A Couple New Crucifixes

Our Parish is hosting a craft fair next weekend and so I decided to make a few crucifixes and some rosaries for the event.

 The cross of this crucifix has a simple dark stain with gold accents 

for the halo around the head of Christ and the INRI sign. The corpus is a plaster cast from the original sculpture and is finished with life like paint including the wounds of Christ. 

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This second crucifix has a light blue wash over a dark green background on a distressed cross with bronze   accents. The corpus is also a plaster cast from the original sculpture and is finished with life like paint including the wounds of Christ. 

Rosary Wall Hanger

We needed a safe and sacred out of the way place to keep our Rosaries so that they would always be available when it comes time for family prayer. I used to have a special dish in which we placed them up high out of the reach of little ones, just under the niche with Our Lady gently watching over. Although this served it's purpose, they always seemed to become entangled in the dish.

While assisting at our parish's vacation bible school this summer the kids made a craft that inspired me, they made a wooden rosary wall hanger pasted with layers of tissue paper, a holy card and using a nail as the hook to hang their rosary from.  It was a very sweet and beautiful craft. I really liked the use of a nail to remind us of Christ's suffering and passion.

This Rosary wall hanger started out as a plain plaque of wood that was treated with a wood stain and sealer. Then I painted an image of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows and used gold paint to accent her halo and Sorrowful Immaculate Heart.  Just as the children's version had inspired, I used nails as the hooks for the hanger, a generous amount of gold paint was applied to the nail head.

This was a very easy project and you could make one too. The plaque was only $2.99 at Jo-Ann's and I used paint and nails that I had. If you are not artistic you could even use a holy card for the image or maybe some of the beautiful master paintings in the back of an old Magnificat.


I've linked up this post over at Catholic Inspired who is hosting a
Catholic and Living it Link Up

Old World Crucifix

I've been anxious lately about finishing this crucifix. A while back I had decided to reproduce another corpus from the large mold and it has been lying around waiting for time and inspiration. Alas I found my inspiration in a 27'' distressed metal cross. It had this old world feel to it and so I brought it home and then my mind started pondering. I accented the metal cross with 22 k gold leaf and finished the plaster corpus to look like white marble. As soon as I can find my plaster I will repair the fingers which don't seem to come out of the mold very well. I'm pleased with how it turned out, I love old things especially old world art. And this hits the spot! I was thinking of offering this for sale at our Church book store, but I haven't quite made up my mind  to part with it yet.  

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

RAnn of This, That, and the Other Thing is hosting Sunday Snippets A Catholic Carnival," where Catholic bloggers can post some of what they have been blogging about over the past week.

So here is my Sunday Snippet.

Since I'm new to this whole blog scene I haven't really developed a good balance yet of when to write posts so it's been a little sporadic...some weeks only one post or none and other quite a few posts. Last week was a bit of a mixed bag. I posted about Holy Water and I was really inspired by the Rosary with a post on Fatima, Bl Pope John Paul II, & Rosary Giveaway

Thanks RAnn for suggesting this!

Fatima, Bl Pope John Paul II, & A Rosary Giveaway

I think one of my favorite Fatima prayers is: Oh My Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who have most need of Thy mercy.  It is such a beautiful and simple prayer that speaks to the heart of our human condition: sinners in need of forgiveness and God’s mercy!

I am excited that October is dedicated to the Rosary.  It’s one of my most cherished devotions.  Although my goal is to say it daily sometimes that just doesn’t happen, but it’s getting easier to accomplish this as we have started to say the Rosary together as a family at night.  

The Fatima message was basically: pray for peace and pray the Rosary daily. Bl Pope John Paul II reinforced this message quite often.  He was a great proponent of the Holy Rosary saying in the General Audience of Wednesday, October 16, 2002, Anniversary of the election of Pope John Paul II

“It is more necessary than ever that from every part of the earth prayer for peace be made to Him. In this perspective, the Rosary turns out to be the form of prayer most needed. It builds peace because, while it appeals to the grace of God, it sows in the one praying it the seed of good from which we can expect the fruit of justice and solidarity for personal and community life.”

