black paper to create a grotto. I added some roses at Mary’s feet and a few along the sides.  This works well for parties, too! (Like an All Saint’s Day party) They are easy for kids to pick-up and snack on! But I think a few of my little girls would say the best part is cleaning the bowl with their sisters! Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us!God Bless,~Jen-Marie

Here’s an activity I was able to squeeze in on a morning when my older kids were out and I was alone with my younger “bored” kiddos. My sister had just given me some peppers and with St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk with the kids about the Trinity. Download Craft Instructions Here: Materials you’ll need: Download Instructions -if desired Pepper with three bumps (like a clover) green paint (I used acrylic/craft paint) green paper scrap paper or old bowl to hold paint knife to cut the pepper paintbrush green glitter (optional) Cut the bottom off the pepper. Make sure the cut end is flat and will sit without rocking and has no gaps if it’s set on a flat surface. Add some paint to a piece of scrap paper or old bowl and spread it out so it’s a larger area than the pepper and be sure it’s kinda thick. Dip the cut end of the pepper into the paint. Make sure all the edges of the cut area are covered in the paint. Now “stamp” it! My kids had better luck if they gently pushed down and gently wiggled the pepper at the same time. With a small paintbrush and some of the green paint, they added stems to each clover. They had lots of fun with this simple art project! I thought after ours had dried, these would have been a little extra fun if we would have added a bit of green glitter while the paint was still wet. It was too late…maybe next time! St. Patrick pray for us and God bless. ~Jen-Marie

I created a Fire Safety book for my 3 oldest kids a few years ago, and I dug this file out of “moth-balls” for my two third-graders. When my older kids illustrated these books they had a blast!!  So I’m hoping Elizabeth and Joshua will enjoy this. too! How does it work? As they/you read through each page of the book the child can add an illustration to each page. This will help them to remember the rules of Fire Safety. My three oldest, Rachel, Rebekah, and Jacob, just couldn’t quit laughing as they drew funny pictures for this book! Yes, they take fire safety seriously, they just like drawing crazy pictures!! It’s always good to make learning and work fun! Download the Fire Safety Book Here: God Bless! ~Jen-Marie

Last year my kids and I made a Prayer Chain of People to pray for during Lent. This year I decided to go a little simpler. The days have been very busy and I didn’t feel we would have the time to make all the little people again. (Although, many of my kids were complaining that they really wanted to make all those people again! I told them that we’d try to make them again next year!) This year I made a list of people to pray for and I added that list to a paper chain. We will remove one of the chain’s links each day and pray for the people who are mentioned on that link. The neat thing is it doubles as a count down to Easter! I used the following image at the top of the Prayer Chain. I added a few sheets of decorative purple paper to make it look nice! Download the Lenten Prayer Chain here:

I have always loved the ocean. Although I have never lived very close to the ocean, I have always (even as a child) enjoyed painting pictures of the ocean. I feel that God is portrayed so well in an image of the ocean: for God is unending, wide reaching and can be peaceful, yet powerful!! -For He is Almighty, and yet a loving Father! Have you ever heard the phrase ”Stella Maris”? That is Latin for ”Star of the Sea”. This name has been given to Our Lady. Many sailors have prayed to ”Stella Maris” to ask her to pray for protection. What a beautiful thought: Our Lady watching over theses men and women as she asks Jesus to calm the storms and give these faithful travelers safe passage across the wild waves in the ocean. Even as we travel through our daily lives we can ask Our Lady to intercede for us and ask Jesus to guide us and protect us as we journey on our way through life.  For Mary’s love is a wide as the ocean and she would be willing to ask Jesus to help all those who have requested her intercession. Jesus will listen to His mother! I have created a craft that depicts Mary asking Jesus to protect travelers on the ocean.  Our Lady Star of the Sea ~ Candle or Bottle Craft I made two versions of this craft. One is made from an old spaghetti sauce jar and holds a candle. The other is in a empty wine bottle. Depending on how you like to decorate, you may like one version over the other.  You will need: a jar (wide mouth) or bottle (with cap) candle / tea light ~ if you are using a wide mouth jar sand (dry) small stones different sized sea shells Mod Podge and brush clear-glitter nail polish (optional) twine or raffia hot glue picture of Mary (click here) Print out the correct size image to fit the bottle/jar you are using. Cut out the image and place it in a sheet of scrap paper. Using a brush, lightly cover the front of the image with Mod Podge. Place the image face-side against the bottle.  Be sure to pay attention to the bottle’s seams. The seams should be on ether side of the image (So you can see the image clearly.)  Press the image down onto the bottle. Start pressing from the middle of the image out to the edges, so you don’t get air bubbles. Then you can roll the bottle over a folded towel to help press the image down.  Now you are ready to cover the back of the image with Mod Podge. Cover the whole image and the very edge of the image. This will help to hold it in place and seal it. Allow that to dry. Once the Mod Podge is dry you can add a little glitter nail polish to the edge of the image. This is optional. I just liked the look it created. Plus it helped to insure the image doesn’t peel away from the bottle.  Then I added some twine to the neck of the wine bottle. (as pictured) I wrapped the twine around the wide mouth jar several times to cover the ridges in the glass cap area. After I added the twine, I hot glued an arrangement of shells and a medal on to the twine.  A Stella Maris medal would be great!! I added a little glitter nail polish on my shells to make them glitter, too. Now it\’s time to add the sand! I rolled up a sheet of paper to make a funnel and I poured in about a cup of sand. This will create dust inside jars with tall necks, like a wine bottle.  This dust will eventually settle, but some may rest to the sides of the jar. This dust can be wiped off with a long bent stick (I used a bent skewer) Tape a piece of tissue to the end of the stick.   The spaghetti sauce jars didn’t seem to collect the dust so this won\’t be necessary if you are using a wide mouth jar.   Then add your candle (if you are using a wide mouth jar), stones, and shells.  You will need a long lighter or a lighting stick to light your candle.  Don\’t forget to put the cap/cork on your wine bottle!  Our Lady Star of the Sea, Pray for us! Ask Jesus to protect us in times of hardship and keep us in His care.

