Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!        Do you like my St Juan Wooden Painted Saint? Printing and gluing the little Our Lady of Guadalupe image gave me a big boost, as I painted St Juan, trying to make him easily identifiable. I think I will be using other clipart to help articulate these little 2″ Wooden Painted Saints!    Check out these crafts for Our Lady of Guadalupe! Paper dolls at Paper Dali   These are my favorite handmade Tilmas, carefully crafted as St Juan costumes, but I think they would be excellent decorations and fun crafts to do!  The images are all a little different from each other… and they are all SO CUTE! St Juan Costume at Sometimes Martha, Always Mary  St Juan costume over at Catholic Icing.  St Juan Costume at Catholic Inspired. If you would like to read an awesome story about St Juan and Our Lady of Guadalupe, check out these links: Our Lady of Guadalupe at Catholic Online

Saint Fun Facts about St Juan Diego at Catholic Online

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School Christmas Ornament Exchange

Two of our kids are attending a new Catholic school in the area and I thought it was such a great idea that they are asking for a Christmas ornament from each family to decorate the tree year after year. I had a quick look at ornaments at Walmart and the dollar store, but couldn’t find even one remotely religious Christmas ornament, beyond maybe a star or an angel.  I decided to take matters into my own hands…and pull out the supplies I use for my Wooden Painted Saints.

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Equipping Catholic Families for DECEMBER and ADVENT!

See my index of I Spy…the Saints! for the months of July, August, September, October and November.  They are even offered as a special  Saints Page Printable for month by month binder dividers!

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I Spy…ALL SAINTS in NOVEMBER!

Which I Spy…November Saints do you like best?

I realize that my little wooden painted saints sometimes look like they are kissing…but it’s hard to keep them from moving around on the glass!

This technique of making photo-collages is really fun!

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Happy All Saints Day! A Summary of Saint Craft Links!

Happy Saints Day! + November Saints Cele-Linky!

Have you seen our All Saints Day Resource Guide yet?

It’s also not too late to get these Saint-centric Downloads!

FREE Guess Who?! The Saints! Template
FREE Monthly Saint pages

Check out these SAINT Crafts!
What to do with Painted Wooden Saints!

TY Doll Makeovers to Saints:
Jesus, Mother Mary, St Patrick, St Joseph
Frozen Juice Lids: Dream Team of Saints
Guess Who?! The Saints!
I Spy…Saints Collage with a Scanner
I Spy…November: COMING SOON!

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All Saints Resource with Link Up

All Saints Day is coming!! In honor of All Saints Day on November 1st, I decided to post my CeleLINKY with the SAINTS: November a little early! Add your new ideas and please mention this link-up on your blog! Join the Cele-LINKY with the SAINTS: NOVEMBER below and pick up some fresh ideas! Please do us a favor and tell your subscribers about this Catholic Link-Up with the SAINTS by adding this link and/or posting a Cele-LINKY with the SAINTS button!   It’s a continuous party of monthly link-ups for Saint celebrations, reflections and activities!



I have some fun ways to incorporate the Saints in classic board games including Checkers, Snakes & Laddersand Trouble!…and I have a few more Saint projects in the works…
coming SOON!

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Dream Team of Saints: October!

Awesome Saints in October!  I just painted a couple more Saints to add to the collection!   Rather than drive myself crazy trying to paint tiny detail with my mediocre brushes, I printed out some animals to hang out with St Francis and the Divine Mercy image for St Faustina. I lightly sprayed the color printouts with hair spray to ensure that the ink wouldn’t run.  I glued them in place on each painted figure, added the saint hands over top, along with some paint accents (because my printer isn’t the best!). I sealed it all in with clear, water-based varnish, adding that little shine and extra durability.   See more tips for making your own Dream Team of Wooden Painted Saints.  Here are a couple other posts about What To Do with Wooden Painted Saints  including Checkers, Snakes & Laddersand Trouble!  

I’m linking up to the OCTOBER CeleLINKY with the SAINTS link-up to add my Saint-centered crafts and activities…and maybe pick up a couple new ideas, how about you?! 

 
All Saints Day is coming soon!  I think I’ll be showcasing the November CeleLINKY with the SAINTS a little early to give people time to prepare for All Saints Parties and Crafts for November 1st!
 
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St Therese’s Good Deed Beads

Happy St Thérèse Feast Day!

St Thérèse is such a beloved saint for her child-like Faith and for doing small things with great love. She was known to carry a string of beads to keep track of her continuous prayers, sacrifices and good deeds.  We have been making these little Good Deed Beads for years through Arma Dei: Equipping Catholic Families.  We currently have them available by special order only* Sometimes we need a little extra time to fill orders…we’ve even been known to enlist some of our kids to help us compile the kits!        *email for special order The neat thing about these strings of beads is that the beads slide and stay in place.  You will find an excellent tutorial at Little Ways to make the Good Deed Beads or Sacrifice Beads.

 

 Our original kits offered the supplies to create one string of Good Deed Beads on a keychain, and eventually we found little plastic crosses to make additional colorful sets.

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Painted Saints: September Edition!

Better late than never!  I know that it’s the THIRD week of September already, but I wanted to post some of the new wooden painted saints that I created recently.  We have Blessed Mother Teresa and Saint Padre Pio (and Mother Mary, see 2nd picture below) for September saints…and well, Jesus is ALWAYS in season, right?      I am working on another post for yet MORE ideas to incorporate these little wooden saints into the regular crafts, activities, traditions and routines that we already enjoy with our kids. See What to do with Painted Saints…part 1 and check out how we use them in Checkers, Snakes & Ladders and Trouble to add a little Catholic culture ro regular family fun!   Watch for new ways that we plan to incorporate our own little growing army of painted saints.  We’re thinking about chore charts and treasure hunts… Advent countdowns and nativities… and another popular tradition that we can’t wait to convert 2 Catholic!  Make sure that you are subscribed by email to Equipping Catholic Familes for future posts!

Thanks to all those who entered in our Back to Catechism Class
Cathletics Craft Kit Giveaway!
Congratulations to Susan, Michelle, Yenyen and Annie!  All FOUR winners have been contacted and have chosen their favorite Cathletics Craft Kit to receive by PDF and use with their families or CCD classes.  Congratulations!
 

 
 
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Snakes & Ladders: Converted to Catholic!

Snakes & Ladders is not only a good family game with plenty of counting practice for the younger ones, it can teach life lessons as well.  Slowly plodding along the path of life, we experience blessings and graces that give us a boost, as well as struggles and challenges that test our character. I dug out our family game of Snakes and Ladders.  It’s 3D and even has little round place holders…that are unfortunately just a touch too small to hold the little wooden painted people.  The little figures do fit on top though, just like they did in  Trouble: Converted 2 Catholic! Once again, I just enjoy the thought of players choosing from family figures or holy heroes to mark their journey in the game. and of course…it’s always nice to have some trusted friends cheering us on from the sidelines. =)
I am a wife, Mom of 5+ kids, a designer, an architecture school survivor, an author and a crafter and I think it’s cool to be Catholic! Check out the Arma Dei Shoppe for solid Catholic, fun teaching tools and gifts to celebrate and teach the Catholic Faith and subscribe to Equipping Catholic Families for family-building and Faith-centred crafts! read more...for Equipping Catholic Families!
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