Cottage Blessings

From the Scrapbook: Sacred and Immaculate Heart Dolls

Recently, I stumbled upon these pictures of a craft I prepared for the girls and their friends back in May of 2002. Wooden "Sacred and Immaculate Heart dolls" are easy to make. Begin with wooden cutouts of gingerbread girl shapes, small wooden hearts, glue, paint, and—for the Blessed Mother dolls—blue squares of felt.

June is the month of the Sacred Heart, and these dolls would make a pleasant craft to celebrate the beginning of summer!

Our daughter Theresa and friend Emily O'Neill—then aged six—display their dolls:

Works in progress:

Our friends, Mary Beth and Mary Rose, looked pleased with their projects. [In the background, you will see tissue paper Sacred Hearts, another very easy project. The tissue is lovely against a window, because the sun streams through to give the effect of a suncatcher]:

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Bouguereau on Blue and White

Last year's summer in California continues to inspire us!

One of the things we remember well, particularly in Mission Carmel, was the wide variety of blue and white tiles featuring devotional scenes.

The Holy Family:

Our Lady of Mount Carmel:

We also admired the Pieta by Adolphe-William Bouguereau, a larger-than-life painting standing floor to ceiling against a wall of the Legion of Honor Art Museum in San Francisco.

These images and memories formed the inspiration for a simple springtime project--"Blue and White Tiles for Our Lady."

We began with a wooden plaque, holy card, container of tiles, tile glue, and a gold-leafing pen.

It only took about two minutes to gild the edges.

After planning the location of the tiles, a special glue was brushed on the wooden surface and the back of each tile square.

Gluing the tiles did not take long at all.

Here you have it, a partially finished product. It is incomplete because, being a novice at tile work, I thought the mosaic glue would also act as grout. No such luck. I will need to return to the craft store some time soon--or make my own grout from a mixture of white sand and glue. (This photo was taken before the glue dried so you can still see a bit of it round the edges.)

Knowing it might take a month or more before we return to the craft store, I decided to post the project as is, because it is quite pretty already. I am thinking about turning it into a holy water font eventually or putting it on the front door.

Whether or not I ever get around to putting grout in all those cracks!

Beauty lies in many eyes,

particularly those of the children of our homeschooling group.

Here are perhaps a little more than half the children who attended our annual May Crowning yesterday. By the time this group shot was taken, most of the others had already skipped off to the swings, scooters, and snack tables. As usual, blue was the color of the day.

Before the guests arrived, I stockpiled a basket full of medals, cards and books for the children.

The ribbons and medals were part of a simple craft planned for the children--beribboned medals to wear to the crowning. Browsing the craft store, I found favor ties meant for weddings and thought they would be perfect for making wearable pins, particularly because the lilies, white flowers and bells (reminding me of the Bell's of St. Mary's) are so perfect for Our Lady. When crafting for a crowd, it helps to save precious time, and favor ties meant less cutting and measuring of ribbon.

Here is one of the gorgeous little rosary books I picked up for the children--small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but featuring full color illustrations of all four mysteries (yes, even the Luminous). These books will need to wait a bit though--in the hustle and bustle of the day's events, I forgot to give them out!

The simplest, quickest Marian activity in the world, step-by-step:

The children worked on the pins as they arrived:

My girls love to add their own stamp of creativity to any idea, so here are a few samples they made in the morning:

[Cost per project: about 75 to 99 cents, except for larger medals.]

We began the Crowning with a procession led by the first communicants, followed by all the children. Our music--including Queen of the Holy Rosary, Regina Coeli, Bring Flow'rs of the Fairest, Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above and others were led by the girls from Our Lady of the Angels Choir under the direction of Miss Lynn Wilson. (I am proud to say that Agnes and Theresa are members.) We said the rosary according to the method of St. Louis de Montfort. [From the appendix of True Devotion to Mary, Montfort Publications.] I had originally hoped to fill a basket with the petitions of all our group members, but this is another of those things that was lost in the shuffle of a busy day.