Later on in his APOSTOLIC LETTER Rosarium Virginis Mariae , he proclaimed the Year of the Rosary October 2002-October 2003 and proposed the Mysteries of Light.

I sincerely hope you will take a moment to read or re-read the apostolic letter and pray that you consider this beautiful prayer a staple in your daily life.  

In light of today being the 95th anniversary of the last apparition at Fatima and in honor of Bl Pope John Paul II, I’m offering a giveaway for a beautiful rosary with a Fatima centerpiece & a papal crucifix along with an illuminated calligraphy card of the Luminous Mysteries.

Rosary Giveaway
To be entered please leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite Luminous Mystery.

The giveaway will be open to entries until midnight on October 21st and then a random drawing of entrants will take place the morning of October 22nd. 

Have a blessed day!

Holy Water

We like to have Holy Water handy always.  Years ago I started painting vessels so we could be mindful of the beautiful sacramental.  We try to keep our special font by the front door filled always, but it’s also nice to have the reserve set aside in a special way too. 

If you knew me you would know that I love old things.  I used to always tell my mother I was born in the wrong era, well I wasn’t Our Lord has me right where he wants me.  However I would feel quite at home in an era that made beautiful things especially churches filled with inspiring art that pointed our minds to the wonder and glory of God. Today as I was searching through web pages I came across this beautiful website that was right up my ally. They just so happened to have a page on the sacramental of Holy Water. The content on this site is just so beautiful and perfect for this post that I have to share it with you.

                            
                                 I hope you are inspired. Holy Reflections website

I like to make the vessels beacause the ones in stores always are too small. I don't like to run out of Holy Water. You can make your own beautiful Holy Water vessels buy decorating glass jars. You could  decoupage, use puff fabric paints, or use glass paints like I did. The paints I use are called Pebeo by Vitrea and I use a combination of both the marks and outliners. It creates a nice stained glass effect. 



If you are not crafty you you can also purchase Holy Water vessels like the one below.

I thank you in advance very kindly for using my links to make any purchases as I do get a small commission for sending customers their way.

 

A Catholic Home and Holiness

If you walked into our home, there would be no mistaking that we are Catholic.  Every nook and cranny reflects our faith.  I truly feel that beautiful reminders of our faith should fill our homes.  I love to be reminded of Jesus, Our Lady, and the Saints throughout the day.  It helps me stay focused on the prize of sanctity for myself and my family.  When Mr. B and I got married we had a wedding registry at a catholic gift shop.  We wanted to get a jump start on a good library for our family and I really wanted to have a crucifix for every room.  

I will miss this home when we have to leave after our lease is up.  It has little niches recessed all over that are perfect spots for all our little devotional images and statues.  The house is built around a single family room or living area and there is a beautiful fireplace on the middle wall flanked on either side with a lighted niche.  On the left reside Our Lady, St. Joseph, the angles, a tribute to our little ones in Heaven and bowl to collect our rosaries.  On the right is a lovely print of the Divine Mercy, our family Bible, and a statue of Padre Pio.  Next to that on the wall is a beautiful Papal blessing which Mr. B’s cousin, Fr. Jim, presented to us at our wedding.   

Holiness is what God wants from us and I want our family to be surrounded by things that inspire us to be holy. 

“As he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity.” Ephesians 1:4

God created us in his image and He is holy therefore we must have the ability to reflect Him. 

“And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 

The way I see it, holiness isn’t some unattainable ideal.  God predestined us with it by creating us in his image as if it’s in our DNA.  You and I have the ability to do things like learn to read, learn a language, or even become an Olympian if only we apply ourselves and sacrifice to make it happen.  It’s the same with holiness, we have the ability all that is needed is for us to take up our cross and say yes to God’s will in our lives. 

I am linking this post up at the Catholic Bloggers Monthly Round-Up Please visit them and check out some other amazing Catholic blogs.

                                                 October Monthly Round Up