Here is a cute, easy craft that my 4-year-old, Caleb, just LOVED!! He has been helping me to create these displays and has been giving me all of his thoughts on what he felt should be improved upon! Now it’s been given his seal of approval and is ready to go! And believe me, Caleb is my worst critic! This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! Perfect for all ages! Caleb enjoyed coloring these, as well as, cutting them out and creating the displays! The cutting lines are extra wide so little hands can easily cut right into the dark, thick, edges. Little ones may need help folding the tomb display, but it’s easy enough to fold and create for most children, ages 6 and up. How to use these displays: After assembling the displays, place them in a nice spot but hide the 2 Jesus and angel figures. On Good Friday, sometime after 3:00 PM – but before dark, * “roll-away” the stone and place the wrapped “Jesus” into the tomb. The wrapped Jesus will remain in the tomb on Holy Saturday. The night before Easter, Mom or Dad may “roll-away” the stone and take out the wrapped Jesus. Add the Resurrected Jesus and the Angel to the area in front of the tomb. This will be a fun surprise for the kids on Easter Morning! *If it works better for the family, the kids can replace the wrapped Jesus with the Resurrected Jesus Sunday Morning. *Why bury Jesus after 3:00 PM but before dark? The Bible tells us that Jesus died at 3:00 pm and the Jewish Sabbath started at sundown on Friday night. So Jesus’ followers would have buried him after 3:00 but before the Sabbath began since they were not allowed to work on the Sabbath. Jesus was buried in a hurry, that’s why the women came back Sunday morning with spices to anoint Jesus! They were unable to anoint his body Friday night. This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! Hope you enjoy it! ~JenMarie

Several years ago I posted about the Paddle-to-the-Sea Literature Study which I created for my older children. My older kids enjoyed reading so much that I want to read this book with a few of my younger kids this school year. So I thought it might be a great time to sit down and update the file! Not only did I update the pages with a better map and more detailed information, but I also added an activity page for each chapter which includes questions to answer and activities to do. These pages also have loads of images and ideas that focus on the chapter’s topics! This literature study is a companion to the book: by Holling Clancy Holling, which is a wonderful book that teaches kids about the Great Lakes area and all the amazing business, cities, and sites that lie around the Great Lakes during the early 1900’s! The journey is seen through the eyes of Paddle, a little hand-carved wooden Indian in a canoe. As you journey with Paddle you will fall in love with this story and cheer him on as he travels to the ocean! The literature study is a 35-page ebook for children – grade levels 4 to 6. This study is meant to help children follow what happens to Paddle and record what Paddle passes while he takes his long journey. As you read the book, you will discuss the areas he is in, how long it took him to get there, and what season it is. Then glue the images to the appropriate spot on the map. The children will also create a map key that tells what each image symbolizes. They will create a story timeline to show the season and year in which the events happened. This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! (Example of a finished map) Teachers, use the teacher-examples to help you teach the student(s) how to complete the map and key-timeline. Both examples are provided in a separate teacher’s PDF. The map on the inside cover of your book as well as an atlas is also a wonderful help when completing this study. Note: The Paddle-to-the-Sea book is not included in this study. This 35-page literature study includes: • A Blank Map of the Great Lakes area • Blank Map Key and Timeline for the children to fill-out • Images to Add to the Map • Examples for Teachers • A Question and Activity Page for Each Chapter • Maps of the Gulf Stream and Europe Note: The Paddle-to-the-Sea book is not included in this study. The pages will help you focus on different topics of each chapter. These will include geography, writing prompts, thinking questions, art activities, and science and history topics. Some pages require research; others are creative activities. It’s a variety of ways to learn! Is this a Catholic literature study? Two of the lessons in the study do have Christian topics. So while the study doesn’t focus on the Catholic faith, it does have some Christian content. (Discusses the 4th Commandment and the Apostles) Happy Reading!! ~JenMarie This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it!

