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My daughter, Rachel, created a set of coloring pages that focused on the Sorrowful Mysteries.  I shrank them all down and added them to one page. I felt that having 5 coloring pages for the kids might be a bit much for them to handle. It seemed like it could be time-consuming and potentially boring for my kids to color one page for each mystery. Having all 5 on one page seemed to be more interesting and less mundane. One of my other daughters, Elizabeth, colored the sample I have shown here. (She used colored pencils.) Download This Sorrowful Mysteries Coloring Page: Thanks again to my daughter Rachel for sharing your artwork with us! And thanks to Elizabeth, too! Enjoy! God Bless. ~Jen-Marie

Many Catholic families try to say a Rosary daily during Lent. I know that was how our family started saying a daily Rosary. It was a great way to begin a good habit! But one of the hardest things to do while saying a family Rosary is keeping young children quiet and happy while you pray. I’ve tried many different ways to keep my kids interested and involved. I’ve posted a list of ideas HERE and I’ve also created Rosary Sheets and Rosary Mats . We even made a Giant Pro-Life Rosary ! All were great ideas, but, as all things do, they can get old and the little ones begin to get wiggly again! So here is another attempt to keep them happy! 🙂 I created Lacing Rosaries! These are just right to keep little ones happy, involved, and interested! To create these you will need: the download (available for purchase HERE ) your printer stock/heavy paper laminator and 4 laminating sheets Note: the laminating step is not necessary, but without laminate, the lacing holes will break very easily. scissors hole punch yarn, shoestrings, thin ribbon, or other strings to use for lacing This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! First, print the downloads onto heavy paper. Then cut them out. Next, use a hole punch to punch out the “Hail Mary” and “Our Father” lacing holes. We only punched the holes on the outer edge of the circle, not the ones between the crucifix and the Mary heart-center. Now laminate each sheet. Next, cut them out again and hole-punch them again. Leave about 1/4 inch (or more) of laminate all the way around the outer edge of the circle. This helps to keep the laminate from peeling apart. Cutting and hole punching 2 times may seem redundant, but they seal better if you do this step before and again after the laminating. It will help them hold up longer to the lacing and unlacing. Now they are ready to use! These are a great Rosary if you can’t say a Rosary all the way through in one sitting – you’ll never lose your spot!! Also, it may be a good idea to lace the Rosaries in one use and unlace them the next time you use them! Save the trouble of unlacing them after each use! It seemed to work best if the kids used one lace per decade. Attach the laces to the Our Father beads and then the child can start from there. They’ll lace with one string till they get to the next Our Father and then they can use a new string. The PDF includes:  Joyful Mysteries  Luminous Mysteries  Sorrowful Mysteries  Glorious Mysteries  All 4 on 1 Rosary Sheet (If you don’t want to make all 4 – just make 1!) This file is for purchase in our shop. Click Here to visit our shop and purchase it! I hope you and your little ones enjoy them! ~JenMarie

In the hopes of preparing my kids for Ash Wednesday Mass, we discussed what Ash Wednesday is and what it means. If you are looking for a good article to read about the topic, I recommend this article from LifeTeen . It’s funny and informative!  🙂 After talking about Ash Wednesday we completed a simple activity: This printable activity allows the kids to draw a picture of themselves and then add an ash cross to their forehead. First, the kids drew a picture of themselves.  Then they rubbed some charcoal on a piece of scrap paper and pressed their thumb into it. You could just use lead from a pencil, but charcoal is darker. Next, they used their dirty thumb to make a cross shape on the picture’s forehead. The kids had a blast adding the crosses! This was fun for many age levels. My younger kids enjoyed it and so did Rachel, my 16-year-old. She’s always looking for a way to satisfy her artistic cravings! Here is the face my 3 year old, Caleb, drew: He told me, “I can make beautiful, smiley, cross faces, too!” Yes, he sure can! 🙂 Download this Ash Wednesday Page Here: Have a blessed Lent! ~JenMarie

Many months ago I stumbled onto an article that I knew I needed to remember for this time a year! The article was originally published in Mail Online  and tells of a mystery giver that scattered hundreds of pebbles which had baby Jesus hand painted on them. The anonymous artist said he “simply wanted to bring joy and the real message of Christmas to people.” I thought this was the coolest idea, so this year I did something similar with my kids! Obviously they don’t have the ability to hand-paint baby Jesus on the stones, so I made an image of the baby Jesus and added 45 of them on a printable page. I printed the page off and the kids did the rest! It was fun and easy project for them to do. 🙂 If you want to do this too, you will need: flat river stones (we bought a few bags at the dollar store) mod-podge printable sheet (download below) paintbrush Download This Baby Jesus Page Here: First cut out the images of Jesus. Lightly brush the back of the image with mod-podge and place it onto the stone. Press it down to help remove any air bubbles or ceases. Now paint over top the image. Be sure to cover the entire image. Also paint over the edges of the picture and around the picture. This will help seal it so the image is protected from the weather. NOTE: This is NOT waterproof, but it does help a lot! You could buy waterproof sealer, too! Now let them dry.  Once they are dry they are ready to use! How to use these Jesus pebbles: Secretly, place them around your town! Place them on window sills, porches, sidewalks, steps, street furniture, or anywhere a passerby can find them. Place them around your house or party room before your Christmas party! Your guest will delight in seeing these little baby Jesus stones. At your Christmas party play a hid-n-seek game. Simply hid them and let the kids try to find them! Teachers: place them around your classroom or school for the kids to find. Youth groups can make and place these throughout town, church, the mall, etc. Give them as Christmas gifts! I’m sure there are countless ways to use these to remind others of the true meaning of Christmas, Do you have another idea or way you plan to use these? God bless you all this Advent Season! ~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 props, 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!

