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This is an art project meant to help kids ages 8 and older learn a simple way of using watercolors. Of course, the abilities of the individual are to always be taken into account, as with any and all art projects. Practice creates better abilities. The object of this project is to practice staying in the lines when using a brush, learning not to press on the brush when using watercolors, learning how to use watercolors, learning that more water makes the paint lighter and less water makes the colors darker and having fun! ***Remember practice will only make you better! So try it as many times as you like… You need: Set of watercolors Thin/small brush Mixing tray Cup half-full of water Napkins Grayscale picture printed on watercolor paper or stock paper Instructions: Print this grayscale picture of Mary and Baby Jesus onto watercolor paper or stock/heavy paper: Click the for a printable page. Now, you are going to use watercolors to color the image. First, make a pool of water in the watercolor “dot” you wish to use. Dab or poke the watercolor “dot” with the bristle end of your brush so the water mixes with the surface of the hard paint, This should create a thin colored liquid. Make sure the watercolors have enough water in them so that the liquid on your brush is thin. Delicately and gently add the colors in the area you want to paint and spread it around in that area staying within the lines. Do not push or scrub hard with your brush. Then, do the same with the other colors and picture areas. Be sure to rinse out your brush each time you switch colors. If needed to mix colors, put a drop of two different colors onto a plate/tray and mix them together to create a new color, then add it to the picture. You may need lots of napkins to dab-up the extra watercolors you may drip on your picture. If you see paint running into the wrong area, use a napkin to dry it off. If you see that it ran but it is already dry, use a wet brush (only water on it) to whip it away. Don\’t worry about filling in all the black areas, you can just leave them black. The colors I used: Mary’s dress – blue Straw – yellow Mary’s Hair – a mix of brown and yellow Skin –  light brown (Brown with lots of water) Donkey – brown Jesus Blanket – cream or off-while This is only one technique for using watercolors, there are other ways. Experiment, and see what works best for you. These painted pictures would be great for kids to give out at Christmas; make them into cards. Remember, practice, practice, practice, and HAVE FUN!!! God Bless, and may your guardian angel help guide you. ~Jen-Marie

Happy Spring! It’s a beautiful time of year! The flowers are blooming and the birds are singing! I just saw a robin a few weeks ago and it was such a thrill! I look forward to the long warm days! After seeing that first Robin desired to do a craft that focused around a robin/spring theme. So here is my newest creative brainstorm… I also added the Bible quote from Jesus Sermon on the Mount. ~ Matthew 6:26 NOTE: You may need to shrink the size when printing. I love this Bible verse, but of course, I explained to my kids that it doesn’t mean you can sit around and wait for God to serve you! Even the robins have to work to find their food! The idea is that you trust God and remember that He loves you and will help in whatever way you need  (sometimes it’s not the way we want) so you can become a better person and one day live with Him in heaven. For this craft you will need: construction paper (yellow, light blue, red, and brown) light brown paper to crumple and make a nest 6 in. x 2 in. in size (we used part of a lunch bag) black crayon  (but light green, green, and brown – are optional) the printable Matthew 6:26 cloud (above) stapler glue scissors and a foot! 🙂 Trace a foot onto brown paper. Cut it out. Cut out a red belly and a yellow beak for the robin. Glue them to the light blue paper as shown in the completed project. Add an eye and crumple the piece of light brown paper. Staple the light brown paper down in the shape of a nest. Draw legs on the robin. Cut out two or three eggs from light blue paper. With a black crayon, color them lightly(using the side of the crayon) and add spots. Add the eggs to the nest. Cut out and add the cloud with the Bible verse. You can stop there, or you can add tree branches and leaves… Using brown and black crayons create branches. With the light green and green crayons make leaves. A circular motion is simple and easy. Here’s a few examples: Happy Spring! Pray for me to always trust in God’s love and protection! I will pray for you. ~Jen-Marie

Here are a few ideas for St. Patrick Day: An Art Project: My 2nd graders and up enjoyed this. Materials: Printable “Mini” St Patrick  – Free Download in our shop Light blue construction paper Green construction paper Yellow construction paper Crayons Glue stick Scissors Green paint (or crayon) cotton swab and a toothpick (if you use paint instead of the crayon) First, color the little St Patrick printable and cut it out. Cut out a sun from yellow construction paper and cut out some green hills for the bottom. Add a darker green edge to the hilltops, with the green crayon or green paint and a cotton swab. Glue the sun, hills, and St. Patrick to the blue paper. Now add the clovers with a green crayon or paint: If you use a crayon just draw three circles and a stem as pictured. If you are using paint here’s how to make the clovers: (Try it on scrap paper first) Add a few large drops of paint to a sheet of scrap paper so you can easily dip the cotton swab into it without getting too much paint… Cover the cotton swab tip with some of the green paint and poke the paper with it: (If you have a cotton “string” that is not allowing you to make a nice circle try spinning the cotton swab in the paint so it will make a more smoothed end.) Now do it again next to the first dot: and again: Now, with a toothpick, gather a bit of paint on the tip and scrape it from the center of the three dots to make a stem: Now you can add a saying, like: “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” Now it’s a beautiful finished project! A Coloring Page: For the younger kids I created a simple coloring page: Free download in our Shop Looking for bulletin board idea? Create a bulletin board like the above art project… The coloring page of St. Patrick could be used instead of the mini St. Patrick. Cover the grassy hills with clovers created by each of the children! Here is a  printable clover/Trinity craft  you could use. Have the kids make them and then add them to the grassy area on the bulletin board. Hoping you are all having a blessed Lent and will have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day! God Bless! ~Jen-Marie

~Jennifer’s Thoughts: Faith, What is faith? The dictionary defines faith as “a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny”. Faith is also an English word which is thought to date from 1200BC–50BC. It comes from the Latin word fidem or fides, meaning “trust”, derived from the verb fidere, to trust. So then the word meaning “trust” is actually the same word that describes a belief in God. If the two are really one, then our “Belief in God” should truly be our “Trust in God”. But do we as humans really trust God? Most of us don’t. There are countless stories in the Bible that tell of the faith/trust that God’s people had. Abraham certainly did when he was willing to leave his family and his home to travel across the desert to an unknown land. And again he had faith/trust in that same God as he was about to sacrifice his only son on God’s command. On the other hand there are also stories in the Bible of the times when God’s people didn’t put all their faith/trust in Him. Such as the Israelites and their straying from God whenever they were afraid of starving or when Moses took too long to come down from the mountain. They foolishly did not have faith/trust in God, who had already freed them from Egypt and brought them safely to that point. We in our society today are more like the Israelites than Abraham. They were happy to do what God asked but only when it looked as though it was going to help them. Equally with us, if the situation looks rough or unpleasant then we stray from God and ask why isn’t he helping! The famous poem of “Foot Prints in the Sand” is a wonderful example of how we as people don’t even notice God in our lives. The man in the poem didn’t even realize that God was really carrying him though those tough times. He pessimistically only noticed the lack of the extra footprints. But are we that same way? If we have faith/trust in God and follow his examples at all times, even when the path seems unfriendly, it will bring us to a greater point in our lives. But will we keep that faith/trust in God as we live even the hard times of life? To have true faith/trust in God we need to work at it and that’s where most of us go wrong. When having a bad day at work do we optimistically say “Your will be done, God.” or do we grumble (like the Israelites) and say “God, I’m a good person, why are you doing this to me?!” Jesus is the “Good Shepherd” so why would he let me get hurt? The symbol of the “Good Shepherd” has more depth than most people know. In the times of Jesus, shepherds would break a leg of a sheep that had repeatedly strayed away from the flock. This way the sheep could not stray and it would be fully depended on the shepherd for food, water and to carry it from place to place. This created a closer relationship between the sheep and the shepherd, so when the sheep was healed it would not want to leave the shepherd. Like the shepherd, God allows bad things to happen to us so we can grow closer to him. We need to have faith/trust that sometimes God is allowing bad things to happen so we can grow closer to Him and so we can grow stronger as a person. But we must try to remember everyday that bad things are God’s way of bringing us to a greater point of faith and trust in our lives.

~Jennifer’s Thoughts: Extreme individualism has weakened our family structure over the last 5 decades. Busy families, which are too active in different directions to spend quality time with one another, uninterested fathers and/or mothers who get absorbed in on-line games, instead of reading or talking to their children or spouse, has contributed to an epidemic of broken families. More than 50 years ago, families did not have the distractions that families do today. Imagine no televisions, computers, game systems, Ipods, cell phones, no bi-weekly baseball practices coupled with dance, piano, and karate practices! These older families spent most of their extra time together, talking, singing, and just making their own fun. But after generations of families with a self-interested agenda, the problem of unhappy, stressed families has only become more rampant and the idea of a broken family is becoming the norm. Should we have our family chase after those things that the world thinks is good and fun? If all the family members become more family/God focused and less worldly focused, they will become happier and less stressed. The first step toward this happy less stressed filled life is prayer! Often, each day, pray together as a family, Mom, Dad and kids. And yes, both parents need to be included whenever possible! Kids need to see that praying is something important enough to draw the attention of both parents. The next step is to drop the extra needless stuff that your lives are centered around. It may be hard to discern if an activity is necessary and have the strength to choose to drop it. For example, you can make a decision to only check personal e-mails once a day, only carry a cell phone for true emergencies, limit the television and games systems to an hour a day, limit the family to one extra curricular activity (preferably, one you can do together), eat your meals together, and turn off the music/computer when your kids are around and talk to them. Another thing that can be a wonderful step to helping the family is to trash, trash, trash, and organize, organize, organize!!! Get rid of all that extra stuff that is all over the house. If you haven’t used it in the past year it’s not necessary. Trash it! Then, organize so you can find everything you need when you need it. Then do it all over again, it’s a never ending process. The less clutter in your life, the more you can focus on family and God. This entire process of simplifying your activities and house as well as praying will be a fight in the beginning but it’s worth it. In the end your entire family will be happier for it. The process is much easier for everyone if both parents can decide that it’s what they need to do to make their lives better. Isn’t your family worth it?

Abigail as “A Princess Angel” I’m not sure what that is!?!? But she insisted!

A few years back our kids made personal prayer books. I bought small scrapbooks and patterned paper to fit in each page. I also saved lots of religious and nature pictures for several months. The pictures came from several sources, like religious mail, magazines, Christmas and birthday cards, as well as, gift wrap and any other things that I found, which were on their way to the trash. I typed up lots of nice prayers and printed them off. Each of the kids received a copy of all the prayers. Then they chose pictures to glue on the page with it. They had lots of fun making the books and it made prayer time more personal and easier to focus on. Here are some of the prayers I had typed up: _____________ Morning Prayer God, give me eyes that I may see, The treasures you have given me. And give me ears that I may hear, The words of faith that keep you near. Lord, give me strength when I am week, And may Thy goals be those I seek. Grant me courage when I’m alone, And when I face the great unknown. Send me a friend when I’m in need, And let me do a noble deed. That others, too, may somehow see, The One who lives and works though me. ~Clay Harrison ____________ Night Prayer Dear God, I thank you for this day, For all your gifts, for work and play. Forgive the things that I did wrong And make my heart grow pure and strong. Show all the world your love and light and let me rest in peace tonight. Amen ___________ Family Prayer God made us a family We need one another We love one another We forgive one another We work together We play together We worship together Together we use God’s Word Together we grow in Christ Together we love all men Together we serve our God Together we hope for Heaven These are our hopes and ideals Help us to attain them O God. Amen __________ Memorare Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen. _______________ Prayer To Your Guardian Angel Angel of God, my guardian dear, To whom God’s love commits me here, Ever this day, be at my side, To light and guard, Rule and guide. Amen. ___________ The Morning Offering O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my relatives and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen. ____________ Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi Lord, make me a channel of thy peace, that where there is hatred, I may bring love; that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; that where there is discord, I may bring harmony; that where there is error, I may bring truth; that where there is doubt, I may bring faith; that where there is despair, I may bring hope; that where there are shadows, I may bring light; that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted; to understand, than to be understood; to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. ___________ Children’s Prayer To Mary Dear Mother of Jesus, look down upon me As I say my prayers slowly at my mother’s knee. I love thee, O Lady and please willest thou bring All little children To Jesus our King. _______________ These are only a few of the prayers I typed and added to the books. For more prayers go to: http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/index.htm