Saint Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! So I wanted to share a set of Catholic Valentine’s that I created for this special day. This set includes 6 different cards. These cards can be used as flat mini cards or larger folded cards. These would be great for kids or adults to send to friends and relatives for the special feast day! Or use the images to create your own homemade Valentines! Just download the file and print out the pages of your choice – as many as you need. It’s best to print them on photo paper or stock paper and then cut out the cards. There are 6 mini cards or two folded cards per page. Write your special message on the back of the mini cards or on the inside of the folded cards. This 13-page file is sold in our shop: Click here This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! Enjoy and God Bless! ~JenMarie _____________________________________________ On a personal note: I mentioned in a past post that I was having a few health problems. I have a lump and pain in my gut, near my hip bone. The doctors are unsure of what the problem is. The doctors think it may be an inflamed lymph-node that could rupture and there is a small fear of cancer and/or a hernia. So, I will be going for surgery this coming Friday (Jan 7th) . The doctors will fix what they can and try to see what the problem is. I’m not sure how long I’ll be out, it depends on what the surgery shows, so I may or may not post soon. Please pray for the doctors, my family, and myself.

Looking for Catholic-themed valentines for St. Valentine’s Day? Gotcha covered! I’ve created a cute set of valentines that I think you are going to love! Each of these card designs was lovingly made to honor Our Lord in the Divine Mercy. They are meant to remind the receiver of Jesus’ love and mercy. Some of them also include a Bible verse to help reinforce Jesus’ love of us or how we should love Him. I had designed these for use on St. Valentine’s Day, but I removed the hearts from 5 of the 6 styles so they can also be used at other times of the year, too! Plus, many Catholic boys prefer to use the non-heartsy valentines! 😉 This download has two ways to use these! Print 8 flat cards on one page to give to a large group of recipients! Or print the folded card styles! These are perfect cards for mailing or to give to close friends, family, or even your parish priest! These are especially great for this year because this is the Jubilee Year of Mercy! This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! Hope you love them! ~JenMarie Parents/Personal Use: Your purchase allows your immediate family to give these cards as loving messages to other family members and friends. The file and printing rights do not extend past your immediate family. Teachers: These can be used to make crafts with a single class. You may also give them as loving messages to students.

I received some very good feedback on “test” post for the Liturgical Ornament patterns, so I’m going to move forward and offer this St. Nicholas and St. Lucy set. This set includes: St. Nicholas Felt Ornament Pattern St. Nicholas Felt Ornament Instructions St. Nicholas Felt Ornament (Advanced Style) St. Nicholas Felt Ornament Instructions (Advanced Style) St. Nicholas Paper Ornament – Colored St. Nicholas Paper Ornament – Black and White St. Nicholas Coloring Page St. Lucy Felt Ornament Pattern St. Lucy Felt Ornament Instructions St. Lucy Paper Ornament – Colored St. Lucy Paper Ornament – Black and White St. Lucy Coloring Page This pattern set includes a smaller St. Nicholas ornament and a St. Lucy ornament pattern, as well as, a larger St. Nicholas ornament pattern! The larger St. Nicholas ornament would be great for those who would like a little more of a challenge! These would make GREAT homemade gifts for Christmas!! The set also includes the 4 printable paper ornaments. These are for those who don’t want to mess with the felt, or they are nice for younger kids who would like a simple craft to create. I also threw in a few of these simple coloring pages. There are lots of fun pages in this download! This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! Feel free to print out as many as you need for a single class or family.

