Pascual and the Kitchen Angels Craft

This week we are working on the letter A and I really love doing activities and crafts about Angels. Today we read a book by the amazing author Tomie dePaola. The book is called Pascual and the Kitchen Angels. This book is great for children around 4 years old. 

It tells the story of baby born called Pascual and how he is blessed and watched over by angels as he grows. When Pascual becomes a young man he wants to go help feed the hungry and decides to become a Franciscan. When he arrives he is asked to cook, but he does not know how and begins to pray. The Angels help Pascual and cook the meal for him. The Friars were so happy they asked him to continue cooking for them, so the Angels did each time because Pascual continued to pray. One day the Friars peeked in on Pascual and saw the Angels cooking for him and realized how blessed Pascual was!

This story is a great to learn about San Pascual for he is known as the patron saint of the kitchen and cooks!

After reading the story we decided to do a fun and easy craft to focus on the Angels in the book. Materials you will need are :

- foam/paper Angels cut outs

- markers, crayons and/or colored pencils

- hole punch

- ribbon or string 

- scissors 

You can really use any materials to decorate your Angels. 

I found clearance foam Angels from Michaels after Christmas and got the pack for about $.30 ( I always pick up that stuff for such a deal! You never know!) 

The pack had white and blue , my daughter decided to use the white Angels.

You can cut the Angels out also on cards torn or even paper plates also. Here is a link to one

http://rasberrycollections.typepad.com/rasberry/2008/12/rasberry-angel-shape-template.html

Decorate and color the Angels as your child chooses. We decided to use marker on the foam. My daughter decorated 2 and I helped with 2.

After we were finished decorating my daughter practiced writing the letter A on the back of the angel(for older kids they can write the word or even decorate that side ). Use the hole punch to put a a hole in each Angels head area. You also want to take only 1 angel and also punch a hole in each wing and one on the bottom.

Use your ribbon to connect the Angels together like a mobile in a way. After all the Angels were attached we found a space in our kitchen to hang them. 

Now we have some Angels in our kitchen to help us cook! 

God Bless

Jennifer 

Pet Blessing on the Feast of St. Francis Assissi

What better way to celebrate St. Francis then to take our furry and some non furry animal babies to our parish and have them blessed! The cold weather and rain did not stop my daughter and I to take our furry baby to get his blessing!

Here is a wonderful coloring page for the kids to color and a prayer you can say of your pets.

                         (right click on image - click save image as - save, open and print)

DIY Gel Tracing Bag

My daughter is learning how to write her letter and numbers right now. I was looking for a mess free way for her to practice that was also fun. First you will need these materials:

All items can be bought at a Dollar Store or you might even have on hand! 

~ Styling Gel

~ Food coloring of choice

~ Glitter(optional)

~ The slider Ziploc bags ( I used the large freezer bags)

~ Qtips

Open the Ziploc bag and squirt in the styling gel I used about half for one bag but I was using larger bags. I then had my children pick out what color they wanted and they put in drops of food coloring in each bag. We also added glitter in our bags to make them sparkle. Zip your bag up and your ready to go! Use a q-tip to help write, now you have a reusable writing pack. My 2 year old just liked to swirl his around but my daughter started working on her letter right away! All they need to do is wipe with hand to erase and ready to start again. Just put the bag away to use later. 

Have Fun and God Bless!

Feast Day of St. Barnabas : Coloring Page!

     June 11th is the feast day of St. Barnabas. Barnabas (originally Joseph). He sold his land and property and devoted it to the Apostles and Church. The Apostles then named him Barnabas.  He is the Patron of Cyprus, Antioch, against hailstorms, invoked as peacemaker. 

Check out this great coloring page to show how Barnabas gave his wealth to the Church! Click here to print!

Cheap And Easy Art Display

     
     The fridge has been overrun with all the art projects my kids have done so far just in the past few weeks! We were running out of room and my son would enjoy taking them off the fridge in doing so annoying his little sister. This was a issue I needed to fix. While browsing Pinterest - I came across this post and picture using cafe rods and curtain clips to display family photos which is also a great idea!