We started to say a family Rosary together about 5 years ago. It amazed me how much it seemed to help me and my family life!  So I highly recommend saying a family Rosary! Saying the Rosary may take those precious 20-25 minutes out of our overly busy days, but God more than makes up for it in other ways! I’ve been asked by several people “How can you say a Rosary with so many little kids?” And I was just asked that question again by a wonderful lady who also has her hands full! __________ While every family is different and our tricks may not work for everyone, this is what we found works well for us: When and How: We normally say the Rosary at night after the kids have had their night time snack and the little ones are ready for bed. The room you are praying in needs to be clean – toy, book, and distraction-free. We have a few rules: The bigger kids must stay sitting or kneeling. The little ones must stay laying down or sitting and they normally have a pillow and blanket, too, but no toys! It did take a few days to get them to understand the “no toys, stay sitting” rules!! We just had to keep bringing them back to the room and taking toys. Once it becomes an everyday event the kids just learn to accept it. Now the little kids just lay down and often times they fall asleep. Types of ways we pray the Rosary: 1. With a DVD:  Years ago when we started saying the Rosary as a family we used Rosary DVDs. It helped the kids to learn how to say the Rosary and the images helped them to stay focused. We got the DVD’s from EWTN, but they might be cheaper somewhere else. The DVDs I found to be the best ones for kids are: Use the DVD — “Rosary in the Holy Land” (The one in the picture is different than mine, but I guess it’s the same.) For Holy Land Rosary Link ~Click here! Other DVD — “The Holy Rosary” -it’s the one with the stain glass window pictures. For Holy Rosary DVD with stain glass window Pics. ~Click here! Note: The Rosary DVDs which are made special for kids are often too distracting and seem to make them think it’s more playtime!! 2. With Pictures: We also have pictures of each of the 20 mysteries. They are the 8×10 size and I put them in a poster frame.  For 20 Mysteries Prints ~Click here!   We just display the correct set of mysteries before we begin. Before we had the 8×10 pictures, the kids each had small Rosary books (Simple $1 book) to help them follow along, but those eventually were just too ripped up to use. 3. With Scripture:  Sometimes we will read scripture verses before each Hail Mary. “Rosary of Praise” or “Scriptural Rosary” are good books to use for this. 4. Other ways, times, and places we have prayed the Rosary: We have also said the Rosary on the drive home from different events when we know we will not have the time when we get home.  A few times we have loaded the kids in the van to say the Rosary while trying to get a baby to sleep. We have said the Rosary while walking outside around our property. We’ve said the Rosary at nap time, it helped to put the little kids to sleep. Distracted Kids? We change the way we say the Rosary (with the pictures, DVD, scripture book, etc.) if they seem like they are becoming more easily distracted. **In other words, if we say the Rosary with the scripture book for a few weeks and the kids seem to be losing interest we switch to the DVD for a while. Other thoughts:  It might help if you start saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, then after a few days/weeks switch to the Rosary. We give each of the kids a turn leading a decade of the Rosary. If you plan to buy or make Rosaries for children, I recommend “all-twine knotted Rosaries” ~ they are much stronger and more difficult for kids to break!! __________ If you are considering trying to say a daily Rosary together as a family, I hope this can help you to get you started. I hope it all made sense, if not please feel free to leave a comment!

Rebekah as “St. Elizabeth of Hungry” This cute costume was created with a princess costume from a local department store. We added a basket with some roses and fake bread. NOTE: This information and the images are meant to inspire you to make your own costume. I’m sorry, these costumes are not for sale.

Making a floral crown for a Marian statue Often, we like to make a crown of flowers for our statues of The Blessed Mother during the month of May. Making a crown can be a bit tricky, but this is the easiest way I found to make one…. You will need: variety of artificial flowers – appropriately sized for the statue you are crowning cloth ribbon – enough to tie around the statue’s head the statue you would like to wear the crown hot glue scissors Instructions: Tie the ribbon around the statue’s head and knot it in the back. Cut off the extra ribbon.  Hot glue the flowers onto the ribbon,  start from the back sides and work to the front of the crown. You may use a bottle or bowl of similar size (instead of the statue) to hold the ribbon while you glue on the flowers. This will help you avoid getting glue on the statue. Place the ribbon back on the statue’s head occasionally as you add the flowers just to check how it’s fitting and looking.  Mother Mary, Pray for us! God bless, ~Jen-Marie

In honor of Kateri Tekakwitha! Have fun making a Christian Indian headband. Okay, it's probably not historically correct, but the kids had fun!! Download the Bl Kateri Headband and Feather Here Click Here to print the Bl Kateri headband and feather that you can make. Ask the kids if they can see the Christian symbolism in the headband! Enjoy! ~JenMarie

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