Hi everyone, this post is a “test” to see what all of you want and are desiring — Back in July, Elizabeth and I started creating these Liturgical ornaments and sharing our creations with you so you, too, could make them if you wanted. Well, I’ve gotten a number of people asking if I have patterns for the ornaments. I’m sorry to say: no, I don’t. We freehand all of our parts, and I just take a picture of them before we glue them together. But I thought long and hard about the requests for patterns, and after a long discussion with my husband, I thought I’d run a test post on this topic to see if this idea is worth the time it will take to create. Please understand that it will take time to create patterns for the ornaments, and sadly I don’t have a lot to free time. Homeschooling 9 kids is a full-time job, as many of you know! But I want to help all of you if I can, so I’m offering a set of patterns to download, but I’m planning to charge a small fee for the patterns because if I take the time to create them, I’ll need to order out for dinner, pay a babysitter, etc. I hope you all understand. Today’s “test” set is Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego. The set includes patterns to create a felt ornament for each. It also has the instructions on how to assemble the felt ornaments. Just cut out the pattern, pin it onto the correct color felt and cut them out! That’s nice and easy for you! I actually discovered that cutting the felt along with the paper was easier than cutting the felt alone! So don’t worry that this will be hard to do. I’m amazed at how easy this makes the production of these ornaments! Printable Paper Ornaments This printable set also includes 4 printable paper ornaments. Our Lady of Guadalupe in color Our Lady of Guadalupe in black and white (for coloring) St Juan Diego in color St. Juan Diego in black and white (for coloring) I didn’t originally plan to add these, but after I made the patterns for the felt ornaments I basically had them half finished. So I just decided to go ahead and create them for those who don’t want to mess with the felt. These would be great for teachers who want to have a craft that all the kids can easily make! Or your kids may want to make an ornament like mom! 😉Choose the set in full color or the black and white set, which the kids can paint or color. Here is a peek at the full download: This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! You are free to make as many copies as you need for your class or family. Because this is a “test” post, I’d really like to have your thoughts on this. Please leave a comment or send me an email. If you are not interested in the felt patterns and only want the printable ornaments (or vice versa) please let me know your thoughts. Your purchase supports this idea and if enough people seem interested I will continue to make the sets.

Introducing the newest set of Liturgical Ornaments! These are a little late to be released due to a beautiful Christmas season, as well as, a family emergency(see below), but better late than never! This January Liturgical Ornament Set 1 is even better than the previous sets! It includes a step-by-step picture tutorial which shows how to create the felt ornaments! This makes it easier for you to create them! Plus, this is a huge advantage to have if you should decide to make them with a large group or class! The file includes: Mary Mother of God-Picture Instructions-Felt/Paper Pattern-Printable Coloring Ornament-Printable Colored Ornament Jesus Holy Name-Picture Instructions-Felt/Paper Pattern-Printable Coloring Ornament-Printable Colored Ornament Wiseman 1 Balthasar-Picture Instructions-Felt/Paper Pattern-Printable Coloring Ornament-Printable Colored Ornament-2 Cut and Paste Ornaments (Color and B&W) Wiseman 2 Melchior-Picture Instructions-Felt/Paper Pattern-Printable Coloring Ornament-Printable Colored Ornament-2 Cut and Paste Ornaments (Color and B&W) Wiseman 3 Caspar -Picture Instructions-Felt/Paper Pattern-Printable Coloring Ornament-Printable Colored Ornament-2 Cut and Paste Ornaments (Color and B&W) Jesus Baptism -Picture Instructions-Felt/Paper Pattern-Printable Coloring Ornament-Printable Colored Ornament Short-cut Felt Ornament Craft -Instructions-Images for Craft This set includes patterns and instructions to make beautiful felt ornaments! They are perfect to give as gifts! They will last for years to come! Decorate your home or classroom with the ornaments on the feast day or during the month of the feast day! The patterns help you to create the perfect ornament! They can be used for cutting paper and are ideal for felt! Straight pins help keep the pattern in place while you cut the felt. Once the pieces are cut the ornament can be created! Use the picture tutorial to help you! Add fabric paint to decorate it! Looking for an EASY solution for creating long lasting felt ornaments? The ornament patterns can be difficult or intimidating for some people. Or maybe you are in a rush?! Or maybe you want something easier for a group of children. Whatever the case, if you decide you don’t want to attempt to create the felt pattern ornament, but you still want an ornament that will last longer than just the cut paper ornament, you may like this Short-Cut Felt Ornament Craft! This craft uses the colored images from the ornament set. Simply cut out the image, glue it onto felt and decoupage over top! It’s super easy, but you can also get fancy by using fabric paint! The file includes a detailed explanation and instructions! Something for the young! The set includes a simple coloring activity the younger children in your life! These are cute coloring ornaments – simple and faith-filled! This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! Hope you enjoy it!! On a personal note: Please say a prayer for our 9-year-old daughter, Hannah. She had an unexplained seizure Tuesday morning. Although she has had a number of tests done, we still do not have an answer as to what is going on. She’s a trooper and puts up with all the blood test and CAT scans, etc. Mom, on the other hand, is not getting much sleep. Thank you for any prayers for her! God Bless you with joyful zeal! ~Jen-Marie

The feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes is on Feb. 11th. Our Lady of Lourdes is very popular among Catholics, but how much do you really know about her and St. Bernadette, whom Our Lady appeared to? This new ebook is meant to help teachers and parents teach the basics about this apparition to children. (grade level 2 and up) This download includes an 18-page reading booklet with a short story about St. Bernadette and Our Lady. It also has some optional mapping pages (France) and an “About the Time Period” timeline so you can share with the class some of the things that were happening around the world during the time of Bernadette’s life. The download also includes paper patterns and instructions to make a table-top Lourdes Grotto-Shrine!! Just print, color, cut, and glue it together! (12×9 inch sheet of black construction paper is also required. Regular white paper will work.) All of these pages can be printed in color or grayscale! This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! After payment is made, you will instantly receive a link to a PDF file. Feel free to print out as many as you need for a single class or family.

Start a new Advent tradition! Honor the major saints who have feast days during Advent! On their feast day, hang their ornament on your Christmas tree! Last year my oldest daughter, Rachel, helped me create Advent Saint Ornaments to sell in our Etsy shop. This year is a much busier year, and she now has a job. So instead of us creating them, I thought some of you would like to make them for yourselves! Here is a file that contains the images we used to make those ornaments. It’s now for sale on our Etsy shop – Click Here. This PDF includes beautiful images that depict the 8 major Advent Saints who are celebrated during December. Each ornament image also has the name and feast day clearly written below the image. These images are about 3 by 2 inches in size. The saints include: St. Francis Xavier (Dec. 3th) St. John of Damascus (Dec. 4th) St. Nicholas (Dec. 6th) St. Ambrose (Dec. 7th) Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8th) Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec 12th) St. Lucia (Lucy) (Dec. 13th) St. John of the Cross (Dec. 14th) How to create your own… This PDF also includes complete instructions to teach you how to create your own set of Advent Saint Ornaments! After printing this PDF, you will need 2 sheets of felt, Mod-Podge, and fabric paint. DON’T LIKE TO CRAFT? The images can be printed onto heavy paper. Then, add a hook and just use them with no extra work! Super easy! How to use them… In the evening, before the saint’s feast day, we read a short story or children’s book about the saint. Then one of our kids hung the saint’s ornament on our Advent Tree. This allows the children to see the ornament all day on this saint’s feast day! Our children thoroughly enjoyed this and are looking forward to this activity again this Advent!! Care to join us in this activity, too? This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! ●▬▬▬▬▬▬●✿●▬▬▬▬▬▬● COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: Purchasing this download allows you to make paper copies of this activity for a single class or family. This is not meant to be used for profit and should not be distributed outside of a single family or class. Please contact us if you have any questions about the use of this activity or if you would like to ask permission to use it beyond the copyright rules. Your purchase enables us to continue making more activities for you to enjoy! Thank you and God bless!

