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St. Christopher was a very large and strong man. In his kindness he often would carry pilgrims (travelers on a religious journey) across a river. One day a child asked to be taken across. St. Christopher was happy to help. He placed the child on his shoulder and carried him across the river. The child became heavier and heavier, till the weight became almost too much to hold. Then he realized it was Christ – the Lord of the world- that he carried. (Christopher means ”Christ-carrier”). Read more about St. Christopher – here .  St. Christopher\’s ornament includes two symbols: one for St. Christopher and one for the Lord of the World. St. Christopher is represented with a travelers staff  and sack. Our Lord is represented in the image of the world with the triumphant cross.  We used dark brown, off-white, light brown, and light blue felt to create this ornament. We used a light blue marker, a green marker, and a brown marker to make the world with the triumphant cross. Brown marker was used on the sack, too. All the parts were glued onto an off-white oval-ish shape so they could be hung on the liturgical tree.  St. Christopher shared his feast day (July 25th) with St. James the Greater. St. Christopher, pray for us. Have a blessed day! ~JenMarie

The second ornament Elizabeth and I made was for the feast of St. Benedict, whos feast day is celebrated on July 11 (in the NEW calendar). His traditional feast is March 21.  Scholastica’s feast day is celebrated on Feb 10.  These two saints are twins, so we just kept them together.  This ornament was made with maroon and off-white felt, black and brown permanent sharpie markers, half of a gold pipe cleaner, and a small plastic dove (optional). All the parts were glued together. Hot glue or a good quality craft glue will work. (I prefer the hot glue – it lasts longer and it’s quicker.) The book was decorated with the brown and black markers. Dots were all that was needed to make the ”writing” on the book. Marker details add a lot! The dove was a nice touch, but not necessary. The dove is really the symbol for St. Scholastica – not so much St. Benedict.  God Bless. ~JenMarie

We celebrate the feast of St. Bridget of Sweden on July 23. (Her traditional feast day is on Oct. 8th.) She married around the age of 14 and had 8 children. (Including St. Catherine of Sweden). St. Bridget was a visionary and after her husband died she worked hard trying to restore the Church. She is the founder of the Brigettine nuns, and the patron saint of Sweden, Europe, and widows.  The symbols on the ornament which we created for her includes a ”pilgrim’s” staff,  because she took MANY pilgrimages. The staff is accompanied by a book – another common symbol of her’s.  Read more about her HERE and HERE . We used gray, dark brown, maroon, and white felt to create this ornament. We glued the staff onto a white oval for stability (we used hot glue). The book was created using a gray rectangle (the cover) and thee small white rectangles (the pages). It was all glued (hot glue) together at the book’s ”binding”; so it will partly open. Then the book was glued onto the oval with the staff. A silver threaded loop was added so it could be hung on our Liturgical tree.   Note:  St. Bridget of Sweden is also known as St. Brigit, St. Birgitta, or Birgitta of Vadstena. She is commonly confused with St. Bridget of Ireland, whose feast day is Feb 1. St. Bridget of Sweden, pray for us! May you all have a blessed day! ~JenMarie

St. Kateri Tekakwitha is a new saint who’s feast day is July 14th. Elizabeth had a hard time coming up with a symbol for this beautiful saint. So I helped with the design.  To create this ornament, we used dark brown felt, off-white felt, a black permanent sharpie marker, thread, small Indian beads, and glue. (We used hot glue, but high quality craft glue will work.)  Two strips of brown felt formed a cross and two feather shapes with black marker detailing were the decoration on the cross. We glued all the parts together. Then, using thread, we made a few beaded dangles and threaded them onto the feathers. To give the feathers more of a feather look we cut slits in the sides. Just don’t cut all the way through!  It’s just a small tribute to such a wonderful saint! St. Kateri, pray for us! Till later, ~JenMarie

St. Peter Julian Eymard’s feast day is Aug. 2 in the new calendar. He began his love of Jesus at a young age and became a priest at the age of 23. He had a devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and tried to spread that love to all those around him. He is the founder of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. Read more about him HERE , HERE , and HERE . Because of his love of the Blessed Sacrament, Elizabeth and I made a monstrance for this ornament. We used yellow and white felt, as well as, gold pipe cleaners and a brown sharpie marker. This is a double-sided ornament, so all the felt parts are doubled.  We cut the gold pipe cleaner into short 1 inch strips – they are the rays of the monstrance. We used the yellow felt to make the stand part of the monstrance. We made the host from white felt and we the cross was added with a sharpie brown marker.  We glued the small strips of gold pipe cleaner to the back of one of the yellow felt shapes. Then layered the second yellow shape on top. We glued on the hosts – one on both side. I recommend using hot glue to make this ornament.  You may like to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament on St. Peter Julian Eymard’s feast day. St. Peter Julian Eymard, pray for us. ~JenMarie