As you can see, our festive Marian Lanterns made a fitting backdrop for the occasion:

The sight of first communicants in May makes my heart sing--how well I remember being among the joyful first communicants processing into the school yard of St. Mary's School many, many years ago. We too sang "Bring Flowers of the Fairest." The Catholic Faith is the stuff of beautiful memories.

The crowning moment:

And how much do you love this picture of our gorgeous first communicants with Heather's daughter Lily smiling directly at the face of Our Blessed Mother?! I have no doubt Our Lady is smiling right back!

May the grace of the mystery of the Coronation of the Blessed Mother, Queen of Heaven and Earth, come down into our hearts.

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May Crowning trivia: Our three first communicants banner image was taken during last year's crowning.

Crafting for a Crowd: Marian Lanterns

In the memoir of her life, Sister Lucia of Fatima looks back upon how she and her cousins, Blessed Francisco and Jacinta liked to call the moon "Our Lady's Lantern." This is perfect imagery because the moon gets it light from the sun, or, in Our Lady's case, from the Son. In honor of this recollection--with the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima right around the corner--we shared these "Marian lanterns" with the children of our local group.

Paper lanterns are readily available at the craft or party store and come in a wide array of colors. [Ours looked something like this, but they were only $1.49 each at Michael's Craft Store. SEE UPDATE BELOW.] Holy pictures, glitter, ribbon and silk flowers were all we needed to create a festive display for our upcoming May Crowning. The pictures tell the tale:

And now, some notes from the "Live and Learn" files:

1. Laminated holy cards are difficult to glue onto round surfaces, particularly without a glue gun.

2. Big round lanterns roll, presenting something of a difficulty for very young children. They were all so excited about this craft though that they did not let this daunt them for long!

3. If you decide to change the date of your May Crowning, make sure the friends who live furthest away and have the most children hear about it before they travel hours to be there. If you do make a mistake of this magnitude, hope that the victim has a heart of gold and will forgive you immediately.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . . .

Over the weekend, with the assistance of a glue gun, the older girls and I made a few more beauties to decorate the family room for May:

Fatima Lantern

The holy card image shows the vision Sister Lucia had just before leaving Fatima to begin her life as a nun. She sees grace and mercy flowing from Our Lord on the cross.

We added a pretty watering can to remind us of the showers of grace available to all who seek them.

Mount Carmel Lantern

[You will note that this is a beautiful and reverent use for an old scapular we had been keeping in a drawer. We attached it so that it would still be usable in the future.]

Holy Name of Mary Lantern (work in progress)

Queen of Peace Lantern

May Our Lady shed her light into our hearts, during this month of May and always!

Warning: Although these paper lanterns are designed for use with an actual lightbulb, once decorated, this becomes a fire hazard. (Candles would not be safe for these lanterns either.)

Variations on a theme

If you will not have time to complete a project like this during May, how about saving the idea for All Saints Day on November 1st? Collect holy cards to create a range of saints' lanterns with your family or homeschooling group. These would make a festive decoration if placed outside the house for All Hallows Eve or at the center of your group's All Saints Day party. Liturgical colors, such as red for martyrs, would add to the beauty and symbolism.

If you can't find paper lanterns, there are many ways to improvise. Decorate colored bags, large paper mache or styrofoam balls, discarded Christmas ornaments or bright coffee cans.

Cost per project: $1.49 for each lantern, plus embellishments. Figure at least $2 to $3 each.

[UPDATE: We used 8 inch lanterns made by a company called Darice. I could not find them online, but managed to find these reasonably priced substitutes in a wide array of colors.]

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Coming Soon

Some of my local friends may be wondering why I did not post last week's project: "Spiritual Ships." The story will be appearing in the first issue of the new magazine, mater et magistra (formerly Heart and Mind).

Crafting for a Crowd: Holy Water Fonts

With Our Lady's month of May just around the corner, this seemed a perfect time to revisit a project that has been a hit with our local group for almost ten years: holy water fonts. We have made them many different ways, but this method was the first and favorite. Plain wooden plaques from the craft store in a variety of appealing shapes, sturdy plastic shot glasses from the party store, beads, snow white crucifixes, and holy cards make up these simple crafts, perfect for a crowd of all ages. Paints would add a great deal to the look of the project, but I decided to spare the children's clothes in an effort to maintain my friendship with the local moms.

When preparing a craft for a large group of children, it helps to do a bit of prep work. I hot-glued the shot glasses to the plaques in advance:

Patrick wants you to know that this is the one he glued on for Mommy. (Thank you, Pat!)

Thanks to this beautiful group of crafters (not to mention another table full) . . .

. . . those plain plaques were transformed into something glorious and well worth cherishing:

The best projects for a crowd are the ones that all look unique in the end!

Another way to use these would be by putting fresh flowers in the cups with a bit of water.

"Queen of Cute" Kelli B. shows her creation:

An afternoon of crafting works up a thirst, as you can see. Maureen's "crocs" come in handy as she goes full toe to reach the water fountain.

And a good time was had by all!

Holy water fonts, cost per project: under $2 (99 cents for plaques, plus decorations and cups; shot glasses come in packages of 50 for about $3.50, but consider improvising with film canisters, deep bottle caps, or plastic Easter egg halves)

How do I love thee? Let me count the eggs

Not long ago, my friend Kari wrote to propose an idea so good that it left me almost beside myself with glee:

"Caroline and I would like to come watch the children on Wednesday while you do/go wherever. Will this work for you????"

Why, yes, as a matter of fact, it did work for me! And the note served as yet another reminder of what a blessing it is to have the world's most beautiful and thoughtful friends. While I was using this found quiet time, Caroline and Kari did more than merely watch the children. Caroline arrived with homemade dough, sauce and cheese to make the most delicious pizzas my homemade-dough-deprived darlings had ever eaten. (By a miracle, Marie, who cannot bear even the thought of pizza, loved Caroline's and asked for the recipe!) Kari brought jars of dye, candles, a ream of butcher paper and specialized tools to make Ukrainian Pysanky eggs. As you can see from the photographs below, the children learned a new skill, dying, waxing, and melting for hours.

If you are interested in learning the art of Pysanky, take a look at these step by step instructions or this online tutorial. I can't explain the steps myself, because while all this was going on, I was off writing a last minute addition to the Haystack!

As you can tell from the infrequency of my posting lately, life has been a whirlwind here for quite some time. This too shall pass, but in the meanwhile, we are beyond grateful for loving local friends always offering to help! [I realize that I can't link to most of them!]

Happy Easter tomorrow everyone!

For Helen: A Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Altagracia

With a smile on our faces over Anne's good news, we look forward to the long anticipated birth of Helen's little one (not to mention Elizabeth's!), due on the Feast of Our Lady of Altagracia.

You may remember that when Helen began the Hidden Treasure forum over at 4Real, she used the calendar to find "Our Lady of Altagracia" as its patroness. (The forum was scheduled to debut on her Feast, January 21st.) I had never heard of this title for Our Lady, but when Helen told me she was the patroness of the Dominican Republic, I quipped, "Well, I guess we know what country you will be adopting your next baby from." We both laughed, and, knowing the Blessed Mother, Helen agreed that this was quite likely.

Three months later, Helen found out Our Lady had a different grace in store: She was expecting a baby due on January 21st.

[Yes, I know you know that story! But it is such a good one--how can I not repeat it?]

Here is a Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Altagracia, served in thanksgiving for Helen's baby and to Our Lady for making this title so well known to all of us.

In planning the Tea, I consulted the Novena Prayer translated for us by Helen. If you have a moment, please refer back to it to understand the references below. It might make sense to read the prayer with the children, pointing out the symbolism of the items on the table.

