St Martin Paper Mache Lantern

Here is another type of St Martin lantern the children have made ~ this time using paper mache. This paper mache lantern has a 'porthole' at the front with a St Martin image on it as well as 7 'peaks' around the porthole with a hole at the top of each peak, representing St Martin being filled with the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Here are the lanterns we made the day before, in my opinion these are the easiest make and the most eye catching, so click over to the posting on how to make them, where you can also hear the St Martin song that goes with them and the lyrics.

Here is the completed St Martin paper mache lantern in the daylight (not quite finished actually, hadn't finished the top of the latern, you'll see that picture futher on.)

We started with a ballon and then we traced our porthole with a felt pen, placing it central on the balloon. You can see the paper we are using on the sides, we used tissue paper. We SHOULD have had two lanterns to show you, but one of the children did not put enough paper layers on the balloon, so when it dried and the balloon popped, it imploded. So make sure that with this thin paper, you put on enough layers for the balloon to hold together.

We used store bought paper mache glue but I wish I had made my own. I will next time. The layers of paper were glued on to the balloon, making sure that we did not glue into the porthole area.

This is how it should look when completed ~ remember, make sure you have a good thickness with this thin, tissue paper! We used one full packet ($1.50) for each balloon.

Next step was to make the 'porthole' we used some of the tracing paper we had left over from the other St Martin lantern project. The circle of paper had to be about 3 inches (7-8cms) wider than the porthole itself. The children then traced the image below:

HT: Heraldry of the World ...onto the tracing paper and then coloured it in with crayons.

With a lead pencil, lightly mark out the inner circle....

Then carefully cut inward, around the circle, making sure you do not go beyond the inner circle, then once you have done that, you can rub out the inner circle marked with pencil.

Place that porthole over the paper mache balloon, where the porthole is marked out to go, then start glueing the sides down, quickly followed by glueing more tissue paper over the top to firmly hold the sides in place.

It should look like this. Now onto sticking the 7 peaks around the paper mache. (You may be happy enough to leave it without the peaks of course, depending on your time and resources.)

I just grabbed a egg carton tray and cut out individual peaks like this:

The children made holes in the top of each peak, we were hoping that the light would come out of each peak, it does, but not alot of light.

Each peak was paper mached around the porthole, securing them to the balloon.

The tissue paper was placed all over the peaks like this, with only the little hole showing at the top.

We hung the balloons out to dry (that is where one popped and imploded due to not having enough tissue paper around it.) and then when they were dry, it was brought in, the balloon was popped and the top cut out. Four paper fasterners were placed around the opening with wool attached to them.

Here it is, all lit up and ready to go!!

St Martin Lanterns and Songs!

My children have been crafting today and had lots of fun creating their St Martin lanterns for his feast on the 11th November.

We used tracing paper, black cardboard, sticky tape, black wool, crayons.

I found some images on the net connected to St Martin, the first image is from a free colouring pages site called, 123 coloring. They have this webpage with many different geese images and we chose this one to use for the first lantern:

Click on image to enlarge.

Why geese? St Martin is associated with these loud but delightful birds, wikipedia says this:

"According to legend, Martin was reluctant to become bishop, which is why he hid in a stable filled with geese. The noise made by the geese betrayed his location to the people who were looking for him."

I printed up the images from the computer and allowed the children to trace the image onto tracing paper which also makes the perfect paper for making laterns being so transparent. They then coloured the image with crayons.

I used two wide strips of black cardboard to top and tail the image and then two thin strips of black cardboard along the edge, with more plain tracing paper on the other sides of the thin, black edges. It was then wrapped around into a tube and stuck together with tape. A cardboard bottom was cut for the floor of the lantern. Four stands of black wool attached at the top and it was completed.

Here is George's geese all lit up! I've used a small candle, similar to a tea-light, at the base, I put a bit of double sided tape at the bottom of the candle, before popping it in.

Here is another lantern, with Charlotte's image of St Martin.

To use that image click over to Charlotte's Waltzing Matilda blog where you can download the image.

The image below came from Kinderschule.

Click on image to enlarge.

My Faustina (12) worked on this image and coloured it beautifully:

Here it is being made into a lantern:

Here it is completed, ready to be lit:

Faustina holds it proudly!

The children really wish it was St Martin's day already, they had so much fun trying them out in the dark!