Hi Everyone! Hope you are all having a great summer! I’ve been keeping very busy painting, cleaning, and reorganizing the house. My goal this summer is to clean up and clear out! My summer motto has been: “Use it or trash it!” So far my house is a lot more organized and I’ve trashed a mountain of stuff from our shed! As I was cleaning out some of my craft supplies I found a bag of large wooden beads. I discovered I had enough to make a large Rosary. So after finding a large wooden cross I thought I’d go ahead and use these beads instead of trashing them. I’m so glad I did… My 6 year old daughter, Naomi, helped me to make one!  She counted out all the beads and then we strung them on the ribbon one at a time. These are the beads that where in my bead bag. You can buy beads similar to these at your local craft store.  I bought the cross in the wooden cut-out section of a craft store a few years ago. They do still have similar crosses today. We strung the beads on thin satin ribbon. First add your ten “Hail Mary” beads. Then add the “Our Father” beads. We used long thin beads and small round beads to separate the “Hail Mary” and “Our Father” beads. This is what the “Our Father” bead set looks like on our Rosary. If you have trouble with your ribbon or string fraying use a match to melt the end together. Note: This only works if the material of the string/ribbon is a synthetic material. After you have the 5 Hail Mary decades and the 4 Our Father beads on the ribbon you can begin the next step! Be sure you leave each of the ribbon ends very long. You will use both to create the end of the Rosary. We used the long beads and a small round beads for the center. Push both ends of the ribbon through the round bead and the long beads. Use both ends of the ribbon to string on the rest of your beads. This will allow you to tie on a cross. Using this method creates only one knot on the rosary, so it will be much stronger.  After knotting the ribbon around the top of the cross, I hot glued the knot so it would hold-up better to the abuse of children. I\’m sure you will need to adapt your rosary to fit the beads you have. So feel free to create your rosary a little different than ours. Our large Rosary has been well loved. The kids have been taking turns using it while we pray our daily Rosary. They even gave Dad a turn! I think our kitten, Milkshake, wanted a turn with the Rosary, too! She kept hopping in while I took these pictures – I had to share! 🙂 Enjoy the rest of your summer! May God bless you with joy and peace! ~Jen-Marie

My girls and I like to wear medals – all kinds of saint medals! But when you hang a medal on a necklace it often looks so lonely. By itself, it seems so easy to over look and can appear not very classy. But recently I had an idea… My girls all love charms! They like the tiny, cuteness in these shiny miniatures. So why not combine medals and charms together to make a jewelry statement that is eye catching, beautiful, and meaningful? My girls just love these! So I’m making some more of them to sell on my Etsy shop . I thought you might like these, too. I named the new charm/medal jewelry “Saint-Symbol Jewelry” because all the charms are symbols that relate to the saint medal that they are with.  For example, here is the St. Therese Saint-Symbol necklace: The St. Therese Necklace includes a 5 flower connector, a rose, and a heart/rose charm. I think they just look so gorgeous together! St. Francis is hanging on a dainty looking branch with his woodland friends. It’s makes you feel so peaceful! This St. Joseph necklace was a favorite of my daughter Elizabeth. She was born on his feast day and loves to work with wood! Win, win! 🙂 Our Lady Star of the Sea (Stella Maris) is accompanied by a light house – the symbol of God’s guidance- and an anchor -the symbol of hope.  (I have two variations of this listed.) The St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Charm Bracelet has a school theme. Look at all those cute little school charms!! The St. Gerard bracelet is perfect for a mom-to-be or a pro-life advocate. It includes lots of baby items and a pro-life rose! Here is the charm bracelet with a First Communion theme. It has a church, wheat, chalice, grapes, Bible, wheat cross, a Blessed Sacrament medal, and a 2015 charm to commemorate the year that your daughter/granddaughter/niece received her First Communion. On this necklace, St. Philomena is flanked by two of her symbols of martyrdom. There are more Saint-Symbol Jewelry listed in our Etsy shop . Drop in to see them all … I will be adding more! While you are there you also might like to see our other Jewelry gems. Above is a pair of earrings which are a crown of thorns and a crucifix. We also are selling a matching necklace! My oldest daughter Rachel designed these.  Click Here  to see them. You might like to look at our corded necklaces, too!! We have two different Mary images available. Click here. I have been blessed to have wonderful followers such as you. I would like to share that blessing back by offering 10% off your purchases of $25 or more. Use the code FOLLOWER at the check out. This code is good for all items in our Etsy shop! Check out our  Etsy shop to see the entire collection and visit often, because I will be adding more! We have lots of items which would make great gifts for First Communion, Easter, Mother’s day, and birthdays! Here are some general links to our new listings: Saint-Symbol Necklaces  (more saints coming) Saint-Symbol Charm Bracelets  (more saints coming) Corded Necklaces with Images of Our Blessed Mother Jewelry items with a crown of thorns and a crucifix First Communion Jewelry May God Bless you all with a wonderful joy-filled day!~Jen-Marie