Altagracia Tea

Activities:

Our Mother's Hands

The Love of our Hearts

Three Graces Tea Menu:

Love of Purity

Home Blessings

Maternal Arms

A Sweet for Our Lady of Altagracia

Activities:

1. Our Mother's Hands

At the outset of the tea: Create delicate paper hands to represent the loving hands of Our Lady. Help the children to draw or write their blessings on each hand, remembering to thank her for "the innumerable favors we have received from [he]r hands." Take a moment to remind the children of the image of the Miraculous Medal also showing the graces shining from the hands of our heavenly Mother.

2. The Love of our Hearts

Pass out paper hearts, allowing the children to decorate them lavishly (after all, Valentine's Day is coming up, making this the perfect decoration for the season), writing or drawing their special offerings to Our Lady. This could be a love letter to her from each one of us, including a word from the adults. We remember to offer her "all the love in our hearts."

Three Graces Tea Menu:

The Novena specifies the three graces we request from Our Lady, and the menu offerings of the tea reflect them in a simple way. [This is not fancy, but it is do-able!]

3. Love of Purity.

We serve something white representing purity to accompany the vegetables in the next menu offering. There are many recipes for dip that is white, and ranch dressing might work as well as anything.

In asking for the grace of purity, we remember the perfect purity of the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

4. Home Blessings.

We remember the humble home in Nazareth, asking for a shower of grace upon our homes through holy marriages. Our Lady of Altagracia is the patroness of the Dominican Republic, so we remember "Home Blessings" with produce that grows in this, her chosen homeland: snap peas or pea pods. [Here is a picture of pea pods to give you an idea of the type to buy.]

When you break open the side of the pod, the peas inside look like a family in their house. If the children have never heard the expression, "like peas in a pod," this would be a good time to mention it.

5. Maternal Arms

We ask the grace of flying to Heaven with the help of Our Lady's maternal arms. Small twisted pretzels would be the simplest possible addition to the table, and would go well with the dip. The original German pretzels were meant to represent arms crossed in prayer, but I think they would make a wonderful maternal embrace for these purposes. [I am hoping to keep this as simple and inexpensive as possible. As you can see, the first three offerings are not sweet or extensive. They are meant as a small snack, leaving everyone ready for a rich dessert!]

It is no coincidence, by the way, that the Novena to Our Lady of Altagracia takes place only a few weeks after the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (January 3). May we never cease to praise His holy name, engraving it on our hearts forever. [Please refer to the Novena prayer to see the connection.]

6. A Sweet for Our Lady of Altagracia:

The chief exports of the Dominican Republic are coffee, sugar and bananas. A delicious dessert honoring Our Lady of Altagracia could be made by spooning carmelized bananas over coffee ice cream.

To carmelize the bananas, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Slice the bananas in half and sprinkle with butter and brown sugar. Bake about 7 minutes or so. [You might be able to do this over the stove as well. I'd need to experiment!] If this is too difficult, use plain ripe bananas over coffee ice cream--or even vanilla ice cream with bananas and a drizzle of coffee syrup.

Sometimes improvising is key, particularly this time of year! I do not know about you, my friends, but we still need to get our Christmas decorations put away, so "less is more" at the moment!

Altagracia Tea, Shopping List

White dressing (ranch or homemade)
Snap peas or pea pods
Small twisted pretzels
Firm bananas
Butter
Brown Sugar
Coffee Ice Cream

For the Feast of the Holy Name

O Lord Jesus Christ, teach us to love Your holy name, to hold it in awe and pronounce it with reverence. Deliver us from the sin of blasphemy. May the holy name of Jesus be infinitely blessed!

Vouchsafe O Lord, for Your Name's sake, to reward with eternal life all those who do us good. Amen.

Prayer from: Novena Calendar

Activities requiring no advance preparation:

--If you still have candy canes on hand (or even if not), show the children how the canes may be turned over to form a "J" in honor of the blessed name of Our Lord.

