Search Results

St. Pio of Pietrelcina, priest, religious, and stigmatist, is remembered on Sept. 23. He is an amazing saint and there are many great books out there about him. You can also read more about him HERE and HERE .  Because St. Pio was a priest and a stigmatist, we made an ornament that depicts his holy hands holding the Blessed Sacrament.  If you want, you can make the bandage brown which is St. Pio\’s traditional bandage, but I chose off-white so you could see the blood marks… it\’s more \”real\” to the kids.  To create this ornament we used tan, white (for the host), off-white (for the bandages), and a mixed gray felt. We used red and brown permanent markers for adding detail to the host and the bandages.  St. Pio, pray for us! May God bless you all with joy! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

Things have been busy around my house, so I’m a little late getting the September ornaments out. Since I can’t post all of the Sept. ornaments today, I’m just going to quickly post St. Anna the Prophetess, who feast day is historically Sept. 1. St. Anna the Prophetess was in the temple the day of Jesus Presentation. She was over-joyed to see Jesus and spoke about him to all who were there.(Luke 2:21-38) St. Anna’s ornament is a scroll and it reads: ”This child has created Heaven and Earth.” It was made using off-white felt, which was cut into a long rectangle (about 1 inch x 3 inches). The outer edge of the rectangle is out-lined with brown permanent marker.  The sentence was added with a black permanent marker. I recommend that you draw the letters by creating dots. Using lots of dots to form the letters will make the letters look cleaner. If you draw the letters as you would on paper they can look fuzzy. Plus, it’s just easier to write on felt that way! 🙂  Next, the ends of the rectangle were hot glued and rolled up so they look more like a scroll.  St. Anna, pray for us! May our eyes always be open and able to see Jesus in the faces of others. God Bless. ~JenMarie and my crafting buddy, Elizabeth Personal Update: My surgery went well. The doctor was to remove my last remaining ovary in the hopes to end my endometriosis pain. After the surgery, he said my ovary was missing it’s ”webbing”. It was hanging loose and bumping into my intestines which had created a hernia. So he fixed the hernia, too. Now the ovary is gone and the hernia is fixed. My doctor thinks I should be feeling great in a few weeks – just about the time I’ll start having menopause set in. Aside from that, things are going wonderfully and I’m feeling improvement each day!  Thank you so much for all your prayers! I know they have helped!

Last year my two 4th graders were learning about the Making of the Thirteen Colonies. We were reading Book 2 of ““. The book included a simple timeline. So I created this timeline page for my kids to use so they could create their own timeline notebook. Each of the pages includes a section for them to write the topic of the timeline. It also has writing blocks so the kids can write the date and a little about the historical event. The kids also “finished” drawing the line from the writing blocks to the timeline line which is in the middle of the page. We placed our timelines in a 3 ring binder and added a cover page to the front of the binder. Then the kids could add a page as they work their way through history! There are two versions of this timeline. One runs side to side on a vertical page and the other runs side to side on a horizontal page. Each as a cover to match the direction of the pages you choose. I first made the horizontal timeline page, but the vertical pages seemed to be easier for my kids to understand, as they flip from one page to the next. Choose whichever you like best: Download the Timeline Sheets Here: These are great pages to use if you are creating mini biographies of famous people like the saints, and they work well when learning about any topic of history – Church history, US history or world history. These were great to have last year and I plan to use them again this year as we work through book 3 and 4 in the “A History of US” set. Hope you are having a great school year! God Bless. ~JenMarie

Saint Gregory the Great is the patron saint of teachers. He is one of the four great doctors of the Latin Church and his feast day is Sept. 3 on the new calendar (March 12 on the Traditional calendar). He built 7 monasteries and is know for his contributions to the Liturgy of the Mass and Office. He was also pope from the 3rd of September in 590 to his death on March 12th 604. Read more about him HERE . The ornament for Gregory the Great consists of a book with a quill pen, a Papal Tiara with the three crowns, and the Holy Spirit.  We made it with maroon, yellow, light brown, white and off-white felt. Plus, we used brown and black permanent markers on the book pages, as well as, the quill pen.  We used gold glitter glue on the yellow crowns (on the Papal Tiara) and we added a few drops of red glitter glue to add ”gem”. Later we decided to add a Holy Spirit. (Ya, we make this all up as we go along! Just bear with me!) We glued all the parts onto the light brown felt and we added silver glitter glue around the Holy Spirit.  St. Gregory the Great, pray for us – especially us mother who homeschool or those who are teachers! We have a big job and always need help! God Bless, ~JenMarie