The final lantern is little Ambrose (4) he coloured in this image below that I found at Heraldry of the World:

Click on image to enlarge.

There he is peeping behind his creation!!

Running around in the darkness with their St Martin lanterns, we hope to make a couple of paper mache lanterns tomorrow to complete our line up and so I hope to share them soon.

We are now working on learning one of the traditional St Martin lantern songs, I found this music sheet here with the lyrics. HT: Pinewood Castle

Finally, here those English lyrics put to music in this youtube video:

We are all looking forward to this wonderful saint's feast day!

November craft display for All Saints & All Souls

I was searching for lovely November crafts to remember the Holy Souls and acknowledge all the saints in heaven. I found Jen's (Wildflowers and Marbles) beautiful altar display craft that was particularly inspirational. It reminded me of an image from childhood, when my mother use to teach me my daily catechism:

I really wanted to convey this image to my children and be able to reflect upon it daily. It would be a great reminder in the home that the Holy Souls who are completely helpless, need our prayers.

Now I'd like to say that even though this craft looks complicated and hard, it is quite easy and not as time consuming as you might think. It may look expensive, but really there was no real expense except for the 60cm x 90cm painter's canvas, which I was fortunate to buy at a super cheap shop for $15. In otherwords, this is doable with the children, and will provide alot of fun for you all in the making!

The Church comprises of three parts which make up the complete Body of Christ or Communion of Saints. Death does not separate us, as Our Lord said Himself, (Mark 12: 26-27)

26 "As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, 'I am the God of Abraham, (the) God of Isaac, and (the) God of Jacob'? 27 He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled."

The complete Church supports each other by prayer and sacrifice:

Lets look at the first half of the craft: The Church Triumphant. This the the Church of saints in heaven and we celebrate these members on the feast of All Saints. They do not need our prayer but the Church Suffering and the Church Militiant are in much need of their intercessory prayer. We think of this Bible passage, (Heb 12:1-2)

“Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [saints], let us lay aside every earthly care and … run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith …”

and these passages (1 Pet 3:12) & (James 5:16)

"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer.."

"...A good man's prayer is powerful and effective."

We do not interceed to dead people, (dead in the sense they are damned, lost souls) we pray to the living saints of God who are now completely righteous through God's saving grace, as the Bible quote from Mark's Gospel reminds us above.

The blue arrows indicate that the saints in heaven are praying for the souls suffering in purgatory and souls on earth.

Here is the middle part of the craft, The Church Suffering: These are souls who have been saved but upon death, were not completely freed from smaller sins and failings, and as the Bible reminds us: (Rev 21:27)

"Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."

Our understand of purgatory comes from scripture where it is said: (1 Cor 3:12-15)

12 "Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. "

The Holy Souls are blessed, they have the assurance of their salvation, but they are suffering as they do penance for the sins they committed on earth that they did not make full atonement for.

They are helpless. They cannot help themselves to pass through this place of suffering, faster than expected. They rely on our prayers and sacrifices. While they cannot help themselves, they can pray for us in thanksgiving, especially once they have entered their blessed homeland ~ heaven.

The bottom end of the craft is the Church Militant: That is ourselves, upon earth striving for salvation: (Philippians 2:12)

12 "Why, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

Wikipedia says this:

"The Latin word militans has a primary meaning of "serving as a soldier, miltary", but it acquired a secondary meaning of "to struggle, to make an effort", which is the intended sense here. Christians on earth (the Church Militant) are still struggling against sin in order that, when they die, they might go to heaven and be members of the Church Triumphant, those who have triumphed over sin. However, if this struggle is successful, but not completely so, then after death they temporarily become members of the Church Suffering before ultimately joining the Church Triumphant."

We are able to pray for ourselves as the passages above reminded us: (1 Pet 3:12) & (James 5:16)

The offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on earth for people on earth and for the Holy Souls. We also pray for priests (spiritual motherhood) and for religious. They in turn pray mightily for the whole world and are that powerful human arm of prayer and sacrifice that often holds back God's Divine arm of justice that weighs heavily over us. (We read about that in particular in the Diary of St Faustina.) Our Lady of Fatima reminded us that "some souls go to Hell because they have no one to pray for them."

We can also pray for the Holy Souls suffering in purgatory. We rely on the intercessory prayers of the saints in heaven and also the Holy Souls who finally enter the Church Triumphant.

This is the mystical body of Christ.

Making the craft

Below you will see the images I used to make the craft. You can click open any of the images and use to print up onto normal sized paper (I used cardboard). I then laminated each image for strength and durability. I used the following things:

Good quality, wide sticky tape.
Paper Fasteners 25mm
Pack of styrofoam cups (cost me $1.50 at cheap shop)
Pack of cotton balls (cost me $1.50 at supermarket)
PVA glue
On pack each of red and yellow cellophane.
60cm x 90cm painter's canvas.

All the images are layered and I created this by using the styrofoam cups as you can see below.

I used three different sizings for the cups ~ a full cup ~ medium cup, cutting a cup down by an inch (few cms) ~ small cup, cutting a cup so it's an inch big (few cms).

So some of the images stand out futher than others. The Vatican image is the only image attached directly to the board.

I pressed a paper fastener through the bottom of the cup and through the canvas and spread the two ends out behind the canvas to secure the paper cups very well to the canvas. I placed sticky tap around the bottom of the cup to the canvas to limit any movement. I then put tape around the tops of the cups and attached the images to the cup in that way.

This is what the paper fasteners look like at the back of the canvas, I placed some sticky tape over the top of them for extra security.

Now don't forget to find a photo of your family to print up and laminate, it will be backed with a small sized cup.

With the images below you need to print up and cut main images out.

Medium sized cup for this image.

Medium sized cup for this image (I used two cups for this big picture)

This image is stuck directly onto the canvas.

Full sized cup used behind this image (I used one cup, but you could use two at either end for better stability.)

This angel is stuck onto the first row of saints, I used half a cup rim, each end of the rim sticky taped to the left hand side of the saints and I used double sided tap on the top of the arch to secure the angel image to it.

These angels are sticky taped onto the right hand side of the Holy Spirit halo, up the very top of the craft, the bottom of the angels is sticky taped to the side of Jesus on the cross.

This angel is stuck onto the first row of saints on the left hand side, I used half a cup rim, each end of the rim sticky taped to the right hand side of the saints and I used double sided tap on the top of the arch to secure the angel image to it.

These angels are sticky taped onto the left hand side of the Holy Spirit halo, up the very top of the craft, the bottom of the angels is sticky taped to the side of Jesus on the cross.

The Holy Spirit halo is sticky taped just behind the head of Our Heavenly Father.

This image has a full sized cup behind it. (I used two cups with this image)

This saints image is the bottom, right hand row of saints and I used a medium cup behind it.

This row of saints is the bottom, left hand row of saints and I used a medium sized cup behind it.

This row of saints is the top, right hand group and I used a small sized cup behind it.

This row of saints is the top, left hand group and I used a small sized cup behind it.

Our Lady is positioned just under Jesus and the Heavenly Father, she has a full sized cup behind her (two actually) and I sticky taped her top end to the bottom end of Jesus and the Heavenly Father for extra stability. Our Lady as the Mediatrix of All Grace, passes the graces from the saints in heaven and the souls on earth, to these poor, suffering souls. She interceeds to her Divine Son for us all.

With this image I printed up two, one like this and then I put it into paintshop and made a mirror copy. Then I cut each image in half. Two are placed either side of Our Lady using a medium cup behind each image. The other two images are on the outside of the board, using a small sized cup behind each image. I used sticky tape to attach red and yellow cellophane all around the four purgatory images.

I then stuck cotton balls all around the areas you can see it, as well as onto the canvas directly behind the Holy Spirit halo and the two, top rows of saints. Then I made up the arrows and sticky taped them in place ~ all done!

Remembering the Holy Souls in November

This morning on the feast of the Holy Souls, my children and some lovely friends worked on a poster for the home that is to stay up in the whole of November. It is our reminder...dare I say it, I have decided to stick this particular one in the 'powder room' where it will receive individual attention, everyday without fail ~ a simple fact of life.

It was a quick and easy craft. I found some images online to colour, I created the centerpiece using an image online and the children coloured in and pasted the whole lot together.

Here is a closeup of the middle section. You can see a stone angel reclining on a stone gravestone, in that image I have written the individual names of people we intend to pray for throughout the whole month of November. Below the names is the 'Eternal Rest' prayer.