--When I was growing up, my parents always bowed their heads upon hearing or speaking the Holy Name. If this custom is new to you, consider introducing it as a new year's resolution.

--Recite the Litany of the Holy Name after dinner.

--Sing "Holy God, we praise thy name." [Hauntingly beautiful rendition here--please exercise caution when going to youtube. Complete lyrics may be found here.]

--Light a candle, preferably white or red, in honor of the Holy Name.

--Create an ornament or picture, cake or cupcakes with the letters "IHS," symbolic of the Holy Name.

--Read today's Mary Vitamin [627, The Holy Name of Jesus].

--According to the Mary Vitamin, "St. Isaac Jogues carved the Holy Name of Jesus into the trees around His mission house in upstate New York, in deference to the power of the Holy Name over the devils." How about allowing the children to hang a handmade sign featuring the Holy Name on a tree (or trees) outside?

Scenes from the Feast of St. Nicholas 2007

Last year, we shared pictures of a day spent at a friend's house crafting and baking for the Feast of St. Nicholas. We continued the tradition this year with many of the same activities, but a few new twists as well.

There were cookies to cut:

Mexican God's Eye Ornaments (the perfect simple and inexpensive craft to make in advance of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe):

We brought our traditional sled full of cookies:

And taught the children how to make these easy Take Along Mangers in Miniature reminiscent of last year's craft. (For details and materials, please see today's post at O Night Divine):

This little project was engaging for the older ones, but simple enough for a three-year-old:

And speaking of simple, my friend Mary taught the children to make these religious ornaments--cardboard discs embellished with holy images and trim:

Look how the baby has grown! It made me laugh to realize she is wearing the same outfit, only now she has grown into Maureen's dress from last year!

St. Nicholas, patron of children, pray for us!

Margaret's Wreath for Our Lady of Guadalupe

Dark blue with stars to recall Our Lady's Mantle, roses for St. Juan Diego, and black velvet ribbon make up this simple wreath. We read recently that Aztec women wore black ribbons around their waists to show they were expecting, hence the black ribbon around Our Lady's waist in the image on the tilma.

Candy Cottage for Our Lady

Last year, we began a new tradition in our home--putting up a gingerbread house on the Feast of Our Lady of Loreto, a date so closely associated with Our Lady's prayerful and holy home.

Hoping to continue the tradition simply and manageably this year, I purchased a Wilton Cottage Cake Pan a few weeks ago. It reminded me of the Holy House of Loreto as depicted on holy cards and in this coat of arms:

[Loreto Coat of Arms courtesy of International Civic Arms.]

We began with plain yellow cake mix, ready-made frosting, pink and purple sugars, gumdrops, gummi bears, mini-marshmallows, and colored wafers:

Once the cake was baked, it was a snap to frost in white. Theresa gave the cake a crumb coat, and Margaret and Marie to applied the candy embellishments. This they managed skillfully [I was making dinner and let them at it on their own] in spite of the help offered by Patrick, Maureen, and Eileen.

Margaret was particularly proud of her own innovation--a chimney made of mini marshmallows:

Here is the work in progress--Marie's snowman stands to the left:

It was my bright idea to put the cake on a pedestal cake pan to keep out of the way during dinner. We left it in the dining room on the piano out of reach of the little ones.

Midway through dinner, disaster struck!

We heard a sickening thud and raced in to find our candy cottage face up on the floor:

Margaret's chimney was no more:

And look at our poor piano! [This photo was taken after we cleaned the keys.]