St. Matthew, Apostle, evangelist, and martyr, is the patron saint of bankers and accountants. His feast day is Sept. 21 in the new and traditional calendars.  Because he wrote the Gospel of Matthew, we added a book to his ornament. We added the money bag because he is the patron saint for those who deal with money.    To create this ornament we used charcoal, tan, maroon, white and gray felt. We used a hole punch to make the coins. If your hole punch is not 100% sharp you will need to cut out the uncut sections, and that easy to do. We used brown and black permanent markers to add details to the white ”paper” and the money bag.  St. Matthew, pray for us! God bless you all with joy! ~JenMarie sand Elizabeth

Our Lady of Sorrows is remembered on Sept 15th. This is the day we remember the 7 major sorrows which Our Lady would have experienced during her life. They are: The prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35) The flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15) Loss of the Child Jesus for three days (Luke 2:41-50)  Mary meets Jesus on his way to Calvary (Luke 23:27-31; John 19:17) Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (John 19:25-30) The body of Jesus being taken from the Cross (Psalm 130; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:31-37) The burial of Jesus (Isaiah 53:8; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42; Mark 15:40-47) Read more about this feast day HERE . Today I want to share the liturgical ornament which depicts the heart of Our Lady of Sorrows. The heart was cut from red felt and lightly outlined with a purple permanent marker. The 7 swords were made from gray felt. The flames were cut from yellow felt and decorated with orange and red permanent markers. After everything was glued down, we also added gold glitter glue to the flames and red glitter glue to the heart where the swords ”pierce” the heart and around the outer edge. Lastly, we added a gold-thread loop to hang it on our liturgical tree. Our Lady pray for us, may we endure our struggles with grace and peace. God bless you all! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

St. Vincent, was a priest and founder of  ”Ladies of Charity” which eventually became the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. St. Vincent had a special place in his heart for the poor, particularity poor children. He is the patron saint of all charities. His feast day is Sept. 27 in the new calendar and July 19th in the traditional calendar. Read more about him HERE and HERE . St. Vincent’s ornament depicts an adult’s hand (St. Vincent’s hand) giving bread to a child’s hands – to symbolize St. Vincent’s love and care for poor children   To create this ornament we used light blue, tan, peach, and medium brown felt. We used brown permanent marker to add detail to the bread and blue permanent marker to add detail to the blue background. (the bread looks dark in these pictures -not sure why- but it is lighter in color than pictured.) St. Vincent de Paul, Pray for us! May our hearts be filled with a burning love to help others! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth PS: Happy Anniversary to my sweet-honey! We’ve been blessed with 17 years of wonderful marriage! To read our love story visit: ”Written by the Finger of God” Update: It looks like her blog is now gone.... We posted it HERE .

Elizabeth, my Liturgical Ornament making buddy,  dressed as St. Clare of Assisi. We already had the costume from when she dressed as St Therese . The only thing new was the monstrance.  To make this costume we used: habit from THIS nun costume — a few more options: HERE : HERE : HERE The long black nun rode was actually used by her older brother for a St. Peregrine costume. brown robe like THIS or THIS  – OT is cheaper HERE tan sheet or material (light weight) string for cloak (we used a shoe string) monstrance (which we made – I’ll be posting instructions for this in the future) We used the nun habit and the brown robe for the main part of the costume. We created the cloak by folding a tan piece of material over a string and then tie it (loosely) around her neck. Our St. Clare was kind of camera shy, but I took the opportunity to get a good picture of the monstrance. 🙂  I will post instructions for this later. St. Clare of Assisi, pray for us. ~JenMarie

My little Naomi, had the hardest time deciding who to dress as for All Saints day. I was very surprised when she finally decided on St. Catherine of Siena – but what a cute little Saint Catherine she is! To create this costume we used: white robe – like THIS white veil which was just a small sheet white string – we used a shoe string rosary mock turtle neck grapevine wreath – just big enough for her head washable marker for her hands (stigmata)  I personally thought that getting the wreath was the worst part of make this costume. I had to find just the right wreath for her to wear – so she felt comfortable. St. Catherine wore a crown of thorns, but even a grapevine wreath can be a bit uncomfortable. So take your little one to the store with you when you go and test them out.  The rosary was looped through her waist string. The washable red marker was used to make the stigmata. And my little lady – made one silly little saint! Unlike St. Clare  she was NOT camera shy! St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us. ~JenMarie

Joshua is dressed as St. Rocco (AKA: St. Roch).  To create this costume I used: brown robe – like THIS or THIS   – OT is cheaper HERE twine, rope, or other string stuff dog – like THIS walking stick with a small rag-sack tied to it (optional) This costume is fairly simple to compile. It’s just a brown robe tied at the waist and a stuffed dog. The walking stick is optional. Ours is just a straight stick with a white scrap piece of material tied to the top. It’s filled with a few paper napkins to make it puff out.  Really the dog is what makes the costume. St. Rocco, pray for us. ~JenMarie

The Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun is Oct. 13th. In honor of the occasion I wanted to share an art project which centers around this amazing miracle. I asked the kids to image what they think the ”dancing” sun may have looked like to the people who were standing in the crowd on that rainy October day. Then they created some wonderful pictures. Read about Fatima and the sun miracle HERE . To create this you will need: yellow construction paper (Cut onto 8 x 11 inch page – if you want to add it to a 3 ring binder-art-portfolio.) black construction paper crayons  scissors glue Using your crayons, create your ”dancing” sun scene. Leave a little extra room at the bottom for the crowd of people. Using a white crayon, draw the heads of the crowd onto the black paper. You need to make 2 or 3 layers of heads.  The layers should have different heights so they can all be seen. Range the heights from 1 inch to 2 inches. Also create a few pointing and/or praising people. These will be added to the crowd to make more interest and diversity.  Cut out all the people and make sure they all have a white out line. This creates a sunshine look on their silhouettes. It also make them easier to see.  Glue the layers together and then glue them on to the bottom for the sun picture.  Add the extra people. Glue them between the layers. You may need to cut off some of there body to make them fit.  If you have cut the yellow paper down to a regular sheet size you will need to cut off the extra black parts along the edges.  Here is an example of a finished project, and below are the few of the projects my kids made. May you all have a blessed day! ~JenMarie

Last year I posted about our ”Elf on the Shelf” alternative. If you don’t know about ”Elf on the Shelf”, he’s a long lanky toy elf who always finds mischievous things to do each night while the kids are in bed. Well, our family has a bit of a crazy side and that family tradition just seems sooo fun! But my Catholic side never wanted to make an elf the center of Christmas fun. Sure elves are cute, but I try to not make Santa or his elves a focus at Christmas time. While I loved the idea of a cute character getting into a bit of innocent fun each night, I didn’t like using an elf toy for this fun family tradition!   So,  yes I ”Baptized” the Elf on the Shelf idea!  At our house we have the three kings who are searching for baby Jesus each night! This tradition has turned into the talk of our Holiday conversations. The kids are thrilled! They ask about the Wisemen before they ask about a Christmas tree or gifts!  So of course we have to do this again this year!!  I want to explain this tradition better for those who weren’t following our blog last year: Our three Kings: Balthazar, Melchior, Caspar, and their camel (who my kids have named, but I’m embarrassed to tell you what it is) are a handful! They are on the search for Jesus!  Sometimes they can get into a bit of trouble as they struggle to find the Infant King.  Each night, during Advent till the Epiphany, my husband and I move the three wisemen to a new hiding spot and create a ”situation” for them to get into or out of. Then, after our kids wake up each morning, they try to find the three Wise Men. Most days it’s easy, but some days the kids have to search for awhile!  The only rule we made was that the three wise men have to find the Infant Jesus that belongs to their Nativity set. That’s just to make it more interesting, since we have many nativity sets around the house. Their special nativity set remains hidden in my bedroom until Christmas. Then, Christmas Eve we pull out the nativity and set it up in a special spot. The wise men continue searching for Jesus until the feast of the Epiphany!  These  three wise men  and the  Nativity set  are from Playmobil. (sold separately – I sound like a commercial)  I liked these Wisemen because they are poseable.  I do wish they were more poseable (like an action figure) but these work fine. Because they are poseable, it allows us to make them appear to be doing certain actions like, hold things, climb, slide, reach, etc. This makes them so much more fun!! Typically, we would think that the wisemen should be following a star, so you may be asking, ”Where’s the star?” That is a fair question. When we first started this tradition, we tried having the Wisemen follow a star, but it was hard to have them stay in a path and come up with places (on that path) for them to search.  Plus, the kids knew where the Three Kings were going to be and the journey seemed to be kind of boring. So we changed our idea a bit: Now the Wisemen jump around the house and the kids enjoyed searching for them each morning.  I was upset to lose the star, but we decided to play on the Bible quote: ”Where is the newborn king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to adore him.”  After reading that I figured the Wisemen were a little lost at some point even with the star to guide them. We told our kids that our house is like the city of Bethlehem and the Wisemen are searching Bethlehem for Jesus. We explained to the kids that it’s not 100% like the Bible, but we all found it more interesting and fun this way. Another change we have made since we started our tradition is the time our kings search. We originally were only going to do this from Christmas to the Epiphany, but the kids, my husband, and I were having so much fun with our new tradition that we started hiding the wisemen during Advent, too. Our family has been enjoying this new tradition and we are ALL excited to see our three little amigos start the search again! So prepare yourself for some upcoming posts as we share photos of our Wisemen’s Adventures!  I’m posting this a few weeks before Advent so you have a chance to buy a set for yourself. Our family has just loved this awesome family tradition! I encourage you to try it! The cheapest place I found this set was on Amazon. I hope you can join us! ~JenMarie