     I figured it would work with art as well! So I headed to my local Walmart and picked up a short cafe rod, it was only a little over $3! There are different lengths you can chose from if working with a larger space. 

   I had the curtains clips already that I picked up from a garage sale for $.50 so that was a deal! The hardware to hang the rod came with the rod so we didn't have to worry about that. Only took my husband about 5 minutes to put it up.

 We plan on putting up another bar as soon as I run to the store to get another bar. So far it has worked great and my kids love to see their art hung up and show daddy when he gets home from work. It also works as a great place to dry the art also. Now my fridge is free from art and my son cant rip them off. Happy mommy, Happy kids!

Make your Own Little Wooden Saint Pegs

    

 Everyone keeps asking me how I make my little saint pegs, so I thought I would share the creative process with you, so that you and your children can create these wonderful figures.

*These are recommend for ages 3 and up. At least past the stage of putting items in their mouth. These can be a choking hazard for younger children so please be aware.*

     They can be time consuming based on your perfection level. I used to make these and sell them but could not keep up with orders, family and life so I now just make them for fun.

   

     First you want to select which saint you want to paint. Lets start out with someone easy such as St. Rose. I would type in their name in Google image or use one of my kids saint books to find a picture I liked. Choose your picture.

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     Second you want to do is find out where to buy your wood people peg from. I used Casey's Wood Products. They are based out of Maine. They have a nice selection of different sizes and shaped people pegs, depending on your product. I used the standard size people peg which is considered a "man peg" and its 2-3/8" tall x 7/8" diameter. They start at $.25 each and you get a better deal the more you buy. I recommend purchasing from them for bigger orders. For smaller orders of pegs, you can find them on Etsy and  I have also seen these for purchase at Hobby Lobby also in their wood section in a bag of 8 pegs. Base it on how many you want to paint.

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     Next you want to get your paint and paint brushes. You will want to use acrylic paint to paint the wood ( I used Americana brand), as well as brushes that work well with acrylic paint. I recommend that you buy a few different brushes that will help with detail and coverage. Hobby Lobby and Michaels always have a 40% coupon and you can use it to buy a brush starter pack that has different size brushes in it.

     The paint comes in so many colors so make sure your write a list of the colors you will need for your saint. For St. Rose I used black, white, pink, red, brown and flesh (yes that's a color).

                                            Now you are ready to paint!

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     You want to start with your lightest color first, and you always want to wait for each color to dry after applying. It only takes a few minutes. I always painted the heads first with the flesh color. Then I would do the white around the whole bottom of the peg and a little strip of white across the top of the head. Next you want to use the black for the veil. Make sure the black is completely dry! You don't want smudges on your white. Now you can use the flesh color to paint the little praying hands and add a little strip of black underneath.
 
   For St. Rose I like to make a crown of roses. I take the bottom of one of my smallest brushes and dip it in the red and put connecting dots all around her head to form the crown. Then you can use a lighter red or pink and paint with a detail brush the little swirls to make them look like roses. You could also add leaves if you would like.

     The last thing I do after everything is dry you want to do the eyes. I used the tip at the bottom of my brush to dab on the eyes..perfect brown circles, let dry. Then use the bottom of the brush again to make a smaller small circle inside the eye and use a small detail brush to put on your lashes. After that drys,  use the tip of your brush to dab little tiny white dots for more detail to the eyes. (refer to picture above). Last you can paint on some eye brows and a little smile!

     Now you have a little St. Rose Wooden Peg Saint! If you want you can write the name of the Saint with a fine tip permanent marker for reference. After your finished with the name I always liked to seal the wooden peg to help keep the paint from chipping and make it more durable. Now I have tried a lot of products for sealing the pegs, and the one that I used was the American DuraClear Varnish Clear and applied it with a black foam brush. Some people use modgepodge but it can cause yellowing and a sticky feel. I have also used Krylon Acrylic sprays but was tired of putting on a mask to spray them. Choose whatever you are comfortable with. Seal your little saint and you are ready to play! 

     We would use them in my daughters doll house, action figures and even board games pieces. I have had some people use them as cake toppers for birthday cakes or special holiday events. So many things you can do with them and so many ways you can add a personal touch!  Check out some of the other saints I have painted below for more inspiration!