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Because St. Martin had a habit of giving his cloak to the poor he only has half a cloak. It’s a fun story…Read about St. Martin of Tours here . The silver/gray armor was bought, but the cloak is just a piece of red material. The “skirt” was hand made. I used a old belt, and leather-like material which was cut into strips to create this Roman apparel. Super-glue worked great for getting the two leather-like materials to stick together. The white under skirt was just a piece of white material. I also create gold circles on the skirt strips.I used a cap to make an indentation on the end of each flap, so I could use it as a guide to make them all the same size. Then I used gold fabric paint to make the gold buttons.

St. Francis of Assisi is such a awesome saint. Did you know there is a statue of him in Italy that always has at least one living white dove sitting on it all the time! He also had the stigmata! Read more  here . Our St. Francis has a white dove on his shoulder which I bought at the local craft store. I wrapped his hands with scrapes of white material and used a red sharpie to make the blood.  I purchased the brown robe.

St Dorothy (Patron of gardeners)Our little St. Dorothy is wearing a simple dress and an apron  with a shear pocket.The pocket is full of roses and apples. You could just put the roses and apples in a basket, if it’s easier. She is also wearing a rose and ivy wreath on her head, secured with hair clips.Read more about this saint  here.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Our Lady Of Mount Carmel is wearing a dark brown robe, a light brown clock, and a white veil and crown. She’s holding baby Jesus and a scapular. Read more about Our Lady of Mt. Carmel  here .

My oldest daughter (who is age 14 and has out-grown me!) wanted to be Kateri Tekakwitha for All Saints Day this year. Finding a modest Indian costume in a woman’s size is a difficult task. So we decided to try our hand at creating one from tan colored felt material. I don’t have a grand talent of sewing so our design needed to be simple.  Because this is made to fit my daughter I can’t give exact measurements, but I took a few pictures (actually it’s a lot!) so you could get the idea of how we made ours…. We used 3 felt sheets that measured 36 inches by 36 inches. Two of the felt sheets were used for the skirt: The other felt sheet was folded in half diagonally and made into the shirt: The only part that needed sewn was the bottom of the sleeves and in the arm-pit area. We didn’t even sew the sides – for ease of movement and removal. The two skirt parts were wrapped around the waste. The first one was pinned in the back. The second was wrapped around the waste and pinned in the front. This gave it a nice ruffled look. The top was then added. The pointed front and back covered our pins. Rachel did all the fringes and bead work. She added beads around all the edges. She also made the stick cross necklace and beads to wear around her neck. See another necklace idea here. And don’t forget the shoes…. How to make moccasins from flip-flops (Thanks  to my second oldest daughter for taking pictures.) The moccasins were fun! But please note: If you have a fidgety child don’t leave the child’s foot in the flip-flop as you work. My daughter is 14 and could stand 100% still as I used a glue gun around her feet.These were made totally from old flip-flops, light brown felt scraps, hot glue, string for lace, and Indian beads. Wrap a piece of felt around the front/top of each foot. Use a sharpie marker to trace around it. You must trace the bottom of the shoe edge. Cut it out. I flipped them over and switched the feet that I traced them from so you wouldn’t be able to see the marker line. Hot glue them to the side of the flip-flop. Again, don’t try this with the child’s foot in the flip-flop if you are working with a fidgety child. Wrap a long triangle piece of felt around the back edge of the flip-flop so each of the triangle’s side points wraps around to the front of the shoe. Hot glue it in to place by adding hot glue around the flip-flop’s edge. Fold the top of the triangle down and cut the top off. Use a string to sew through the two side felt pieces at the top of the foot. Tie it together. This creates a lace for a tight fit and easy removal. Cut off any extra felt that is hanging off the bottom. Cut fringes in the folded sides of the shoes. My daughter added beads to each shoe. Here is one finished with beads and here is the other one with out beads. They turned out great and she loves to wear them!! Her entire costume was fun to create and we are both pleased with how it turned out! Till later, God bless, ~Jen-Marie