Disappointed, but undaunted, Margaret set about a reconstruction. The fact that we already had a picture of the cake in its original glory was a comfort to her. We talked about the Holy House in Loreto and how angels carried it from the Holy Land to Italy to prevent its desecration. Our Candy House had moved unexpectedly too! We like to think the angels helped it land face up, even though it fell face forward. : )

Every year, I save particularly beautiful Christmas cards, knowing we may eventually find a good use for them, and this image of the Blessed Mother in red was just the thing for our pretty house. I left a bit of the card edge at the bottom to stick into the icing, creating a vibrant "Loreto" cake topper:

A group of cherubs hold up the base, reminding us of the many holy card images we have seen of Our Lady of Loreto:

At the end of the day, the children gathered round, of all things, the laptop computer. We made the Consecration to Our Lady of Loreto from the wonderful Minnesota Mom. Having just prepared for the Total Consecration on December 8th, this was especially meaningful.

Before bed, I blessed the children with Loreto Oil from the Holy House, sent by my dear friend Anne for my mother. What a blessing it is to have such good and thoughtful friends!

Our Lady of Loreto, pray for us! Bless our homes and our families, and make us more like you!

Jesse Tree in Miniature, Jesse Tree Full-Size

Last week I mentioned we would be hunting for our Advent Cubes from last year. What I had forgotten was that, during the summer, while we were away in San Francisco, a leak in the basement had done some damage in the boiler room. Unfortunately, the advent materials (among other things) were damp and useless when I uncovered them, leaving us to begin at square one with almost everything.

Fortunately, stuffed in the closet we had an 8 inch bare tree, meant as an accessory for the Christmas village I never get around to setting up year after year:

A while back a friend of mine had brought a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates to our Mother's Tea and Rosary. It was beautiful and beveled, with exactly twenty-five small compartments, so I saved it hoping to create and Advent calendar of some sort:

One holy card was enough to transform the box into something perfect for Advent and Christmas:

Using the pictures of last year's Advent cubes, the four older girls and I spent Saturday afternoon making tiny ornaments out of Sculpey. With five pairs of hands, this did not take long:

Here they are before baking and painting:

They fit well in the candy box, ready to be taken out each day:

At eight inches high, the Jesse tree looks as if it sprang up right outside the Mission in Miniature. The Guadalupe holy card in the background will help show the small scale of the tree:

And here is something far more wonderful, a complete set of Jesse tree ornaments created for us by the mothers from my local homeschooling group--the brainchild of my generous and thoughtful friend Leticia! They knew things would be chaotic for us this year with my mother in the hospital and made me a complete set! We are so blessed to have these friends!

And, as if that is not enough, look at the perfect Jesse tree my friend Heather gave me for my birthday--she said the bird at the top reminded her of me! Thank you, Heather!

California Mission in Miniature

Last week, we made miniature Wayside Shrines similar to the ones I loved in Ireland as a little girl. After our summer in San Francisco, there is no doubt the California Missions made a similar impression on my children. We were blessed to visit four of them during our stay--Mission San Rafael, Mission Dolores (San Francisco de Assis), Mission San Luis Obispo, and Mission Carmel, the burial place of Blessed Junipero Serra.

With the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe right around the corner, this seemed a good time to create our own miniature mission shrine, using elements inspired by the four beautiful missions we remember so well. We began with a double sided wooden frame from the craft store. The tiled roof made us think of the missions:

The photo of Mission Carmel below gives a glimpse of the terracotta tiles so common in mission churches:

Eight-year-old Marie enjoyed painting the tiles of our "mission":

Mission San Rafael is creamy beige with crosses on top and two topiaries gracing the front:

The first side of our shrine, representing the outside of the missions, has a similar look:

Monuments to Father Junipero Serra, here shown in the garden at Carmel, may be found all over California:

If you look closely at the side of the church in Carmel, you will notice graves adorned with sea shells:

A holy card image of Blessed Serra, along with a small seashell, complete the first side:

For the interior, we drew inspiration from the freestyle flower borders of Mission San Luis Obispo:

We all loved the way this simple border echoed the ones we remember:

This wall of statues from Mission Dolores in San Francisco is typical of the missions--there are always many statues and images to inspire:

We adorned our mission "interior" using saints' images from a broken bracelet and a holy card of Our Lady of Guadalupe:

After the summer we had, it seems appropriate to have this reminder of the California Missions displayed prominently on our Advent table. It will also make a double-sided centerpiece for our Guadalupe Tea next week.