Here is the sheet, you are welcome to click on the image to enlarge and print up for this craft.

A found this lovely little image of Our Lady assisting the Holy Souls for the children to colour in.

And this one for the bottom of the poster, it was all coloured in and stuck on.

Lastly I used this free image of the Crucifixion colouring image for the top of the poster. HT: sjtbre.org
Here is a sneak peak of another November craft I'm working on. It was inspired by Jen's beautiful altar craft (Wildflowers and Marbles.) I was captivated with the idea of combining All Saints ~ All Souls in presenting the three churchs ~ The Church Triumphant ~ The Church Suffering ~ The Church Militant.

I remember my mother teaching me about these three churchs in one of the Baltimore catechisms and seeing the diagram that showed me how they all interacted with each other through God's grace...this is what I hope to convey to my children as a lovely, big, visual reminder. So I'll be back tomorrow with the completed craft.

Early Christian Martyrs Musical Chairs

Here is my Early Christian Martyrs Muscial Chairs. The images and stories I have made and written (anyone is welcome to click on the images to enlarge and download to use) are the crux of this game. It is set up like a normal musical chairs game EXCEPT, have a chair for each child, rather than having one short.

There should be an image attached to the back of each chair and when the music is played the children walk around, as soon as the music stops they sit on a chair. Then the adult reads aloud one the saints stories. I've written them to be short and sweet, this is important or you will loose your little audience, but they will learn even those these stories are short.

As they hear the story they need to work out whether it is connected to the symbols attached to the chair. If it is, they are out of the game! Their chair is removed, the music continues. It goes on like that until only one chair and child is left standing. If you have say 30 children, allow children to pair up for this game holding hands.

Now I know there is no real need for the children to be walking to music each time and continually be sitting on a new chair but it keeps it to the tradition of this game. It would just lessen the fun to sit on the same chair until eliminated.

Here is the story for the image above:

"St Agatha was a christian girl who caught the eye of a very evil man, when she rejected his evil advances he threw her into a house of evil hoping to break down her will. He failed. So he had her brought before the Judges for being a christian. They used pinchers and sticks to tear at her body and threw her into prison to die, but St Peter healed her. They then threw her upon a fire and she soon died. Her veil has protected the city of Catana from volcano eruptions and war. "

"There was once a young christian girl who was very pure and holy. A young pagan man wished to marry her but she refused, so he had her dragged in front of the judges for being a christian. They ordered that she be humilitated and walked through the street with no clothes, but God allowed her hair to grow and cover the whole of her body. This enraged the evil men so they had her tortured and killed with a sword. Her name is St Agnes, which means 'lamb'."

"St Barbara was a secret christian as her father hated them. One day he ordered a tower built with two windows, but St Barbara had the builders add a third window. When her father asked why, she said it was to honour the Blessed Trinity. He was so angry he dragged her to the judge to be condemned to death by beheading. Her wicked father carried out the order and was immediately struck by lightning and killed. St Barbara is often drawn holding the Eucharist."

"St Apollonia was an elderly, christian lady who was arrested during one of the Christian persecutions. When she was condemned they tortured her by pulling and knocking out all her teeth. They then lit a bonfire and asked St Apollonia to blaspheme and renounce Christ or burn to death. She refused and chose the fire, by promptly throwing herself into it. St Apollonia is the patroness of toothaches and dentists."

"St Catherine was a holy girl who studied hard. When she heard that the christians were being persecuted she went to the Emperor and publicly preached to him and his court, many were converted by her wise words but it only enraged the Emperor more. He ordered that she be put to death on a spiked wheel, but when she touched it, it fell apart. They beheaded her and the angels carried her body to Mt Sinai where a monastery was built in her honour."

"St Sebastian was a Roman soldier but when he heard about Jesus he became a christian. The Mayor of Rome heard that he was a christian and he asked about Jesus. St Sebastian spoke so beautifully, the Mayor converted. This enraged many and he was arrested and condemned to death by arrows, but he did not die. Christian ladies found him and nursed him to health. He then went straight back to the judge to tell him about Jesus but he had him clubbed to death."

" St Cecilia was a beautiful, christian girl. A young pagan man wanted to marry her but she refused, she wanted only to belong to God. This enraged the man. When he stepped forward with his brother to force her, they saw her guardian angel standing at her side. They converted immediately. All three were later arrested for being christians and martyred. St Cecilia was heard praising God by singing to Him, as she lay dying a martyr's death."