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was born Jewish (Edith Stein).  She converted to Catholicism and was baptized at the age of 31. She later became a Carmelie nun. Only a few years later she was taken to Auschwitzgas by the Nazis and killed in a gas chamber on Aug. 9th 1942. She is celebrated on Aug. 9 (new calendar) – the anniversary of her death and entrance into heaven. Read more HERE and HERE . Because of her Jewish background, Elizabeth and I made a Star of David and added a cross to the center. We made 2 identical yellow triangles and over-lapped them to make the star. We outlined them with a black sharpie marker. Then we used two small brown felt strips to make a cross in the center of the star. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us! ~Jen-Marie and Elizabeth (Crafting Buddy)

The feast of St. Martha is July 29th (new and traditional calendars). She was a friend of Jesus and the sister to Mary Magdalene and Lazarus. Because of the story in Luke 10:38-42, Elizabeth and I decided to go with a house keeping theme. So we created a broom.  We used dark brown and yellow felt to create this ornament. We also used a brown permanent marker to add ”bristles” to the broom. This ornament is double-sided so it looks the same on both sides. Although we don’t have it pictured, we did make two broom handles and glued them back to back. This made the ornament more stable.   St. Martha, pray for us! God Bless. ~JenMarie

When the Saracens were attacking Assisi and were marching toward the convent, St. Clare who was very sick at the time, asked for help to carry a vessel containing the Blessed Sacrament to the entrance of the convent. There she prayed and held up the Blessed Sacrament. The Saracens fled in fear. St. Clare of Assisi\’s feast day is Aug 11 in the new calendar and Aug 12 in the traditional calendar.  She is a beautiful saint, Read more HERE and HERE . Since we already made a monstrance , Elizabeth and I decided to make this on a little different and more ”old fashioned” looking. We used light brown felt, yellow felt, white, and off white felt to make this ornament. See the parts in the picture below: We also used a yellow and orange permanent sharpie marker to add color to the rays coming from the host. We added a looped thread and hung it on our Liturgical Tree! St. Clare of Assisi, pray for us! ~Jennifer and Elizabeth (my Crafting Buddy)

Our Lady of Snows feast day is Aug 5 – AKA: St. Mary Major. You can also read about OL of Snows HERE and HERE .   Elizabeth and I decided to make a snowflake out of felt so we could use it every year. You will need white and light blue felt. If you have white felt with glitter now would be a great time to use it! To create this ornament we cut out a circle from the white felt.  We folded it and snipped out several larger and smaller holes as we worked our way around the whole circle. If you try to cut it like you would a paper snowflake it can be difficult because the felt is so thick. So we just cut small areas at a time. It’s not perfectly symmetrical, but it looks cute!  After the snowflake was cut, we added a light blue felt ”M” for Mary! 🙂 After all it is Mary’s snowflake!  It was a cute addition to our Liturgical tree! Our Lady of Snows, pray for us! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

The feast of Our Lord’s Transfiguration is Aug. 6th. Read more about it HERE . We used yellow and white felt. First we cut out a Jesus shape from white felt. Then we cut a yellow oval which was just bigger than our white Jesus. We cut out long and narrow triangles from the yellow oval to make the rays. We used an orange permanent sharpie marker to add more interest on the yellow ray-oval. Then we glued Jesus on the rays and added a thread loop to hang it on our Liturgical tree.  Have a blessed day! ~Jennifer and crafting buddy, Elizabeth

St. Lawrence is a beloved saint in our house, 1 – because his name is our last name, 2 – we love his since of heroic humor 3 – his beautiful devotion of Our Lord. St. Lawrence was a young deacon who was martyred in the early days of the church. After being tortured, he was placed on a grill and cooked alive. When he could no longer feel most of his body, he said, ”Turn me over I’m done on this side.” He was turned, and then died. Before he died he offered his life for the conversion of Rome. His feast day is Aug 10. (new and traditional calendars) Read more about him HERE , HERE and HERE . For St. Lawrence (AKA: St. Laurence) Elizabeth and I made a grill from pipe cleaners. Elizabeth used two pipe cleaners and cut and twisted them together to make the grill. It was simple wrapping of the wire. Nothing fancy, although we did bend the ends back so they were less pointy. But, I don’t think St. Lawrence’s grill was so soft and fuzzy.  St. Lawrence, pray for us. May we all have your heroic love for Jesus and our fellow man.  God Bless you all. ~JenMarie and my Crafting buddy, Elizabeth

St. Dominic’s feast day is Aug 4th in the traditional calendar and Aug 8th in the new calendar. The ornament that Elizabeth and I made focuses on the Rosary. The spread of the Rosary is attributed to the preaching of St. Dominic. St. Dominic also founded the Dominican Order. For centuries, Dominicans continued to spread devotion to the rosary and teach about  the power of the rosary. Read more HERE  and HERE . The design of this ornament is very simple. Elizabeth used a light blue sharpie marker to make a simple rosary image on a light blue piece of felt. Then she cut it out and glued it onto a darker piece of blue. Then cut around it again to form a two tone look.  We decided to use blue colors in honor of Our Lady, but you can pick a different color if you like. The image below is a close-up of Elizabeth’s Rosary image. Very easy to create! St. Dominic, pray for us! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth, the Crafting Buddy