Blessed Junipero Serra, pray for us!

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Wayside Shrines in Miniature

And oh, when the heart faints with longing,
He is there, though our eyes cannot see;
The Compassionate One, bending o'er us,
Stoops to hear the heart's sigh, "Pray for me!"

--from The Wayside Shrine by Martha Elvira Pettus

When I was a small child, I fell in love with the roadside shrines of Ireland. It makes me smile to think back upon one afternoon in particular: As my father cast a hopeful line over the River Blackwater in County Cork, I piled wildflowers at the foot of a shrine to Our Lady.

In hopes of recreating this sweet and simple memory, we spent the weekend fashioning miniature wayside shrines small enough to grace a pot of pansies, but so lovely they just might remain in my children's hearts forever.

Several months ago, I purchased these church-shaped wooden garden stakes at the craft store for fifty cents each:

We began by painting a base coat in acrylics:

We added moss, silk flowers, small statues and crucifixes, and other embellishments.

Here are a few of the shrines we made so far:

Our Lady of Mount Carmel (spring theme):

Roadside Crucifix (winter theme, complete with a touch of artificial snow):

St. Anthony (summer theme):

Agnes' St. Jude (Agnes is taking "Judith" for Confirmation this year):

Marie's St. Joseph (a gift for Grandma):

Margaret's Advent-themed Shrine (front):

Margaret's Shrine (back view, with Divine Mercy image taken from a broken bracelet):

Margaret's adaptation--Holy Water Font:

Holy Water Font (rear view, with Infant of Prague):

Theresa's Our Lady of Grace shrine:

Marie's Crucifix in the Rhododendrons:

Three-year-old Maureen's pink Sacred Heart shrine:

Here's a pretty mess--I couldn't resist this shot of some of the production crew hard at work behind the scenes. (Also, it occurs to me for the first time that the walls inside just about match the carpet of golden maple leaves outside.)

A small silk butterfly alights atop the spring-themed shrine to Our Lady of Mount Carmel:

Materials and Ways to Improvise

I found the wooden church stakes in A.C. Moore craft store. They were made by Nicole Crafts, reference number WOD 1204. It is often difficult to find specific craft items online, and your local store may not stock these. Any paintable wooden garden stake might be used or adapted (we used flat heart-shaped stakes to make an entire set of the Stations of the Cross years ago--we also made Sacred and Immaculate Heart shrines from heart-shaped stakes a while back). If you are unable to find stakes, small wooden churches or birdhouses would work quite well, as you can see from the rear view of last year's St. Francis birdhouse craft. I often challenge the children to figure out ways to bring ideas to life from natural materials found outside. These shrines would be beautiful created from pieces of wood, bark, moss, acorns and stones gathered in the backyard--or perhaps items you might otherwise discard, like clementine crates. Can you imagine a little shrine tucked away in the knot of a tree?

The possibilities for embellishment are endless, and religious images may be taken from paper holy cards, catalogues, broken bracelets, pins, or rosaries. DiscountCatholicStore.com sells mini-pocket saint statues (3/4 inch) for $1.55.

May the saints bless you on your way, now and always!

Spoons for All Saints

Is it possible that a year has passed since the spoon saints made their appearance? It seems only yesterday we were creating our first procession for the mantelpiece!

Saints of the Season

St. Faustina, step by step

More Spoon Saints

Our Procession Grows

Oh, what spoons these mortals be!

Paper, Glue, and Tea for Two

Yesterday, Margaret woke me with the sun, and the two of us crept downstairs for a quiet hour alone. Over cups of tea, I tried my hand at Paper Fashions. This doll's wardrobe was made from a single sheet of stationery, and would do nicely for Scarlett O'Hara, don't you think? (Just please forgive the crumbs on the counter!)

Now, how do I hide these from Patrick?