Start a new Advent tradition or expand the Advent Saint Set from last year! Last year we sold a download that included instructions and images for you to create Advent Saint Ornaments. This year we wanted to expand our set! This new set is a great way to honor some of the other saints who have feast days during Advent as well as celebrate some of the Feast days of the Christmas Season! This PDF includes beautiful images that depict 13 Advent/Christmas Season Saints or other Feast days that are celebrated during the Advent and Christmas season. Each ornament image has the name and feast day clearly written below the image. These images are about 3 by 2 inches in size. The images for these ornaments: — St. Andrew – Nov 30 — Juan Diego – Dec 9 — Pope Gregory III – Dec 10 — St. Damasus I – Dec 11 — Solemnity of the Nativity – Dec 25 — St. Stephen- Dec 26 — St. John the Apostle – Dec 27 — Feast of the Holy Innocents – Dec. 28 — Feast of Holy Family – Sunday after Christmas — Mary Mother of God – Jan 1 — The Epiphany – Jan 6 — St. Francis and St. Clare with Baby Jesus — First Nativity Recreation How to create your own… This PDF also includes complete instructions to teach you how to create your own set of ornaments! After printing this PDF, you will need 4 -5 sheets of felt, Mod-Podge, and fabric paint. DON’T LIKE TO CRAFT? The images can be printed onto heavy paper. Cut them out. Then, add a hook and just use them with no extra work! Super easy! How to use them… In the evening, before the saint’s feast day, we read a short story or children’s book about the saint. Then one of our kids hangs the saint’s ornament on our Advent Tree. This allows the children to see the ornament all day on this saint’s feast day! Our children thoroughly enjoyed this and are looking forward to this newly expanded activity again this Advent!! Care to join us in this activity, too? This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! ●▬▬▬▬▬▬●✿●▬▬▬▬▬▬● COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: Purchasing this download allows you to make paper copies of this activity for a single class or family. This is not meant to be used for profit and should not be distributed outside of a single family or class. Please contact us if you have any questions about the use of this activity or if you would like to ask permission to use it beyond the copyright rules. Your purchase enables us to continue making more activities for you to enjoy! Thank you and God bless!

Creating a  Liturgical Ornament for All Saints day proved to be a little more challenging than I thought it would be. I just had a mental block trying to come up with an easy way to depict ALL the saints in heaven, so I just created the gates of heaven and the symbols of the Holy Trinity – because when the saints enter heaven they are finally able to see God’s full glory for the first time. To create this you will need: yellow felt — with glitter* white felt — with glitter* plain white felt brown felt scissors  (these  kind work well) glue (hot glue,  felt glue ,  or tacky glue – like  this  or  this ) a needle and thread for the looped hanger Glitter glue — *if you can’t get glitter felt you can use glitter glue on the felt and wait for it to dry. We used gold and silver glitter glue Cut out the parts for the cross, dove and crown. The crown is in two pieces so it looks more 3-D, but you can make one (2-D) if it’s easier for you. Cut out the gate from yellow felt and cut a piece of white felt big enough for the gate and Trinity symbols. If you don’t have glitter felt, you may like to cover the crown, gate, and white background with glitter glue. We used gold on the yellow pieces and silver on the white. Spread it around with your finger, popsicle stick, or paint brush. Allow all the glitter to dry before moving on to the next step. Glue the gate onto the white background. Over-top of the gate add the Trinity symbols. We added gold glitter glue around the cross and dove (mostly because the dove was kind of hidden on the white background.). After that dries, cut out around the gate and make a cloud-like top above the Trinity.  Now add the threaded-loop hanger to the top. God Bless, ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

This ornament for All Souls Day (Nov. 2) is meant to remind kids that we need to pray for the souls in Purgatory. Read more about that HERE .  Often Purgatory is pictured with fire, but I thought that might be confusing for kids (too much like hell) so I used thorns in our Purgatory instead.  I added Heaven to the upper corner so the kids can see that these souls are reaching out and desiring to enter into the glow and warmth of Heaven.   To make this ornament you will need: light blue felt peach felt tan felt yellow felt white felt black permanent sharpie marker orange permanent sharpie marker  yellow permanent sharpie marker gold glitter glue silver glitter glue 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 all the pieces like those above. Also cut out a white circle (not pictured here but it\’s seen later in these steps) Add the 3 rays and the cloud to the corner. Add the hands on the bottom of the blue background. Use the black marker to create the thorns and dark area around the hands. Use the yellow marker to added more color around the yellow felt rays.  Now write ”Pray for the souls in Purgatory” on your white circle. Do the writing before you glue it down, because you may need to redo it if you mess-up on the writing. When making the letters, use a series of dots side-by-side to form them. This gives them a less fussy look. We added a little yellow and orange to the circle’s edge to add character. Once you are happy with your circle glue it down to the upper left corner – beside heaven.  Add gold glitter glue to the rays and around the ’pray circle’. Also add silver glitter glue to the heavenly cloud.  Cut out around the edges to remove any extra felt and give it a cleaner look.  Add a threaded loop to the top and hang it up with your All Saints ornament. God Bless. ~JenMarie and Elizabeth