Here’s a new Perler melting bead pattern! It’s the Holy Eucharist, chalice and grapes. Download this pattern ! Download the Perler Bead Pattern here: They are great projects to keep kids busy!! Hope you are all having a great summer! God bless! ~Jen-Marie

My oldest daughter, Rachel, (age 15) asked to have a sleepover-party with a few of her Catholic friends. She doesn’t normally ask for too much so I really wanted to make this happen. Aside from all our other fun party plans Rachel wanted a craft or two to do with her friends. I came up with two things for the girls to create and I want to share the craft that the girls absolutely LOVED!!!!!  My daughters and I all agreed that this craft is ”addicting”! We all just wanted to keep making them!!  These saint medal necklaces are perfect for Catholic teen’s parties, youth groups, or even All Saints Day parties! They would also make perfect DIY gifts!!BUT here’s a caution to those interested in making these: Be prepared to make more than one pendant, because no body could stop at just one!  To make these saint medal pendants you will need: Saint Medals (no jump-ring  is needed) Washers (We used ¼ x 1¼ sized. A box of 100 only cost $1.50 at our local hardware store.) Nail Polish (LOTS of colors – We bought ours at the Dollar Tree) Nail-art glitter or other glitter (We bought ours at the Dollar Tree, also.) Clear nail polish or clear glittery nail polish (A must if you use glitter) String (we used black waxed string we bought at A.C. More) Fun-Tak or other mounting putty (Found at Wal-mart in the stationary section *Or use super-glue if you prefer.) The first thing you need to do is paint a washer with nail polish. This is the fun part!!! Add glitter while it’s still wet, and allow that to dry. Once it’s dry coat it with clear nail polish (or clear-glitter polish) This will help seal the glitter in place. It also just makes it look more finished. Cut a string to the length you desire. We found that 24 inches seemed to work well. Thread the open ends of your cut string through the saint medal hole. Like this:  Add the washer to the looped end, like this:  Now thread the cut ends into the looped end, like this:  Pull it all tight, and keep the cut ends as even as you can. Center the medal in the center of the washer. The medal will pop out as pictured below:   Add a small ball of mounting putty to the bottom-back of the medal. Press the medal down against the washer to stick them together. You could super glue the medal down, but I wanted to keep the medals nice in case the girls wanted to change the backing that they painted. It should look like this: As for the cut ends of the string, we tied a loop in one end and a large knot in the other so it can be easily taken on and off. You could buy clasps to attach to the ends if you wish.  Here are some of the beautiful necklaces the girls made.(The pictures don’t do them justice! They are so sparkly and shinny!!) The example pictures above are only a few that my daughters and friends created. Yes, these are addicting!!!  I have a feeling we will be making more soon!! God Bless! ~JenMarie

My younger children are at the ”alphabet learning age”. So when I was asked to review the book by Tracy Sands I thought it might fit in well with my lesson plans for the school year. I was a bit surprised when the book showed up at my door since it was not what I was expecting. Many younger kids like stories or rhyming poems. This book is not an easy read book and you cannot sit down and read this book straight through to your child(ren). I found a page (a letter) a day to be plenty for kids to handle. Plus, each page/letter needed discussion time and/or activity time to reinforce the thoughts and ideas. is meant to teach about Jesus, prayer, and the Bible. Each letter is used as a spring-board to teach children many different simple religious concepts. These ideas are very basic and easy to understand, but coming from a Catholic perspective this book is kind of disappointing. This book IS CHRISTIAN. While I saw nothing wrong with the information in the book, I personally would have loved to see more in depth Catholicism in the book’s teachings. I did see many Catholic symbols and ideas peaking through some of the teachings and images, which makes me think the author/illustrator is or was Catholic.  I can see that this book would work well as a teaching tool to reinforce religious concepts as children learn their letters. Although, I personally would add a more Catholic twist to the information given. Also, it could be used as a discussion starter when teaching kids of many ages.  From an artistic standpoint I thought the letter images were beautiful.  The author/illustrator, Tracy Sands , did an awesome job making the images look interesting. Although many of  the letters were not easy for my younger kids to make out, the kids did have fun trying to find the letter shape in the picture. My kids enjoyed the ”Seek and Find” section under each letter image, too. Personally, I found the ”Symbology” section in the back of the book particularly interesting. You can see some of the information on the image’s symbolism and it’s meanings  here on their website.   I was also sent a CD which included 5 songs, including the Christian Alphabet Song . If you feel having a song to go with the book would be helpful than this is an added bonus. Although, the CD only has 5 songs, it is reasonably priced.  Visit website to read more about this book and the other items they sell. NOTE: I was given a free copy of this book and CD in exchange for an honest review. I make no profit from this review.  God Bless. ~JenMarie