Do you have one of those weaving looms at home? I loved those when I was a kid and my kids love it too! BUT what do you do with all those pot holders – which really don’t work anyway!? Well, my daughter, Elizabeth, (age 10) showed me her creative way to use those woven pot holders. She makes Rosary bags!! I thought her idea was quite clever!! So I thought I’d share it with you all! All you need is a weaving loops kit! If you don’t own one you can buy a variety of different brands from craft stores or on Amazon – HERE Here’s how to make the Rosary Bag Step 1: Just make a woven square as the weaving loops instructions show in your package. Step 2: Choose two loops of equal size to create the bag. Step 3: Fold the square in half and “sew” one of the loops through the ends to join them together. Be sure to close-up any holes on the end so the rosary doesn’t slide out. Also, knot the loop so it won’t unwrap. Step 4: Do the same to the opposite side. You should now have a pocket. Step 5: Choose two more loops to add to the top opening to use as handles and to tie it shut. If you want more security so the rosary won’t slide out you may want to add a few more tying loops to the ends, too. Isn’t Elizabeth’s idea clever!? These sure help to keep our huge pile of Rosaries from getting all tangled together! They could make great gifts for Grandma, too! 🙂  -Hope Grandma’s not reading!! Thanks, Elizabeth, for sharing your idea with all of us! So what do you do with your weaving loom creations? Feel free to share your ideas in the comments! I’m always looking for new ideas for my kids!  😉 God Bless. ~JenMarie

On a snowy morning, we made snowmen indoors! 🙂 Yes, it was a fun day of making snowmen and it was all centered around the idea of the Trinity! I heard several years ago that a snowman can be a great way to teach kids about the Trinity, and my kids always respond well it this idea. So while making our snowmen we talked about the Blessed Trinity and the Sign of the Cross.  You will need: printable page (Download below) crayons or colored pencils scissors glue – we used a glue stick tape – if you have a zealous little one who cuts off the tabs! Download Trinity Snowman Activity Here: Color his hat, scarf, and nose on the second page. You may also like to color the sky/background, as well as the Trinity symbols on the Trinity snowman page.  Cut out the parts to the snowman on the second page. Be sure to cut out the tabs along with the snowman parts.   Add glue to the back of the tabs and attach the parts to the Trinity Snowman. If a child cuts off the tabs you can use tape to add the snowman parts to the Trinity snowman. This will form a lift-flap so the child can read the names of the Trinity underneath.  Outside the snowman Inside the snowman May God (all 3 in 1) bless you with joy! ~JenMarie

Today my 16 year old daughter, Rachel, asked me if there was any up coming feast days that we planned to celebrate. She knows I’ve had a rather unorganized month and that I’ve been missing a lot of feast days. She offered to make a dessert for the next feast day. I thought that was very sweet of her to ask, so after checking the calendar we discovered Jan. 20 is St. Sebastian’s feast day.  With a gleam in her eye and a fun little smile she offered to make cupcakes for the occasion. Cupcakes! Ya, that sounds cute and harmless! Honestly, I should have known I was in for a shock, because Rachel has an interesting since of humor. Well, here is her creation: I’m just not sure how to feel about these!! Is this too much! Over the top ?– as the saying goes?! I’m just not sure what to think!  What do you think? Well, I believe this is meant to show me that I need to get myself back on track and get a handle on the feast day celebrating at our house again! 😉 Till later, ~JenMarie

My sister playfully laughs at how often we make cupcakes at our house. It’s true. On special days we do tend to make cupcakes. It’s just an easy treat that all my kids love. Plus, they are easy to divvy out among a large group of kids. So we like to create and decorate cupcakes the day before a feast day. Then we display them in our glass cake dome till we eat them the evening of the feast day. They serve as a feast day decoration and dessert! How cool is that! 😉 Here is an example of the cupcakes we are making for St. Valentine’s Day. I created other cupcake toppers for past St. Valentine’s days, but these are new this year. Just print them off, cut them out, and tape a toothpick to the back. Then stick them into a cupcake for a fun easy display and treat! Download These Cupcake Toppers Here: Enjoy! ~JenMarie

The apostle St. Andrew was crucified on an X shaped cross and he is the patron of fishermen (because he was a fisherman). Read more about him HERE . His feast day is November 30 (new and traditional). To make this ornament you will need: red felt gray felt brown felt black permanent 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 all the parts as pictured above. Use the black marker to make the details on the fish. Glue the two brown strips onto the red background. Arrange them in an X shape. Add the fish on top. Cut off all the extra red area around the X and fish. Add a threaded loop to the top to hang it up.  That’s it! St. Andrew, pray for us! May God bless you with joy! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth