Totally FREE Advent Activity Collection

So finally this year I have something together a couple weeks in advance of Advent! Praise God. I am so excited to have this free Advent Activity Collection put together for all of you. I feel Advent is such a special time of preparation and can be a treasured time to have with your children. This little activity collection has an Advent candle coloring page, an Advent craft, Advent Calendar, a revised set of my O Antiphon ornaments, and a couple Marian coloring pages for Our Blessed Mother's days in Dec.

Consider following this blog for more great FREE content that will be posted and occasional giveaways that are hosted!

Click here to download Advent Activity Collection

 



For 2015's Advent Calendar Click here

 

Are you looking for a great Christmas gift? Please check out the Catholic goods shop SaongJai for those needs, your patronage helps us bring you great free content!  

 

A Little Advent History

The candles in the picture are not in order and I don't have the rose Gaudete candle finished yet but want to share a sneak peak of the advent and Christmas candle set with you. Every Sunday Mass has a specific name taken from the introit. So I have taken those names in Latin and painted them on each advent candle then for the Christmas candle have painted it rich with symbolism starting with the main Chi Rho symbol for Christ and adding in a symbol for the Blessed Trinity then tying it all together with a definition of our good God being Almighty without beginning or end.

Hand Painted Crucifixes

Well here are a few crucifixes just a little different from the ones where I have sculpted the corpus. While I love those, they are just too time consuming to mold and finish. The end result ends up being costly and then I can't offer beautiful pieces that are affordable. So I found a supplier for the corpus for my crucifixes! This way I can keep costs down and still add a little finishing artistic touch. I like the finish they come in but also if I want, can prime and paint a beautiful life like finish to the corpus. I really love the vintage ivory finish that they come in and have chosen to go with this look for some. The crosses are painted with intricate designs lending to an ornate majestic presence of the crucifixes. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.



Taupe Wall Crucifix

Celtic Crucifix

Bright, Coloroful Kids Rosary & Coloring Page

So here is a new set of rosaries we have been working on. Bright and colorful large kids rosaries. The idea here is for an engaging spiritual tool to help the little ones stay focused and become intrigued about prayer. To capture little ones attention, they are made in bright neon colors or kids camo for the little fellas :) I have sent a few out to friends with kids and one response after they were given to the children was " Mom can we pray the rosary". Sometimes a little creativity can go a long way and I think finding ways to  engage children in prayer is a worthy endeavor.

Here is a look at some of the different designs.
Bright and colorful neon rainbow rosary where each decade is a different color or an alternating color for each bead to help with keeping track of where in the prayer one is.

Neon Rainbow Rosary

Neon Rainbow Rosary

Neon Rainbow Rosary

 

Camo rosary set in three different colors. A little some

thing just for the little fellas.

 

Camo Rosary

 

Camo Rosary



Pink & Purple Rosary

And a something special for all those girly little ones out there

Pink & Purple Rosary

I have made other solid color rosaries like these in blue, green, yellow, & orange....not every little girl's favorite color is pink or purple!

To go along with every kids rosary purchase I decided to include for free a download of our new how to pray the rosary coloring page.

Nikki's Fight

St. Agatha is the patron Saint for those suffering from breast cancer. This month we are supporting a young woman and her fight against this disease. We ask for St. Agatha's intercession in this young woman and mother's life.

In our shop we have made a custom necklace with pink pearls & crystals to support a fundraising event that will be held in her town and are offering to donate 25% of every sale at our shop for the remainder of the month of October to help Nikki. To support her with prayers and in any other way please visit the Pray & Pay page set up for Nikki!

Below are some pictures of the necklace we designed and have mailed off for the fundraiser.

I really just want you all to PRAY so here is Another Rosary Giveaway!

Pray Pray Pray. Pray for peace and conversion. Contemplate the mysteries of Christ's life in this beautiful prayer that draws us into deep union with Our Lord. The Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, and Luminous Mysteries. The world needs your prayers.

To enter the giveaway, help our Facebook page get some likes. The giveaway is for one custom heirloom rosary.  The entry period ends at midnight on October13th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Here is a Rosary Novena that our Diocese is praying for our clergy...you can jump in it's never too late to start praying!

 

                                                 Marian Novena For Our Clergy

Paschal Candle

I made our Paschal candle today and thought I would share with you a few tidbits. I am always reminded this time of year about a dear priest who was our pastor in Arizona. He was insistent on saying Happy Paschal Feast!

Jesus is the Paschal Lamb, the Paschal Mystery is the center and crux of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and this season we are coming upon this Paschal Feast is the pillar of our Christian faith. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior died for us so that we may be free from sin and enjoy everlasting life with Him. Though undeserved we are He gave His life to save us because He loves us and His Mercy is abundant. No matter what we have done, how immense our transgressions He is merciful looking at us with love and not chastisement only saying sin no more and pick up your cross...follow Me.
 
 
 
 

Making this candle every year and lighting it during this upcoming season is a reminder of God's Mercy and unending love for us.









God is the beginning and the end of everything and I love being reminded of that when I look at this candle seeing the symbols for Alpha and Omega. We are reminded also of His suffering for us. In a real liturgical candle used in church there would be 5 pieces of incense embedded in the wax candle on the cross to remind us of the wounds of Christ.