"St Dorothy was a young girl whose parents had already been martyred. Soon the soliders came for her too. It was winter when there were no fruit or flowers. As she went to her death a pagan lawyer laughed at her and asked her to send her fruit or roses from Heaven. Just before St Dorothy died a little heavenly child stood by her side with a basket of three apples and three roses, he gave them to the lawyer and he converted, he later became a martyr as well."

" St Ignatius was an early bishop of Antioch. One day he decided to travel to Rome, along the journey he wrote six letters to Churches in the region and one to a fellow Bishop. Upon entering Rome he was arrested and then taken to the famous Colosseum to become sport for the pagan crowds. He was taken out into the arena to be eaten by the lions. His body is now buried in St Peter's basillica in Rome."

" St Jude Thaddeus was a relative and an apostle of Jesus. After the crucifixion he went to many Middle Eastern regions and later to Edessa where he was known as Thaddeus of Edessa. It is believed that he may have taken the shroud to Edessa where it was folded and framed in such a way that only the head of Jesus was visible and this is why he is drawn holding an image of Our Lord's head. He was eventually martyred with St Simon the apostle with spiked clubs and axes."

" St Lawrence was a deacon of the Church, in charge of it's treasures and the poor. The Romans arrested him in order to seize the Church's riches. St Lawrence asked for 3 days to gather it, in that time he took the riches including the cup of Christ and hid them away. He then went to the Romans and showed them the poor and sick, saying they were the real treasures of the Church. The enraged Romans wanted him to die slowly on a hot grill, St Lawrence just laughed and asked to be turned over, as he was cooked on that side. "

" St Lucy was a holy girl who wanted to give herself to God. Her mother wished her to marry until she fell ill and was miraculously cured by St Agatha. A pagan man asked to marry her. She refused. He suspected she was a christian and had her brought before the Judges. She was condemned and tortured. They tried to burn her but could not, they put out her eyes but God restored her eyes. Finally they put a sword through her heart and her soul flew to heaven. "

" St Philomena was a young, christian princess whom the Emperor Diocletian fell in love with. When she refused to marry him he had her tortured. She was whipped but angels healed her. An anchor was placed around her neck and she was thrown in the river but angels lifted her out. They tried to kill her with arrows but they turned on the bowmen instead. Finally she was beheaded. Her dried blood in a crystal urn often changes into precious stones, gold and silver."

" St Stephen was the first martyr. He spoke about Jesus and converted many in the Holy Land. The Jews were furious. They had him arrested but St Stephen talked to them about Jesus being God which angered them further. So they dragged him out of town to be stoned to death. A man named Saul held the cloaks of the killers, he would one day become St Paul. As they stoned him, St Stephen saw the heavens part and Jesus coming down to take his soul into glory. "

"St Tarsicius was a boy martyr who loved Jesus in the Holy Eucharist very much. He often carried the Eucharist for the priest in the city. One day on the Appain Way in Rome some pagan boys saw him hurrying along with something in his arms. They demanded that he show them what he was carrying but he rufused so they beat him to death. When they opened his arms the Eucharist had miraculously disappeared. He had protected Jesus and Jesus took him to heaven."

"St George was a christian roman solider. When travelling through Libya he fought and killed a dinosaur terrorizing a township. The frightened people drew straws to take a person out daily to feed to the dragon after they had run out of sheep to offer it. The day St George killed the dragon a local princess' life had been saved. Later the Emperor Diocletian ordered that all soldiers must sacrifice to their gods, St George refused and was tortured and then beheaded."

'Patron Saint Match Relay' All Saints Party Game

This next game is another of the Team Games. The purpose of the game is for each team to match up the right saint to the right patronage. I typed up 24 saints names with little images next to each name (some of the images will also help the children work out the patronage of that saint eg: a flying St Joseph of Cupertino is obviously the patron of astronauts!) ~ I made three copies, printed them up, laminated them and cut them out individually. One set for each team.

Then I printed up the matching patronages for those saints, I printed them up, laminated the sheets and stuck them to boards that I had in the house. Popped a nice little border up the top the team's colour and an image of their 'mascot'.

The idea of the game is the teams are lined up in pairs (With each pair I put a smaller child with an older child, or a child who doesn't know as much about saints with someone who does) down one end of the yard. There is a parent assigned to each team holding the saint names.

Down the other end of the yard will be a table with these three boards on them, there will be a one parent to supervise and the oldest child from each team behind the table near their team's board.

When the game starts the first pair from each team is given a saint's name and they run to the table and need to find the patronage that matches (there will be a little clear double-sided tape on each written patronage) they stick the saint tag over the patronage as you can see in the first image. If they have difficulty in finding the patronage, then the oldest child in the team standing by the board, can help them.

Once a pair has got their saints name stuck on, the next pair from that team can run up. The first team to win is the one that completes the board first!

'Saints and Symbols Relay' All Saints Party Game

For this year's All Saints Party, each child will be put into one of three teams ~ Team St Anthony ~ Team St Francis ~ Team St Joan of Arc. I'll try to make the distribution of older and younger children as fair as possible.

I've also made up tags for each child's wrist. I did this for a May Crowning about 5 years ago and it was extremely effective and the kids loved it. Why it is such a good idea, is due to the fact you are dealing with LOTS of children, all at different ages, so the younger children won't remember what team there in. The children like the idea of 'identity' and just adds to the fun and excitement of 'team games!!'

There will be a few team games and the team that wins each game will receive three points, the team that comes in second receives two points and the team that comes third, one point. The tally will be kept and there will be a team prizes for the end of the day, as well as prizes for individual winners in each game as well.

I've been thinking about creating new All Saints party team games and I've come up with a few.

The below is my first ~ Saints and Symbols Relay.

In this game each team has to collect the symbols for four saints, one at a time. There will be four symbols to each saint (I know I have some saints below with more than four, but I'll settle on the four best.)

Each team with have four of these cards, each card goes with a saint image.

Each team will be given a card and a saint's image, here is an example of the card for St Jerome:

*o0o*

St Jerome

You are collecting symbols for St Jerome.

Checkpoint Garden Bed ~ Symbol One:

When Jerome, at the end of his life, lived
in a monastery in Bethlehem, healed a wounded ........,
that had a thorn in its paw. The animal remained with him

from then on and is considered a symbol of compassion

conquering brute force.

Checkpoint Shed ~ Symbol Two:

The ............. is among the symbols of a penitent hermit.
This instrument for measuring time is a call to meditate
on the fact that life on earth, does not last forever.

Checkpoint Backyard Corner ~ Symbol Three:

The ....... is a scholar's emblem. In Jerome's case, it refers to
his many writings and how he translated the original Greek and

Aramaic language of the Bible to Latin, called the 'Latin Vulgate'.

Checkpoint Mary's Garden ~ Symbol Four:

The ...... reminded St Jerome that this life does not last forever
and that death and judgement comes to us all. "Remember

man you are dust and to dust you shall return."

*o0o*

At each checkpoint will be a box with the symbols for each of the 12 saints, the team must pick out the right one and attach it to their saint before moving onto the next checkpoint. The Mary Garden will also be the beginning point when the teams are issued their saint and the card that goes with that saint, so the teams must go around four times before the game is finished.

The first team in after four rounds is the winner! (With all saint images (four) with their right symbols attached of course!)

I've just google search all the pictures you see here, the saint is printed on white cardboard, the symbols on white paper, everything is then laminated for stability and protection.

Often I've popped an saint image into paintshop pro and taken out symbols, then printed up the saint. Then I print up the symbols on a separate page. Laminated the sheets and cut out the pictures.

ST JEROME SYMBOLS:

The book - Bible

The skull

Rocks

The Lion

The hourglass

ST BARBARA SYMBOLS:

Crown

Three window tower

Sword

Peacock Quill

Crown

Palm of Martyrdom

ST BONAVENTURE SYMBOLS:

Angelic Seraphim

Minature Church

Mitre

Cross and Monstrance

ST DOMINIC SYMBOLS:

Dog with flaming torch

Star on forehead

Lily branch

Rosary beads

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST SYMBOLS:

Scroll

Lamb of God

Cross

Head on dish

Honeycomb and locusts

ST NICHOLAS OF MYRA SYMBOLS:

Three boys in a tub

Three balls

Anchor

Boat

Book (held in arms)

Mitre

ST PETER SYMBOLS:

Rooster

Keys

Boat

Book

Mitre

Chains

ST ROSE OF LIMA SYMBOLS:

Child Jesus

Roses

Wreath of Roses

Crown of thorns

Anchor

ST URSULA SYMBOLS:

Boat
Crown
Arrows in arms
Palm of Martyrdom

I have made my saint choices and gotten most of my symbol explanations from Saints in Art by Rosa Giorgi ~ a very helpful book indeed, and a beautiful book!