Although I made this as a costume for my youngest son (age 1) It really is cute enough to make just as a decoration to hang out on Dec. 9 -12 for the feast of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Because my little guy is so small and will be growing out of it, I know I will use it as a decoration in the future!  🙂 Click here to read about Juan Diego. You will need: light brown felt an image of O.L. of Guadalupe appropriate size for the cloak / tilma (I used a coloring page that my 8 year old colored.) white glue a paint brush gold fabric paint (optional) artificial roses hot glue and scissors First, cut the felt into the size and shape you like for your tilma. Cover the back of your image with white glue. Place it glue side down onto your tilma and smooth it out. Now add more white glue to the top. Cover the entire picture and brush the glue off the edges, too. This helps to make the paper more pliable and stronger! Allow that to dry over night. After it’s dry you might have edges that could snag. Because mine was going to be worn by a toddler and I didn’t want him to be able to rip the image off, I trimmed the edge of the image with gold fabric paint. I spread the fabric paint over the edge of the image and onto the felt. This made the edges more secure and it looked really neat! Allow that to dry. (about 4 hrs. or more) Now I made a “cup” area on the bottom to hold the roses. I added a few drops of hot glue to the bottom area and pinched it together. I then arranged the roses and hot glued them in place. The next step is totally optional: I used a small straw hat as a counter weight…I tied the ribbons of the hat to the ribbons of the tilma. This worked well for my little guy so he could comfortably wear the tilma without having pressure around his neck. Isn’t he sooooo cute!?!?! The funny thing is that when he wears it he feels he needs to sit or kneel. So maybe I should make him wear it all the time to keep him out of trouble!! 😉 Thanks for visiting!! God Bless. ~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

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

Elizabeth and I made an altar for the Blessed Mother for the month of Mary. Unlike most Marian May Altars we tried to make it look more like Mary is in Heaven. First we took a cardboard box; cut, shaped, and taped it into a grotto that fit our Mary statue: Then we covered it with aluminum foil, secured it with clear shipping tape  and made a oval sun inside of it using permanent orange and yellow markers. We decorated it using flower shaped craft gems along the outer edge. Then, we added polyfill to the outside to create the look of heavenly clouds. The heavenly shrine for Our Lady turned out to be a fun and beautiful project! Enjoy and 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

This is how my family counts down the days to Christmas. On Dec. 1 our image of Mary and Joseph starts to travel to Bethlehem. It moves along the numbers which are taped to the wall. They are traveling toward the stable. On Christmas Eve they are just above the stable. I put ours up high out of little kids’ reach, but you wouldn’t need to have it so high for older kids. This idea can be simple and easy. You could simply print off the numbers and star I have created along with this lovely coloring page  found on SuperColoring.com . Then, color the picture or just cut it out and use it to move along the numbers. Move it down by one number each day. That simple! The Art Project: OR if you like a bit more of a challenge, here’s how I made mine: I say “challenge” but it’s not really as hard as you may think! You will need: Glue scissors the Mary and Joseph coloring sheet light blue paper dark blue paper purple paper black paper sandpaper or brown paper stars (can be hole-punched, sequins, stickers, or drawn) The numbers to tape to the wall Painters tape to add the numbers to the wall  Picture putty works well for the Mary and Joseph image so it stays sticky each day as you move it. Cut out hill shapes from the sandpaper. Layer them on the bottom of the light blue paper. Add a half-circle sun on the horizon.  Layer the different colored paper, using wide strips.  Make the black area the biggest, and dark blue area bigger than purple and light blue.  Add a few dark blue strips to the top of the light blue area. Add a few light blue strips to the dark blue area. Add a few purple strips to the top of the dark blue area. Add a few dark blue strips to the purple area, and purple strips to the black area, Now cut the whole picture into a half-circle shape. Trim all the edges. Then add the stars. Cut out the Mary/Joseph picture and glue it on. Note : You may need to put a large book on top of it till it dries so the sandpaper stays down. It’s so much fun watching Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem! Have a blessed Advent, ~Jen-Marie