All Saints Party Decorations

What's a cheap but VERY effective way to decorate your home and yard for an All Saints party? Colouring in saints images!! I used this idea 4-5 years ago when we last hosted this party.

I had kept most of the images from all those years ago where the children and I had a heap of fun together colouring them all in. We had a bit of a production line at the time, I used felt pens to outline and the children then coloured them all in with pencil. But if you plan ahead, there is no reason why this cannot be a year long project, each image coloured, collected and kept.

The only thing I did differently this year was I laminated all the images so that they don't get accidently torn on the day by little fingers and I can store them, knowing they won't fade and get damaged.

I had orginally stuck these images all over the front of our home, but this time I intend to hang coloured steamers all around our front deck and patio and every few centimetres (inches) I'll staple a saint image to the streamers. Whatever is left over will be stuck to the house wall again.

If you used the two Volume Saints colouring books (Vol one and Vol two) from Regina Press, you'll have about 53 images to use!! A total cost of about $6 or so all up. Pretty good.

But I have another suggestion that is completely free ~ and that is to pop on over to Charlotte's blog, Waltzing Matilda and you'll find that she has generously given of her time and talent to share her colouring pages that amount to about 50 images or so (and that continues to build) you can do exactly the same thing with all of her creations.

I have some beautiful saint and marian large throw rugs that I'll hang up on the front of the house on the day as well, that coupled with coloured ballons, a hanging pinata waiting for the children, two saint pin up games stuck on the wall that also couple as lovely decoration.

I want the children as they come through the front gate to go, 'oooh! ahhh!' and feel like they are stepping into a 'little world of saints and colour' ~ they'll all be in dress up, so what a beautiful sight the complete picture will be!

Pin the .... Game for the All Saints Party

Continuing my All Saints Party preparations. Today I finished working on the two Pin the ..... on the ..... Games ~ this year there is one of the girls and one for the boys.

The girls is Pin the Habit on St Therese. I made this 4- 5 years ago, originally I had a complete set of the St Therese Paper Dolls and I drew one of the St Therese dolls onto the cardboard, she is dressed in her home clothes that she would have worn before entering Carmel. I had used one the original habits from that set to use as the pin-on 5 years ago.

While I kept the carboard intact, I've lost the original habit but thankfully I was directed to Gail's St Therese of Avila Paper Dolls recently that had a free set of paper doll habits, so I printed one up and laminated it. Phew, a good save!!

Here is the habit, pinned-on ~ it's going to be alot of fun for the younger aged children on the day!

So I spent most of my working time on this project making the boys game Pin the Shamrock on St Patrick, from scratch. St Patrick was a good choice because he is often depicted holding a shamrock, the symbol of the Holy Trinity. St Francis of Assisi would be another good one, as he is often holding a dove...but when you think of it, there are ENDLESS saints holding symbols, you can be as creative as there are saints!!!

I drew this St Patrick from a colouring book I have but you can do and internet search on images and use something there to inspire your drawing efforts, if you feel you are really stuck when it comes to drawing, just trace! (Which is what I did here, for the record!! Only my shamrocks are free hand, so this is completely doable.)

Another game completed for this coming November the 1st!....there's a few more games to come yet, still alot of work ahead for me.

Pinata for All Saints party..

Today I was walking through our cheap 'Dollar and Sense' shop and came across some pinatas...I had actually thought of making one a few days ago but let it go when I realised that I had no time for such a big craft project. Then I saw this dragon...and immediately I thought of St George and the dragon.

So I went internet searching for St George images and found this one, I trimmed it down and printed it up on cardboard, then I flipped it with the mirror tool in paintshop and printed it again on cardboard. I carefully cut out both images so that they could go back to back.

Then I stuck the two front legs and the head of St George's horse on either side of the dragon and stuck the halo, cape, horse's tail and back legs together....and it was done.

The children are just SO excited and cannot wait to enjoy this on All Saints day!!